Pabellón de Mariposas

So horrible mother that I am, I hadn't taken Joaquin to our Butterfly Pavilion yet this year.  And this is really a crime because as loyal readers may remember Joaquin loves butterflies.  Well we were invited to the aquarium and the botanical gardens with Tia Lina and Co, which meant Butterfly Pavilion!  Despite having already wandered through the aquarium and some killer heat he was insatiably excited. He remembered the glass box with chrysalises (or should that be chrysali?) and everything.  There was also a demonstrator there with some monarch caterpillars to look at it.  Which was really cool because they are some very recognizable caterpillars.  Getting him to leave was a bit hairy (although it needed to happen because Mommy was very tired and hungry!) but it was nice to see him fulfill an enthusiasm.

Clases de Natación, cont'd

So this summer is sort of the summer of Joaquin's blossoming as a swimmer. We started swimming lessons with a determination not to put his face in the water. After the first two weeks in the preschool class he was dunking himself with abandon as I've previously blogged. So when we went back to swimming lessons for the next session, they told us to go up to the big kid pool. Woo-hoo! Joaquin loved it, and I sincerely mean loved. He always wants to go to swimming lessons. He literally cried one day when he had to get out of the pool. He also actually listened to his teacher (except for the multiple warnings about keeping his hands on the wall). I was amazed at how much progress he made. He was actually swimming for a few feet and floating on his own. If you don't believe me, here's the video. :) He passed Wave I! (That's the first big kid swim class) Although this time they spelled his name wrong again.

Nuestras Aventuras con Comida

So the other day the Chick-fil-a near us gave free food for dressing like a cow.  To facilitate this they passed out sheets of cow spot stickers.  So the boys put on their white pants and stuck the stickers on.  I even made them some cow tails (photo below).  They were ridiculously cute as they set off to bring home dinner for the fam.  They didn't come back for a long time, which I found confusing, till they finally showed up.  The festive atmosphere had been so fun, they stayed to eat theirs there.  Apparently most folks hadn't made much of an effort besides putting on the spot stickers so Joaquin and Daniel stood out.  In fact they even got their picture taken!  (Of course that might be because they personally are so adorable even without the cow costume.)  Joaquin really does like to help cook/bake/order food so I suppose it was inevitable that Daddy got in on the action.  We discovered at a potluck that Joaquin is a fan of deviled eggs. (He would never have discovered this at home since I'm not one and so don't make them.)  Randomly he and Daniel decided it would be fun to make them.  Neither of them ever had so, everyone brace yourself, Daniel actually used a recipe.  (I was shocked but proud)  They apparently turned out great since they were eaten very quickly.  And it made a big impression because Joaquin was able to describe the entire process (ingredients and all) to Grandma several days later.  The best part was hearing him talking about sprinkling paprika on at the end.  It's a good spice to get excited about it.

Dibujo

In general, Joaquin isn't what I would call an artist.  While as a young child he occasionally would make drawings that looked like something, recently he just make scribbles.  Complicated scribbles that have intense, well planned color schemes, but still.  I've actually been a little worried.  So you can imagine my surprise when after a period of quietness he trotted over with this drawing.  He then asked me to write "Don't walk through the doggie door" on it.  It's a warning sign to keep people from trying to walk through the doggie door (not a common problem we have in case you're wondering).  Seriously, look at it!  This was completely on his own.  In case you're wondering, the triangle over the man is actually the doggie door (which because it's just a slit in the screen actually does look like a triangle when Chita goes through).  And he added the circle with the line himself.  I was utterly astounded, from 2 year old drawing to kindergarten drawing in one fell swoop.  I can't believe he could do this the entire time!!!  He marches to the beat of a different drummer this one.

Cuatro de Julio

We decided to spend the morning of the fourth in the pool.  The only reasonable decision in the face of the ridiculous heat.  So we went over to Uncle Bryan and Auntie Boo-boo's pool.  Joaquin had a great time with so many adults to help him play.  And he got to show off his new found bravery for daddy.  It actually scared Daniel quite a bit since Joaquin would just dunk himself without regard as to if someone was there to help him back up.  Courage, rash, foolhardy, they're all the same really. :)  Despite Daniel's fears they had a great time as these pictures show.  It's their new synchronized swimming routine.  I remember doing fun lifts with Joaquin when he was a toddler, but he's too heavy for me now.  But Daniel can still have fun.  There is a certain charm in being able to look like circus performers just because your partner happens to be a tiny child and trusts you implicitly.  After all our family time, we had a friend and her little boy Ben over for dinner and fireworks.  We even made homemade ice cream (which is an important part of fourth of july for me).  It was fabulous!  Since NM has been ridiculously dry for months now and half of the state is on fire, there was a ban on aerial fireworks.  Which was fine for a pair of four year olds.  Daniel got 'poppers' (the kind that make a loud noise when drop them) and ash snakes and sparklers.  Plus a few ground-hugging spark shooters (One called a 'Pooping Chicken').  The boys had more fun than I think they would have with more exciting fireworks since they could be close to everything and take part.  Then we let them stay up late to watch the professional fireworks.  Aaaah, another happy fourth.   

Clases de Natación (2011)

We've been having the best time at swimming lessons this year.  At first I was a little worried because Joaquin had been warning me how he would not put his face in the water.  He kept telling me that he didn't want to learn to swim that much, he would just keep walking
around the kid pool.  Seriously.  We had several very serious (at least on Joaquin's part) discussions about this.  I just told him that if he didn't try all the things his teachers told him to we would just stop going to pools, because he would get too big for me to hold him and he could walk around in water in the bathtub.  This threat didn't seem to move him any, so I just gave up and stopped talking about it.  Turns out I didn't need to worry.  At first he was very timid about his face (although thrilled with everything else), but after Jane came to swimming lessons with us and he saw how brave she was, he decided to try.  The somewhat ambiguous picture is actually Joaquin's head, the rest of him is underwater.  Amazing, huh?  He actually got so brave that he was just dunking himself for no reason, just to prove he could.  He also really enjoyed being in the big kid pool.  He was even brave when they had them float on their backs (teachers held their shoulders and heads) and sang a little pancake song.  He stayed relatively straight and was even excited about it.  Daniel is actually scared of how brave he is now.  For their final day, they all hung out afterward and ate cookies.  Isn't Joaquin cute in his poncho towel?  I made it myself out of a bath towel and hand towel.  He looks like an elf.  And the biggest surprise of all..... his name was spelled correctly on his certificate!!!!!!  This is worthy of multiple exclaimation points because it's never happened before.  He also did every skill and is ready to go on to big kid swimming lessons next summer!  (Although we're taking more little kid ones in a week, just for fun.)

Oración Contestado

So most people who read this blog already know this, but in case anyone doesn't, we're pregnant!