From gchat

Marisa (nina): Why is it hilarious that Amalia, age 2, has a long black skirt?
She is your child.
Everyone who I fwded the Halloween pic of Amalia in the witch hat thought that was her costume
Because she was in all black
I was like, "No, that's her style"
me: She dresses herself.
This morning it was a yellow longsleeve shirt with a colorful animal picture on the front
a matching pink skirt
(I know, doesn't sound like it matches but it totally does)
AND THEN she started with cute pink sandals that totally went with the outfit
but was distracted when she saw her knee high black boots
she ended up going with the boots "so my feet are warm and cozy"
Marisa (Nina): Why is it it hilarious that Amalia, age 2, has knee high black boots?
Do you not see the humor?
me: They were on sale and I had a coupon.
She also has black patent ankle boots.
She's her mama's girl in many ways.
This means that the next kid won't care about fashion at all.

TWO! Birthday party, part 1.

Yesterday, 12:36pm, Animalia turned two. Two. TWO!!!!

We celebrated with:
A long walk to Roma Imports with Daht, Nana, and Tata, where we purchased lasagna and bread for dinner. We walked back home a different route and hit a small park and Dairy Queen for ice cream. At DQ, Animalia got a little vanilla ice cream in a cup and sat, legs crossed, like a lady to eat it. When we arrived back at Nana's house, Nina's sister was there to deliver some balloons from Nina. Animalia giggled happily when she saw them. Then she asked if they were Adelina's or Lito's. We told her no and she wandered around holding her ballons "by self" and saying that they weren't Adelina's or Lito's.
After our walk, we baked a cake (from cake mix) at Nana's house. Animalia stirred it "by self" and also said "hold the bowl so I can stir it." "Stir it" sounded like steeew it. It was cute.
After our cake baking we took her home and took naps.
After our naps, we picked up Tío Javier (Animalia now calls him Javiert) and went to the mall. Animalia got some chocolate brown Converse All Stars. Then we went to Build-A-Bear. She was given a name tag stating her name and that it was her second birthday. After loving on all of the empty shells, she chose a bear. We were asked if we wanted to add sound and pressed a few buttons with Animalia, trying them out, but we elected not to add sound after one of them said "What's up, girlfriend?" and we decided we couldn't listen to that over and over again. Animalia was scared by the stuffing machine as it was almost as loud as a vaccuum cleaner (and she hates those). She liked the beating heart, so we added one. Then she became distracted by a little red convertible. We chose a couple dresses and had her choose one. She went back to trying to climb into the little car. It was time to finish up, so she helped me press the buttons on the computer, until she became distracted by a different computer. I panicked and chose the name "Petunia" for the bear. And so it was. The birth of Petunia.
After the bear building, we went back to Nana and Tata's house for dinner with Tío and April. Animalia laughed hysterically and forcefully every time anyone said "Petunia" and played with her balloons some more and finally, when we asked whose birthday it was, answered "It's MY birthday!" We ate dinner and cake and unwrapped presents. She got clothes and a book and Robin Hood and a Tee Ball set and a baby doll that has a tuberculosis cough and comes with a play doctor set and a miniture grill along with wooden shish kebab and s'mores. She was impressed and happy. We were happy and tired.
After her small birthday party, we went home.
After we got home, we relaxed and, finally, slept.
After Animalia woke up in the morning, she asked for Petunia. And laughed.

Birthday party, part 2 will be posted sometime after her October 11 party. Pray for my sanity. Please.

Cupcakes

"Aya needs a cupcake," Animalia says, peering into Nana's refrigerator.
"There are no cupcakes," Nana and Mama both say, almost in unison.
"No cupcakes, " she whispers, almost as if she's giving herself a reminder. "The cupcakes are at Nina's house."

Nina bought her a cupcake during our visit in August and apparently it's made it into her long term memory.

Potions.

I'm watching Animalia in the shower. She has appropriated a couple of shampoo bottles, empty ones, and some plastic containers to pour water from one to another. Then she delicately mixes it with her finger. She's very busy.

All I can think about is when we were young, me and Nina and Uncle Buncle (Tío Javier). Nina and I used to lock ourselves in the bathroom and mix potions from random liquids we found in the bathroom cabinet. Nasty stuff-- alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and various shampoos. Javier would be banging on the door, begging to play with us, and after the potion was ready, we'd open the door. We'd tell him he could play with us if he drank our potion. He'd drink the stuff. And then we'd lock him out again. We were rotten. In retrospect I'm surprised we didn't kill or poison him.

So I'm watching Animalia play with this water and I imagine her with siblings. I laugh.

A visit to the Nina

Considering it would take me a month to have time to create a play-by-play posting of our vacation to the Nina and fabulous Washington, DC, I'll post a highlights/lowlights list instead.



Highlights:

-All of the flights! Animalia was fantastic, so good that she elicited compliments on ALL of the flights, both to and from. One man actually praised not only Animalia, but my very own parenting skills. Someone else, seated in front of us, also told me that my baby is very very smart as they could hear her counting to 20 during the flight.

-Animalia recognized Nina immediately and not only did she know her as Nina but she also knew her name and got it only slightly wrong, calling her Amarisa. It was very adorable.

-When we took her to Sesame Place, the very first time she saw the characters, she was so excited she shook!

-She was very lovey to Gloria and remembered her name.

-She saw the creepily taxidermied animals at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and was ecstatic, especially when she noticed the panda bear, repeating "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see?" over and over again. She also loved seeing the "dinosaurus" and the big elephant.

-She was thrilled at the Natural History Museum's special butterfly exhibit. It's a small structure inside the museum built specially for live butterflies with many lovely flowers planted in planters. We walked inside and there were butterflies everywhere. Animalia ooohed and aaahhed, especially when one landed on her. Very exciting.

-Happy as a clam on many rides including the carousel on the National Mall and the teacup-type ride and flying fish ride at Sesame Place.

-Happy as a clam in any water attraction at Sesame Place.

-She burst into song, singing "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow! You're only a day away!" as I was trying to put her to sleep. I guess this one is a highlight AND a low point because she was being very difficult at this point but it was so hilarious that we stifled laughter to maintain the serious environment that sleeping requires.

-Happy as a clam at H&M, totally thrilled about getting new clothes, especially the Hello Kitty tunic like thing.

-Loving the fried foods. It must've been crazy for her to eat french fries more than once during the week (I'm a terrible mother on vacation, a better one when we're home). She also LOVES dip. ANY dip. Ketchup, honey mustard, ranch. Dip! Yay!

-Her new Count Von Count that "Mama bought you" at Sesame Place. She calls him her "baby Count" and puts him to sleep tenderly.

-Italian ice on the National Mall.

-Buckling herself into her stroller all by herself.

-Most of the driving from DC to PA was fairly decent. She spent much of the time talking to herself if she wasn't asleep.

-She pooped in the potty for the very first time!!!

Lowlights:
-The National Zoo visit. Although the Animalia enjoyed seeing the first few animals very much, there were very few animals out by the time we got there. Then she was flopping around on the ground and at one point hoarded food in her mouth for about 20 minutes until she spit it all out near the horseys. This is her new and totally disgusting trick that I hope passes quickly.

-She spent a little time being defiant, a few times reduced to screeching. I think mostly she was tired and disoriented from not being at home and being totally out of her routine. Every car trip resulted in her asking to go see Daddy, or to go to Nana and Tata's house.

-Our visit to the Library of Congress to see Nina. When Nina took her stroller for brief storage, Animalia started screaming, "Aya's stroller!!!" and crying real tears. In a very quiet place. Where researching people could hear us. Because Nina stole her stroller.

-After she pooped in the potty, she finished it off by pooping in the diaper. Seriously. Yuck. Also, aside from the pooping, she wasn't too into using the potty, at least not as much as she was at home. I think the grown up potty was sort of weird for her, but also we were out so much and she was so distracted that she'd rarely mention it. On a more positive note, she seems to have readjusted quickly. Thank the lord.

-The mosquitos. Little bastards. Actually, they were rather large, the size of flies. And fat and slow off of my own blood and the blood of my teeny tiny toddler. We're still dealing with the itching and the total unprettiness. Here's hoping we don't get West Nile.

So there it is. A trip to see the Nina. All by ourselves. I'm exhausted but happy to see, after making a list, that there are more highlights than lowlights.

Eck. An open letter.

Dear You-know-who-you-are,

Did I ever tell you that when Amalia burps she thinks it's hilarious? And then she "makes" herself burp, which consists of her saying "ECK!" and then laughing hysterically at her own incredible wit? This is really nothing new, it started a few months ago, but every time she does it, all I can think of is when me and you used to make ourselves belch and how awesome we thought we were for being able to belch like drunken sailors. Didn't we also try to belch the alphabet?

Were we disgusting, or just ahead of our time?

Lots of love,
Animalia's Mami (she's recently started to call me that, Mami, or sometimes she calls me Parent.)

Animalia, creepy

Mother's intuition woke me up, sometime around 2 a.m.

Animalia's tiny voice said, "Niiiiiiinnnnaaaaaaaaaaa. Whehhh aahhhh yooouuuuuu?"

I checked on her. She was fast asleep.

Still the Nina

The Animalia hands me my cell phone. "See Nina?" she asks. I find the picture.
"Nina!" she says in her very best husky queen voice.
"Platica con la Nina," I tell her.
"Nina, mama daddy house. Aya books y agua," she says.
"OK, es tiempo de decir bahbye a la Nina," I tell her.
"Bye, Nina! Mwahhhhhh! Mwahhhhhh!" she tells the picture.

I bet she doesn't actually recognize the Nina in real life next week.

For the Nina

Dear Nina,
Remember that time, just a few days ago, I asked you to send me a picture message with your picture? I wanted it to show the Animalia another, newer picture of you, so that she'd be up to date when you visit. I showed it to her the very next day. She said "Nina!" after I said "Nina!" Then I put my phone away. The Animalia waved and said, "Babye, Nina!"

The next day, all on her own, she found my phone and handed it to me. "Nina?" she asked. I found the picture. "Nina!" she said. And then she said, "mmmmmwwwwahhhh!" Again, she said, "Bye Nina," when I put the phone away.

One more day, and she clearly knows who you are. This last time she said, "Nina pretty," and petted your picture when she saw it.

Considering all this, and considering that you were all prettied up to go see Madonna the night you took the picture, you might want to do your hair and makeup before you see Animalia. So that she recognizes you. Just saying.

Love,
The Mama (of Animalia and no one else)