Quick weekend update & more sweet things from Cati

We had a nice weekend, mostly spent working on unpacking and organizing our house. We really did a lot and finally started to see some major progress. We also attended a birthday party...a sweet friend of the people we bought the house from stopped by out of the blue last week and invited us to her daughter's birthday party. It was a lot of fun, but a bit overwhelming for the kids. One thing that Cati (and the rest of the guests) really enjoyed was the musical performance...the birthday girl's father and three of his family/friends dressed up as the Wiggles and sang. It was absolutely hysterical!

We took the kids to church this weekend for the first time since we've been in Tampa. They both behaved very well. There was a musical performance by the Vacation Bible School kids. That really caught Catalina's attention and I'm sure she'll mention it every time we got back to that church.

During lunch after church, I noticed that Gus has gotten two more teeth on the bottom. I literally stuck my finger in his mouth during breakfast on Friday to see if any more teeth were about to pop up, but didn't notice anything. Then, on Sunday, he had two new teeth! Now, he has eight. In other Gussy news, he's still not walking, though I've sworn a thousand times in the past two weeks that he was about to take off. He'll stand there for several minutes with his legs wide apart and I think, "I better get the video camera," but then he just sits down and motors off on all fours. He's got lots of new sounds, including one that might be his version of "no," but he's still not saying any really recogizable words besides "Mama" and "Doc," which sounds like "Ahhhhhhh-k!" Louie's got Catalina on the case trying to teach him to say "Papa." She's so cute. She will randomly throughout the day say, "Gus-Gus, can you say 'Papa?'" She's such a good little girl and sister. She starts swimming lessons next week, so I'm sure that will provide lots of stories (and humor) for your enjoyment. Here are some more sweet things from Cati that I have been writing down as I thought of them over the past week:

- When Cati first got home, she wouldn’t sleep by herself (still doesn’t) and she wouldn’t let Louie within 10 feet of her when she was sleepy and cranky. As a result, I slept with her every night. One night, we said our “goodnights” and were lying there trying to fall asleep. Cati opened her eyes and looked at me and said “Cati es happy.” It was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard!
- If she awoke before me, Cati would whisper to me, “Mama, esta dia, no este noche.” As she learned English, that phrase became “It’s the day, no tonight.” A lot of times, when the sky is ambiguously dark (at dawn or dusk or when it’s very cloudy), she’ll ask “Is it tonight, or the day?”
- Over time, Cati began letting Louie tuck her into bed at night and finally let him sleep with her occasionally. So, now she asks this most days, “Cati esleepy con Mama or Papa?” She always, always says “esleepy” instead of “sleeping.”
- A lot of times when I’m cooking dinner and/or cleaning up after dinner, I use the TV as a babysitter for the kids. Our favorite channel, Noggin, goes off at 6 p.m. Cati is always very disappointed when this happens. We have the same conversation almost everyday when it goes off (her in front of the TV, me in front of either the stove or the sink):

Cati: No more cartoons, Mama?
Me: That’s right, Cati. It’s time for little children to eat their dinners and take their baths and go to bed.
Cati: But, why no more cartoons?
Me: Because it’s almost nighttime.
Cati: Cartoons esleepy?
Me: Yes, it’s probably time for them to go to sleep, too.
Cati: Why?
Me: (leaving the dirty dishes and pouring a glass of wine) Because they are tired. Cati: Why tired?
Me: (Sip of wine) Because they play all day long, like you, and now they are very tired.
Cati: Dora esleepy?
Me: (Swig of wine) Yes, Dora is sleeping.
Cati: Diego?
Me: (Gulping wine) Yes, Diego, too.
Cati: Baby Jaguar?
Me: (Is there anymore wine in this house?) Yes, and Baby Jaguar.
Cati: Dora, and Diego, and Baby Jaguar, and Boots, and Alicia, and Backyardigans esleepy.
Me: (Ugh, forget it, there’s not enough wine in the world) Yes.

- Last week, I was lying beside Catalina in bed…she was watching cartoons while I was lying there trying to wake up. She said to me, “Mama, es tonight or the day?” I said, “It’s the day, sweetie, but Mama is just so tired.” She said, “Porque you play toooo much.” (like the cartoons)
- I use lots of terms of endearment for my loved ones…sugar honey, sweetie, darlin’, baby-cakes, squishy, etc. One day, I was leaving to run errands and I yelled out to Louie and the kids, “Bye, lovie-dovies!” Louie said “good-bye” back, but Catalina was silent. Confused, she looked up at Louie and said, “Papa, Mama dijo [said] ‘Bye, Teletubbies?!?’” (pronounced ‘Tele-toobies’). We laughed until we cried.
- More on nicknames… When the kids came home, we didn’t want to upset Catalina and start calling her brother “Gus” right away (since she has known him as Gustavo since he was 5 weeks old). After a while, out of the blue and on her own, Catalina started calling him “Gus-Gus,” then “Gus” and now she also calls him “Gussy” and “Bubby.”
- Louie and I have started calling Catalina “Cici,” (since it’s similar to ‘sissy’ and because her initials are C.C.).
- I refer to Gus as “Mama’s boy” a lot of the time. I overheard Cati the other morning, and several times since then, refer to him as “Cici’s boy.” “Come here, Cici’s boy.” “Be careful, Cici’s boy.” I also overheard her call him “mi sweet brother.” (sigh)