A Day at the Beach

Though we live in LA we don't go to the beach because it is a bit of a drive, but today we took the drive. Antonio has been to the beach in Washington but never a 'real' beach with nice sand and warm water to play in...it was so much fun!

At first all he wanted to do was dig...

With a lot of coaxing he ventured closer to the water....

and a little hiding behind daddy...and the squeals, they were nonstop! And HILARIOUS!

Until finally he was IN and wouldn't stop chasing the waves!

It was an awesome day at the beach!

Cupcakes Make My Tummy Happy

Daddy is 37 - wow that is a lot! And Antonio being the best celebrator of Birthdays is so happy to help. The boys were alone for their little party and had a great time....

First you have to sing.....


Then, you blow out the candle and dive in!



And then you are happy and so is your tummy!




Yes, Antonio did dress up for the occassion in his "uniform" aka his Cubs shirt and hat, which for the past several months has been the ONLY thing he will wear. Luckily there are a few Cubs shirts, and he doesn't know it - phew.

L-A-U-R-I-E spells Laurie

After far too long Laurie came to visit this weekend....And Antonio was slightly excited.


After the bouncing it was time to calm and read before bath and bedtime...

And then time for bedtime stories and snuggling.

On Saturday, he wanted to revisit his last memory of Laurie coming and wanted her to take him to the park with the field to run and play and most importantly...

SING - Peace like a river...his favorite song.

But then it was time to pretend and play. And one of the best things about Antonio is his great imagination. We built a nest and then he and Laurie added birds and blankets and fun. The greatest gift of Antonio's love with Laurie is that they are so completely comfortable together and he can quickly become his normal self - pretending, giggling and playing.

At the end of the visit this genuine happy smile is worth all the heart-ache of missing our best friend.

The Blog Slackers

The new year has meant a lot of new things for us and one of those was not blogging...and now we have needed to look back at the blog for various information about Antonio's life so we are going to start being better again.

The blog has essentially been our baby book - the place we track when Antonio does things, reaches certain milestones and how he is growing.

Here are just a few more pictures of his busy past few months - those that were not lost on the hard drive that Deb left in the seat back pocket of an Alaska Airlines flight and no one seems to have found!

Don't worry he can't really ride it but he looks cute :)

This is Antonio's uniform right now. Wal-mart sweats which he wants to wear daily - a cubs shirt, which thankfully we have 2 - and a cubs hat from Uncle Rod. Who knows why but this kid LOVES the Cubs.

At the parks he has been playing more with other kids...so fun to watch. Especially this big bald kid he seems to always have fun with.

For many weeks we went to Bob's every Saturday - That's all over now that we have gone Gluten-Free - more on that another time.
But most of all he is just having fun being a boy...

Doctor and Dentist - thank you Berensteins

Recently Antonio has hit the age where going to the doctor and other similar places is more challenging. However, the best remedy has been the Berestein Bears. They have a book for everything - volunteering, sharing, working hard, nightmares, and of course the dentist and the doctor.

So with a few appointments this past month we had a lot of reading to do. We went to the allergist and luckily didn't take pictures but Antonio was great and very brave. For now, we are treating his asthma and it seems to be working.

Then we found a new dentist. This is "Dr. Natalie Mansour" and yes Antonio calls her by her full name.

Just like a grown up he got his teeth cleaned first before seeing the dentist....

And then in came the dentist to count these pearly whites. Apparently the little guy is grinding a little so we are on the watch and will wait to see if outgrows it. But otherwise he is tip top!

He was so brave and did a great job! Could have been all the prep work, could have been the warm up game of Air Hockey in the waiting room!

And, best of all he got a cool toothbrush that spins!! Awesome!

More Reading, Spelling, Learning

Though it has been months a few things about Antonio have not changed. He still LOVES reading!



In fact, every sleep time we read him two stories and he reads the last one. It is darn cute. We have even caught him trying to sound out words.

In other learning, he is loving numbers and time. We have a book about time and he has a little clock he turns the hands to the times that match the book - even 8:15 and 2:45! It is pretty cool that he understands that the 6 is the :30.

And he is starting to spell so much! He loves words and wants to learn how to spell them every day. So much so that even in long books he can look at the page and pick out the words he knows how to spell. His brain is so happy to learn.

And with spelling comes a little writing. He has written his name, mommy, daddy and yesterday he wrote day. And the exciting part of day was that it looked great and he did it with his LEFT hand!! Like mommy. Could explain why his school was saying he doesn't hold a pencil right - because those ding-bats didn't realize he was a lefty like his mommy! Geesh!

Woo hoo for our smartie pants. It has been a stressful few months but it has also been a wonderful time to see Antonio's brain growing and learning so quickly.

Baby Logic

Antonio has been so busy. And we have too, hence no blogs lately. And the fact that Deb lost her hard drive with all her pictures from the first two months of year doesn't help either.

So, here we are March and we are going to get back on the blog.

Antonio was telling Deb the story of Baby Sadie in the bath and we were able to capture his logic later as he did his business....

She is boy if you didn't know - well according to Antonio. But really she is a girl...but you gotta love Antonio's logic.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2010~ Antonio welcomed the New Year with a fun day at the park with the stream....we were there for many hours playing and enjoying a warm day.

Climbing the slide was a whole lot of fun....

Leaves are certainly a ton of fun for any kid - so great to watch what Antonio decides to do when he discovers a pile.

A simple and perfect way to ring in the new year.

Twas The Antonio Before Christmas

Enjoy.

Christmas Concert 2009

Ya'll didn't think I'd let rest with those three videos, did you?

Of course not.

NOW WITH EVEN MORE VIDEO:
(Yeah, we were rolling two cameras.)

And now for the rest of the blog post, already in progress.
Pre-show:
The show:



Post-show:

Video of the show should be up later.

Imagination Station

Antonio's imagination has exploded...if he isn't pretending to be someone... He is drawing them...

And doing quite well...this is turtle Tuck with a blue hat.

Or he is drawing on the sidewalk ...

Making muffins...

And sometimes telling us it is time to take Havana on an adventure.

His mind is so fun to watch grow!

Halloween 2009 (This Is Serious!)

Antonio got all dressed up for Halloween. If you can't tell who he is from this picture, maybe this will jog your memory.

Yep. He's Ming Ming Duckling from The Wonder Pets, his favorite show. (It's also the only one he watches, but it's still pretty entertaining.) If you don't think he likes the show, you should ask him about it. Then, 45 minutes later, when he's recited a half-dozen episodes to you, you'll know just how seriously he takes his love of all thing Wonder Pets.