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.