Sad Day - Fun Day

Rodrigo passed away early this morning. 
Cesar was the first to find him. 
He is now buried next to his gal Bella in the flower garden. 
We three cried our eyes out. 
Donuts were needed and devoured.
Friends were called who came to play all - day - long.  And into the night!

Thank you friends.
We needed the cheering up.

HBA (Hugo Baptista Augustus) Sweater

Tomorrow is Hugo's birthday. This makes me happy. I am so in love with discovering all that is new for him. Tonight he called his friend Nicole "Cole" and he twisted Taylor's name to pieces but I did recognize what he was trying to say.

I make a strange noise with my lips to call the dogs and lately I've noticed Hugo trying to do the same. It cracks me up! Our staircase has a small landing before the final four steps. For some odd reason Rodrigo will walk up all of the stairs to the landing and then he pauses and waits. He waits for me to give him encouragement to continue up. He has only been doing this since our return home from the holidays. Anyway, it drives me crazy. And he will whine and whine until I tell him what a good boy he is and yada, yada, yada ... he'll finally run up the steps. Today I noticed that Hugo was mimicing me. He stood on the edge of the top step looking down at Rodrigo on the landing below, calling out to him in his gibberish way. Hugo does say Bella (Belll-aaa) but Rodrigo seems rather difficult for him. So, I noticed that not only was he trying to call out to Rodrigo, he had bent his legs at the knee and was patting his theighs as he spoke, just as I do. Very sweet.

This little sweater in the photograph above was one that I made for Hugo. He has worn it over and over again and now it no longer fits. His wrists have stuck out of the sleeves for the past few months but I haven't been able to pack it away. Tomorrow may be that day. A packing away day of baby things since now our boy is growing so big and will be two.

Old Photos

We woke to a light sprinkling of rain this morning. Rodrigo and Annabelle didn't need any coaxing at all to go out and potty, thank heavens. Maybe two hours later I happened to glance out the window and low and behold, it was snowing! Massive, fluffy flakes were falling as quickly as they could past the window. I was completely surprised. Hugo was at my side, I lifted him up so we could talk about the snow. He loves to say the word snow, but it sounds about the same as his other fave, no. A bit stretched out on the o sound. I dialed up Cesar but no snow was falling in Manhattan. He suggested I take Hugo out to play but we were already preparing for friends to come over. Then as quickly as it appeared, the snow returned to rain. The decision was made for us. We would remain indoors for the day.

The photos I am sharing are both from last week. The first was Sunday, Easter afternoon. We were at Cesar's parents in Providence. It was Hugo's first egg hunt and he was a natural. He passed up containers of bubbles, pixie stixs, chocolate bunny suckers and Old Maid cards I had randomly strewn in the grass. His only interest was the egg. He had no idea that there happened to be candy and small toys tucked inside. He simply wanted the eggs. All colors, any color, it didn't matter. Just eggs. Joining in on the hunt were two of his older Baptista cousins, Charles and Sofia. They were both super in making sure that Hugo had fun and had plenty of eggs in his basket. Very nice. My second photo was taken this past Thursday in our yard. I chose this to share because my son looks so free to me and that all is possible for him. The world is within his reach. I think the life trick here, is that as he matures, we must remember to not get in his way so much.

Our Rainy Day

Today is a pajama day. Outside the rain is coming down and the chill goes to my bones as I open the door for the dogs. I have to use my mean voice to get Bella to venture out past the waterfall that is pouring from the roof. We have no gutters. She quickly pees and tries to run back inside without my noticing but I'm on to her naughty girl dog ways. I know she has yet more business to finish out there. Rodrigo on the other hand takes his sweet natured time leaving me to shiver in the half opened doorway.

I wish that today really would be a pajama day but no, it is Playdate Friday. One of the mothers called around yesterday to make sure we were all coming. We meet at our church during the cold of winter and on rainy summer days too. There is a gymnasium inside where the children can ride on toys, holler, play tag, holler,and toss balls around while yet hollering somemore. They eat their lunch in the gym. Sometimes they will eat their lunch. Usally they check out what all their friends have got and never eat a drop their own mother prepared for them. You know how the grass is always greener ... I wonder if we should'nt simply set up a "food table" where we could orderly dump all the lunches for the kids. Cheese sticks in one area, fruit in another, then sandwiches, and yogurt, cracker jacks, Pirate Booty, cookies, etc could round it all up at the end. Oh, we would also need a spot for their tippy cups and juice boxes. I suppose with that effort the children would then want what had been theirs to begin with!