Emilio - 2.5 years

Emi, Emi, Emi...! You are a handful!!! You have always been very intense, but the last little while has been full on toddler energy!  and it hasn't always been easy, but the hardships definitely don't even begin to define your sweet, happy, smart and vivacious self.

No doubt you are the life of the party when you are happy. You are affectionate, full of joy, a chatterbox and super sociable. You give, hands down, the BEST hugs in the universe. You are so affectionate and such a sweet heart, you just can't hide it. You are also so enthusiastic about everything, you always want to be in the middle of the action, and the words "exhausted", "rest" and "quiet" mean nothing to you. You are just not interested in being calm or taking a break. Instead, you want to be part of all the action at all times, and that 90% of the time means being near your brother and sticking your nose in his business at all cost.

You are also a super strong, athletic little guy. You are like a tiny body builder. Your physical ability is impressive, people always comment on how fast, strong, and coordinated you look for your age. Your fine motor skills are also amazing, and the things you are able to do with your little fingers blow my mind.

All this energy and personality, however, sometimes seem to come at a high cost, ha! don't get me wrong, you are so cute and sweet it hurts just to look at you. But I think toddlerhood sometimes is just such a miserable time for little guys, with all its frustrations and inability to communicate them verbally, it just makes ground for perfect storms in a lively guy like you. 

One of the challenges we deal with on a daily basis is that, added to your strength, you have developed the most annoying and loud screams on earth. Meaning every time you don't get what you want, how you want it, you just go ballistic, and I have a hard time coping with that, sometimes for an entire hour, on and off throughout the day. If you wake up in a bad mood, you can be a pain all morning and not compose yourself really until after nap time. 

Some nights you don't sleep so well and you wake up crying as if in terrible pain, or have night terrors that make you act like crazy screaming and rolling around all over the floor, and nothing will make you stop.  We haven't quite figured out what is going on there. And sometimes it happens night after night, to the point we are starting to think there might be a food allergy involved. Those days you are no fun to be around during the day.

Too many bubbles...

This brings me to breastfeeding and why we, or I, haven't built up the courage to wean you completely. You still nurse to have a nap and to go to sleep at night, and when you wake up through the night (which is still often). I am so ready to stop nursing, since you are now pretty demanding and you just like to treat my body as if  I am made of Playdo, which is not very enjoyable. But I am just scared of your reaction if I just refused to nurse you :S. I am also so afraid you are going to be heart broken, but I guess everyone feels like that...

Other little quirks you have developed are having a banana every morning, but it has to be an unopened one (even if you have already had part of one minutes before), and you have to say when, where and how we opened it, or else we will have to pick out a new banana and start over. You are following Paulo's steps in the quirks department, as you start to demand milk a certain way, in a specific bottle. You also hate wearing shoes and sweaters (which makes for INTERESTING morning routines), and you are OBSESSED with the word "dangerous/peligroso)" as well as actual dangerous objects which you want to always have, such as blades, knifes, screwdrivers, etc. 

Last, some of your favourite things are eating, running wild, watering plants... and your brother. You guys are on each other all the time, but you are just crazy in love with your brother. You have to say all the same things, imitate everything he does, wear the same clothes, to the point you want to wear his clothes even if they don't fit. You always want to sleep in his bedroom at bed time, right until the last minute when you bail and just come to your own bed to nurse. And when you two do get along and play, you play SO WELL. You giggle and run and jump around so much, my heart could explode.

I could go on and on for pages so I will just stop here. I love you more than I will ever be able to say. You are my little bichito :).

Paulo - 4.5

Paulo, Paulito, Muneco,

You have grown so much! you are such a little boy now. You have just finished your 1st year of Kindergarten and you have moved on the Senior Kindergarten and French Immersion in September!!

First I want to say I am so proud of everything you have learned and the big effort you put into that school year. You had such a positive spirit about it. Not once did I hear you complain about not wanting to go to school, and even if some days you were a little sad and not staying at home, you still went and had a good time.

You have learned all your letters, to read and write them, and are starting to notice what words start with which letters. You can count to 100 with some assistance (basically all the 10s, 20s, 30s, etc, instead of saying "twenty-ten" for example), and you can also write most numbers, with the exception of the same ones I used to have trouble with, like switching the 2 for the 5, 6 for 9 etc).

But despite all the academics you learned, that was not the most important achievement in my eyes. I think you kicked butt at learning to make friends and coming out of your shell. You started out this quiet little boy, very shy and a bit afraid maybe of those older boys. But by the end of it you were just part of them and made some really good friendships like your best friend Jayden. You were also known with your teachers for being very kind, polite, sweet, and inquisitive.



And with age also comes a bit of light of what growing up will be like. You are indeed very inquisitive, very observant and analytic. You want to know why EVERYTHING. And you are now starting to notice what people do and say. You will often apply my logic when I am arguing with you. You will ask me what are "good words" and "bad words", why people use them, etc. You will ask things like "what happens when someone dies" and "is death like sleeping", "why does so and so have 2 moms", you will ask about body parts, and private parts :). For a while there you were OBSESSED with smoking: what is smoking, why do people smoke, why do they smoke if it makes them sick, can boys smoke, what happens if boys smoke, why do people throw their cigarrette butts on the ground, etc. Needless to say, some of your questions throw me for a loop, give me anxiety or just plain scare me.

One of your biggest challenges right now is to cope with your brother. When he pokes you, hits you, yells at you , etc, which is often, you just take it, and then come to me crying. It is hard on all of us because it happens all the time. So we are trying to work on getting you to express your feeling to your brother and to stand up for yourself by telling him to stop, and work out those little issues between the two of you. A big job and not easy. But sometimes you are very patient, and it is evident to me that even if he drives you nuts, you always look out for your brother and you do enjoy playing with him.

 One thing I have noticed lately and which I love, is that you have developed a little positive dialogue inside. As in, when I spill something on the floor and get mad about it, you will say "don't worry, it won't stain the floor", or if your dad breaks something by accident, you will say "don't worry daddy, it still works".

On the flip side, another thing we are working on is on helping you cope when you get a "NO". You are just not very used to hearing a no and accepting. You are always negotiating with us and you are so persistent, we have gotten used to giving in to a degree. However, we have realized that sometimes this is a bit harmful, since you just can't cope with a no, when we finally mean it. This is a tough one for you, but I trust we will eventually teach you there is life after a "no".

Finally, some of your favourite things are definitely sports, building toys, and art. Most of your time is spent either riding your bike, which you LOVE, playing soccer (which you are very good at), swimming, etc; You also spend a lot of time playing with your Lego, Plus Plus, Magna Tiles, or any kind of building toy; also, painting, making collages, or folding/taping paper is also right up on your list of things you enjoy doing. All this has developed your little imagination and I can proudly say that you prefer any of these things way more than watching TV, and you will often ignore or flat out turn off the TV to go play one of these things.

Paulo, I could have a job talking about all I love about you but I will finish here, just to tell you, you are a sweet, silly, happy and smart little boy. You are persistent, friendly, confident, kind and easy to get along. I love you muchisimo my little guy :).

Paulo the bike rider

Paulo can now ride a bike without training wheels. It happened over the Easter Long weekend on April 3rd, when in the morning, I took his training wheels off and took him outside to ride the bike. He got on the bike, and I went the whole speech again:

- You WILL fall down many times. You just will. But you have to stay strong, get up and try again. Every time you get back on your back you will be better at it. 

- If you start feeling wobbly it means you have to pedal a little faster.

- watch the road. 

So he went on the bike, I held the back of his seat. He started pedaling but kept forgetting to steer the bike and kept going to the side of the road. We stopped, talked about why that was happening. 

He got back on the bike, started pedaling, and soon he was riding very stable on a straight line. I started loosening my grip on his seat, and he was fine. Then I let go. And he just kept going. For a long time. I ran in front of him and put my hand up showing him he had done it, and he was riding by himself. And then he had a huge smile on his face. That whole thing took 10 minutes, at most.

After that, he never fell fell down. Next we taught him how to start on his own (without a push) and he mastered that within minutes as well. And ever since then, he has been riding the bike non-stop every afternoon, and riding it to and from school every day. I have now started riding my bike with him when I pick him up from school and Emilio is napping. 

I have also noticed (and this might be a coincidence or not), but ever since his learning to ride the bike without training wheels, he seems to have gained so much more confidence in everything. He has made better friends with the boys at his school, talks to his teachers, talks to our neighbors, etc. I really do notice a big change in him in that respect.

Paulo is almost 4 and a half years, and started riding his balance bike since he was 2 years old. :)

Emilio - 1 Year!!



Emilio,

it is unbelievable that you have joined our family a year ago.... wow, it is amazing how fast you have grown! it is also a little sad, that my little baby is gone, that you are a full on toddler now, and soon you will start becoming a little boy. Despite the sadness, however, I can honestly say that I have really enjoyed this year with you, and that I have (successfully!) made an effort to appreciate every moment. Even when it has been really hard taking care of  you two, I have always reminded myself that in time I will remember these moments and cherish them.

I want to talk about your sleep before anything else and just get it out of the way. Your sleep has SUCKED big time for the last... month? Two months? I cant even remember when was the last time you had some decent sleep, but I don't even really care to figure it out. I know (hope!!) it's all a phase and that you will have to sleep better one day. It is funny that in general you seem to be a much better sleeper than you brother, and still at this age he was already sleeping through the night. You, in turn, are not even close to that. You nap incredibly well (from about 12 to 3), and in general you go down fairly easily, now nursing to sleep again. However, at night (when you sleep from around 8 p.m. to 7.30 a.m.) you have started to wake up tons, and in the last month, you wake up really angry, screaming and arching your back, kicking and rolling all over the bed until I nurse you back to sleep. I think the latter may be related to your 4 molars coming in at the same time... God I really hope that is it! and if so, I know all I can do is basically wait it out.

I have also started to think about weaning you. First I was toying with the idea of nursing you until YOU were done with it, basically because I am in no rush to wean you. However, after meeting with some friends who are still nursing their toddler well into his 2nd year and seeing what that was like...um, I think I'll pass. As great as I think that is for some people, I just don't think it is for me. We will see. At the moment you only nurse once during the day (before your nap) and then before bed, and numerous times throughout the night. So it really does not bother me at all, but it would be nice to have some uninterrupted sleep. Especially when I first lay down exhausted and you wake up because I'm there. For these reasons, I have decided to move you to a mattress on the floor or another sleep surface in an attempt to see if your sleep stretched get longer.

Other than that, now you are:

•  walking everywhere like it is no big deal, although you still prefer to hold somebody's hand while you do it.
• You absolutely LOVE music, and every single song or melody (even the church organ!) makes you dance, bending your knees and waving your arms up in the air, so cute!!
• You have started babbling more and more words. For instance, you now say "Ta Ta" every night , meaning "bye bye", when you go to bed. Or else during the day while waving good bye. You also say "ta taaa" when you mean to say "gracias!", "gaaa" for "Gooool" when you play ball, and "ta ta" for Dada.
• You still eat up a storm, although your teeth sometimes take their toll on your meals.
• You love having baths.
• You most certainly know what you want, and you know how to scream up the top of your lungs when you don't get it.
• You still absolutely HATE the car seat.
• You still smile away at everybody and everything. You have the silliest laughter, and although you've learn to put up a fight with your brother, you still love being with him and he makes you laugh like no one else.

Emilio, no doubt you are the friendliest, happiest baby I have ever seen. You have an amazing temperament and the sweetest smile on earth. Smile on Emilio, we love you so much!

 

Emilio - 11 months

Emi! It is now January 2nd and i am just getting around to writing your 11 month old post. We have been on vacation since December 7th and with the change in routine and lack of consistent internet, it has been difficult to sit down and write.
But here I am. Late, but will try to write a bit down before you turn a year old.
Your most amazing milestone this month is still your ability to walk. You are still eager to walk everywhere, although you still lack the confidence to do it all on your own. You typically have to hold on to someone or something, but are so happy to do it, you cry when we pick you up. You are definitely more and more confident, although the hard floors in Mexico have put a pause on your learning, primarily because we're all terrified of you falling on t eh concrete floor. It has also been difficult for you to crawl because you're always wearing shorts he and it hurts your little knees when you do. So in terms of mobility, it hasn't been your best month.

Other than that your speech is definitely improving. You can hear the intonation in your made- up words, like you're trying to imitate everything. Some words that I can tell you say consistently well:
Mama, Dada, ball, gracias, " ai ta" ( ahi esta), alla ( while pointing your finger).

This month your potty habits have gone out of whack. Mostly because our eating schedule has been changes around with our  lunch being our main meal here, and because there are so many people looking for you here, that I'm just not so in tune with you. Sometimes you go potty in the toilet, but there have been many times when you just go in your diaper.

Your eating habits have also suffered a bit while in here, because we don't have a proper high chair to sit you on, and you hate being restrained, so you always end up eating while standing up.

Paulo - 3 years

Dear Paulo,

It is so hard to believe you are a full 3 years old. It has been almost two weeks since your birthday and I haven't had the time i wanted to dedicate to you here, but i may as well get on with it because busyness seems to never go away these days...

You are without a doubt not two anymore. You are definitely a little boy now in everything you do. You are still the cutest little big headed boy. You run around looking diwn at your feet like you cant believe how fast you're going. You still love playing soccer and basketball and pretty much anything that involves a ball, and you are quite good at it.

You are now much more inquisitive and the "why"  questions go on and on. You are very sensitive, not only in that your feelings get hurt if I just raise my voice (and God forbid if you daddy gives you trouble for anything, which you are definitely NOT used to), butalso in that you can always tell if somebody ( that is me, haha) is mad, sad, frustrated or angry, and you always ask: "que paso mama?" " porque estas triste mama?".

Your English has also exploded in the last six months or so. I think your going to playschool has something to do with that, but also the fact that your Nanna now lives with us and talks to you in English all the time, and you cant get away speaking Spanish to her like you do with daddy. I have noticed lately that when you play on your own, you speak English now, which in my eyes is both bad and good. Good, because you're getting more confident in your English skills; and bad, because your English may be starting to dominate your brain, marking the beginning of a language battle.

Your sleep has come a looong way since your second birthday. When you turned two and your brother was born, I remember having a really hard time putting you to sleep if he was awake. I had to sit on the edge of your bed and you would beg me to lie down with you. It would take you so long to fall asleep without me being right there against you. Then when we first moved to Ottawa we had some really ugly battles at nap time, which were totally emotionally draining for both. Now, you cooperate very well, and after reading a couple of books together you lie down on your own and fall asleep if I stay around your room. Sometimes you even ask me to leave the room and shut the door! At night, however it always takes forever to get you to sleep, and you stall, and stall and stall, which makes it really hard on daddy. However once you are asleep you pretty much stay asleep even if we wake you to cover you up, move you or anything else. You still wake up once a night though around midnight and come into our room, where we have put a little bed and blanket next to ours, which we call " la cama de los enanitos" and you are usually pretty happy just staying there.

You are a very determined little guy. You definitely have a very defined personality now. Youare very  inquisitive, super well behaved and obedient as long as you're kept busy and have people's attention. You can be shy but when you warm up you have no problem talking to others. Yu definitely are most comfortable playing with older kids and adults. You are such a sweet little boy, so sensitive and love to cuddle and kiss. You are full of "i love you"'s and " thank you" s and " p,ease"s . you even thanked me for dinner once without anyone telling you to!! Your do battle a lot with your brother....pretty much All.the.time. Which can be very frustrating, but I haven't lost hope that you two will be the best of friends when you grow older.

Your all-time favourite  things for a while now are 1. Balloons, 2. Balls, 3. Rockets and 4. Jellyfish.

Paulo, We love you so much. You are such a huge deal to our family. Our love for you multiplies every single day. Te quiero mucho enanito precioso!!

Emilio - 10 months

Emilio - 10 months



Emi, you are 10 months now! Incredible how little you have left before your first birthday!

It has been an incredible month, filled with a little bit of everything. LOTS of teething!! There is drool everywhere, and unfortunately your sleep hasn't been great at all. That, paired with a lot of sickness being brought home by your big brother, has made nights a living hell for this mama. But now you seem to have passed both the sickness and teething phase ( for now)  and you are sleeping beautifully. I think in the last 2 nights you have only been up once and back to sleep.

Speaking of sleep. I think you are starting to need your own space, because when you wake up and touch me in your sleep you start complaining and kicking and pushing me... It will be interesting to see what our next sleeping arrangement will be, but I keep reminding myself I will not worry about that until you are at least a year old.

Another thing waiting until after a year is to see what will happen to breastfeeding. At the moment you are still nursing about 5 or 6 times during the day and a couple (?) of times at night. You are sooo interested in your brother's bottle, that it almost makes me want to pump just so I can give you your own. You are always distracted and if it is not quiet and still, it is really hard to nurse you. Sometimes I think you wouldn't care much if we dropped some sessions. But then sometimes you do enjoy the cuddles and I can tell sometimes you just need the comfort and security. But like I said, I will divert any related thoughts until after a year. Sofar I am just glad we have made it this far.

Other things you can do now:

- crawl SUPER fast

- say mama more consistently, and you are definitely immitating more sounds. I think you try to say Paulo and papa but you just say "ba!"

- climb the stairs UP and DOWN, the latter being new

- climb off the bed, feet first

- climb shelves :s

- drink from a sippy cup with help

- YOU CAN CLAP!! Which is super cute

- you dance to music and I think you try to sing along

- you can sit, with your feet tucked under your bum

- play alone for long periods

- " walk" while holding on to somebody's hands or furniture

- the cutest thing is when you crawl close to daddy or Paulo and throw yourself on the ground yelling "AAhhh!" because you want to "wrestle" hahaha.

Emilio, you are still the cutest baby and all smiles. We love you chiquitino!

Paulo - 2.75 years

Paulo! you are only 3 months shy of 3 years old! I can't help but look at you in awe of everything you do now, all the new skills, the improvements and the changes. But then of course part of me is incredibly sad to watch that little toddler fade away, as you slowly turn into a little boy.

You are living such an exciting part of life, and we are so lucky to be watching you so closely. You have definitely mastered riding your strider bike. It is insane the turns you take with it, how fast you go with your feet and how well you balance. You definitely turn heads and bring up smiles on people's faces when they watch you go. Your favourite toy all along is definitely your bike, right up there with your ball, although you have developed a strong liking for cars and your newest obsession, rockets (along with the usual balloons and umbrellas).

Little devil on his bike

You never walk, you always RUN everywhere. It is so darn cute. I will be so sad when you start slowing down.

 

Your soccer skills are also up there as well, you can kick, you are improving at catching, and you always work on new soccer moves like the fake falling (haha!) and the long kicks. We have spent so much time this summer outside in the driveway just kicking the ball around.

Your fine motor skills are definitely developing as well. You now have an interest in building blocks and lego towers (you used to only be interested in knocking them down!), but now you seem interested in balancing them on top of each other and see how high they can go. You are sure building some high towers for a little guy!

Your little personality has blossomed so much in the last few months. Your language continues to get out of hand. Our greatest challenge as parents is that you have learned to use the word "Perfect"/ "Perfecto". And with that, our world has become so much more difficult. We have so many battles with you over something because "No esta perfecto!!"/ "It is not perfect!!", be it your pillow, your cape, your toy cars, or whatever you are playing with.

 

This last point brings me to my least favourite trait of yours. I would say that in general you are a very well behaved boy. You are most times obedient, you are sweet, you are generally not aggressive and you have learned to be polite. However, when you don't get your way or we don't do things exactly as you wanted them, hell brakes lose. It is not so much that you get angry, but the fact that you scream in anger so loud and with such a passion that you even shake, and our ears DO NOT appreciate it. We are now working on it though and whenever you through a fit we gently tell you you will have to go to your room for a few minutes to calm down, and that sofar has been enough to stop the madness.

 

In contrast, one of my favourite traits in you and that you are different. I'm sure all moms feel this way, but I really do feel like you appreciate things that are different from the typical. Sure you like cars, and rockets, and dinosaurs, but you also like things that I think most little boys may not like so much. I am not sure how to explain it. But for example, you like things that are scary. You like monsters and thunder and lightening. You like eyes that pop up in the darkness. You like balloons that pop and blenders and vacuum cleaners and things that make a loud noise that startle people. You like watching people fall. You like spicy foods and bugs. I think you may even be a bit curious about vaccine shots! People would probably think you are weird... and I guess you are a little but I think you like all these things with a bit of humour.

Moving on to how you are with your little brother, you are still jealous of Emilio. I think there are some deeper positive feelings growing, and you seem to enjoy it when he laughs at your every move and you ask about him when he is no there, as if you missed him. However you still get angry if he comes near your toys and God forbid him pulling your hair or accidentally scratching your face. You seem to know very well though that if you hurt your little brother there is going to be big trouble, because you have not attempted it yet.

Another new found love in the last few months has been a fascination with your Nanna. You have of course always liked Nanna, but in the last month or two you want to go with her to the basement all.the.time. That has come in very handy for me when I am trying to put your little brother to sleep and you get impatient, as that buys me a few minutes. You sure seem to enjoy talking and playing with her all the time.

You have started Playschool this week and I can't wait to see how you are going to love your new little friends and activities.

Paulo, I love you so much and I am so happy to be your mom. I hope I can bring as much happiness to your life as you bring to mine!

This is what I get when I ask for a smile now

 

 

Emilio- 7 months

Emilio - 7 months

 As I type this I am thinking I better get this finished quickly before you wake up from your nap, or else it could be another month until I actually have time to sit in front of the computer uninterrupted.

The last month has definitely been a tough and long one, to say the least... It seemed like you were back to napping for 2 hours straight on your second nap, which was great, but the last couple of days have been very tough, with you not wanting to nap at your regular time and even refusing to go to sleep after being awake for up to 7 hours straight! It gets ugly when I am trying to nurse you or rock you to sleep and you just kick and scream your lungs out... sigh... it has been really tough on me (and my knees...and my feet... and my back...) and daddy because he worries so much about me.

Your first nap has been better these days though, as you can sleep for an hour or 1.5 at a time, while I play with your brother outside waiting for you to wake up so we can go about our day.

Night time, however, has pretty much sucked in the last month, I hate to tell you. You wake up so often and immediately start crawling... I am not sure if this is related to teething pain or you are just eager to try your new moves, but man it is exhausting! So I have just totally given up on trying to have you sleep in the crib and just let you sleep in bed with me and nurse you while lying down so I can get some sort of decent sleep.

Speaking of new moves... you have been extremely mobile in the last month. You are still not quite crawling a "proper" crawl, but you're getting much faster at the army crawl/ inchworm style you have going. You have also started to lift yourself up on stools and steps and anything you can find to lean on standing up. In the last couple of days you have even started going up on the stairs! it is crazy, and you would probably get at least half way up the stairs if we let you, but so far we don't let you go up for more than 3 steps. Needless to say, we will need to get some gates for the stairs this weekend.

Standing!

Sadly, this month has not been all about smiles like all the previous ones. Separation anxiety has definitely kicked in, and you HATE being alone or left behind while I take your brother bathroom or need to leave the room for even a second. That combined with the teething pain, you have been a pretty miserable baby in the last month... however when you do show your smile it is as sweet as ever and you drive strangers, neighbours and family crazy with that sweet little smile.

Speaking of teeth... you have had both upper teeth coming in for about 2 or three weeks now and they have FINALLY broken through. I am sad to see your gummy smile disappear, but am eager to see your new little smile.

You also continue to go potty when I take you, and you have lasted up to a whole morning dry when I take you to pee constantly. However poos are still hit or miss, although we have definitely seem much less poopy diapers in the last month thanks to your schedule being a bit more predictable.

As for your eating solids, you are CRAZY about food and can't control your enthusiasm when we sit you at the table with us. You go absolutely nuts if we don't pass you any food as soon as you sit there, which is both funny and annoying, ha. But I am sure glad to see you so enthusiastic about eating.

Brothers

You still nurse about every 2.5 to 3 hours, and I would say at least 3 times at night, sometimes maybe more (I'm never sure because I always nurse you in bed in my sleep). When you are awake though, nursing is SO DIFFICULT with you. You just won't stop fidgeting and you want to follow your brother around EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME, which is... well, unpleasant. I always wonder if you will even miss nursing when we do stop. I am often tempted to wean just because it is really such a hassle to get you to be still, and going to a quiet place when your brother is around is just not an option. BUT of course that thought only lasts a minute, since I really do hate preparing bottles and I do really believe you are getting so many benefits from nursing (i.e. you have only been kind of sick ONCE since you were born!)

Emilio, I'd love to stay and write more about you in the last month, but I have to wake your brother up before you do too. I am sorry if I have been impatient with you in the last month, but I am trying my best to be the mom you deserve. You are a little angel and I will always love you with all my heart, same as daddy, and your brother.

Love that smile!!

Emilio - 6 months (!)

Emi- 6 months

Alright, stop with the growing!! how did 6 months creep up on us??  Sure, you are still a baby, but you are speeding your way through all these milestones and my mind just can't keep up. You are still following your brother everywhere with your eyes, and now even trying to ACTUALLY follow him around...on your hands and knees!  Seems to me you are still too young for any of that, but it seems it isn't something random that you've done once or  twice, but rather a skill you are determined to master soon. you definitely get on all fours no problem, but once you're there you start balancing back and forth trying to figure out what to do next. Most times you end up sort of leaping forward with both legs, like a frog, which almost invariably ends up with an ugly face plant and you getting frustrated and angry. But all that said, it all does get you places! I am convinced you'll probably be crawling in about a month from now.

Another huge milestone is you getting your two bottom teeth!! the first one showed up about two weeks ago, and the second followed about 3 or 4 days after. Not a surprise because you've been super drooly for quite a while now, and waking up with strange cries, and even been kind of cranky during the day.

Speaking of teeth, you are also well into your first solid foods. We started you on solids a good two weeks ago or so, and you seem to be really enjoying trying all those new flavours and textures. You definitely seem to get excited when we all sit at the table - you start kicking, screaming and reaching for food if we don't hand you some of our food quickly. We are trying "Baby led weaning" or self-feeding this time and it is amazing to me how much more enthusiastic you are with food than your brother ever was with traditional feeding methods and purees. Your dad gets very nervous with this method (and to be honest I kind of freak out a little too when you gag!), but I do notice that your ability to chew and move your food around your mouth is definitely improving.  So far you've tried orange slices (which you love and happily devour in no time), bread and butter slices, cantaloupe, mango, waffles, avocado, banana, strawberry and one of your favourites, sips of water.

Eating Strawberries and French toast

As for potty, I mean to write a more detailed report on how that's going. However, I'll say that we are still progressing and feeling great about it. We stopped all together for a few weeks so that I could observe your patterns and refocus for a while, but I've started taking you consistently after you wake up and after naps, and we have barely seen any poopy diapers in the last few weeks!

Sleep is still I guess our only "issue" this month, mainly because I haven't managed to kick you out of our bed yet, ha ha. Sleeping with you was getting very uncomfortable for your dad, who is a major bed hog, and honestly it is kind of bugging me as well that whenever you turn around and bump into me, you want to comfort nurse. I tried putting you in your crib several times but you immediately wake up 3 minutes after I've laid you down, and honestly, I'm too exhausted to persist, so I just take the easy out. And whoever wants to slap my hand about that (including your Abuis) is more than welcome to put you sound asleep any day. So, what I came up with is putting a little mattress top next to our bed so I can lay down and nurse you to sleep. It is working pretty well and you sleep for a good 4 or 5 hours the first stretch of the night, and when you wake up I'm always too groggy to have any will power or discipline, so I just pick you up and bring you to bed with us until the next morning. You are now sleeping about 1o or 11 hours at night (from about 8.30 or 9 p.m.) and sleeping 3 naps during the day of about 3-4 hrs in total).

Finally, I haven't taken you for your latest vaccines yet so I am not sure what your weight is, but my back can tell you must be getting pretty heavy. I took you and your brother to the playground while wearing you on my front, and I swear started thinking I wasn't going to make it back! I somehow hurt my back while carrying you, and my knees and feet were soar for days!! soooo, I can say our days of baby wearing might soon be over, which is a bummer because you nap so effortlessly in the sling, I can go anywhere with your brother and your napping schedule is never an issue.

Other than that baby boy, you are ALL smiles as usual, and you get more adorable by the day. I love you, we love you, and I am so blessed to see you grow little man <3 <3.

Emilio - 5 months

5 months and quickly approaching the half year mark. I just can't believe it has been five months since we had you in our hands the first time! Since daddy caught you as you made your incredibly fast way into this world. 5 months since you spent your first night in our bed... incredible.

 



Emilio - 5 months



I just took you to your 5 months check-up and vaccinations. You weighed 17.5 lbs/ 7.9 kgs and measured 71 cm. You are 60th  percentile for weight and about 99th for height, which is not surprising considering how long you feel when I carry you and how long you look when I see you lying down from the distance.

 

As one of our friends once said, babies are either good sleepers or good eaters. That was true in your brother's case and has been true with you as well. You sleep well in the sense that your naps and bed times are very predictable and consistent, and when you wake up it is only to nurse and you go right back to sleep. However, you do still eat ALL.THE.TIME, and this means you wake up often at night.

 



Happy Feet

 Honestly, I can't actually tell how many times or how long you sleep at night, because I have you with us in bed for most of the night and whenever you start being fussy I just nurse you lying down and don't really wake up, so most times in the morning I can't remember how many times I was up or how long your sleep stretches were. I have been making an effort to let you sleep in your crib more often. You now have most of your naps in your crib at least until you wake up to eat. Then I feed you and put you back in our bed. However, at night I put you in your crib for the first stretch and you usually wake up shortly after I go to bed, and I am too lazy to try and make you go to sleep back in your crib. You certainly resist it, and usually at that time I am too tired to insist, so I just put you in bed with us for the rest of the night.

 

This month you have been consistently rolling from back to front, like it's no big deal. You start kicking your legs really hard and manage to push yourself inch by inch. You have pretty big head control and you have also started to make a lot of noises, as if you are trying to talk, especially in the morning. You usually go to sleep somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30 and you seem to always wake up around 6.30 or 7 a.m. , waking everybody up with your little noises. If I take you away you will go back to sleep about an hour later, but usually you brother wakes up a minute after you've gone back to sleep and he comes barging in, being too noisy for you to sleep through that, and too excited to see your little idol walk in the door.

 

Brothers

It is amazing how much you follow your brother around with your eyes. You look at him and you just seem to smile in awe. He has been much better with you as well, being a lot more affectionate in the last few weeks.

 

Most days you are either lying down somewhere, in your car seat as we drive somewhere, or being carried around in the ring sling. However, you are definitely getting waaay to heavy for that thing and my back and shoulders don't appreciate it that much anymore, so I've been putting you in the stroller now, which you seems to enjoy okay.

 

I had your Aguis buy you a real rebozo in Mexico and I am excited to see how that works out to carry you in my back. You love being carried around so much. People turn their heads all the time to see you, and they ALWAYS get a smile from you and ALWAYS comment on how content and quiet you look. It is true, you are by far the happiest, most content baby I think I've met. You almost never cry, except for when you're tired or hungry, which is not often.

 

Little Emi, cosita, little chubby cheekers, little Emster, we love you so much. I am so excited to see you grow and can't wait to have more adventures with you.  

 

The best smile in the world!

 

 

Paulo dice asi.../ Paulo says it like this...

You will find that most , if not all of Paulo's conversations start with a "No!"...ahhh toddlerhood...

Me: "Vamonos Paulo, es hora de dormir"/ "Let's go Paulo, it's time for bed"

Paulo: "No!"

Me: "Paulo, quieres dormir con mama o con papa"/ "Do you want to sleep with mommy or daddy"

Paulo: "No! I want to sleep with the Ipad"

"Tengo una idea!" /"I have an idea!" -- I'm pretty sure he has no idea what having and idea means. I think he think it means something about getting a surprise present or something, because every time he says that he starts searching my purse or doing things like these:

Daddy: "Paulo, stop pulling my shirt from the irnoning board" "No papi!!! It's an idea!!!" Hahaha, too funny, God knows what he's thinking...

Me: "Paulo, estas feliz?"/ "Paulo, are you happy?"

Paulo:"No mama!! estoy enfermo!!"/ "No mom!! I'm ill!!"

(Playing cars)

Me: "Puedo poner el carrito en esa puertita?"/"Can I put the car in that little door?"

Paulo: " No mama, este juego esta muy chiquito para ti / "No mom, this game is too small for you".

Paulo: "Voy a trabajar en el Ipad"/ "I'm going to work on the Ipad" (meaning, he can't be interrupted)

Paulo 2.5 Years

Paulo, hermosho pisioso, bonito, cosita linda, chiquito hermoso, enanito, mune, munequito. You've turned 2.5 years!! and you have changed soooo incredibly much in the last 6 months. I can barely remember the early months, almost as if you have always been this old.

 

You are a tall, skinny, curly little devil, and we are having so much fun at this age. You have been through so many changes since you turned two, it is no surprise to me that you have made temper tantrums part of your daily routine. You definitely are a bear in the mornings and after your naps and I have to tiptoe around you until you're a little bit awake.

 

You have had a tough last few months with our move away from Calgary, your leaving day care, and the birth of your little brother. I am starting to bounce back from severe separation anxiety from being unable to pay 100% of my attention to you 100% of the time. You in turn, have learned to be a bit more independent, and play by yourself for longer stretches of time.

 

It took you a while to get used to your little brother, but you are slowly starting to care more and more for him, which is really cute to watch. You will now randomly hug your little brother and say : "estoy cuidando a Emi" (I'm taking care of Emi"), or give him kisses and bring him things once in a while. That being said, you still almost 90% of the time will take toys away from him, including rattles and other baby toys, haha.

It is no surprise that Emilio follows you with his eyes ALL the time and lights up every time he sees you. You are always on the go, being a busy little boy. I love watching you run around from one place to the other, always in a hurry, with your cute little stiff run.

 

You have become quite strong headed and you must ALWAYS get your way. Everything is a fight with you and sometimes you bring me to tears, it is so exhausting to stretch my patience so much. But I am glad that more and more now we are starting to get have peaceful days and smile more than butt heads.

 

 You absolutely LOVE your strider bike. We go bike riding almost every day now if it's not rainy, and you have now started to go out on bike rides with daddy. You certainly can pick up a great speed and you go around the neighborhood turning heads everywhere you go, you look so ridiculously cute. Other than your bike, your other favorite toys are still balls, cars, and lately the train table we recently got you. Oh, and I should not forget umbrellas...oh boy, your love (obsession) for umbrellas!

 

One thing that has become really obvious to me in the last few months, though, is your mastering language. You are definitely learning more English and becoming more confident at speaking it now that your Nana is at home, and that daddy is making a bigger effort to speak to you in his language. You love speaking English and using all your new words. Your Spanish continues to be amazing, learning new vocabulary every day and starting to sound more and more like me, which I don't know if it is funny or scary. The other new thing from the last few weeks has been your ability to "create" new words in Spanglish, which basically means taking a word in either language and adapting it to sound either English or Spanish. It is very funny, but this is one of those cute traits that I do care to correct because I want you to be able to communicate well.

 

Last but not least, your imagination has sparked and exploded in the last month like never before. I think for the first time in your life, you are starting to use your imagination, mostly with pretend play. You will pretend that you are a cat, make up stories, pretend you are Jake and I'm Captain Hook, and you even pretend you speak a foreign language now, which always makes us both laugh, it is so silly.

 

Paulo, I love you so much I could have never imagined I can love you even more every day. You make me try so hard to be better for you every day, and yet sometimes I am so disappointed in myself that I can't be 100% the mother you deserve. You are such a gift in our life, I will never be able to explain it enough.

 

Te quiero munequito!!!

 

 

Emilio - 4 Months

Holy cow, 4 months Emi! Where did time fly by so fast?? It has been perhaps the 4 busiest time of our lives. I think we constantly get confused thinking it is you and your brother making us busy, but I think our move and setting up the new house in Ottawa has got much more to do with it than anything.

 

It is hard to believe it has been that long since you joined us out here, but I can tell by seeing you,, you've grown so much!! you are for sure much heavier than before. Although I haven't taken you to a check-up for about a month, I can see your little chubby legs get chubbier by the day, and my back and shoulders  are not so keen on you growing like a weed.

 

Emilio - 4 months

I mostly carry you on the sling for most of the day, and although you are getting a bit too heavy for it (you are also getting too curious and always want to be facing all directions), you are the happiest being carried around in there right next to me.

 

Most days you have 3 or even 4 naps a day still. You sleep for about 45 minutes about an hour or two after waking up. Usually you are in the sling because if I put you down you wake up almost immediately after. Then you wake up for about half an hour and go back to sleep for an hour. Then you wake up for about an hour and go back to sleep at the same time as your brother around noon or 1 p.m, and have a longer nap of 2-3 hours. Finally at about 4.30 or 5 you have another mini nap of half an hour to 45 minutes, and you go to sleep at around 8.30 p.m.

 

At night you sleep for about a 4-5 hour stretch, and then wake up exactly every 2 hours -- not so good for me :/ .

For now you are still sleeping in your crib in our bedroom, and I bring you to bed with us at about 3 a.m. I am still not sure when we will change you somewhere else since your brother sometimes cries at night in his sleep and you still wake up somewhat often.

 

You have definitely started to master your tummy time and head control. Sofar you have turned from your front to your back on a couple of occasions but I think you still don't know what on earth just happened. You also work hard now on controlling your hands and you love reaching for objects and touching everything around you, including my hair.

You are also definitely very aware of your surroundings. One of the sweetest things I've seen is the way you look at your brother Paulo --- it is so sweet! you follow him everywhere with your eyes and if he is still, you just stare at him with this mini grin on your face. It is the cutest thing ever. And if he touches you to pat your head or slightly touch your hand or to kiss your face (even though he can be...well.. kind of rough) you just don't complain at all. But if your brother starts one of temper tantrums where he screams at the top of his lungs, you join right in with the crying (which I am not a fan of :( ). I wonder if you are scared or just sad for your brother.

 

 In general though, you are such a happy baby. I think being carried around in the sling has a lot to do with that. But you are always so content. In the mornings you are ALL smiles, and if you see a new face, and especially somebody who talks to you, you are the happiest. You just smile away with your big smile and happy eyes. I feel as if I could count with both hands how many times you've cried since you were born. Everybody (even strangers) always comment on how happy and content you always look. The only things that make you really cry are when you get really tired (right before bedtime) or having a bath also made you panic quite badly, although fortunately you have seemed to be over it in the last 2 weeks.

 

Your brother is still a bit jealous of you and not so keen on letting you play with basically ANY toy, haha, but he is getting better and making an effort to be nicer in that regard. I do from time to time catch him holding your hand or touching you gently as if by accident. But I am sure you two are going to be a happy giggly pair later on.

 

Emilio, you are such a sweet baby I love you so much, my heart could burst any minute <3.