2 months shy of 2 y/o

Hello to all,

Our Pin Pon rang in his 22nd month birthday with a fever- but at least he sang his little MJ howls over and over again while "snapping" his fingers twice, over and over again- once on the upbeat and the second time on the downbeat. '

this month has been a tough one for the Martinez Family with Adrian getting used to daycare and our car breaking down. On the plus side, Adrian really likes riding the train and does a "choo choo" hand motion/sound every time he thinks about it.

He is also getting really good at throwing, catching, and kicking the ball. To catch, he will cup his hands like the "boat" sign in sign language and catches the football or soccer ball. To throw a football, he takes a step back and launches. And finally, to kick, he follows the soccer ball really well and even says "gooooal" when he makes it to the other side of the "playing field" (read: deck).

Luis has also ramped up the educational experience for Adrian with some new flashcards that teaches numbers, colors, shapes, matching, stickers, and letters. Adrian's favorite letters are S, T, O, A, and B cuz he will sound them out when he sees them. Also, he loves to throw all the flashcards all over the floor- that's his learning game. Handing out stickers is another cool game he likes.

Sophia's visit really lit up Adrian as he spent every waking moment with her and even requested she put him to bed for nap time. Sophia gave Adrian "scuba steve," a scuba plastic mono that Adrian is scare of. She also gave him a Japanese bathing cup that Adrian likes to use to throw water on his face and act surprised- he is such a joker! Perhaps Sophia can share some pics of her trip since our camera was out of commission during her trip.

Today, another aunt (Lilah) spoiled Adrian as well with a nice package of books that Adrian would fake laugh to.

i hope that in the months to come, we will be able to spend more time with family. now that our car is getting fixed and it looks like Cibe might not go to Texas, we might make the trek to Detroit. Also, i'm getting excited about X-mas!!

Love,

Isis

PS tune in tomorrow online/tv to see if the Zocalo in Mexico DF gets televised. apparently our cousin, Pedro, is going to try to dance in a Thriller group dance with 11,000 people to see if they can break the world record for the largest group dancing to this song. They are doing this also in part to honor MJ, since tomorrow is his Bday.

21 months update

So our little baby is officially a big boy- since he is all on his own at daycare. if you are on facebook, you can check out his daycare by typing "Rainforest." They have all these pics of their Art in Park day where they painted with balls, throwing paint balls at a blank canvas, putting paint on their shoes and stomping, and yes, using paintbrushes too. He was there that day for test play date but didn't come out in any pics.

today was his second day in day care and the toughest for me since I dropped him off this time. As soon as we pulled up to the front, he was yelling "Noooo." And then inside, he clung to my leg and started whimpering. I wasn't being very good either. I was just hugging him right back. Finally, I HAD to ask the day care teacher to dristract him cuz she was just standing there staring at him get seperation anxiety and her light bulb did not turn on. I'm not trying to be mean here- cuz i figured if your job is to take care of kids in daycare, why don't you remember to make the new kid feel better when it's his only 2nd day there? ok, enough with the bitterness.

his new thing is playing in sand and oh yes, talking about his TIA SOPHIA and his ABU every day! He knows sign language for Tia so he asks about Sophia all the time. He says he wants to play basketball with her. Lucky for him, his Tia is going to do just that in about 2 weekends. He is going to be over the moon!

He also knows how to show us the numbers 4 and 5 with his hands when asked in both Spanish and English. Throwing footballs pretty far is another thing he is good at. He even prepares his stance every time before he throws the ball.

He loves saying "daaadth!" like all the time! Luis patiently answers, "yes" every time as well. Adrian likes knowing that he can make Luis do that cuz he just smiles and starts all over again.

The grandparents also gave Adrian toys to expand his horizon- he got a guitar and a tennis set. he loves to jam, i mean really jam on his guitar. He will shake his head, bounce his body, and stick his tounge out when playing it. Once he insisted on taking it with him on a walk and halfway back he plopped himself down on the sidewalk and just focused on trying to play it. we were there for at leat 10 minutes.

i hope the Denver family reunion is doing well and the concert was fun. Btw, i can't believe Nate went to his first adult concert! or has he been to others.

Love,

Isis

ps luis mentioned he would send an update on the blog on his own. let's see if he comes through on this update better than he updates his FB status or Twitter.

Anniversary & 4th of July Pics on FB

Hello to all,

Today Luis and I celebrated four years of hard work, dedication, a growing family, and love- our 4th year wedding anniversary. Oh, how life has changed since that HOT day in B'ville in 2005.

The bottom pic shows the flowers Luis got me for our anniversary- (flowers is a suggested gift for a 4 year anniversary. I also surprised him with flowers- made out of fruit (fruit is another suggested gift for the 4th wedding anniversary). It's in the fridge and we have already started to be eaten away.

Finally, the photo above is a teaser of more photos available of the 4th of July weekend. I uploaded the rest of the photos on facebook.com so (uhum- Cibe, Horus, Mom & Dad) make sure you check them out on facebook.

Love,

Isis

He's 20 months

We measure our lives in Chun-chun's chapters. We marvel at how much he knows, how fast he grows, and all his incessant Nos. Seems that Pimpon has arrived at the Terrible Twos four months in advance. I call him Dr. No (as in the 1962 James Bonds film). He can go on for an eternity telling me no for everything. "Adrian, do you want papi to give you kiss?" "NOOOOOOO!" "Adrian, do you want daddy to hug you?" "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" "Adrian do you want to papa to play basketball with you?" "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" And now his grandma has taught how to wag his index finger to signal no. On a slight tangent, his grandma commented that since Adrian knows sign language he will have no motivation to articulate his expresssions. In retrospect, it is progress that she is teaching him non-verbal communication. Abu should receive credit because he has taken an interest in learning sign language with Adrian in order to help grandma understand Adrian.

We also love him because he is so affectionate. Adrian loves to run up to us and give us a big bear hug. He also loves to wave hello to his grandparents - even when they are not looking. Putting him down for a nap or to bed at night is a chance to be caressed by him. Well now we understand the enormous pride parents take whenever they see their kids age. There is nothing that can substitute this feeling.

Until the next posting (B-ball footage Osiris can study in preparation for his one-on-one against Adrian).

Interview w/Adrian

A three part series (due to low batteries) on Adrian's new digs, sign language, and his new basketball court. By the way, after I first asked him if he wanted to make a basket and pointed to me, he was asking for help to get off the chair but I didn't catch on until much later.

19th Month BDay

Yesterday was Adrian's 19th month birthday. We didn't really celebrate the day, just had a same ol same ol. Of note, however was him eating HALF of his fish and orzo w/veggies all by himself with a spoon and only spilling food sporadically. He was pretty good for the items being so small in size. He was also cracking me up when he would show me he knew he was eating fish by making the same sound he makes when he sees a picture of a whole fish.

Right now, I'm having major guilt for leaving him is his crib with NO chupon, just like that. Cold turkey. He had been playing with both of his chupones as we were getting him dressed and putting lotion on him when one of the chupones accidentally got lotion all over it. Luis took both to get washed when i asked Adrian if he wanted to say bye bye to the Chupones and he shook his head no really fast. Luis didn't give the Chupones back though and we distracted Adrian when he kept on asking for them. Finally, he was distracted enough, and I put him in bed without them.

I think he's actually asleep! That still doesn't stop me from wanting to run upstairs and give him BOTH chupones and say, "I'm sorry!!" But . .. I guess we had to come to this day eventually, right?

Isis

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Ok, so I'm not having a party and I'm not crying . . . but it is my 31st birthday. And really birthday's are just a recap of what I did since the last one. In my case, it's been quite a roller coaster ride that include my family as all my ups. After the job loss and especially the miscarriage, well, I was only ok because of having Luis, Adrian and Marah physically near by.

The fact is though that Adrian has kept me really busy and I will always be grateful for the chance to be his caretaker and see him change so much. Although, just 2 days ago he seemed to have regressed about 6 months when started pretending to breastfeed!!! Although one time when he thought he really had the chance to breastfeed and not just pretend he started crying because I said no. Anyway, he is a trip.

The point of this entry is to say thank you to each and every one of you for being the most important part of my life: Family.

Love,

Isis