Background on below video: Marco does not say "no" or "si". He just nods his head. He has never spoken the word "no"...hard to believe, I know! So I wanted to get the head nodding on camera. I'm asking him questions like "do you want to eat? Go outside? See daddy? See mommy? Play? Then Diego asked "do you want to go outside?" and that's when we got a "Yes!", Marco-style.
Today was his 2 year check up and he's perfectly and wonderfully healthy. 27 pounds and growing. She was not concerned at all about his lack of speech...he has it tough bring a bilingual 3rd born! Even this week I have seen great improvements in his communication so I know he'll start chatting away soon!

Brother knows best 

HOLA TIA MAJO!!

Today was the last day of school which was celebrated with Fine Arts day.  All grades did recitations and sang songs and it was an outstanding performance.  Diego performed so confidently and did an awesome job.  

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Diego and Mrs Braeden.  She is an amazing teacher and was such a good fit for Diego.  At our last conference she said "Diego is a leader in the making". He loved her and says he'll miss her!

Alexia joining in on the fun at the playground!  How wonderful is this playground?  I love how it promotes such creative play and is so very different from any school playground I've ever seen.

Another playground shot

Lopez pool is OPEN!!

"practicing for a marathon"

Marco's dinner plate before I put it on the table.  He cleared it and even ate chicken from the other kids' plates.  Trader Joes organic chicken is drastically cheaper if you buy the pack of breasts and drum sticks.  Perfect for our boy who loves meat on the bone!  He sucked it clean.

Devouring the drumstick!

Making granola yesterday morning.  They thought it was pretty yummy, even before baking it.

Morning snack under the tree

The kids started gymnastics last week.  I cannot possibly express the extreme excitement that this caused.  We visited the gym the week before and they were practically counting down the minutes until Tuesdays arrival.  They were absolutely giddy!  Alexia's class is a gymnastics/dance combo and Diego's is a gymnastics/sports combo - talk about perfect!  AND they are at the same time!  After class last Tuesday, they both exclaimed, "Mommy, I didn't like gymnastics, I LOVED it!"  There was nonstop talk about gymnastics for the rest of the afternoon and the next day.  THEN...what happened?  Yep, dear Diego broke his arm.  So, that means no more gymnastics for him for a couple of months.  So today is Tuesday and Alexia had her class so we all went along.  Diego was awesome and never complained about being there and was excited to watch Alexia.  I reminded him that she has faithfully attended his soccer practices and games for 2 years now so it was a nice opportunity to show her support.  Alexia had a blast, of course!  Today they gave out medals and Diego's coach was so kind and included him in the "ceremony," even though he had only attended one class.  That gives you an idea of the impact that Diego made in that one class...yeah, his athletic ability doesn't stop at the soccer field! :)  And Alexia's coach was very impressed with her ability to almost hold a hand stand...she said she was built for gymnastics!  

And so it begins...

...the list of injuries.  Today was a big day in the Lopez family.  We had our first trip to the ER with a child!  As you saw in the first post of the day, our day started off right...quietly sitting on the couch reading books.  We headed out shortly after that to deliver a meal to a friend.  We spontaneously stopped at a favorite walking place of ours for a special nature walk. The kids were getting along beautifully, I was filled with joy and gratefulness...it was just a beautiful morning in all aspects.  We've been cutting down on ChikFilA lately (more about that later...it's driven by health concerns) so I thought I'd treat them to a special lunch at a chik fil a that has a playground, so that was an added bonus!  We had a blast, made new friends and everyone was worn out.  In the afternoon we ran a couple of errands and then headed home to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon.  It was just splendid out. Diego and I played catch with the football for awhile and then Alexia asked to go on the swings so we proceeded to enjoy the time on the swings.  I was feeling a headache coming on so I decided to run inside to get some water.  Diego graciously offered his water to me and after I finished it (it was on the picnic table outside) I decided to fill it up for him in case he got thirsty.  As I was filling up the cup in the kitchen, I heard a scream.  It was a bad scream, but at first I thought it was Alexia running away from Marco because I looked outside and saw her frantically running towards the house.  Then I was sure that a dog was in the yard, but when I approached the back door and really heard the screams, I realized something was terribly wrong. Diego was balled up in a ball of agonizing pain below a swing and he was screaming the kind of scream that no mother ever wants to hear.  I mean it was a scream like no other I have ever heard.  I sprinted to him and didn't touch him at first since I wasn't sure where the injury was or what was going on.  He said he couldn't move his hand or arm so then I realized it was ok to pick him up as long as I was careful with his arm.  I carried him inside where he proceeded to scream and cry the hardest I have every heard a child scream or cry.  As you know, Diego is a tough boy.  He is super strong, tough and brave.  He is not the kind of kid to scream about an injury, in fact, I don't think he ever has.  So when the screams continued I knew it was bad.  After calls to the doctor, to Ricardo, to friends (about what to do with A and M), I decided to take him to the ER.  A friend rushed over to pick up Alexia and Marco and Diego and I raced off to the hospital.  He was in so much pain and there was so much traffic.  He was amazing though.  He started to calm down in the car and was just crying (not screaming anymore) by the time we arrived to the ER valet.  

Everyone that cared for us at the hospital was super sweet and really put Diego at ease.  He was able to answer questions at the check-in and calmed down as soon as he was totally stimulated by all of the action of the waiting room.  He was thrilled to ride in the wheel chair (pictured below) and thought it was neat to have his own bright and colorful room.

We had to wait for the nurse, then the doctor, then the x-ray, then the doctor again, then the nurse to put the splint, etc, etc.  Through all of those processes and waiting, Diego and I had a wonderful time.  He was so happy and chatty and tender hearted.  We had a sweet time of laughing and playing and talking and reading. The nurse put on a movie for him, but he asked me to turn it off and just wanted to chat with me and read the books that I had quickly thrown into my purse before we bolted to the hospital.  God really shined his light through Diego and he wowed the doctors and nurses with his manners and bravery and sweetness and smile and how cooperative and good he was.  

His wrist was (is) very swollen and the doctor said that was actually good because the collection of blood that caused the swelling protected his broken bones so they did not have to reset his arm.  Phew!  But since the swelling was so bad, they could not cast it right away.  They put it in a splint and rested it in a sling and then next week he will have to go in to get a proper cast which he'll have for 6-8 weeks.  

As I was talking to a friend on the phone tonight I was teary as I recounted to her how incredible Diego had been at the hospital..  God really encouraged my heart about what a unique and special boy Diego is. 

Meanwhile, Alexia and Marco did great at Nina's house.  Alok (Nina's husband) is Diego's soccer coach and was a classmate of Ricardo's at Harvard so we've known them for several years.  They said that Alexia and Marco did great and Alexia was sooo happy to see Diego when we went to pick them up.  Right after his fall, Alexia turned into "what can I do for you?" girl and wanted to serve Diego in any way she could. She offered him snacks, treats, water, shoes, cuddles, chit chat, smiles, you name it.  She was so precious in the way that she totally put him first and was so concerned about him.  It was a hard job too because he was hysterical and wanted nothing more than mama's cuddles.

And  now you ask, what exactly caused the fall?  Yes, good question. According to Diego, he let go while swinging.  Yep, just let go.  "I didn't think I would fall!" was his explanation.  "Mom, I wasn't being risky. You know, like some boys are.  I really didn't think I would fall."  And you know what...I believe him.  I really believe that he truly thought he would just keep on swinging without a care in the world.  Oh precious boy, even through this fall, God protected you and cared for you in amazing ways.  

The right way to start off the morning!

The realities of daddy's 6 day absence!  He's been traveling every week and this week is gone Sun to Fri.  I try to cook a meal from scratch 3 nights of the week when he's gone and give myself 2 "whatever" meals.  Tonight it was pasta at an unset table with few manners enforced.  Marco ended the meal with pasta in his front pocket!  But hey, we were together, we were happy and blessed and I have nothing else to do tonight but clean up (oh yeah, and cook a meal for a friend...but that will be fast).  

Look closely and you'll see the pasta in his pocket

Headed to the front porch to bless the kiddos who are out there reading their bibles and coloring 

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So busy!

Mud baby in action 

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Enjoying their morning video :)

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A boy after his mama's heart.  We all had omelettes and pancakes and he ordered granola, fruit and yogurt.  The healthy energy served him well as he scored FIVE goals in his soccer game!

Having donuts and ice cream and donuts to celebrated daddy's birthday!

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Special tapas dinner for my man on his birthday eve

Marco "jumping" into the pool!

Diego asked for alone time to read his bible outside.

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At Nordstrom Rack

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Hard at work!

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