Fall nature walk

No matter how many times I tell you what you need to bring on a camping trip, you bring pretty much nothing.  This is how you dressed yourself for a chilly autumnal nature walk.  You won't be able to pull this look off much longer.

Boys and dogs

Lolo rushed out to meet Peter who had just got home from preschool and gone directly out to the backyard to join the other kids. It makes Peter so happy that Lolo lets him pet him. Lolo tolerates Peter best and he's a fairly alright judge of character.

Long boy hair

This is the last day of your long boy hair. While I was not home, you and Marcelo took the scissors to your hair and you cut across the front. 

This was also your first day of  "Spanish Preschool" or "Preschool in the Hood" as I like to call it.  Being the third child, you have the advantage of getting the wisest child raising methods. So, not Challenger Preschool or even Little Scholars, we decided to put you in a Spanish immersion preschool next to the grocery store. Genius!

Curlformers

Why not?

Self Portrait

Lactose intolerance is real

A particularly bad bout of tummy troubles, upon further inspections, revealed an expired date on his tummy.

the techie

Fierce

Hopscotch

A dog and his boy

Parker adopts Peter as his boy.

The age of technology

Supervising

Peter enjoys supervising the neighbor's back yard remodel every day.

Humpty Dumpty

Big boy bed and room

A couple months ago, we got you a big boy twin size bed because you weren't sleeping in the crib.  You would get out but then couldn't get back in.  Today, we freshend up your room with this ultra gentleman's study map, putting you on the fast track to manhood.

Nap time

After his two year birthday, Peter reached a number of milestones including but not limited to biting leaving a full impression and climbing out of the crib (successfully without landing on his head). The past few weeks have not been very fun trying to get him to stay in the crib for naps and at night time. He does understand that he's supposed to stay in his room, and at first, he would open the door shyly and look out. If he happened to see my stern eyes looking back at him, he would dash back in and close the door. Now, he's gotten a bit confident. In fact yesterday, taking advantage of the fact that I'm laid up in bed with strep throat and thought I'd take a little rest while the kids were in Quiet Time, he snuck all the way down to the kitchen, climbed on the counter and stole the rock candy I got as a guest gift at the Museum of Natural History Gala. Despite my old age and feeble state of being, my sense of hearing is quiet keen. I knew exactly what he was up to just by the sound of it. So I was waiting for him as he came back up the stairs. Sadly, the rock candy had to go in the toilet (which was rather confusing for Marcelo later when he got up to go pee).

Today, I had better luck. Only one attempt to come out of the room. I was able to squelch it merely with my voice from downstairs, "Go back in your room." When I went to check on the quietness a half an hour later. I found him like this. I guess, I'll take whatever I can get.

"cracker"

So currently you say no more than three or four words regularly: mom, dada, yay, and caca. Your first real word was something like, "nanana", for banana but you lost that word when you kept growing new neurons I guess. Now, we've been struggling to get you to say two sounds together, like "u" and "p". You'll say the sounds separately but not together to form the word "up". There's only a handful of consonant sounds that you are willing to make and vowels are even harder. Whenever we try to get you to repeat a new sound, you get kind of nervous and clench your mouth and neck muscles. It's a mystery to me and the therapist as to why you do this. It's especially perplexing to figure out what the difficulty is in getting the words to come out because it's clear that there is nothing wrong with your hearing or comprehension of words.

Well today you were making your usual closed mouth sounds indicating you wanted something from the kitchen which we decerned was a cracker. I asked you to say cracker, but of course you don't say cracker, so I meant for you to sign cracker with your hands which you do know. That's all I was expecting and then from nowhere --"cracker"!

What?! You can't even say "up" but out of no where you come out with "cracker"! Ok, it did sound kind of like a non-human parrot voice, but you said it!

I fought the law, and ...

Maybe this new anarchy t-shirt was not such a good idea --Kiri.

Peter! I told you to stop messing with the lemon tree. Don't face-butt the ceramic pot anymore. OK!

Table manners

You don't get out much. Not like the other ones did. So we generally don't get too excited about going out to a restaurant with you on the seldom occasion this might happen. Today, after numerous fun-filled activities for the kids in Salt Lake, we just needed to splurge at Rodizio Grill even if we had the whole caravan with us.

This is how much you enjoyed it.

And done.

I never talk about you ...

... and this is probably why.

I'll make it quick. So, you're 18 months old now.  You used to be tall, now you're short.  I don't really know what happened there.  You do all you're supposed to do (as far as your developmental milestones) except for attempting to speak.  All you do in that department is squawk.  I'm not going to lie.  It's pretty much the most annoying thing on the planet.  Luckily, the incessant crying/whining has subsided now for the past few months.  I take that as a sign that there is no more movement with the teeth for now.

Dr. Arnold seems to think you don't speak because you're independent.  I don't know if that's the true reason but it's true in some ways.  You don't like being fed.  You insist on feeding yourself, very poorly, I might add, even if it's your favorite food in the world.  I'm not sure what your favorite food is.  I think you like stuff that's spicy. You don't like noodles, scrambled eggs, or cheese.  Frankly, I'm not even sure you're my child.  You do like pizza with pretty much everything on it, Dr. Pepper spicy pork with jalapenos, and tortilla soup.  Maybe you have a bit of an under-sensitivity to taste.

You're a good walker and even runner now.  You can go up and down the stairs without too much fear of falling.  You're starting to want to go down like an adult but I prefer you stick with the tummy method for a while.  Your legs are currently covered in bruises from playing outside.  Not a very quick learner, just like Marcelo.  It must be a boy thing.  You love swinging, playing in the sandbox and pushing yourself around on the little toy cars outside.  Yesterday, you drove yourself straight into a large rock and bonked your head.

A new development is a bit of separation anxiety every time Dad goes out the door and occasionally at bed time.  You're still a mamma's boy, running back to me for a soothing every time you get hurt but at least you don't cry hysterically anymore every time it happens.  You're good at following instructions and trying to be helpful around the house.  You love your sister Sofia, giving her hugs when she's been away, going to her for small comforts, and comforting her when she's upset.  You love your brother, Marcelo too, but he's a bit harder to get along with.  You try to play with him, but he's a little rougher around the edges.  I wonder what your relationship will be like when you get older.

Also, I wish you would stop getting into the pencils, pens, crayons, and markers.  No, I can't put them away.  You are driving me absolutely crazy with this.  You are the worst offender by far and it needs to stop.  It does.  You just need to stop. I can't take it anymore.

My little garden gnome

For Halloween, Peter was a garden gnome. No, this is not his costume. But I'm so far behind on his blog that ...

Here he is, a little creature in the forest at 8 months having recently learned to sit up unassisted. Also, sporting a new haircut from Mom and two bottom teeth.