Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Diego turns ONE!!!!









Diego’s birthday was on Friday and it was a really special day. We decided to make it a Diego-centered day and to only do things that he loves. Whenever we go to the grocery store he goes crazy over the balloons so of course we had to have balloons in his room when he woke up. He thought that was so fun and pointed at them all day long. He says “ba, ba, ba” when he sees them. The Spanish word is “globo” so I’m not sure where he got “ba” from. We always have music playing, but only our music, but since it was Diego’s day, we played Spanish kids’ CD’s all day long and he loved it. He was groovin’ all around the apartment. For breakfast he had a cheese omelet and banana pancakes and gobbled it all up. He opened a couple of presents and then it was bath time. He always had his baths in the inflatable tub (see pictures from previous post) so this was his first time in the big boy bath – and he loved it! He crawled all around, stood up, splashed with his arms and legs, blew bubbles, laid on his tummy and played with his new toys. He couldn’t believe that he had so much room! After bath time papi had to go to work so Diego took a nap for an hour and a half. When he woke up it was lunch time and papi was back home! He didn’t have much of an appetite for lunch, but had some of his favorites – avocado, black beans and cheese. But of course he had room for chocolate cupcakes! He was slow at first, but dug right in once he discovered it was all chocolate! He liked the feeling of the gooey chocolate because he thought it was funny to blow kisses and smack his face with his hands dripping with chocolate. We quickly cleaned him up and headed to the park before it was time for his afternoon nap. We turned his car seat to face forward and he loves that he can now see everything, especially mami and papi in the front seat! It was a beautiful day so we had a really nice walk in the park and he loved seeing the doggies. He’s learned how to bark so he barks when he sees dogs and it’s SO cute. It was pretty chilly so we had him all bundled up and he liked being cozy. Grammie’s job was to keep him awake in the car ride home so that he would take a nap in his crib, but once we got home, he wanted nothing to do with his crib. He definitely knew something was different about the day because he always takes an afternoon nap. So we took him out and let him play and explore his new toys. We made home-made mac and cheese for dinner with peas and he loved it. He had a little bit of cupcake for dessert and was ready for bed, but not before another big boy bath! He only takes one bath a day, but since he had so much fun in his morning bath, we wanted to repeat the excitement. This time he got to bathe with one of his birthday balloons which he thought was really funny. It was wonderful to have Grammie here to celebrate the special day. He had a blast showing off all his new tricks for her. And we’re glad that he had a birthday party in Miami in December so his family there could celebrate with him. Now we’ll just have to have another one in April in El Salvador and he will have celebrated with (almost) everyone!

This past year has been full of blessings and Diego has brought an abundance of joy to so many people, strangers and family alike. We are so proud of our little guy and everyday is a celebration of his life.







Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Discipline!? Now!?


Reflecting on my actions


Yesterday Diego displayed a very sensitive side that broke my heart! He has been slapping our faces when we hold him and we’ve been trying to be firm and teach him that it’s not right. Today I was leaning over his crib talking to him while he was standing inside it and he reached out and gave me a strong smack on my cheek. I looked in his eyes and yelled “Diego! No!” He looked at me and his bottom lip curled under and started quivering and tears started to roll down his face, but he didn’t break into a full cry. He would look away and then look at me and roll his lip and gasp for air – so dramatic! I wanted to whisk him away and cuddle him for the rest of the day. But I was firm – I didn’t say a word for about 3 minutes and just looked at him while he put on this show. It was really hard because it was the first time he made me feel like I had really hurt his feelings. He was very clingy to me afterwards so he probably wanted to make sure that I still loved him. Since then many opportunities have presented themselves when he would’ve slapped me before and he has not lifted his hand once so I think he learned his lesson. And when he tried to play with the garbage can (which is a major no! zone) he obeyed immediately when I said a firm “no.” He tests his limits, but overall he’s doing a good job responding to discipline – check back in about 8 months and you’ll see that I’m longing for these days :)
As you saw from the video, he loves to cruise around furniture. When in the kitchen, he prefers to get from one end to the other by walking along the cupboards, instead of crawling. Everyday he stands for longer periods of time on his own, but gets nervous after 5 or 6 seconds and sits down



Ricardo and I LOVE this expression - when he's deep in
thought and his cheeks sag

Monday, January 15, 2007

Look what my mami did!






Technologically-adverse!?! I don't think so! That's what Ricardo said we were when I showed him a friend's blog. He didn't think we could get this going, but I did - and it was SO easy! And see, even Diego is applauding!
We'll use this blog as a way to keep our family and close friends updated on our life. Of course the content will most definitely focus on Diego, but maybe every once in awhile we'll let you know what the two of us are up to also :) Diego is changing so much and it's hard to write enough emails to feel that we've covered everyone we
care about; so we hope you'll enjoy this method of keeping in touch.

Click here to watch a video of Diego cruisin' around the coffee table:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2433633768479665256&pr=goog-sl





This is Diego's new dance




Diego says "Welcome to my blog!"