Choo Choo

One of Antonio's favorite places to play is Barnes & Noble. So last weekend we found one nearby and kept telling him we were going to see the trains...damn LA Barnes & Noble doesn't have a train table! Are you kidding me?

Well, luckily last weekend Jeff discovered somewhere else to see trains....
Welcome to Travel Town, a free part of the park with REAL trains~! Who needs Barnes & Noble!

Antonio could have spent all day running up and down the platforms.

Long Gone

Long gone are these precious days where Mr. Antonio was so small it looked as though he would never be able to get out of his crib. And long gown are the days where he didn't try...well that is until today. We bought a video camera for Antonio's room in our new place because the kid is after all a product of Jeff and I so he often wants his alone time and wants to play in his room by him SELF. So that we could give him his space and still be sure he was being safe, we bought this wireless camera and put it up in his room.

At sleep times I turn it to his crib to be able to see him, a treat I was use to having at Grandma and Grandpa's house, since they have had them for awhile.

And today, while I watched Antonio think about napping, I watched him lean over and fall right out of his crib for the first time.

HOLY COW! Talk about scaring a parent, but he didn't cry or even make a noise, he just looked surprised. Figures.

Stunning that it hadn't happened sooner. I mean if his mom can crawl off of the balcony and be unscathed then I guess Antonio can fall out of his crib.

The battle of keeping him in bed has begun!

Watch my mind

Antonio has loved music most of his life, thanks to the hippy influence of Laurie early on. However, this week he recently discovered the Cars soundtrack! Holy cow, his imagination is going crazy! Now he just wants to hear Life is a Highway over and over and says, "more mack" because it is Mack's song! It is so darn cute. But enough Rascal Flats already!

Speaking of hippy influence, Antonio and I found a new park where he found this great tree...

And Antonio has just been being Antonio, coloring, playing and eating! WOW this kid can eat!

Baf

Antonio is such a water baby and still loves his 'baf'. Every night he runs into the bathroom and says 'hi baf' and happily stands as we take his clothes off for the fun to start. I think it is because he knows he can splash and play in the bath like no where else.

Don't worry your computer isn't broken this is a black and white video.

Now that he can talk he has a lot to say. And the one thing he has always hated is Deb's hair on his hand. He sticks his hand out so that you can get it off, fast. He had already taken a piece off his hand earlier in this bath and then he found another. You can probably hear Jeff giggling since he still is at Antonio's proper use of more.

My Book

Thanks for sending my book back Grandma!

More Read

Now that Antonio is talking, we hear a lot of 'more' for whatever he wants. And many times it is more read, but sometimes he just wants to sit quietly on his own and read.

Laurie, Jeff and I have read this book to Antonio so many times that we all know what he is reading and it is pretty awesome!

Here's Johnny

Antonio has discovered several new parks in his neighborhood including the Tonight Show Playground at the Johnny Carson Park. He walked back and forth pointing at the letters on the sign while Deb said them out loud over and over and over before enjoying the rest of the park.

After a fun day at the park it was time for snack and a walk for Havana. She is adjusting well too, in case anyone is wondering.
Antonio is a great eater, still, and enjoyed one of his favorite meals, spaghetti, orange and toast. And besides wearing them on his face he also likes talking about them. But, for some reason during his meal he was thinking about Uncle B and his tattoo.

And Antonio's newest trick is laying in the bath pretending to swim. It is darn cute!But mostly he is just learning and talking and being a two-year old - almost - and saying his favorite word A LOT! No No No No.

Words Words Words

Antonio had a great few weeks in Oak Harbor before we came down to LA and while he was there a light switch went off in his head, turning on his words! And when they turned on we got to see how smart he is, though we knew it all along. Though most of the time we can't understand him, he is talking non-stop now.




Oak Harbor has a few other fun places to play, like the Fort Nugent Park that Uncle Alvin help build. Antonio had so much fun checking out all the equipment.
Antonio got a new pool from Grandma and really thought it was pretty cool....


But the best thing Grandma had was this great purse that Antonio carried around the house everyday. Fashion first.

And Laurie came to see Antonio. She is back from saving the world and wanted to see the little man before his big move. It took a minute for him to warm up but thankfully Copper helped to break the ice. Then it was all smiles and showing off.

After a really long visit began the sad good-byes and each one was tough on Deb. But for Antonio he just figured he would see everyone tomorrow.

Thankfully his sense of time is short so by the time we are home in Washington for the Holidays he will feel like no time has past.

Re-Enactment

Antonio is making us laugh every day. He is learning so many new words but one of our favorite things is to watch his imagination at work.

This is a little shot of him re-enacting a scene from Cars.

Here's the real scene...

Here's Antonio's version...He has done this for months in our old house, but he did it nonstop yesterday and now that he has words you can hear him say "wow-wee" and that is how he says Ferrari so you can really hear him doing this scene. You can see he has Guido, who he calls "papi" for Pit Stop and Luigi who is called "GiGi".

It is so fun to watch his brain work. Home made box VCR here he comes! (Rodgers family joke)

More blogging to come this weekend with photos and videos from our Oak Harbor vacation! Thanks to Uncle Me-Me for getting the internet to work!

California Here I Come...

Right back where he started from...though he doesn't really know that. Antonio is finally in California after a few weeks of turmoil, getting his house on the market, staying with Grandma and Grandpa while mom and dad drove to California, and now flying to California with mommy.

Finally, the long await is over and he is going to be in one spot for awhile.

Women....

Antonio had a great lesson in women today. His friend Charlie came to visit and he tried and tried to get his point across. He used hand gestures and even stood up to emphasize his point... but in the end, the woman always wins.

Long Time No Blog

Okay, it's been a while. But we've got nothing new to report.

Oh, yeah... we're moving back to Los Angeles.

So we've been experiencing a bunch of "lasts" recently. Here's a picture from Antonio's last trip to the Seattle Aquarium.

And here's Antonio checking out the inspirational words that used to grace his walls. Yeah, he likes to read inspirational phrases in the buff.

And here's Antonio helping us straighten up to put our house on the market.
And here's Havana's last time in the West Seattle garage. You can tell she didn't want to leave.
And so he doesn't feel left out when he reads the blog, here's Antonio sitting on Copper. (or "Ah-Poo" as he calls him.)

So we're spending a few weeks in Oak Harbor before we make the permanent move to LA (Yeah, we ate at El Cazador tonight.), and we're experiencing some new things, too. Like Antonio's favorite new thing to do, chat on the phone.And he got to spend a sunny afternoon at the beach today.Antonio is starting to take Havana for walks. Or is she taking him for walks?Bubbles with Mamma.I'm fighting Bats in Burbank.

I'll fix the words later. I'm going to sleep.