Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

Antonio had a great Christmas. He saw friends. He saw family. He dressed up like Santa. He scored tons of great gifts. What more could a one-year-old ask for? Pretty much nothing.
The trip to Oak Harbor started with a journey down to Mamma and Bonk's house. Bonk has officially gone mad. Take a look at his Christmas display.
Although he assures me, this is "green," I'm not so sure about it.

There was plenty of time spent with cousin Elijah, who has a habit of bursting into tears whenever Antonio comes near him. I think it's because Antonio conveys an image of pure strength, that he intimidates everyone he encounters. But probably not. It's probably because Antonio likes to grab his younger cousin's face all the time. As we waited for the actual big day to arrive, Antonio got to spend some time with cousins on the other side of the family.
As well as watch Dad rest from a long day on the picket line.Another big event was the arrival of his tent from the upstairs kids' bedroom. Finally Antonio has someplace to get away from all the craziness and read in peace and quiet.
Then finally the big day arrived. Antonio donned his fanciest Santa suit and got ready to open some presents.
You know what the best presents he got were? These ribbons.
Wait, I take it back, it was this leash and this string. Those were the best gifts.
Elijah got into the Santa mentality too. He enjoyed rockin' his maracas. (I don't know if that's an actual saying, but if it's not, it is now.)
Hello, cousin. I think Antonio likes his older cousin.
Havana tried to help with the gift un-wrapping. But she's not as skilled as Antonio is and got a bunch of paper and tape stuck in her fur. It's hard being her.
While Antonio can't decide what the best gift he received was, he knows what the best gift he gave was. Antonio and Elijah got together and created a giant frame of some of their best picture. Grandma and Grandpa loved it. It will hang with pride in their home.
You can see it too, if you want. Of course it's $10.00 to get in, and there's no flash photography allowed.

Here's Antonio trying to cheer up Preston. It's a long video, but he just wanted his cousin to feel better. He's such a sweet kid.

Antonio says, "Merry Christmas!"

Actually, he says, "ba boo doo doo," but he's working on "Merry Christmas."

But first things first, Antonio had a very busy week with a lot of visitors. First, his Great Uncle Doug visited. Too bad Antonio didn't have any fun playing on his lap. I mean, look at the kid, he looks absolutely miserable.

Then, Antonio had a play date with his friend Charlie. She enjoyed his recliner and jumped in and started to read right away. As much as he loves playing with older kids, he enjoys when older kids read to him just as much.

And then the presents started. First came a wonderful goodie bag from Brenda. The bag was great in and of itself, but there was cool stuff in it, too. And the coolest of all, candy canes for Havana. (She was so happy to be included. It happens so seldom lately.)
One thing he didn't like, however, was when Mommy and Daddy told him he wasn't allowed to eat the doggie candy canes himself. That part sucked.
After he calmed down, he knew it was time to see the Jolly Fat Man, but since he sees me every day, I thought it would be fun taking him to see Santa instead. he did a great job, he wasn't scared at all. He squirmed a bunch, and it made getting photographic evidence of his visit with St. Nick hard to get, but we still got a few good ones.

(Yes, that is my bald head at the bottom of the picture.)

And here's a preview of how much fun he's going to have with all the boxes he gets for Christmas. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Book 'em, Antonio.

I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Antonio likes books. He likes to read them. He likes to have them read to him. He likes to read them to you. He likes to throw them. He likes to eat them. He just likes them. A lot.

Sometimes he just doesn't want to read one book at a time. Why should he do that when he can read ALL his books at the same time, right?

Sometimes, when he's kicking back in his reading chair, he'll spot someone with a camera aimed at him. Then he does the only thing in the world he likes more than reading. He poses.

"Oh, you're taking my picture? Let me smile a little."

"Zoom in. Get a close up."

"That's it. This is my good side."

"This one's headed to the Sears Catalog."

After his photo shoot was over, he discovered a new fun game. Stacking books. Watch how high he can build his book tower.

Antonio Has a Murse

There's nothing Antonio likes more when Mom comes home from a hard day at work than to walk around with her... I mean his purse. He loves it. And he looks pretty cute... er... handsome when he's doing it, too.

When he's not carrying his murse around, Antonio's new favorite thing to do is to kick back in his comfy chair and read a book. Right now, his Cars book is his favorite, but he pretty much likes anything Cars, so that's not a big stretch. I'm pretty sure he's going to be a big reader.
We also have had some fun weather lately. First it was the snow, which Antonio was very interested in. He wanted to grab the flakes. Then, there was the monsoons. Antonio didn't like that as much, but he did try to grab some rain anyway.
At the end the end of the long day, after he's played and read and grabbed precipitation and chased the dog around, Antonio likes to settle down with a stiff drink, sing some songs, and start tossing stuff around.


The boy gets out of control sometimes.

Oh, and Havana's getting in the Christmas spirit.

El Cazador Does Not Serve Turkey...

...so Antonio had to eat Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He didn't mind so much, because that meant he got to see his family, both the Barges and the Rodgerses. And he ate turkey and sweet potatoes and non-sweet potatoes and cranberries (and his usual bananas and oatmeal and whatnot). The only problem with all that eating, is sometimes you need some privacy to take care of some of your business. And sometimes you don't get that privacy.

But still, Antonio had a really nice time hanging out with his cousin...
...except when Elijah tried to touch him. Antonio's personal space is Antonio's personal space.
Then Antonio tried on the new snow suit Grandma bought for him. Since there was no snow, Antonio wasn't shy about showing his displeasure with the Christmas Story-like effect it had on him.
And guess what? Antonio's friend Ya-Ya came, too.
Right now, I'm groggy from too much turkey and pumpkin pie. There will be more later when I get more pictures from the camera onto the computer.

STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

Some people have asked, why haven't I updated the blog in a while. Well, I don't know if you've heard or not, but I am on strike. Why would this prevent me from blogging about Antonio, you ask. Well, it wouldn't. But it's also prevented me from cleaning the house and doing all sorts of other things I want to get out of, so I'm sticking with it.

So how's the strike going? Well, it's going. There are a lot of pickets going on down in LA, but since I'm up in Seattle, it's hard for me to walk in front of giant media companies. But I try to do my part.

And if you're wondering what this strike is all about, here is a video that sums it up pretty well.

Antonio's been a great support during the strike. Some of the time, we just like to kick back and watch some movies. He likes his recliner.
Other times, he likes to run around like crazy and talk to Ya-Ya, the kid who lives in the garbage can who likes a lot like Funhouse Antonio.


Other times he just likes to take a bath.

Here, Antonio is demonstrating his fine splashing technique. I think he may go pro.

Everybody Benefits

Last night was the March of Dimes Celebrity Chefs event. Deb organized it. She's done now. Antonio gets to spend more time with his Mommy again. He's happy about that.

This ends what has been one of the busiest stretches of Deb's life. Two weeks ago, she had the Childhaven event. Last night, the March of Dimes. There's also been some Fred Hutch work, and some other consulting work. She's still got some of that, but for now, the big stuff is over.

This morning, Deb got to sleep in. Then she got to play with Antonio. Then she got to not work. It was a good day.

She helped raise a lot of money for some good causes. And I think she may have had some say in the creation of some of the materials used for event.
Antonio's very happy that his Mommy gets to take a bit of a breath. I'm happy about that, too.

Happy Halloween, Charlie Brown.

Antonio's second Halloween was a little bit more action packed than his first. For starters, Antonio can walk now. He can "talk" now. And he can wear a pumpkin on his head now.
Yep, this is what happens when Antonio and I are home alone all day.

Antonio couldn't wait to get into his costume... He was Charlie Brown. Of course he has entirely too much hair to be a good Charlie Brown, but I don't believe in punishing people because they have too much hair. I think we should celebrate Antonio's hair while we still can.

Not only was Antonio going to be Charlie Brown, but Havana had a costume, too. She was Woodstock. Needless to say she now hates us and everything we stand for, but she sure was cute. Antonio couldn't wait to get outside to trick-or-treat, but he had to wait until Mom got home. And then, he had another surprise, his cousin Elijah came by for a visit and he brought Auntie Chrissy and Uncle Steven with him.Antonio learned that there are two types of pumpkins. There are pumpkins, and there are PUMPKINS.Then it was time to go outside and check out the world. We didn't actually go door-to-door, because Antonio wouldn't understand it and he doesn't really eat candy. He mainly just chews lots and lots of gum. Antonio wanted to take a ride in his wagon with Elijah, but Elijah wasn't having any of that.
So Elijah stayed behind and posed for pictures.
Antonio and Havana went for a ride together.
Antonio loves riding in his wagon, but this was Havana's first trip. She did a great job as we went all the way to the end of the block then up the other side of the street.

But then we got to the house across the street with the loud and annoying dogs (as opposed to the house on our side of the street with the one very loud and annoying dog named Havana). I guess they must have made some fun of Havana for her costume, because she went tearing out of the wagon and started yelling at them. There was a fence keeping all the dogs apart, but that didn't stop Havana from trying to dig her way underneath it.
Havana started a new tradition of getting a bath on Halloween. She did not enjoy that one bit.

Here are a few videos of Antonio. The first is when he first saw Havana in her Woodstock costume.

The second is a long video of Antonio being Antonio.