Monkey See, Monkey Do

I often think of Joaquin as a small animal.
Joaquin is now a little copycat, a little monkey do, a little parrot.
If I turn off the stereo with my toe, since he is in my arms. He needs to wiggle down and try to turn off the stereo with his toe. If I blow my nose, he blows his nose.

He has learned several more words.
I left him parked in the grocery store and returned from picking out mushrooms to Joaquin exclaiming "apple" over and over again. Indeed he was in front of a very large display of no less than 6 varieties of apple.
He says egg, and stuck. He was sitting in Daniel's lap tonight and I looked at Daniel and wondered- did he just say milk? But then he signed very clearly the sign for milk and I realized he did.
He says "all done" as he signs all done. And he says bye, bye. Quite a few words.
Daniel is now admitting he may take after my side of the family when it comes to language. We took him on a hike on today's gray January afternoon and he babbled to himself when he was not eating or sleeping. Granted most of the time he is not eating or sleeping, he is babbling to be let out of the stroller to walk.

Mama Love

Joaquin does say mama these days. Not really to refer to me, but more as a mantra that makes him feel good.
I am posting below a screen shot of my computer desktop. I swear Joaquin posted that picture of me himself. I had open a folder of my pictures on my laptop since he likes looking at his family and himself. As he was typing wildly on the keyboard he managed to set this photo as the desktop wallpaper.

That's me, several months pregnant at the wedding of my good friends Erin and Emil. mamamamamamamamamamamama.

Baby Song

On Saturday morning, I was awoken at 7:45 to the sound of Joaquin singing the tune Frere Jacque in baby language from his crib. Daniel and I listened with love, holding on to the beautiful, ephemeral moment.

Not a Cretin

It's the Monday before Christmas. I am not getting any work done at my office so I may as well just write for my blog. I have been really kicking butt at work lately but sometime last week a fog set in and I no longer feel like concentrating on renewable energy procurement plans and the like. I just want to drink hot cocoa and play with Joaquin.

Have I written about my campaign to get our house painted? Probably not because while on-going it was not a pretty topic. The old paint on my rented duplex was chipping down to old layers of paint and bare wood, spreading lead dust about. I know, I had it tested. After a year of conversation with my landlords, I had to play hardball and threaten to call the housing inspector. "If you don't like the house you can move" was his reply. I was all rage and shaken after that call. But lo and behold, he send house painters within the month.

The house was inconveniently painted during the first week with Brenda, our babysitter, starting to care for Joaquin at the house. Brenda plus her daughter Sophia, and Joaquin has to be sent over to a friends house for the first week of scraping and sanding. But the house was repainted a fresh white with blue trim. And I decided to bury the hatchet with my landlords and even sent them a thank you note.

Joaquin always gets in the car with Sophia. She gracefully tolerates.

Brenda is a fantastic child care provider. She was a school teacher in Guatemala. I am thankful to have her in my life.

I have worried that Joaquin has been exposed to lead paint chips and dust. I did what I could to minimize exposure contact in the days before the house was painted. We became a no shoes house to keep from tracking paint chips in. And I painted the doors and thresholds to the house since that, and window frames is where the majority of the contamination comes from. I have intended to get Joaquin a blood test for lead levels.

But now I feel that is perhaps all moot, and my precautions were suffice. Because Joaquin is developing at such a rapid pace. He is adding new words at an early age. He uses sign language more than most babies I know. He is singing tunes and climbing shelves. If I say so myself, he is one smart little cookie. Somehow this surprises me.

He speaks

Here is a running list of Joaquin's first words.

Aqua
Hot
Truck (ckuck)
Car
Bottle (baba)
Vroom - the sound a car makes

The last three he learned in the last 2 weeks.
Recently he has been singing 'where is thumbkin' in baby words. so cute.

He can also sign several things.
He signs light everytime we see one, which means he constantly pointing out lights.
More, sometimes I want
Milk
Bicycle
Dog
Bird
All done

Wish I could capture a picture of him signing.

Stroller Racing

I think we had our first toddler tantrum today. It was at a Target department store, how classic. Likely Joaquin was hungry, but in the few minutes he was in the store, he decided he wanted to push the shopping cart. He loves to push strolllers and shopping carts. I mean obsessively loves to push shopping carts.
On our last plane trip, he joyfully spent most of his time in the airport pushing his stroller up and down the long waxed hallways. That was to the amusement of hundreds of fellow air travelers. The stroller appears to be moving by itself because he is too small to either look over the top or even the sides. Periodically he sticks his head around the stroller to get a direction bearing. This and his focus bring laughs. Not that Joaquin noticed. He was pure intent. Drive that stroller. I am sure he didn't hear the folks calling out "hey Mario" as in Mario Andretti the famous race car driver.
However, at Target the shopping carts are heavy and even with his expert stroller maneuvering skills he could not get the cart to budge. His quick frustration was followed by some loud crying and laying down on the floor. The laying down on the floor is the big difference in a toddler tantrum from the crying of the past. That, and knowing the exact cause is a desire inside his little soul. I laughed.

Joaquin entertained himself with stroller racing at the assisted living home of his great grandpa. Here his skill with a walker had competition from some of the residents. They thought he was adorable but perhaps also fearful as his reckless driving can be threatening to an octogenian.

Joaquin Walking

Joaquin began walking just 9 days after his first birthday on November 13th. He and I had just flown 6 hours from NYC to San Francisco. We were at home ready for bed after a long day of traveling and he took four or five steps in the hallway. Each day he has steadily walked more since. Sometimes he looks like a little Frankenstein with his stiff legged steps, but mostly he is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
My mom and I took a hike to Tennessee Valley Beach in Marin County on Wednesday. Joaquin also took his first hike, which we captured here.





This last week he has been a little joy. I took a few lessons from Brenda, the lovely woman who watches him three days a week and from my mom on getting him to stay in his high chair. The tips were 1) no having snacks outside the chair 2) be ready with good foods 3)ignore some of the nonsense. After a bunch of meals carefully orchestrated with serial introductions of new foods to keep him entertained. Decoy spoons and bowls to keep his hands busy. And getting in as much food as fast as possible. And switching from a free standing high chair to one attached to the table. And voila, mealtimes are no longer a struggle. So between easy meals, easy bedtimes, fairly easy naps and his joy at any time we play, the days have been sweet.
We had a little rough spot when he and I first returned from a week in Connecticut. Daniel stayed at home to work. When we returned Joaquin was quite happy to see him, but he was also thrown into despair every time Daniel said goodbye for the next week. Joaquin's world would go still for a moment as he took in Daniel's absence. Then his face would crumple with all points of mouth and eyes turned down while letting loose a plaintiff "wah". He'd add a decidedly dramatic and anguished drop of the head to the table or floor which ever was at his disposal. After about a week of such he seems to feel reassured that Daniel will promptly return from any goodbye. However, if Daniel is home, in the midst of playing he will suddenly remember his papa and head directly for his arms.