Diego is four

Dear Diego;

You are four. You are standing in front of me now - talking up a storm with your Papa. You don't want to speak any Spanish although you understand everything. It's pretty amazing watching you translate everything. "Papa - the boy who plays soccer with me..." Sera que un dia tu vas a jugar futbol? - Debes ir practicando el Espanole porque ahorita te vas a tocar....

You make friends with everyone you see - talking to everyone who we cross paths with. "My name is Diego, I am this many years old, that is my sister Lucia, I speak English and Spanish, do you want to see my tattoo?" You are the big boy now at the daycare - playing with the children from Kindergarden and watching out for your little sister.

The two of you are beginning to play together more. You are more independent. You are brushing your own teeth, learning to use the remote control, getting dressed to go outside alone. Still, requests of "can you feed me like a baby" and "I want you to rub my back" remind us, and you, that you are still our baby.

Diego you are brave and smart and fun - thanks again for picking us.

Mama

Diego is 3!

Dear Diego:

Today you turned 3 years old.

We had special pancakes for breakfast. Then we went to the library for story time.

It is amazing for me to watch you participate with the other children. You understand everything! I am beginning to imagine you in school. I think you are going to like your studies. Your play is also getting more complicated. You are watching and playing superheros and beginning to create your own stories and adventures. This is another sign that you are growing up.

In the afternoon you had a wonderful nap. After all the complaining I did when you were small you are becoming a pretty good sleeper.

OK, so this is actually a picture of you pretending to have a nap, after your real nap. Most of the time you are more like this..

You have so much energy! You are running and jumping like a big boy now. I can see your father's athleticism in you, you didn't get that from me. I'll be there to take the pictures though. Me and Lucia will come to all your games to cheer you on. She loves you so much and LOVES to watch you play.

You can do anything and she will laugh. Be careful! She looks up to you and always will so make sure you are a good example.

We love to watch you grow up Little Man. You get more and more fun everyday. Even though there are days (and will be more in the year ahead) when I would like you to TONE IT DOWN! I wouldn't trade you for any little boy in the world. You are our Diego and you are perfect!

The not so terrible twos...

Dear Lucia;

You are two months old now... almost three but who's counting. You continue to be a very content little person. You have the most wonderful open mouthed smiles and are starting to share a fantastic little screech of excitement, particularly with your papa. You are desperate to be sitting up and moving around and are often found in your bouncy chair trying to sit up, quietly grunting and tilting your head. Take your time little girl, it will come. 

You sleep in the afternoon which is a wonderful gift to me. You are growing at an amazing rate - having almost doubled your original birth weight. I think this is pretty normal but I still think it is amazing.

Your brother Diego loves to watch you play and smile. When you wake up from your nap he goes running up the stairs "Lucia, ya voy! Lucia, no llores!". When I suggest that we wake you up for dinner he is the first up the stairs. I have loved this 'little two' of yours, we have had such a good summer hanging out together.

Dear Diego;

You are now two and a half and the 'terrible twos' have not been so terrible at all. You went through a two week faze but you learned fast that the tantrums were a waste of time and since then we have barely seen the monster Diego. Keep up that learning curve little man, it will save you a lot of time and wasted energy in your life.

At two and a half you are talking up a storm. You have been speaking a lot of English "Come downstairs mom and eat your lunch." We have been encouraging you to speak in Spanish and often when I ask you to repeat something you will remind me that "Diego habla espanole y ingles, los dos." It is so much fun to watch you settle into bilingualism and your papa noticed the other day that your pronunciation in English is already better than his. Once day your Spanish will be better than mine. Will you learn more languages?

Along with your new words you have a great new understanding and awareness of the world around you. We have to be really careful what we talk about now in front of you because nothing escapes! We have been hanging out together all summer, with the daycare closed, and have been spending a lot of time in parks in the mornings. It is great watching you with other kids. You're fast little man! I've seen you keep up with the five and six year olds. You are almost more coordinated than your mama already. Papa says it is a good thing he had his knees operated or he wouldn't be able to keep up with your either. You are climbing like a monkey, Uncle Isaac is really excited about taking you climbing. Don't let him throw you over any cliffs till you're ready.

You are great at making friends. You use your sand shovels and bribes, running across playgrounds to hand them to other children with a "come on, dig, shovel, dig here" your lure them into your circle. 

In just three weeks you will be going into the pre-school room at the daycare two days a week. This summer we have really seen you become a 'pre-schooler' - you are 'reading' books, drawing happy faces, coloring in the lines, playing make believe with other kids and, most exciting of all, this week you have even started sitting on the potty!

To both of you - thanks - it has been so much fun sharing the not so terrible twos.

Mama
(Diego picked out this outfit himself.. "Diego is a big boy, nino grande!)

Dear Diego

Dear Diego - you are two years old now. I know I say this every time but you are more and more fun everyday. Here is a picture of you 'rocking out' with you Papa - how we love playing with you.

You continue to be happy at the Day Care which is a big relief for us. Often which I pick you up you don't want to leave, so we sometimes stay and play for a little bit with the other children. Generally you are really well behaved in public. Recently we went on a big trip to Colombia and you were such a good traveller. Thanks for being such a trouper - you are going to need to be flexible soon because we are going have have another baby and you are going to have to share everything with your little sister.

You are talking a lot now - in both languages. The other day when I was visiting you at Day Care I found out, for sure, that your English is progressing along just as much as your Spanish. I love that you speak mostly Spanish with us at home, and.., it was fun to hear all your English words as well. Sometimes you get the two mixed up, but that happens to all of us. You'll figure it out.

One of your first phrases was "not my lover" - thanks to a months long obsession with Michael Jackson. I am not offended by the fact that you could say that before "te quiero Mama" but I do wonder about what that means for our future with you. Will you be a performer as everyone seems to think or just a pop music lover. Your rhythm is good and you are beginning to sing, in tune.

We have had lots of snow this winter and you are loving playing in it. We have fun playing with you and now that you have your very own shovel you are helping out with some of the chores as well. You love to be involved in everything that we are doing.

Keeping growing and exploring little man - it only gets better!

Love Mama