Santiago got his first hair cut today

Until today Mom, worried about getting a pair of scissors close to Santiago's head, trimmed his bangs while he slept. As a result his bangs always slanted to one side or the other. Today Santiago and Mom went to a kids' barber shop. They are set up with lots of distractions. Each barber's chair is a race chair and there is a video library for kids to watch while getting their hair cut. Mom selected Thomas the Train for Santiago. He hooted in excitement each time he saw a train.

Santiago shouted and cried as the stylist snapped on the cap. Then he quietly (except for hooting when he spotted Thomas) held onto Mom's thumbs and only took out his binky for the photo. The memento card is included here. Mom thinks he looks a little like his cousin Francis in this photo.

Man of Few Words

Santiago is a man of few words, literally. But what he has he uses well.

There is more which is pronounced "mo" with a very long o. He uses this when he wants more of his favorite foods, yogurt, Spanish rice, pineapple. He also uses it when he wants more music. Watching the mariachi band with saucer eyes, he points his index figure to other palm (sign for more) and says, "mo, mo, mo" at the end of each song. He also asks Mom for more singing when she sings "Fuzzy was He" while he's getting his hair washed.

Up is a often used word. Rarely is it used once. It is usually "up, up, up." Being an observer Santiago likes to be up high were he can see things. Mom keeps a chair in the kitchen so that Santiago can see meal preparations. Santiago now does a lot to help with making breakfast. He adds raisins to the cereal and even can pour milk into the cereal bowls. Being up is also a form of protection and Santiago will demand "up" when he needs a little security in a new place though he is really good about visiting and checking out new places.

Santiago can say "Mom" and "Mommy." Used for Cassie, these are saved for times when Mom returns from being away or when Santiago sees Mom after waking up. Mom also means a loved one so Dad, Grandparents and even his good friend's mom are all called "Mom."

Santiago can verbalize his reactions to food with yummy. Water is yummy. Rice is yummy. Milk is yummy. Yuck is saved mostly for non food things after Mom tells Santiago not to eat soap or sand. Then Santiago smiles, shakes his head, says "yuck" and eats more.

"Ba" is with different intonations is ball, bus, bubbles. "Poo" means "pool."

No is now in use and is pronounced with a very long o. "Nooooo." It is said with a sweetness of tone that seems better fitted for another word. Mom bought Santiago some hardsoled shoes to transition away from the beloved Robezzes. Each time we leave the house and put on our shoes, Mom asked Santiago to get his new shoes. Santiago takes them out of the box and examines them. Mom says, "Let's put on your new shoes, Santiago." "Nooooo," says Santiago. When Santiago does not want to do something No is followed by emphatically waving goodbye and shaking his head.

Crazy?

Just in case anyone thought I (Cassie) was crazy about comments I made about dog bites in the last entry. The home page of the American Academy of Pediatrics notes May 21-27 as Dog Bite Awareness Week. Check it out:
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/dogbitetips.htm

The number eight

This morning Santiago met his new friends, Asa and Sam, for a playgroup. We visited the lovely little park in Sam's neighborhood. Austin has tremendous neighborhood parks, well maintained, clean, with lots of trees, playscapes, and other kids. At the park we met Rachel and hope to visit the Nature Center with her and her Mom, Rebecca, soon. Santiago always makes quiet a stir with the Moms at the playgrounds. He is so cute, they say, and he capitalizes the fact that he is a good flirt too. Asa and Sam are about Santiago's age and being boys share play interests: cars and balls. At the park all eyes turned and all activity stopped when a garbage truck passed by, that is expect Rachel who didn't even notice.

Yesterday Mom and Santiago when to Zilker Park, the major city park and the park in our neighborhood. We watched three guys play futbol, threw rocks into Barton Creek and ran into our friend Annabelle (who greeted Santiago with kisses). All of which Santiago enjoyed tremendously.

Santiago now enjoys pushing his own stroller. There is a bar on the stroller at his height. During our morning walks on Town Lake he likes to get out of the stroller and push it along the path himself. Well, he needs help steering. This morning he walked so far that he wore himself out and crashed early for his nap.

Santiago's fascination with dogs has now been coupled with a comfort around dogs. He will even reach out and touch them. This thanks to time spent around Ainsely's and Jimmie Boone's dogs. Mom's not too thrilled with this as she has read too much about kids getting bit by dogs to be really comfortable with the proximity.

When Santiago and Mom read together, Mom asks Santiago to pick things out of the pictures: butterflies, birds, cats, horses, dogs, the moon. Last night, a little bored with the Winnie-the-Pooh counting book, Mom asked Santiago where the number 8 was and he picked it out with confidence! Smart boy!

Visiting the pool...Spanish lessons...Naptime

Yesterday afternoon, Santiago meet his friends Annabelle and Ainsley at Deep Eddy pool. It was cold (68 degrees year round). While Santiago avoided the wading section, he enjoyed going to the deep end and bobbing up and down with Mom, showing he truly prefers taking the big risks. Santiago gave Annabelle a hug and exchanged kisses with her. Ainsley who is a dynamo had dashed off somewhere and missed these demonstrations of affection.


This morning Santiago and Mom attended a Spanish Mommy and Me. It was half Spanish, half English and sign language throughout. Santiago was meek at first, then got bold enough to move to a place of observation and joined in at the end of the session by holding the blanket that was a prop for our song about colors.

The event was held at Terra Toys; a great toy shop that has a Thomas the Train table that kids can stand at and play with the trains. Santiago meet his new friend Asa at the train table. Asa and Santiago played intently with the trains as the Moms chatted about the trials of getting a good night's sleep while co-sleeping.

After stopping for lunch on the very winding terrace at Whole Foods, Santiago crashed for a nap. The congestion he has had for a while is still lingering.

[I've attached a photo of Santiago from our first visit to Deep Eddy which was on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006.]

10 days to 18 months

Santiago will turn 18 months on the 19th of this month. He has changed sooo much in a year and a half. I get a kick out of the cool things he does and discovers each day. Here is a photo of him with his chum Alex and his sister Eva. We were at one of Austin's great public pools, Big Stacy Pool. Santiago got in the water for a short time, but his favorite pool activity is playing ball. Well, that's his favorite activity in any situation right now.

Today at music class he really started to participate in the activities and was engaged for about half the class. During the peekaboo song he raised his scarf over his head and pulled it down with a big "boo!" He even swayed around with his scarf with everyone else during the dancing song. After he lost interest, he preferred to wonder around and survey his surrounds. When the open jam started, Santiago rejoined us with a characteristic and loud "Wow!" True to his ball loving, he found as shaker that was somewhat round and what thrilled to find he could roll it like a ball.

Getting Started

A friend of mine has a web page for each of her kids. She updates it with photos and a blog. While I'm not certain I can be as ambious as she, I thought it would be a great way for people -- especially grandparents to keep up with the goings on of Santiago.