Playing Catch-up - Again

I realized I've been descuidando this blog. I started posting on my other blog, musingsofwriterwannabe.blogspot.com in an effort to keep my writing going, so I realized that I was writing my (long) recap of the Disney cruise there (so if you want to check it out, please do!). In short, the Disney cruise was FABULOUS! I think we are going to open a Disney cruise account so we can do this trip every year right around the same time as it coincides with the celebration of J and L's birthdays. Suffice it to say that, with a few minor exceptions, Disney cruise and cast members exceeded our expectations. And their island, Castaway Cay, is a dream!

L has been going off the charts with his developments. I have lost count of all the words he can now say, and he is as funny as ever. He can also go up the stairs practically on his own without "crawling" up, and he can go down many stairs, too, depending on how tall they are. He can feed himself (albeit sometimes a bit messily) and is eating practically everything except eggs! He likes onions (raw and cooked), escargot (yes, he ate these!), and lemons, but he won't eat eggs. Gofigure. He's jumping now - full-fledged, two feet together jumping. He can even jump from the bottom step of the stairs down onto the floor. And he's climbing onto EVERYTHING. I do mean everything. I think he's also working on cutting the last four molars. I know there's more but I'm drawing a blank.

Two quick moments are deserving of attention here. One was with me. I hadn't shaved my underarms yet, and I was wearing a tank top pajama. Sitting next to L, oblivious of the unshaven fact, I put my arm around him (we were watching TV). L turns around, scrunches up his face and points, without touching, to the assalting sight - short, dark hairs poking out of my skin. "Oh no!" he cries, his eyebrows forming a neat V over his widened eyes. "Ya-ya!"

I start laughing and quickly bring my arm down. "No, baby. It's not a ya-ya. Mommy has to shave," I tell him. But he won't have it. "No!" he says, raising my arm and pointing again to my underarm. "Ya-ya!" and he turns his head to get a better look. I was nearly peeing in my shorts!

The other scene has to do with J. Now, we had been doing well in keeping the straight line with food and had even lost some weight. Then came the cruise and, well, all-you-can-eat GOOD food is detrimental to the waist line. L has been fascinated with our waist lines since then. He'll see daddy's belly, or mine, and start squishing the fat with his little hands. Imagine him kneading dough but on our bellies. Yes, it's a riot. Well, yesterday, daddy didn't have a shirt on and L goes up to him and starts kneading the belly. Then he says, all serious, "Poto!" (For those that don't know, "poto" is the Chilean way of saying butt.

Yes, we were rolling with carcajadas at the proclamation that daddy's belly was a butt!

I swear, I don't know where L comes up with these things.

On another note, we're on countdown mode until we begin school again. I go back to work in less than two weeks, and L goes back in two weeks from Mon. I am very sad to see the summer come to an end, although I am excited about the new semester. I am nervous to see how L will react going back to school. It's been a fun summer, with lots of activities and outdoor time. We've gotten tons of vitamin D! He hasn't gotten sick all summer until now, and even that has been very slight and summery. He had a clear runny nose for a few days and his appetite was on the rocks, and now he has a small cough, but he hasn't had any fever and he's sleeping through the night. I have to count my lucky moons because he hasn't gotten sick since this past Feb/Mar when everyone was sick in the household! I'm just praying this new flu season won't be too bad here although I'm not holding my breath with the swine - er, H1N1 - flu out there.

It's been a productive summer for me. I've been able to teach online courses, write many pages of my book, prepare the online portions of my upcoming courses, and even spend some time researching cars, planning a birthday party, and just googling things up. I've even been able to get some reading done! I started reading Isabel Allende's La Suma de Mis Dias and Madeleine Blais's Uphill Walkers. I'm about half-way done with both, but the latter is a library book so I have to finish that one first. Next on my list is a seemingly-interesting book by Dan Wakefield titled The Hijacking of Jesus. It should be interesting and possibly controversial. Just up my alley!

J is getting the knack of his new position. His schedule is good now, although it will be interesting once I start work again since he only has part of the weekend off. BUT, his schedule is days and he's home at a good time, so we can still enjoy some date nights. :)

So that's the update for now!