Herald Square

Epiphany has come and gone, the Christmas tree is in the process of coming down, and that new year's exciting energy has leveled off a bit now that Papi has gone back to work and life has been settling down again. So, today we're reminiscing over another adventurous day that we had last month. We had decided to brave the crowds and check out the Macy's window displays during the weekend of New Year's Eve (what were they thinking?!) and had a great time.

For those of you who know Papi and his sense of humor, here he is giving that "smirk" on his face that tends to pop up as he teases Abuela about something. Lucas was just glad to be getting kisses from Tia on one side and warm pretzel bites from Abuela on the other:

Catching Tio B. and Tia's first reaction upon seeing Lucas when we arrived off the subway to meet them. One can't help but light up when seeing him! :)

At the window displays. Lucas did great, considering that he doesn't do well in crowds, and this touristy place would make any person feel claustrophobic no matter what time of year it is. He clung to his blankie for dear life and sometimes asked to hold my hand while being pushed through the dark in the stroller. Other times when the crowd became too thick, we held him in our arms and gave him a better view than just the back of other peoples' knee caps:

Afterwards we stopped through K-town for yummy Korean grub. Lucas isn't always so patient with his chopsticks but was very focused this time as he stabbed chunks of spicy tofu and in between would stuff his mouth with bean sprouts and some of Mama's bibimbap:

I guess once you're already out there in the chaos, you decide to plunge in deeper. We walked all the way to Rockefeller Center to check out the big tree:

A better view once we finally made it around the block:

Happy New Year!

May your new year be filled with tenderness and love...

raucous laughter and joy...

and... a sweet end:

Love, the A-S family

Gingerbread Cookies

Because of everyone's travel schedules, we decided to have our official Noche Buena meal the day after Christmas at Tio A. and Tia's place down the street. Tia had the great idea of decorating gingerbread cookies that she and Grandma Pam had made, and Lucas had a wonderful time making a creative mess at her apartment:

By now, our little student has learned to identify every letter of the alphabet, though he's decided not to say the hard-to-pronounce "W." He's a spelling pro now, and cracks up everyone on the street within earshot, such as the time we went to the bank and he yelled out "F.D.I.C.," or when he exclaimed "S-E-X-Y" or "L-O-X" (or whatever words he saw in local store windows). So Tia was thoughtful enough to make a few special cookies especially for Lucas -- in the shape of alphabet letters!:

Concentrating very hard:

The final result:

Glimpses

It's photo catch-up time! Lucas's abuelos and Tio B. have been in town from Louisville and San Francisco (respectively) for the holiday, and we've been having a great time relaxing and exploring the city. We have tons of photos to share, so tune in and we'll try to post during the next few days. . .

On Christmas Eve, we visited this famous Brooklyn event, located just a few blocks from our apartment:

Waiting for everyone to arrive from the airport:

Multi-tasking at its best: a chug of water, a Mama hug, and Lucas's favorite city bus all at once...

Everyone arrived on Christmas Day, so we gathered at our place for a casual meal that evening and to open gifts to start. When we told Lucas that it was time to open the presents that Santa had brought us, somehow he thought that it also meant it was the day we were allowed to take down two particular tree ornaments that he had been eyeing all this time. Once they were in his hands, the rest of the wrapped gifts took a back seat for a while:

Here's why when you ask Lucas what sound his Abuelo makes, Lucas starts to snore:

Lucas has really gotten into manipulatives lately -- always loving sand and water but now willing to sit for very long periods of time to color, paint, make playdough shapes, etc. Playdough with Tia:

Many of you have been asking for a belly shot, and here's the best we can give right now. In fact, you get two belly's (Tia's as well) for the price of one!

Whenever there's lovin' and huggin' going on somewhere, Lucas wants in on the action:

Arbolito de Navidad

We told ourselves that we wouldn't wait until late to get a Christmas tree, but when we finally found a window of time to purchase one recently, we were still delinquent while we let it sit in our living room with a string of lights but otherwise empty for several days longer. Today we finally finished the job of decorating during Lucas's nap, and here are first his reactions to the lovely surprise that awaited him...

Finding a familiar friend on the tree:

Wow, and another familiar friend! He knows that we "look with our eyes instead of touching with our hands" so he brings his face in as close as possible and sometimes can't resist gently tapping a finger on an ornament:

Walking around to explore other potential familiar objects, like apples and birds and now Santa Claus ("Sa-sos"), who Lucas has learned is known to say "Ho, Ho, Ho!" and who seems to be in every apartment and store window on the street:

Then he turned around, walked over to his table area, and pulled a chair over to the tree to be able to admire it in comfort!

Gloves

Since chillier weather has arrived, Lucas will sometimes resist wearing a warm hat and having his feet covered in the cold, something we're not so willing to compromise on with the icy wind during our many daily stroller excursions and which he never seemed to mind during seasons past. So we expected it to be a new challenge after we bought him a pair of gloves to further protect his body parts. But Mama was smart in her purchases. . . after they were presented, we immediately pointed out: They're "Thomas [the Train]-Blue!," which is what Lucas now calls all things blue (a confusing thing at first, such as when Lucas would point at someone's [blue] shirt and yell "Thomas!," but we've since figured out that innovative little boy). Now he's more than happy to wear them and to even request them while indoors.

Sunset Park

Ugh. Sorry to keep disappearing for longer than usual. As most of you can likely relate, life has been full and busy for us, even too much to be able to enjoy the two or three snowfalls we've had this month. We've been up to our ears in rehearsals and holiday performances for this choir, which Papi helps host while Mami sometimes plays backup piano and works with the alto section, and with this choir, to which Mami belongs. In between we manage to embark in new adventures here and there around our favorite borough.

As you know, Lucas is wacky about buses, so we've been taking plenty of joy rides up and down the neighborhoods (no small feat with a pregnant Mama in the snow!). We sing "The Wheels On The Bus" as we wait, then Lucas lights up all the passengers with his celebratory cheers as we climb on and ride through town. The only drawback is having to get off, which Lucas seems to never get used to no matter how often and early I warn him that our stop is approaching (that, and no bathrooms for the pregnancy bladder).

Below are some pictures from an afternoon we spent in Sunset Park on one of Papi's days off, which gave a spectacular view of Manhattan in the background (though the day wasn't clear enough for you to completely make out here).

Ready for Scrabble

These days it seems that Lucas is speaking and absorbing new words and concepts so fast that we can barely catch up, so we're providing you with a small glimpse into one of his many daily adventures in learning, even if it means documenting our hideous bathroom. . .

I realized after taking these pictures that I should have filmed a video instead, because the moment is always not only really cute but also impressive to his proud parents (we admit, we feel pride even when Lucas sneezes). Lucas is getting really good at identifying numbers and especially most of his letters. Whenever he sees written words on a sign or anywhere else, he has us spell them out, and as a result he walks around all day “spelling” by pointing to them as he sees them on a book or a refrigerator magnet, and/or he'll randomly yell out letters here and there. The other day he put together the letters “B-O-O-B" and had no idea why it made us giggle.

On a related note, he’s also very into the symbol of the cross lately. Before y'all go jumping to conclusions about our son following in the footsteps of his father the ordained minister, Lucas still goes ga-ga for lighted objects, and the new interest started with the glowing and very large cross that hangs in the chancel of our church. After he learned what it was called, he seemed to identify it everywhere, especially on the street that leads from our home to church and back (also known as “church row”). His brain has since made the jump, and now when he sees the letter “X” when reading the alphabet, he says “cruz” (Spanish for cross) in the sequence instead. Works for us, Lucas!

We’re not sure if it’s because learning colors in two languages can make it harder, but he’s also found an interesting way to identify colors (he does say "green" but that's all so far). A few weeks ago we noticed him pointing at his colored legos and naming the Teletubby characters. We figured out that he was connecting red to "Po" while yellow was "La-La" and so on. Such as in these photos, when Lucas doesn't know a letter (and sometimes he'll throw in the number "eight" for good measure), he throws in a "Dipsy" if it's green or "Wee" (for "Tinky-Winky") if it's purple or blue (easy to get those two mixed up). Little Man, you're learning fast!

"God Made Dirt, Dirt Don't Hurt..."

These pictures are from a several weeks ago, when the weather finally started to feel like fall. That's Lucas at the park being generous with his raisins by feeding the fish reliefs on the ground, then feeding himself the mud-encrusted raisins.

Lovely.

This was followed by plenty of puddle jumping (which meant more raisins to the ground and then to mouth).

Like Papi

We have no clue what exactly prompted it, but Lucas requested to wear Papi's coat one day after he returned from work. He must have known that green is a good color for him:

Best 25 Cents Spent All Week

Weekend Adventures

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend at Grandma Pam's (Tia Wendy's mom's) house, located less than a couple of hours away from home in New Jersey. It was nice to be hosted and to be spoiled with good food, shopping, leaf raking, late night games and conversation with even better company, and to have a bit of an escape from the noisy city. Here's what the ride there and back looked like (which we realize isn't novel to most of you but it's been a while since we've seen a landscape without buildings):

We were delinquent at taking pictures that weekend, but it turned out that Papi managed to catch one or two of Lucas exploring the land outside of Grandma Pam's beautiful home:

This Fall we took low-key approaches to our birthdays (Mami turned 30 in September and Papi turned 31 in October), so we decided to celebrate our 7-year wedding anniversary this past Sunday as a family and with another lovely couple, Tio A. and Tia W. (who happen to also be expecting their first child - can you see her beautiful belly? - just 6 weeks before Lucas's little brother is due!). We went to this famously kid-friendly restaurant, then enjoyed a view of the Manhattan skyline right between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. Lucas was in cloud nine watching the subway cross back and forth on the Manhattan bridge after a yummy dinner:

Slide

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's. . . It's. . .

We wanted to post much earlier, but Mami and Lucas have both had a nasty head cold that have kept us holed up for longer than we'd both like. Thanks to all of you out there who voted; looks like the most points went under "boy." Hmm. . . And well, here's all we have to say about that:

It's. . . a penis shot! Papi and I wouldn't know exactly what we were looking at if it weren't for that handy arrow (and even then we're still not fully sure). But when the technician blurted out our baby's sex, Mami laughed, which made the picture go temporarily blurry, and then Papi responded, "A boy, huh? Wow." [Pause.] And then a moment later, "How sure are you?" Her answer: "After seeing this, I'm one hundred thousand percent sure." Then she proceeded to show us from a few different angles. So there you have it! A sweet little brother for Lucas!

The poor kid hasn't even been born and already he'll have plenty after this to be embarrassed about.