La Calabaza

A few days prior to Halloween, we decided to finally carve our pumpkin. I bought it a few weeks ago and then it sat in the garage. (Yes, we're weird, don't know what to tell you.) Then Joaquin came home from WOW with a little pumpkin that he had decorated with stickers and marker. It had an M and a D on it for Mommy and Daddy. Apparently when they went to write his name on it, he asked to include us. How cute is he!?! Anyway since he liked his pumpkin so much I was inspired to remember the pumpkin in the garage (thank goodness, it would of rotted eventually!) and Daddy and Joaquin carved a Jack O'Lantern. Daniel was all set to create an artistic masterpiece, but as it's Joaquin's first Jack O'Lantern and I like my husband with all his fingers intact, we settled for traditional. Actually Daniel made some impressively round eyes and skinny ears, so maybe he is ready for some serious cutting next year. We also roasted the seeds which tasted fantastic! Made me wish our pumpkin was seedier. Of course right after Halloween all the pumpkins will be on sale, hmmmm... Seems a waste since I don't like eating any other part of the pumpkin.

Como Padre Como Hijo

One very darling thing came out of our visit at Dora and Bill's. The picture to the left is a scanned copy of a picture of Daniel at three years old. Dora was not a picture taker so there aren't many pics of Daniel as a baby. I love this one! It's hysterical to me how un-Daniellike Daniel looked as a small child. But he does look a heck of a lot like Joaquin. Dora made a copy of the picture for us and even gave us the robe which is still in fabulous condition and fits Joaquin perfectly! We've been taking pictures of Joaquin in it trying to find one that had a similar pose and a similar flavor but, per usual, Joaquin hasn't been terribly cooperative. We had a fun photo session where he kept getting too into the books we gave him as props and refusing to look at the camera. I sympathize, but it was frustrating. So here he is buried in a book and here's the one vaguely successful shot. (Don't worry Dora, I'll kept trying and post this one on Walgreens.) Don't they look amazingly alike?

En Colorado Springs

So back in October, after we left Patience, Joaquin and I picked Daddy up at the Denver airport. (We got a ticket for Daniel to come help us drive back for $40! Can you believe that?) Then we drove down to Colorado Springs and spent the night with Dora and Bill. Joaquin was obviously overjoyed to be at a place where he was the focus of all adult attention. While I reveled in not having to care for Joaquin (I hate single parenthood, even if it's for a few days), he and Mi-mo had a great if extremely hyper evening. Putting him to bed was exciting, I had to threaten to spank him if he giggled one more time. (Does that make me evil?) We woke up the next morning to a winter wonderland. (I love how we spent a week of lovely weather in Ft. Collins and then Colorado Springs was freezing!) Despite the chill, Joaquin couldn't resist that lure of snow and Mi-mo's playset, so he, Daddy and Mi-mo played while I took pictures and tried not to freeze. (Totally not packed for that kind of weather!) Despite being an absolutely wimp about hot weather, Joaquin loves the cold. I guess it's no surprise, Albuquerque had insane amounts of snow the year he was born, which was totally a sign! He can play outside in the cold until he really is too cold, so I had to bring him in eventually. Fortunately we had purchased mittens in Ft. Collins so his hands weren't frozen. In fact the mittens helped me realize it was a little too cold for prolonged play. He tried to cross the monkey bars (with a little help, he can hang, but the swing to the next bar requires adult support) and then started just touching the next bar instead of trying to hang on. Noticing his lack of participation, Daniel lowered him and then realized his mitten was still stuck to the bar. Anyway it was a nice little mini-vacation after our visit with Patience and Joaquin behaved relatively well for the ride home. He refused to take a nap but spent the hour and half I wouldn't talk to him or let him watch Max & Ruby pretending things. It was hysterical to listen to and try to understand what he was doing. He spent a good twenty minutes crumbling his blanket and twirling it around talking about how it was going "chuga chuga in the dryer". (I think he means the washer since that really does go chuga chuga, but it's his game.) Got home safe and sound before the winter blizzard hit Santa Fe (seriously, came through like an hour before it got ugly) and dove right back in to everyday life.

En la Casa de Amadu

Once in Ft. Collins, we were priviledged to meet Miss Yasmin Amadu, who is a very cute and very determined little baby. We were trying to be helpful to Patience and yet keep Joaquin from going stir crazy, not an easy line to walk. Fortunately Patience and Yasmin both usually napped in the morning (recovering from a less than restful night), so we went places. Before Daniel left we went to their down/old town which is a cute little area with some fun shops and a ton of restaurants. We found a neat little toy shop and Joaquin got a slugabug car. We also got have dinner with our friends Abby & Craig which was very fun and entertainingly adult. I always find myself a little weirded out when I do that something that I remember my parents doing in my childhood. I remember going on vacation and spending an evening with an old college friend or old high school friend of my mom's. To do it myself felt a little like a rite of passage, somehow different from vacationing at a friend's house. Once Daddy left Joaquin got a little more restless, but we made it through with the help of a playground in the Amadu's apartment complex, and a few outings. I think we were overall helpful and I had a good time getting to know Patience better. So here's a few pictures of our time.

Joaquin in a Ghanaian (sp?) hat Patience gave him. He's quite fond of it, probably b/c it actually fits! A novelty in Joaquin's life.

Joaquin holding Yasmin. He was actually quite interested in Yasmin and told me how cute she was. This is despite being told to be quiet for her sake frequently. Kind of pointless since she could sleep through anything if she wanted to, and nothing put her to sleep if she didn't! Still despite his lack of indoor voice skills, he was relatively good and nice about the baby.

Joaquin on a plastic Triceratops in a park we went to. He had a great time since he was quite wound up by this point. He found a stick and pretended it was first a lawn mower, then a leaf blower and then a walking stick. My favorite was when he told me he was 'lawning the grass' with it. That's a reasonable assumption to make with the name lawn mower and knowing you cut grass with it, but still wildly funny. I attempted to correct him, but he wouldn't believe me! This happens a lot with an assumption he's made based on words. He just won't believe that English is a severly inconsistent language and wants his inferences to be correct. It took me awhile to convince him that muffler pipes did not let out smoke and 'muffle'. I had to explain that they were called muffler pipes b/c they also muffle the noise of the engine. Even then I only think he listened b/c Daniel had already told him that an engine without a muffler pipe was loud. Not sure why he's so suspicious of my explanations, but the trait of thinking he knows best about everything comes from both sides!

Viajando a Ft. Collins

Last week we drove to Ft. Collins to spend some time with our friend Patience and her new baby Yasmin. I was kind of dreading the drive as it's the longest we've attempted with Joaquin. (In one day) Fortunately the trip up went swimmingly. Joaquin chatted to himself (very entertainingly) for an hour and then slept for almost two. With a portable DVD player, Max & Ruby dvds, a stop in Raton for ice cream and a stop in Colorado Springs for dinner with Mi-mo and Billpa-pa it was actually fun. Go figure. I think this kid just likes to be going places and doing stuff.

Sabado

Before we left for Ft. Collins, we spent a Saturday working on my new planters for the backyard. (Will be finished hopefully before it's completely too late to transplant my bulbs.) Joaquin was intrigued by Daddy's jig to drill pocket holes in the boards, so when Daniel was finished he grabbed the jig and his own personal tools and went to work. I had to help him clamp it on, but he had it all set up without me, just neede me to help him work his clamp. We put the jig over the pocket holes Daddy had already drilled, so I think he thought his drill was actually making holes. When I went inside for a bit, he set it up on the other side of the board and was dismayed when it "didn't work". Yes Joaquin, toy drills do not actually drill holes in wooden boards. Makes them kind pointless, I agree. After that he got a little bored and so Daniel put him in the car. This is Daniel's normal method for entertaining Joaquin when he is working in the garage and can't really supervise. He puts him in the car or truck with the doors closed and let's him 'drive'. Believe it or not, this is actually entertaining for a considerable period of time. He drives and honks the horn and tries to put up the sunshade. On one memorable occasion he managed to lock himself in the truck with our then only key to the truck. Daniel spent several minutes trying to get Joaquin to push the button and watching him push every other button he could find in the truck. Finally in desperation Daniel said, "the lock, Joaquin, the lock". To which Joaquin responded, "okay", reached over and pulled up the lock. (I feel like this is something Daniel should have already know to do. Button is a very ambiguous word, lock is specific. However it is a little surprising that Joaquin knew which one was the lock and how to unlock it.) Still, in general, the car play is an inventive strategy in that it keeps him in a (semi)safe location where he can entertain himself and be seen by Daddy. The planters aren't yet finished, but we're making progress.

Pintura de dedo, dos

About a week ago (yes I haven't blogged in awhile, I was busy) I decided to try fingering painting again. This picture shows you my well thought-out set-up. (Wow, two hyphens in a row!) I squeezed a little of each color into a bowl (no more giving him the entire pot!), used smaller sheets of paper, got lots of paper towels and set it all up outside! (See I learn from experience). I thought I was soooooo clever and it was definitely a lot cleaner. However, cleanliness impairs creativity as Joaquin was definitely less thrilled with it as an activity. He played a little and swirled some colors around, but he got bored quickly and didn't really care what happened to his pictures later. I'm forced to conclude (reluctantly) that most of the joy of finger painting is the squishy messiness! And that, like many works of genius, Joaquin's creativity is spurred on by chaos and craziness. Sigh. I forsee much clean-up in my future.