Fun in the park and my mom's guilt

My mom apologizes for not updating the blog for so long. She has been really busy at work. And when not at work, she has been busy trying to appease her guilt for leaving me to go on a stupid business trip. She went to Houston and left me with dad...yeah, I am surprised I survived too. She was supposed to be gone for 4 days, but Mother Nature thought it was wrong for her to leave as well, so she conjured Hurricane Ike and mom was evacuated back home early. Luckily all her friends in Houston seemed to have survived ok from the hurricane and I got my mom back, so all ended up ok.

The nice thing about my mom feeling guilty is that she made sure we had lots of fun before she left and after she returned. We went to parks and aquariums and saw animals and rode horses. So maybe she should leave more often. Of course she photographed every second of our time together.

We will start with parks in this entry.

Dennis the Menace Park, Monterey, August 31st, 2008
This was a very cool park in Monterey, but I think I would appreciate it more when I am older. Cousins Sebastian and Isabelle will love this park and I will insist we go to it when they come for Christmas

Cool suspension bridge. When big kids would run on it, I would fall. Otherwise it was fun. Daddy helped me cross it
Going down the slide

Crawling through a tunnel

Cuesta Park, Mountain View, CA September 20th, 2008
We went to Cuesta Park for a baby shower (Congrats to the Jost Vuono family. Moana Flurina was born Friday, September 26, 2008).
In a cage:
Playing with sand


Albert Augustine Jr park, Milpitas, September 7th, 2008

This is one of our favorite parks in Milpitas. Plus I usually see good buddy Lily here

Riding the turtle:

Albert Augustine Jr Park, Milpitas, September 21, 2008
Daddy was out of town on a business trip. I made myself feel better by lots of swinging



and a little bit of sliding

Albert Augustine Jr Park, Milpitas with buddy Lily, September 27, 2008

Playdate with Lily
We like to share:Half headed Ellie
Swinging
and more swinging


Ben Rodgers Park, Milpitas, September 28, 2008
This is the closest park to our house. I spend most of the time in the swings and in the sand
Ready to walk (?!) down the slide

ok, I will slide down sitting. you ruin everything mom



More updates to come

Trouble

My mom fears she may be in trouble

Milestones

So I have reached many milestones recently. I am walking really well. I definitely have opinions on things and I am talking a lot

These are my words (that I can remember right now):

Mama
Dada (for Daddy)
E-le-na (my mom thinks this is the cutest thing!)
hi (favorite word)
dye-dye for bye bye
oh oh
wow
no
nona
ba (for ball)
buh (for book)
gaga for Gracias (thank you in Spanish)
Papo for zapatos (shoes in Spanish...I love shoes)
Um when I am hungry
Du-n when I am done eating, playing, etc
qwa-ka for crackers...or really anything like a cracker, like bread, rice cakes, etc

I also have many animal sounds:

baa--for sheep and goats
hahaha (panting) for dog
snorting for pig
quack for duck
arf arf...coupled with clapping for sea lions
oo-oo for monkeys
fish kiss sounds for fish
bzzz for a bee
elephant sound coupled with trunk motion

I understand a lot more than I can speak. I am also very free with hugs and kisses. And I am constantly smiling.

And lastly this week, I have discovered that my finger fits perfectly in my nostrils, so I store my finger there frequently. My parents are very proud.

But so that is not your last (mental) image of me, here are some photos taken since my birthday party:

Taking a bath in a sink:

Building the Taj Mahal
Showing off the t-shirt that Tio Tom and Tia Kristen sent me from Spain
Just cute:
I really love those red blocks
Get me out of here
Oh, that's better. hey mom, leaves and dirt are delicious
Kissing and hugging good friend Daniela
Reading the paper.
Happily walking
Practicing with mom
More cute:
Cuteness abounds
Here mom, take this elephant
Playing with 2 cans of Mandarin oranges with dad's good friend Matt Nerney

Prezzies

The morning after my party, I got to open some gifts. i was very excited about certain presents, as you can tell

Wow, a bike from Gran and Grandpa:
ooh, ribbon and a card
Give that back to me please

Another box on which to climb
Mom, some privacy while I play with my legos in my diapers, pleaseI also REALLY love my water table from Auntie Rachel
Thanks everyone

Birthday Party

The birthday party started off with a lot of fun. When I woke up from my morning nap, I found this in my living room. I was very excited:


About 30 minutes before my friends started arriving, my mom decided it was way too hot (90+ degrees) and she sent dada and Grandpa to the store to buy a kiddie pool. I wanted nothing to do with the pool, but everyone else had fun in it:
Once people started arriving, I spent a lot of time on this blanket with my friends

The triplets: Elena, Olivia and Lily
Mommy and Ifriends:

Get me away from this crazy Australian
The Roche Wall
Party is over. time for bed. but first some hugs for my balloons
I really like this pink one. it gets a full body hug

Birthday Party Cake

Let the birthday pictures begin

Cake.

You want me to eat that? But it is not pureed. I am stressed out!
Are you sure?But it is gooey
I am really not sure about this

Maybe if mom spoon feeds me the sugar
maybe it is not so bad
I think I like it

I now have this under control

Hey, in a couple of years, can someone remind my mom on how she forced me to eat sugar and spoon-fed me cake.

More of the same

Standing and walking

I know I still owe a birthday update, but mom has been really busy lately and I have been uncooperative. I refuse to go to bed before 9:30 or 10:00 which does not give mom a lot of time in the evenings to update my blog.

But I do want to share something. I am now a walker! i started really walking at Daycare yesterday. So we practiced a lot yesterday when I got home. But my mom is new at this parenting thing and forgot to videotape it until I was tired and not doing so well. but here you have it


Standing with my drums:


Walking attempt 1:


Walking attempt 2:


(if anyone knows how to rotate a video, please let my mom know)