Brinca, Brinca

So we've discovered a new phenomena, jump places. There are two in Albuquerque that I know of and they are basically a large facility with ginormous jump houses/bouncers/slides inside them. We went to one recently for a birthday party. (I know! We have fancy friends apparently. The only problem is I hope Joaquin won't start getting ideas. I'm way too cheap for this sort of thing.) Anyhoo, we had a good time although Joaquin got bored with the jumpers after awhile and played video games. At least he thought he was playing videos games b/c the computer was running a simulation. His frantic joysticking did nothing, but as he didn't know that he had a great time. It was a really great birthday party, the plus being parents got to jump/slide too. I had a wonderful time, probably used the slides more than Joaquin. We even took Joaquin's friend Caleb with us since he was invited but his parents were busy moving. So Daniel and I were the parents of very hyper 3-year twins that day. Turned out nice though since Caleb was having such a good time that it gave me more excuses to go on the slides.

Cantamos

Here's a picture of one of Joaquin's latest creations. Look how symmetrical it is! I was very impressed, he did that all by himself.

So, funny story, whenever he swings, Joaquin likes to sing. Not sure why the two are associated in his mind, especially since in general he prefers not to sing in public. (public even occasionally includes me) However while swinging he generally sings the entire time; which is entertaining b/c he can swing for a really long time. You also need to know that we have a children's CD with a fun rendition of the alphabet song. First they sing the song, then they sing it cowboy style (kinda slow), then classical style (a ringing soprano voice) and finally with added words for every letter. So Joaquin starts singing the ABCs, no big deal, but when he finishes he says, "I wonder how a coupla cowboys might sing this song. I think they'd sing it kinda slow." (Which is EXACTLY what they say on the CD) and then proceeds to re-sing the ABCs at an extremely funereal tempo. Then he tries it classical style which involved him singing it really high and in a funny sort of baby voice to try and imitate the woman. Finally he attempted to sing the version with added words but he doesn't remember most of them so it's just sounds until he gets to, "S, S, S, sunshine!" By this point I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't push. Who knew he had all that in there? (In case you're wondering he can still sing the Christmas jingle for the new Christmas episodes of Max & Ruby. He proved it this day also, "hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hoppy holidays, etc.)

Triciclo

On to another important symbol of childhood, the trike! (Which Joaquin refuses to say, instead calling it his bike or bicycle.) This beautiful tricycle is a gift from our neighbors whose little girls are really the perfect age to be giving hand-me-downs to Joaquin. We've avoided buying one b/c none of them seemed to be a good size for Joaquin, but this fits him perfectly. We tried it the first day without adjusting it and it worked okay, but Daddy shortened it and now he can push it much easier. We've gone out practicing twice now and he's really getting the hang of it. Once he gets it going he can make it work pretty good, but it's easy to get stuck on a tricycle with the pedals at about equal heights. This makes it pretty difficult to get moving again, so I've been trying to teach the technique of letting the trike roll backward to get the pedals in a more advantageous position. The hardest part of the whole learning process is that Joaquin will only focus for a few minutes. Then he's distracted by the asphalt, the crack in the sidewalk, somebody's bushes, the stop sign, basically everything needs to be talked about and some question asked of Mommy. It got so bad I actually said, "No more talking, just pushing" at one point. (There's a reason I work with high schoolers, not the little guys.) Despite my crabbiness and his distractability he is making great strides on pedaling though. He can really get it going down-hill (he loves that!) and does a pretty good job on a flat stretch. We're not attempting any uphill work since I hate to discourage him. Now if we can only learn to steer!

A Las Escondida

Saturday we celebrated Grandma's birthday with dinner at our house and a rousing game of Hide and Seek. This picture is somewhat misleading b/c of the flash. We actually turned off most of the lights in the house, making it that much more difficult to find people. (Not that it was difficult, our house is not that big.) This is Joaquin and Daddy about to uncover Grandma stealthily hiding behind the curtain. She is actually amazing at hiding behind doors and curtains b/c she can stand really still and make herself really flat so you don't notice she's there. Joaquin took turns hiding with different family members (all the boys that is, he kept picking them) and then finding everyone with Daddy's help. Here they are counting while covering their eyes. You cannot imagine anything cuter than Joaquin's piercing little voice counting to 10 as "One bunny scout, two bunny scout, three bunny scout" (from Max & Ruby, did you really need to ask?) and then shouting, "Ready or not, here we come!" I think my mother and Brian are really the best hiders, but my Dad gets an honorable mention for fitting into my hall closet. (It's shallow and really full of coats, a vacuum, a picnic basket, a pack n'play, etc.) Heather also managed a fabulous coup where she arranged herself artfully on my bed, posing as one of the coats. Indeed she was so successful that I accidentally felt her up thinking she was a coat. Kudos, Boo-boo. Anyway, for Uncle Matty here's a blurry family picture of everyone but me (someone had to take it), that wins the photo award merely b/c Joaquin is actually looking at the camera. Here's to family gatherings that include silly childhood games, most fun I've had in a long time.

Judía

What's a boy to do when he wants to pretend he's climbing a beanstalk and there isn't one handy? Use Daddy of course! He's the tallest climbable thing around. (Sort of) I came in and Daniel was kneeling on the bed laughing while Joaquin tried to climb up him while telling him about how he would find lots of good food at the top of the beanstalk. So a few more examples of Joaquin humor:

1. Loves switching things he knows to be true. Always says, "Red means go and green means stop!" and then laughs uproariously. This was also true when I found him one day playing with the little pretend hamburger patties he has and calling them cookies. I told him, "Joaquin, those are meat patties, not cookies." He refused to agree with me, kept calling them cookies, and then deliberately brought it up again at bed time as a joke. At first I didn't get it, so he told me, "They're cookies mommy, no they're meat patties, no they're cookies!"

2. This 'witty' banter is evident in all his humor. He also likes to play with grammer. We have a game where he says, "My name is me and your name is you!". The response is, "No, my name is me, and your name is you." Repeat ad nauseum.

3. Likes to repeat whole scenes/sentences from Max & Ruby, only changing them by adding mommy in instead of the original names. For example one character says in an episode, "Sorry, Ruby, I guess I need more lessons." So anytime he does something and it doesn't work he says to me, "Sorry, Mommy, I guess I need more lessons" in exactly the same inflection.

Burbujas en el Martes

Since both Daniel and I are singing in choir this year, Joaquin gets to play with Jenna at church while we rehearse. (He spends every other week with Grandma but since she watches him a lot we don't want to burn her out and the church was kind enough to pay Jenna for this service.) The first week he was a little underwhelmed at the idea of going to play with toys, so they played around in the kitchen with the cool industrial spray faucet. Wow! He was soooooooo wet. Since it was so fun he now thinks Tuesday nights are his nights to play in the kitchen with Jenna. We've settled on either stripping him to his undies or bringing a large t-shirt for him to get wet in. This results in many folks (strolling by on their way to biblestudy or late to choir) telling me about how they saw Joaquin in his underwear. Last week was play with bubbles week. He and Jenna put a little dishsoap in the sink and went to town! (Check his bubble hat in this picture.) Jenna took this picture and video on her cell phone to show to Uncle Matty! Hi Uncle Matty - obviously we're still thinking about you.

Pirámide

Despite the random overnight snowstorms, it's really become warm. Thursday was absolutely gorgeous so Joaquin and I went to the park after lunch. This picture just shows how big Joaquin looks. He's calmly walking up these, holding the rail, when last summer it would have been a difficult clamber. He hasn't really grown since about December but I feel like he looks more like a little boy every day. I took out his shorts to try them all on and the sight of him looking all leggy and tall almost made me cry. (By the way Dora - don't buy him any shorts, he currently has 9 that fit him. I can't store anymore!) We met some acquaintances of ours and Joaquin and the little girl had fun playing with a pyramid made of metal grates that guards the opening of some large drainage pipes. I appreciate the big grates as a safety feature, but they are certainly interesting as well. Joaquin dropped maybe a million sticks/rocks inside. However I paid for our fun with a ridiculous sunburn on my chest. I hadn't planned to be out that long but got started talking (gee, I know you're all shocked) and we stayed out for TWO HOURS. Of course I had forgot to put sunscreen on so while my face was protected by make-up, the front of me crisped. You might be wondering if I was a good enough mom to remember sunscreen for Joaquin. No I wasn't, but don't worry, all he got was some rosy cheeks. Mexi-screen wins again! (That term is Daniel's)