Amigos Viejos

After the excitement of Heather's wedding, we plunged straight into planning a workshop production. (A week long - or a long week, take your pick.) However, since much of the work for this happened in the evenings (other than some errands) we had mornings to play around. Monday morning we had a playdate with Tia Lina, Auntie Rachel and Jonah! Unfortunately Allie was still in Phoenix with her Dad, so we didn't have all the kids in tow, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Despite the appearance of this picture, the boys actually had a good time and I had fun renewing my acquaintance with both Isaac and Bella (she's the little bundle curled up on my chest). My cousin Judy actually ended up staying until Tuesday with us, so she accompanied us to our normal Tuesday's in the Park and took some fabulously entertaining pictures of Joaquin. This is him obviously having a grand old time on the teeter-totter. Jonah and his mommy made an appearance at the park too, and after some warm-up time, Joaquin and Jonah enjoyed themselves hiding from the heat under the picnic table and playing with a branch. Check Jonah's styling sunglasses. Amazing how interesting and fun a stick is - classic.

La Boda de Tía Boo-boo

So Joaquin made a ridiculously adorable ringbearer. Here he is getting dressed (of course he was in the girls dressing room with Mommy, such is the life of a little boy.) The vest was too big for him despite being the smallest available, so we had to tighten it ridiculously and depend on the coat to cover up any bizarro lumps. As you can see, he was a little sad at first since we had to wake him up early from a nap. Everyone was telling him how handsome he looked and he kept saying, "No, I'm not handsome", in his most stubborn voice. It was quite entertaining. Somehow admitting he looked good was giving in to the man. He started to thaw after awhile, especially when Lynette worked on him. Lynette has been my Mom's hairdresser for years and she came to do Heather's hair. She's also an experienced Mommy and she had Joaquin hypnotized and playing with her 'dangerous' comb while she gelled and spritzed him into perfectly coiffed cuteness. He loved her. (In case you're wondering her comb was dangerous b/c it had metal spikes for picking on one end. Anyone remember the era of separate picks? That was totally my childhood.) He also had more fun when I put on my jewelry. He was very interested in the pearls and the knowing the

name of the amethysts beads. We had quite a long talk about why they're called pearls and amethysts. So here he is finally smiling and all dressed up. Isn't that one of the cutest things you've ever seen? So we took him to the boys who put a boutonnière on him and brought him out for photos. I was not there for this next part, but I'm assured by many folks that it actually happened. Since Joaquin was two, Uncle Matthew has been teaching him the phrase "Don't patronize me". He can say it, but doesn't know any context so he only uses it to bond with Uncle Matty. Also Matthew's been in London for awhile so he hasn't had the opportunity to really work on it with him. Still it was floating around in there b/c as the photographer was saying in a child-friendly voice, "Joaquin, Joaquin look over here!" Joaquin responded, "Don't patronize me." Yikes! Like he doesn't have enough of an attitude already. Fortunately the photographer knows what's up and only asked, "Who taught him that?"

He calmed down considerably for the actual ceremony. From my position as bridesmaid I was able to see his helter skelter run along the back of the church turn immediately into dignified walking as soon as he hit the center aisle. (how did he figure out that was were he needed to perform?) He even held his pillow out nicely, only speeding up right as he got to the front. Unfortunately that little quickening put him right in front of Bryan where he couldn't see Uncle Matty, his planned destination. He panicked and ran right back up the aisle, into the arms of Daniel who carried him down and deposited him in Matthew's arms until he could go sit down with Grandpa. (He left after the giving away, nobody thought he make it through any of the ceremony.) He then sat with Grandpa, Grandma and Daddy very nicely through the whole thing. So honestly he behaved just as well as you could expect. I hadn't realized how nervous he was though, poor thing. After we all left the service he was very peppy and kept snacking when before he had been refusing all food. (Entertainingly enough his first comment was to Uncle Matty, "When are you going to get married?" He was definitely on a role that day. Nobody was even prompting him!) I keep underestimating how much he understands and realises of what adults are planning. He made it through pictures not particularly well, but we all had fun at the reception and he lasted until Auntie Boo-boo and Uncle Bryan took off.

El Ensayo de la Boda

As a testimony to how insane the past few weeks have been, I haven't photographed any of this weekend myself. So I'm reduced to stealing pictures from other people's facebook sites. How sad is that? Anyway, this is a cute one of Joaquin chatting with Tia Lina at the rehearsal. She came to ABQ for Heather's wedding and photographed the rehearsal so we could all concentrate on being in it. Joaquin was excited to see her (although kind of crazy through the entire rehearsal), so they apparently had quite the conversation. Fortunately Tia Lina is a mom so she knows the correct responses for incomprehensible stories and long-winded discourses on his tail and ears as SkippyJon Jones the kitty.

La Pachanga de la Soltera

So I realize this is a post no one will read since they are only looking for pictures of Joaquin as a ringbearer. Don't worry, those will come! However since I don't have most of those collected yet, here's a short post on Joaquin at a 'bachelorette' party. Actually we didn't have a bachelorette party per se (we had a lingerie shower and a bridal luncheon instead), but an impromptu one happened Friday evening when Heather came over to do her nails and invited a few friends. Since Daddy was at the bachelor party and I didn't have much notice, Joaquin got to attend the bachelorette party. He actually had a great time since he got tons of attention from some of his favorite people (Boo-boo, Johanna and Chelsey) and then stayed up late playing with his blocks because he was so good we didn't notice the time. He even got a cool little sash out of the 'bachelorette' ribbon.

Mecánicito

Despite determined tool exposure since his early childhood, Joaquin has become somewhat blase lately about working with tools and building things. Although excited about his bed that he and Daddy are building, he's not usually excited to help build it. Instead his attention has switched to fixing cars. He LOVES to work on our cars with Daddy. He actually asks when they can change the oil (I'm not even kidding). I find this amusing since Daniel, while perfectly capable of working on cars, is not particularly fond of it. Although he likes it a lot more with his little helper in tow. Recently they replaced my brake pads and rotors (hopefully that's what they did, I'm always a little shaky on these details not being an even vague car person). Joaquin helped out with the entire project and had a great time. He even got extremely greasy so we had to wash our hands with Daddy's orange stuff (oooooh, exciting!). And while I prefer Daniel's mix of creativity and building know-how, a son/hubby who fixes cars is definitely useful so I'm excited about Joaquin's new interest.

Joaquin's other new interest is babies. He is slowly developing an interest in his friends' younger siblings and some of the other babies he's meeting. Here he is with a friend of our's new little boy, let's call him 'Joe'. Joaquin had a good time demonstrating to Joe how to do acrobatic feats on our futon, and was not at all dismayed when we told him Joe wouldn't be able to do that for a long time. Joe was very interested in Joaquin (he had been fussy, but apparently all he needed was for 4 adults to stop trying to calm him, and one 3 year old to entertain him) and watched his antics fixedly. Finally Joaquin asked to give him a hug. Here he is being very gentle.

His interest in singing continues to grow, he likes to sing with me while I play the piano now, which is really fun. It's also somewhat difficult since frequently he 'plays' with me; usually right where I need to be playing. Sometimes I just play everything an octave up, but things sound chinzier that way. However he's added a new dimension by changing his voice for different songs. He likes sweet songs like 'Jesus Loves Me' and likes to sing them imitating my tone of voice. He's started to kind of bend the ends of the words and slur them together. So far it sounds ridiculous and is so entertaining I have to work keep from laughing at him. But I'm very proud that he's understanding that you change how you sing for the type of song you're singing and I'm sure he'll learn how to make it pretty without the exaggerated note-bending.

El Fuente

Last Thursday (yes I'm a week behind) we went for our first splashpad outing of the summer. That means we went to Uptown mall and played in the fountain. We went with our friend 'Jane', her mommy and little brother. Which sounds like a lot of chaos but was actually quite fun. We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen first since it's right next door, which turned out to be a terrific idea. It was a little weird since most of the customers were business people out for business lunches, but turns out CPK is pretty kid friendly. They had all the usual color crayons, etc. as well as kid cups and were surprisingly chill about some energetic little people in their adult atmosphere. The kids tore through a cheese pizza between the two of them, leaving Jane's mom and I the opportunity to share something more adventurous. And despite my feelings about deviation from traditional pizza toppings I highly recommend their Santa Fe chicken. (Comes with guacamole, which probably explains my endorsement.) All this to say, that Jane's mom and I hatched a plan (On a high from a successful and pleasant lunch with children). We want to start a blog/website that rates restaurants for child-friendliness on a variety of aspects. (Atmosphere, equipment, menu, etc.) Mostly we want to have an excuse to eat out a lot. :) But seriously, anyone know if this is already done somewhere? You would think it was, wouldn't you?

The kids were seriously funny running around the fountain. Jane never did get really brave about running through the water despite getting quite wet from all the mist. Joaquin was having a lot of fun running around the water but once he inadvertantly drenched himself it was a free-for-all. In fact I had only brought fresh underwear and a t-shirt so we had to purchase new shorts (an entire new outfit was called for). We went into Gymboree to use their dressing area to change (under the theory they were least likely to kick out dripping children) and thus came home with new green shorts and two boxer-briefs. Sigh. After a cookie at the Nestle store (honestly Uptown Mall sucks you in!) we said good-bye and headed home. I had the camera in my bag the whole time and forgot to take pictures, but I did take this picture later that afternoon. Joaquin took awhile to calm down and go to sleep, but once he did, it was impossible to wake him. I left his door open for twenty minutes before my prowling around and unloading the dishwasher finally convinced him to open his eyes. A morning in the sun will do that to you.

Mañanas

Recently Joaquin woke up ready to work! I barely got some breakfast into him and his pjs off before he got down to business. Obviously clothes were out of the question - they only slow you down anyway. He cut wood, made pocket holes, and hammered like a madman. I think my favorite part was this concentration face. You'd make that face too if you were cutting a two-by-four with a chainsaw. :) Scarily enough that his current favorite saw choice. He could never give me a straight answer on what he was making; too absorbed in the specific tasks. He worked for quite a while and Mommy had a good time taking pictures. I think he wakes up in the morning, and before he calls out to let me know he's awake he plans his playtime. He frequently jumps out of bed with a

yen to play with some specific toy, and we have to at least touch it before we can eat breakfast or do anything else. I have this vision (in my imagination) of him sitting there, pointing at one toy after another, shaking his head as he decides against one. Finally he is struck by a brilliant plan for his __________ toy. That is it, the toy he must, simply must, play with today! At least that's what I'm extrapolating based on his actions. Never really asked him about it, which is pretty silly. We'll see what he says.

One final little bed story. Last night Joaquin woke up and got out of bed, walked to his door, opened it and stood there calling "Mommy". I woke up (Very disoriented since this never happens anymore) and went to go see what the problem was. "There's a spider in my bed" he tells me. First of all I'm a little sad that I appear to be passing on my spider phobia. (Probably b/c I shriek like a banshee when I see one and Joaquin has seen this reaction multiple times) Second, I was concerned that there really was a spider, but confused as to how he had noticed it. I was relieved to hear that he had 'seen' it, an impossibility since his room was way too dark. So I searched for the imaginary spider for awhile and after he was reassured he went back to bed willingly and was asleep almost as I walked out the door. Monsters under the bed here we come!