Escalera

Joaquin was quite entertaining all day today, especially this evening as you can see from the photos (I think my favorite is him upside down. This is a frequent pose of his while watching TV, either on the couch or our bed.) The best was naptime. He didn't sleep (which is actually unusual, he usually falls asleep

eventually) and after awhile I heard noises that sounded suspiciously like toys. After I went in and pried the Tinker Toys out of his hands I thought he'd go to sleep. It was quiet for a long time and then I heard...... a mournful harmonica. I swear to you it sounded like he was playing the blues. "Oh I'm stuck in this room, nah nah nah nah nah". Then when I went to get him up, he was in his pajamas. when I asked why he said that night was coming so he needed to be in his pajamas. He's also been very obsessed with stairs lately, keeps asking why we don't have a big house with stairs. My standard answer is that Daddy would have to work more so we could have enough money for the big house with stairs and then we would miss him. But this hasn't dulled Joaquin's craving for stairs. Tonight he told us how he wanted to tear down our house and build a new one, a different house with stairs, etc. This video is a recap of his plans.

Aparatos

Joaquin has recently been into building gadgets. He's always liked to build things with his Duplos and pretend they're heaters, air conditioners/swamp coolers, etc. And he's always added a few pieces of something else for flair. However now we've moved on to creating gadgets that involve pieces from a number of toys. These particular gadgets aren't actually terribly good examples since they aren't mixed media. However the tool gadget especially shows his propensity to used his toys in unintended (by the manufacturer) and somewhat bizarre ways. It's charming, except when he can't make something fit together since it's not meant to. The frustration level is high and his ability to give it up and move on is slim. Just means he's persistent, right?

Cohetes

So Joaquin usually enjoys preschool, but Wednesday was especially exciting since they set off rockets! Ooooh! Can you imagine anything more up his alley? They even sent the equipment to set off more at home. (In case you're wondering it's a film cannister, alka-seltzer and water. Ask me for the exact details if you're really curious.) Joaquin and I set off one right after school and it went so high that it landed on the roof over the garage (fortunately near the edge so we could retrieve it). So of course when we got home from Cubbies he had to show Daddy. Here he is running from it as Daniel prepares to set it off.

Rápidamente Triciclo

Joaquin has been sort of learning to ride his trike all this summer. He managed to basically get pedaling, but he kept getting stuck and his steering was very limited. (I had to keep intervening so he wouldn't kill himself on anything.) We hadn't ridden it in a long time (mostly b/c August and even September have been hellishly hot for Albuquerque and so we've avoided being outside), but this evening was so mild that we had dinner outside. Afterwards Joaquin decided to retry his tricycle. Suddenly it was like a switch had gone off and he was able to ride it. Very bizarre, he started zooming around the table at high speed having what appeared to be an absolutely lovely time. So here's some video of it for you too enjoy.

Joaquin Lindo

Joaquin is often a crazy, hyper, cagey little barbarian (like most 3 year olds). However, he does have his sweet side. So here's some endearing Joaquin moments. 1. Joaquin is a devoted fan of canned peaches so if I'm out of fruit they're always a viable alternative. I had given him the last half of a can for breakfast the other day and once he remembered how good they were he demanded them again for lunch. Since I didn't have any more I pulled out a can of pears. As he's gleefully eating them he tells me, "It's good that I put these pears on top of the canned peaches. The canned peaches make good medicine in my stomach. Not medicine like for my back, but good medicine. And the pears make it with them." I just about died. What on earth is going on in that little head? 2. Daniel and I have been taking classes trying to become foster/adoptive parents. These classes are quite long and have been taking up a lot of evenings and two Saturdays. We were trying to explain to Joaquin why we were going. He's very excited about having a little brother/sister (he wants one of each by the way) and Daniel was trying to explain to him that this little sibling would have other parents who couldn't take care of them. But if those parents got better they could have them back. Then Joaquin says, "If you go to more school can we get a little brother we can keep?" 3. The picture is of Joaquin and Daniel snuggled in his bed. Joaquin used to have this game he played where I would lay in his bed and he would shut the door to his room and go "make me food". I think he just enjoyed putting me to bed in his room and feeling like he was in charge. The other day they were playing and I came over to this sight. Joaquin was singing, "You are my sunshine" to Daniel. Then he got up, tucked Daniel in, and walked out of the room shutting the door behind him. :) 4. If you remember the fit chart we developed to help with the fits he's been throwing, I'm happy to say that we're making significant progress. He's recently had five days in a row without any fit. Plus a reference to getting a star is usually enough to get him to stop an incipient fit. Isn't that awesome? He's had a slight cold the last couple of days which helped. He wasn't really sick, just mildly out-of-it and very mellow. His nose dripped disgustingly, but he was very willing and helpful. Plus he was super cuddly and affectionate. So it's been a very adorable week.

Cubbies!

My little kidlet is a Cubbie! It makes him seem so grown-up. Here he is in his little Cubbie vest after his first time. (Notice his cool bracelet that he made there.) It was very funny teaching him his verse. I read it too him, then asked him to try and say with me. He looks at me funny and then repeats it perfectly. Okay, so memorization is not hard, got it. (I forget that at this age they do everything by memorization so their memory is fantastic.) I was a little scared about him saying it to his

leaders (you all know how Joaquin is about a direct question), but apparently he was quite excited to tell them. However this week he's been refused to say his verse to me. Little stinker. We'll see how it goes.

Las Cuevas de Carlsbad

Good morning from the Headley truck tent. A week and a half ago we took a flying family vacation to beautiful Carlsbad Caverns. The Caverns are incredible, but I think that they've never really drawn the luxury tourism crowd. Probably cause there's not much else to do in Carlsbad (sorry Carlsbad, so true though). We decided to camp since it was only once night, while Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Matty, Bryan & Boo-boo, plus Jo-johanna wimped out and stayed at a motel. However, after watching the nightly bat exodus (very cool, even to Joaquin although only for a moment) they came back to our campsite to make s'mores. (The band around my head is a headlamp, it was very dark when we got there, so we had to put them on to set up. Nerdy yes, useful, yes.) Camping, besides being an excuse for s'mores, allowed us to bring Chita along, which was helpful since her normal petsitters were with us. Would you believe the Caverns actually have kennels to keep your dogs while you're down in the caves? So Chita miserable whined in air-conditioned comfort and refused to eat the treats I brought her while we explored. We hiked down the natural entrance and Joaquin did really well. It was too steep to carry him so he managed the 1.25 mile descent (750 ft.) pretty much all by himself. (Johanna and I carried him for a brief time on the flat.) He was a little nervous about the cavey-ness of the caves, but with all his support blankets there he did fine. It's a somewhat nerve-wracking place to have a toddler though, fortunately he's always pretty cooperative about holding someone's hand. We put on his little flashing light (a gift from Mi-mo) as an extra security precaution. Really everything went very well, Joaquin's only difficulty was in keeping quiet for that long (apparently sounds carries far in the caves). Plus we got to see Caverns and I had forgot how absolutely amazing they are. Wow! After lunch the boys took the lower caves tour (oooh, aren't they cool?) and the rest of us bummed around Carlsbad (sigh) in 99 degree heat. After that much excitement joaquin was TIRED! This is how he looked about 4 seconds after starting the journey home. After he awoke he threw a mini-fit about how he wanted to go back to his camping place and the caves. At least we know he had fun!