Our Bilingual Father's Day

My parents do not speak Spanish. My husband's parents do not speak English. Thankfully this does not present a problem for my sons since they are bilingual. Living in the US, we knew that the boys would learn English so we have focused mostly on Spanish in our household. This presented the unusual problem that Diego could not communicate with my parents (without me translating) for the first three years of his life. Well, Diego absolutely adores both his Papa (grandpa) and his Abuelo so we sent them both a Father's Day card. Diego dictated as I wrote. I am amazed that he fully understands which language goes with which person and can turn them off and on as needed. Here are the two cards that we sent. On the back of each card Diego drew several games of tic-tac-toe so that he can play with the grandpas the next time he sees them. :)

Feliz Día de Padres

I found this great idea at Handprint and Footprint Art. Seriously, if you are looking for a handmade gift to make with your little one, check out her website.

We have been reading tons of books about the ocean and fish. Diego's favorite fish is definitely the clown fish. He is fascinated how the anemone stings everyone else but does not hurt the clown fish.

I tried to make our Father's Day's card fish look like clown fish using orange, white, and black. I was amazed at how well the boys sat still while I painted their hands -especially my squirmy Mateo. I think that Papi will love it!

Feliz Día de Padres!

Vacation!

Yesterday I revealed our summer "school" plans to study the ocean. That decision was largely influenced by our upcoming trip to the Florida Keys. We are extremely fortunate that my grandfather lives in the Florida Keys and we were able to go for a visit last summer. It is a little unexpected and last minute but we have decided to make the trip again this year. Apart from getting to spend time with and getting to know my wonderful grandpa, the boys will have such a fantastic time.

Last year Mateo was 14 months and Diego was three. To be completely honest the trip was very difficult. Mateo was still not walking and refused to sleep during the 15 journey in two cars and three planes. I had just stopped breastfeeding Mateo so his schedule and mood were already messed up and the added stress of traveling made for a fussy little guy. If my wonderful mother had not gone on the trip with us, it would have been a hundred times harder. I should give credit to Diego who was absolutely wonderfully behaved both on the plane and the trip as a whole.

Even with the difficulties, it was a great trip and we have special memories. To refresh Diego's memory of the trip, I pulled out the photo album. I was really surprised about how much he remembered. I am excited to experience the islands with them again now that they are a year older. Diego is excited too. He already packed his backpack. :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our trip last year:

Bluebonnets

I complained the other day about how impossible my children are to photograph. All of my friends took their kids to take pictures with the famous Texas bluebonnets and came home with postcard quality photos. I obviously did not. Even though I did not get that perfect picture I was hoping for (again), it was a wonderful day as a family and that is what really matters (or so I keep telling myself :)

Growing Up

A lot of big changes are happening around our house lately. One of the most difficult for me is to see my babies growing up. Obviously, I knew that would not stay babies forever but seeing my littlest, my LAST baby become a big boy is very hard for me. Mateo has always been small. He measured in the 5-10 percentile for his height and weight up until his last two-year check-up. He is now in the 50th percentile for his height and it shows. He is still very skinny so the baby-chubbiness is all gone and he is all little boy now. I have finally broken down and started to get rid of the baby toys and furniture that will never be used again in our house. (Pause to regain composure and not cry.) I guess that it was not as difficult with Diego because I knew that all of these items would be resurfacing shortly with the next kid. Since there will be no more new babies, it is time to pass these items off to someone else. Last week Mateo used his high chair for the last time and it will be finding a new home in a couple of weeks. I took one last picture of it before I took it out of the room. (Ok, I am crying again.)





I am so blessed to be the mommy of two such special little boys. My resolve is to appreciate each day that I have with them and never take for granted the time that we have together.

Am I a helicopter mom?

Last night (while I was up at 3:00 am again with the worse case of poison ivy I have ever seen in my life) I read a couple of interesting blog post about supervising our children and how free we should let them play. The first post was by Natalie at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. Natalie has some interesting comments about how we over supervise our children here in the US and do not give them enough freedom. The second post was by Simple Mom asking her readers "How freely do you let your kids play?" I highly recommend that you read both articles and the comments that followed for some interesting opinions on this topic.

This brings me to my take on it. I was raised in the country with a few acres of yard and a busy highway running across the front. As far back as I remember my sister and I knew to stay far away from the highway but had free range to run and play on the rest of the property. We would stay outside together (but without our parents) most of the day and come inside when it was time to eat.

I would love for my boys to have that kind of freedom. Unfortunately, we live in a suburb outside of a large city and the situation is very different. We are fortunate to have a decent-sized fenced-in backyard and the boys are allowed to play in it alone while I am in the kitchen. That is about the extent of their freedom. I would never allow them to play in the front yard without me. Diego has learned to stay out of the street but Mateo proved, yet again, the other day that he still has not figured that out yet. And yes, I will admit it. I am terrified of someone abducting my children. It maybe that I am paranoid or have watched one-too-many Cold Case Files but the thought is often in my head.

We were at the park the other day and I noticed several mothers sitting on one end of the park talking while their two and three years old were on the other side of the park playing, definitely out of sight. They did not check on these kids for about fifteen minutes. I, on the other hand, stayed fifteen feet or so behind the boys but followed them around the park the entire time.

So am I am helicopter mom? I think so. This is probably something I should work on. I think that as they grow up I need concentrate more on teaching them how to make good choices and make decisions for themselves. I want them to grow up confident and not afraid.

Rosas de Abuela

My husband's grandmother was very special to him. Unfortunately, she passed away shortly before we met so I never had the honor of meeting her. During one of our trips to his hometown, we stopped by his grandfather's house and he offered us one of his grandmother's rosebushes. I was skeptical as we dug a bunch of leafless sticks out of the sandy ground that we would ever see a rose. Well, I was wrong! Four years later we can enjoy the beautiful roses that bloom in front of our house and pay tribute to a wonderful woman.