One of the Two

So I used to always get annoyed when my friends' blogs would turn into endless parades of photos of their children and stories of their children doing things that I mastered at least twenty years ago, if not thirty. And then I had a child. And I would still get annoyed, just a bit less. I still wanted to know more about what was going on with the friends I love but at least could share in the excitement of watching their children (who I love as well) grow. I kind of made a silent vow to not lose myself completely in post after post about the latest trick O mastered or developmental milestone S hit or child-oriented activity we did. But here I am, completely lost because let's face it-- I haven't learned much new in a while; I don't say the cutest things; and pictures of me just kind of depress me (do I really look like that?).

And the fact is we started this blog as a way to stay a bit more connected with everyone we're so far away from. There are a few grandparents included in that and a few other people who actually request more info about our children and not so much info about us. I mean, seriously, do you care that my eyebrows are growing in? That's the kind of stuff I have going on now.

All that said, the point of this post is to introduce you to O.

• He was 85cm, 11.2kg at his last appointment with Dr Hernandez, with whom he is getting braver and braver.
• He can get the most bright red diaper rash in the blink of an eye (or the few minutes before we change his caca nappy) but doesn't let that stop him from eating spicy foods. It should probably stop us from letting him.
• A couple weeks ago I counted about 25 words he knew but by now there are too many to count.
• He calls mandarins "juice" and can go through at least three whole ones in one go.
• He loves to lay on top of S to give him kisses but sometimes does it with his bum in S's face.
• He tries to climb the doorframe like Papa taught him but hasn't quite mastered the finer points of balance and grip.
• He goes completely nuts over his friend Martina's doll stroller and so we finally broke down and bought him his own for fear that he would wear hers to shreds.
• He can be amazingly still and silent while hiding in the curtains.
• One of his first words was "aweeee", which is his version of "put it away" and which makes me so proud.
• When he said "mommy" for the first time a few weeks ago, it seemed to be a real struggle for him and then surprised him when he got the whole word out. It kills me to hear it because he still manages to maintain this intonation of complete focus when getting out that last syllable.
• He spends a good amount of time each day sitting in his crib in the dark saying things like, "Mama, no. Papa, no. Cat, no. Nana, no...."
• When his biscuits break while he's holding them he lets out the most mournful "bwwoooookke" that it has more than once brought tears to my eyes.
• We have to hide leftover spaghetti noodles in the back of the fridge otherwise he opens it and begs to have one and then cries "bwwwoooookkee" when they invariably break.
• He must always be given biscuits in twos-- one for his eating hand and one for his holding hand.
• He counts to two but begins with a word that sounds more like "five".
• He gets very excited by tractors, trucks, buses, dogs, balls, coches (cars), and rhinos.
• He loves Barbapapa and goes through times when we must read it in French and in Spanish at least twice a day.
• Whenever he hears S stirring, he runs in the room and flips the light above S's crib on and yells, "Hola!"
• He doesn't seem phased at all by sucking on a lemon.
• When he concentrates on something, his lower lip starts protruding more and more.
• He loves to read and will go through the entire flat pulling out books and flipping through them like somewhere in there is the key to life itself if only he could find it.
• He can't quite understand why Mama would read magazines that don't have pictures of dogs or trucks or rhinos.
• He picks up Cat's brush and walks through the flat calling for her and then seems puzzled as to why she might avoid the boy with the thousands of tiny metal bristles calling her name.
• We can always tell when he spills something by the "uh-oh" he utters and perhaps him scampering to get his mop and bucket.

That's O. Soon I'll get a post up about S. And then, just so that I don't become one of those people, I'll put up a post about some of the things

I've been working on (warning, most are projects for the two).

P.S. We had one small victory in our quest for legality here.