the little things

i keep making a mental list of all the things i don't want to forget about kian these days. he's almost 20 months old now and he's growing and learning new things every day.
- he still loves to play with balls. he kicks it and screams GOOOOL! sometimes grabbing his shirt like the soccer players do to celebrate a goal (his cousins taught him to do that). he sees a soccer game on the TV and he screams gol too.
- he loves to play with paul's ipad and now he thinks that any screen is a touchscreen. sometimes even books. there's a game where he has to flick a ball, so when he sees a ball in a book, he flicks it.
- he loves to read books together and can spend a good half an hour looking at books and pointing at everything so i name whatever he's pointing at.
- he has a fascination with the moon, and it's one of the few words he says all the time "noon". he looks for the moon in books and when we are drawing he asks me to draw a moon. any circular or semi circular shape is a moon to him, even the smile in smiley faces is a moon.
- he's a pretty good eater most days but somedays he's not interested in food. he loves raisins, bananas, rice, quinua...
- he can point to his nose, ears, eyes, mouth, hair, feet, hands and belly, when asked to, in both english and spanish.
- he likes to clean up after himself, when he spills his drink, he gets a rag to clean it.
- he recognizes the sound of an airplane and points to the sky when he hears it.
- he can do some animal sounds... cow, duck, rooster, monkey, elephant. he recognizes a lot of animals in pictures.
- he doesn't mind giving kisses to people (although he just puts his lips on their cheek without making any sound or he puts his cheek against their lips)
- he likes to say "knock knock" and knock on whatever is next to him, or on himself.
- he likes to brush his teeth.
- when we go to sleep i say two prayers, one in english and one in spanish, always the same two, and when i'm done i say good night and he leans over to kiss me.

still here

the little baby that came out of me more than a year ago is pretty much all gone... in his place there's a little boy walking around the house, blabbering and making us laugh. at times i catch a glimpse of the little baby that he once was, i watch him sleep and remember the days when he still fit perfectly cradled between my arms. it's amazing to think that he was once inside of me, that my heartbeat was probably his first lullaby.

i get frustrated sometimes because he can be a little too determined (some people would say stubborn) but i still think he's the sweetest little boy in the world. when i ask him for a kiss he leans over and puts his cheek on my lips. or his eyes. or his forehead. he loves cuddles and hugs but he also loves to walk freely and without holding my hand.
the little boy has a sense of humor of his own. the other day he was eating a cracker and paul asked him for a little piece. he would put the cracker right next to paul's mouth and when paul would go to take a bite, he would take it away quickly and start laughing. cracked us up.

during the week i go to work at 6:45 am and paul stays with kian. i'm told they usually wake up around 7, have breakfast, play, take a shower and around 9 paul drops him off at doña fatima's place, she lives across the street from my work, she loves kian, and he loves her so it works out great. around 12 or 1 i pick him up. some days we go to have lunch at paul's restaurant and then he gives us a ride home where we spend the rest of the afternoon playing around. some days we come straight home, go shopping or somewhere else and then at night we go pick up paul from work. kian loves to go out and be with other people. when he's tired he only wants us, but he's usually very friendly. paul is finally doing what he's always wanted, and in the meantime learning more about himself and what he wants to do in the future. i miss having him at home during the day but i'm happy he's happy and doing what he loves.
kian's all time favorite toy is (still) a ball, any ball. he sees a ball and immediately goes to grab it, throw it around, kick it around. makes his dad very proud. those two love each other and that love is probably the sweetest thing i've ever witnessed. makes me fall in love all over again. everyday. like lucy in 50 first dates.