Summer Is Here

Besides the ridiculous heat here in Texas, everything is great in the summer. Amada finished school and has the summer off. That means that Michael had his last day at daycare last Friday. We also get to take care of Michael's two Hawaii cousins, Jisselle and Jocelyn, for a few weeks. So Amada has her hands full, but everybody is having a great time.

This past weekend we went to Zapata for Mama's 100th birthday party! Michael is her great-grandson, but there were some great-great-grandchildren there that are older than Michael. Michael is still very shy when meeting new people, but after a day he warms up very nicely.

Here's a video from 3 weeks ago of Michael doing pushups. Mami did some pushups in the kitchen, and well monkey see monkey do.

Michael is taking swimming lessons one day a week for 30 minutes during the summer. Here on Memorial Day, he took a dip for only his 2nd time ever. Here he's in between blowing bubbles in the water.



One recent morning I changed his diaper, put him on the ground and then went to the trash can to throw the diaper away. I came back to the room and found him like this! How quickly things can happen.



Las primas de Miguelito. His new favorite playmates.



Michael had a play-date with Jackson from daycare.



Family pic. Who's that tall, pale guy who stands out here?



Sidewalk chalk! Apparently when you scoot around, it comes off the concrete onto your shorts. Who knew.





I made some fruit smoothies and thought Michael might like to try it. Did he ever!

Houston Zoo

Michael's New Orleans cousins came to Houston two weekends ago, and we were able to meet up at the zoo. It wasn't unbearably hot and we had a very nice time. Michael's highlight was watching some kids throw bread into the water as the koi, ducks, turtles and birds tried to get as much as they could. He also seemed to enjoy looking at the elephants.







Nathan was really good at reading the map and helping us navigate the zoo.



Molly understood that as you get older, your hands get bigger. She told me that when I'm 100 my hands will be as big as the one on the left.






Jungle boy!




I wanted to put a post up last night since it was both Jisselle's and GiGi's birthday, but Blogger was down! So today I will wish you both a happy belated birthday.

Easter 2011

Alternating years as we always do, 2011 had us spending Easter in Zapata. We were able to leave early Friday and have a very nice weekend. Michael enjoyed seeing some dogs and learned how to call them. For the next week at home he went to our back window, looked out and tried to call any dogs, but alas none would come at our home.

The highlight was Michael riding a horse for the first time. First he practiced indoors. Then he got his first ride with Abuelito, and afterwards with Mami.



He doesn't like to nap much in rooms other than his or daycare's, so whenever we get in the car on trips, he's out in no time.



Here are some pics from Easter Sunday





And here's a funny video from a month ago of Michael finding himself quite hilarious.

Catching Up

We've been very busy the past few weeks. And our boy is growing up so quickly. He's now sleeping on a mat on the floor at daycare instead of having to be put in his crib for a nap. He understands us much better for a lot of things, such as asking him to put his toys away or give it to Mami/Daddy. He even said "Tia Elsa" as clear as day a few weeks ago, but hasn't said a whole lot since then. He also got his first molar a week ago, and it appears all four are coming in now.

Daycare told me that he is the leader in his class which surprised me because about half of his class is older than he is. But that day he starting pushing one of the kid chairs in the room, so all of the other kids started pushing the chairs too. We've always let him do this at home because it helped him walk at first and it kept him entertained with the loud dragging noise, but I suppose it's not a good habit in public. And daycare certainly didn't enjoy having all of their chairs being pushed around. So he can't push chairs anymore.

Here's a video of Michael helping Gigi put drinks in the fridge on his first camping trip.

Here's a video of Michael riding on Grampa's slide on the trip. After the first ride, he kept walking back to the beginning and sitting on the cardboard, asking for another ride!

Chicot State Park, LA


This is Tom Brady when he was 1 year old.













He always helps us load the fridge at home now too.



He also got his first haircut a couple of weeks ago.







Here he's holding his first locks.



Finally, here's a video of Michael helping Daddy build a vegetable garden.

Peek-a-boo Baby

We have a funny boy. He's becoming more of a ham everyday.

First Birthday

Michael turned 1 five weeks ago. We dressed him as a monkey, and he didn't mind his costume. With so many friends and family, he had a great time. He didn't really dive into his cake, but then again he had never had sweets before (besides fruit). The finger-painting and piñata went over really well. By the end of the party, Michael was sooo tired. But he, and his parents, really enjoyed the day!

Here are a few pictures from before his party, including some with his castle gift from us.








Here are some pics from his party:











And this one could be mistaken for one of my childhood pictures:




There's plenty else that we need to share, including some videos playing with his presents, and hopefully it won't take 6 weeks to find the time to do so. In the meantime, I leave you with a simple video and Miguelito's Ray Charles impersonation.