A Wild Boar and a Very Silly Monkey fell in love and created a wonderful life together in the big crazy city. And then one day, all of a sudden and out of the blue and all those other cliches, the best surprise imaginable came into their lives......
WB, the LFM and I just got back from visiting WB's family in Puerto Rico. It was a lovely time except for the fact that the LFM picked up a horrible word from a special feature on the Madagascar DVD and spent the entire vacation calling his grandmother stupid every chance he got. It was horrible. We tried explaining that this was a word we don't say, that it hurts people's feelings- no dice, he kept saying it. We tried replacing the word with another woprd- so every time he said stupid we'd respond, "oh, you mean sube." (the spanish word for up, pronounced soo-bay, which sounds almost exactly like his pronunciation of stupid), which only made things worse because then he would say "no! STUPID!", and over-enunciate the word stupid- just to make sure we were 100% clear as to what he was saying. Finally, we started ignoring it, which is the tactic we're currently employing, as he has brought this delightful behavior home with him. He's clearly doing it for attention, because when I don't respond to his use of the word, he gets really upset, to the point of screaming it. Still, it feels weird just ignoring it- it feels like bad parenting, like shouldn't I be addressing this somehow? Yet the more I address it, the more the behavior is repeated.
Boy, this parenting stuff ain't easy...and this is just the wee tiny head of a pin sized tip of the very large iceberg, I know.
There were some really cute moments to the visit as well. Lest you think the LFM is all boundary testing and no joy, I'm including some really cute videos I took on this trip.
This is the LFM singing and being adorable to avoid sleeping. It worked. he's charming, that one. There's no visual, because we were ostensibly going to sleep, hence the darkness. Just enjoy the music.
This is the LFM playing the drums with his Grandfather and Great Uncle in an impromptu party.
This is the LFM searching for lizzards (legartijo) in the back garden at his grandparents' house. It rained half the time we were there, but at least the puddles were fun for one little monkey to play in.
And lastly, this is the LFM rocking out at his grandparents' house. This kid LOVES to dance. And I personally love to watch him dance. He often shouts "Bailando, bailando!" (Spanish for I'm dancing, I'm dancing!) or "Shake your booty!" while he dances. The move about 3/4 of the way into it is awesome and I'm totally stealing it the next time that we (never) go dancing.
The champagne has been drunk, the collard greens (in a white wine sauce with challots and garlic, mmmm) and black eyed peas (with creole seasoning) have been eaten to ensure good luck in the new year, and suddenly, in a very quiet and simple way the future is here. In more ways than one.
When I was little, the year 2000 seemed so unfothomable, and we were all sure we'd have individual rocket packs by 2010, at the very least. Well here we are, in the veritable future (as I post this on the INTERNET from my CELLULAR PHONE via a SATELLITE CONNECTION) and what wows me the most are the minute details of my own personal realized future. The one that looks nothing like what I'd imagined or planned, but fills me to overflowing with a sense of belonging and completion such as I'd never dared dream existed. The one where an ideal New Year's Eve is one where WB and I get a few precious hours of date time to ourselves and then are content to be in our cozy home, possibly dozing off while putting the LFM to bed (me- guilty as charged!), and then quietly ringing in the new year in our own beautiful way, leaving the champagne for new year's day and the firecrackers for, well, see above ringing in of new year.
If the way you usher in the new year sets the tone for the entire year (and I am indeed superstitious enough to believe so), then 2010 will be a sweet little year full of quiet surprise and blessing and oh so much love.
So I've figured out how to post from my awesome new fancypants DROID phone (verizon's version of the iphone but with better cell phone service), which means I will probably start posting more frequently again, and my aunt in France will not have to abandon all hope of seeing current LFM photos (I'm a horrible neice, I know...). It also means the posts will be ostensibly shorter, so you will all be spared the excessive rambling I may have indulged in in the past. Then again...I am getting the hang of typing with my thumbs rather quickly on this miniscule keyboard. Rambling or not, I'm glad to be back. I missed you, you cute little blog, you.
I have this recurring nightmare that I'm asked to define myself in some way in precisely 1200 characters or less. The words parade around me in a grotesque circle dance to Disney's "It's a small world after all", gradually inprisoning me in the box they've formed around me. I can't seem to escape this box-o-words, despite numerous desperate editing attempts, and the words are mocking me and shouting slanderous epithets galore about my semantic failures. I wake up, sobbing, and thankful to be in my bed and not at a computer frantically typing and deleting like a madwoman. Clearly, I'm a giant neurotic contradiction in and of myself (who gets way too little sleep to boot). Despite my massive insecurity, I can be pretty fun though...I mean, who doesn't love self depricating humor...it's funny right? Right? Ha ha? I try mightily to live life as one huge adventure, but the majority of the time it ends up being a bit of a farce. My new evaluative criteria when it comes to life experiences tends to be, "Will it make a good story one day? Then it was worth it." I also have an evil man hating attack cat that I adore and everyone else flees from.
