Diego’s new improved and efficient way to eat ice cream…

Car GPS: “In 200 feet, please turn to the right.”

Daddy turns to the left at turning point.

Diego: “That’s not right! That’s left Dada!, turn right now!”

Dad: “Diego, I know the GPS is wrong and I need to turn to the left.”

Diego: No, Dada you turn to the right… now!

Dad: Silenced

Bizarre is an understatement for what is happening today. Both my Mom and Dad were picked up by ambulances and taken to UCD Med… That was strange but even stranger is that they are really, really sick and that for the first time I had to discuss advance directives with the cardiologist today. I was not very close with them for many years, but have been for a few lately and even then I am at a loss for feelings…there are moments when emotions abound and I feel a lot of sadness and guilt for not being there to share life, an then there are moments when the practical side of me takes over and thinks that it is simply the cycle of life: be born, live life, die; and don’t worry about the process. I feel sad because I think about my grandma and my experience with her dying and don’t want to go thru that again… At least not anytime soon. I also think about my son Diego and how I wish for him to enjoy his abuelos for many years to come. Diego especially loves my Dad, he is his whole world when they are together. So I know for sure my Dad is being admitted to the ICU and my Mom to cardiology; and I will have to split my time between them… Truly strange/bizarre.

So, tonight we decided (albeit very last minute) to go to the tuesday night practice that some Aztec dancers hold at Southside Park… It was great! We invited Diego’s friends and Jacob and him just danced their hearts out, and yes, we missed Savanna!…

cool to see, cool to film (see my version of the events with the video below…)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcLQF8eFRhs

Dear Friends and Family,

Life has been busy for us lately. We haven’t posted much because we have been living like there is no tomorrow; but it has been all great as Diego continues to grow into his own. He looks more and more like a mix of both Bets and I. We took a trip recently to see our friends in Texas and had a blast… it was fantastic to see them and take Diego to them; he still wants to see Josie everyday! our friends were (as always) the best anyone would wish to have!

We have a trip coming up to Indiana for Tia Ellen’s wedding and of course we have a couple of short trips coming up in July and August and October… As you can see, having Diego has added to our social life; but the best part of it all is that Diego loves traveling and meeting new people so it is incredibly satisfying to be busy.

A couple of days ago Bets shared a blog posting with me about new baby and older sister and how hard it can be for both the mom and kid(s) and I realized that I MAY NOT BE PREPARED for the emotional roller coaster that having a new kid will be for our little Diego. Up until now (on the onset of his second birthday) he has been our world, and everything we do and plan and our lifestyle is centered around him. This is what I told Betsy:

It will be different for him, maybe a bit harder or maybe not… no one ever knows. All we can do is hug him, kiss him and tell him we will always love him. He will need us more than ever, and we will be there for him. Please, know that I will do everything possible to be there for him and Enzo at the same time, Diego may need us more than ever, but I am sure he will adjust beautifully. We have to instill in him love for his brother while at the same time love him as well… that’s some of what we can do; I am sure we will think of other things to help him cope…

The question is: will I be able to do it without a major emotional breakdown? I hope so, I want to be there for my kids and hope to be strong enough to be supportive for all: My lovely wife, Diego and Enzo.

So, yes, he will be a baby boy and his name will be Lorenzo Javier; shortened to Enzo… enough said.

We continue to build fantastic bonds with other parents with children close to Diego’s age and have come to realize how wonderful life is to grow up with people close to you, so we want to say to Stephanie, Gordon and Savanna (Vanie); Jennifer, Tim and Jacob; Stacy, Scott and Kyan: Thanks for being in our kid’s life.

Lastly, our wedding anniversary is coming up next week, and frankly I am at a lost for what to do for Bets; I love her even more every day and am glad to have married her. It was the best decision I have ever made in my life. It is not that I can’t think of anything to give her or anywhere to take her out; but the truth is that nothing I could do will ever convey how much I love her so I feel that giving her anything that doesn’t truly reflect the depth of feelings I have for her is not enough… any ideas? (feel free to post on my Facebook page if you do!)

Thanks friends, family and the occasional lurker for reading… writing this has cleared my head, giving a feeling of accomplishment and most importantly it has made me look forward to lifetime with my family….

We have updated our Photo Gallery and if you need to download them, they are available in flickr.

A few portraits of Diego with his friends!

So, we are back from our road trip to Sandy and Snohomish (OR, WA). Visiting friends was a great way to spend the holidays (of course Christmas was spent cooking at home for all our family) and traveling was not what I expect it to be with a toddler. Diego was incredible, and not because he is my kid, but really did not cried or fuss about sitting down for extended periods of time. As I mentioned before, on the way up we stopped twice, and he read, sang, listen to music, or read books the entire time. And on the way back he was even more amiable, which included his sudden socializing surge: he said hi and goodbye to everyone we saw (even if they were total strangers!) It was a sight to behold. Also, he began to dance rhythmically, probably genetic but amazingly early in life! And lastly he demonstrated that he has an ear for tunes and melodies while visiting Betsy’s cousin in Corvallis.

So let me begin, Diego got a John Deere tractor and his first set of Legos from us (we can’t tell him it is from Santa because he freaks out!) Nana gave him a horse, and most of all he truly enjoyed his real leather horse riding chaps and vest he got from his niece Ashley. A belated gift came from Chito (Carlos) and Grandma DiDi (Diane) and he can be seen riding it… a hand made rocking horse… he loved it !

Next we took off to Sandy Oregon and visited with Carlos and Diage… and went to Timberline Lodge, by Mount Hood where Diego enjoyed for the first time snow! He had the most fun when we returned on our way back from Seattle back to Sandy, and a few inches of snow fell at the Cabin. Of course I could not leave without having to shovel some of it myself!

While in Snowhomish, WA; Diego relaxed while hanging out with Jack the dog… at one point Diego began to hug him in the most gentle way a kid could… impressive! but Jack is like a saint type of dog and reciprocated the love… by eating Diego’s cookie! We enjoyed the visit with all of our friends and look forward to seeing them again in 2009!

On the way back, we stopped to visit Betsy’s cousin Lucy, a music teacher. She loved Diego, and of course Diego had to try the piano… note the good posture, the happiness from playing the piano and of course the reaching for the far out keys! I also noted that he liked the metronome, and keyed the piano to it’s beat!

Lastly, Diego learned to talk! He is starting to try to have a conversation and sing on his own… gibberish but beautiful tones to my ears!

Friends and Family: Betsy, Diego and I wish you all a wonderful 2009!

Betsy and I planned a trip to visit a few friends in the Oregon and Washington state area, and after talking to Carlos, and Wendy and Martin it was decided that a road trip might be fun! Diego has flown about 14 times since he was born (7 trips) so an airplane would not have been a challenge at all! Diego needed something different and he got it! We took off at 3am, when I took him from his crib, he was asleep and as soon as I open the car door, he woke up! He was confused but stayed up for about an hour before he decided to go back to sleep. Needless to say, he was a model kid; we stopped twice (and he did his business then, and only then!) and the rest of the time we all sang songs, read books (he loves them!) or simply watched the snow. Whenever I put my brakes suddenly, he would say “Oooooh…oh Daaaad!” so I kept doing it every hour or so (safely) just to hear his beautiful voice. We got stuck on the snow only once (close to high centering the Outback!) but it managed to free itself, and off we went to our destination… We arrived in Sandy, Oregon just as the snow was starting to melt and rain took over; our friends Carlos and Diane were waiting for us with a full dinner along with some other friends. Diego was once again feeling spunky and at home. Despite an ear infection that was draining heavily he was in an incredible upbeat mood all day! We will have pictures uploaded tomorrow after we get close to a high speed internet… satellite internet service just doesn’t cut it… until then, I hope you all plan to have a wonderful celebration this New Years’ eve, and that 2009 brings happyness, love, luck, a good job, incredible friends and family; but most important the fortune to be yourself! Love you all!

Don’t forget, if you need a good tax write off, you can donate some moola to the Heart Gallery of Sacramento, my favorite organization.

P.S. We have updated our galleries here, so stop by…

Diego learning to walk was memorable, it just happened a few months ago that he started to walk and yet it seems like so long ago. Betsy took some video of Diego at the time attempting a few steps. I loved it. Here it is after a few months of admiring it myself, my son was and is truly growing up!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pp1SyKbS-g

Diego enjoyed his vacation. He loved all of mommy’s friends and he loved the sea! The beach was heaven to him, as he explored the sand and tasted it to boot. He also played with the beach toys we had from the rental house. He walked into the waves, again and again! As Betsy said, he got pummeled and yet he went back a few times; then he would pretend he had enough and then turned around and went at them one more time. That was the game for a while until he was truly tired.

Our son gives us pride, but also worries us. He can be afraid of not letting us go, but when it comes to experimenting with objects, animals and big ocean waters he doesn’t know what fear means!

See this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EaDItEG1KU

As you saw in Betsy’s last post, Diego did a few things that were beyond our understanding while we were in San Diego. We worry, mostly because we think he is too young to even understand what he did, but also because we realized that he is completely fearless, to the point of possibly getting hurt. WE watch him all the time, but he does things that baffle us and then we feel we need to let him try them… if anything just because we know HE thinks he is perfectly capable of doing them.

In the following series of movie clips you will see him facing a BIG doberman (while being tied, he looked at it straight at his eyes, with a unfazed stare…) and then went on to “temporarily borrow” someone’s long skate board and actually pretended to skate… he has observed this from neighborhood kids, so I assume he figured out how to adapt what he saw to his size…

Then, I decided to ask him to get on the boogie board (see pictures from last post) and he did, no questions asked (actually no fear shown) and as I pull him into the water his face turned serious, focused and as I let him go into the wave, he grabbed the board and off he went! I run behind him, with one hand on the board just in case, but he was completely fine! and did it twice more!

Anyway, enough talk, here they are…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Og9542iJ9g

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EGrkzbVG9k