Is it? That?

These are the questions I answer hundreds of times daily. Is it (short for Where is it) can be heard when Rudy is looking for a toy or book. But it also is heard when he is trying to hide something. For example, he may put his hand over the top of his cup and say "Agua. Is it?" Meaning where is his agua - we can't see it since it's under his hand.
That is short for What's that? He likes to turn the tables when reading books and ask us what the pictures are. He may also just walk around a room and touch everything asking "that?". It does become very repetitive but he's definitely learning new words everyday so it does serve a purpose. (Although some days I wish he didn't know so many words - he is now very good and making sure we understand exactly what he expects us to do "Sientate. Read book." is one phrase commonly heard.)
So if you're spending time with Rudy, you will now know exactly what he's asking when he says "Is it?" or "That?".

PS - If you read the comment from my last post from The Godfather (AKA my brother who apparently thinks he is now all powerful - or maybe he always thought that!), I just wanted to let you know we do not have pictures of the worm so don't worry that they will surface on here. I am still trying to get the image out of my head!

Random ramblings

As I said before, I feel obligated to write on here regularly, but don't always have anything interesting to say or tell about. But I know when I check blogs I read, and they haven't posted anything new in days, I feel kind of let down.

The exciting news (if you can call it that) was the surprise we found in Rudy's diaper on Sunday (no, it won't be graphic) - a worm. Fortunately we had the presence of mind to call the family nurse - Renee. She told us to call the pediatrician's office and talk to the on call nurse. They told us to just call in the morning to see the doctor but to save the specimen in a jar of water - you would have thought we were performing surgery if you saw the rubber gloves I wore to do that! So the next day it was off to the doctor's, then to the lab to leave the creature for testing and to get a sample bag. Then home, then after Rudy provided a sample, we went back to the lab. This all happened yesterday. I just got a call from the doctor's office saying they received the test results (very quick!) and it was a roundworm, which is what they had suspected and had already started treating Rudy for. Hopefully there aren't any more. So, obviously we are now obsessive about washing hands 100 times a day!

In other news, we received a letter in the mail from Rudy's foster mother. It took over 2 months to get to us and was very poorly translated into english (her last name was even translated into the english word it means!). But it was a letter and we now have a better idea of how to send things to her since she suggested a certain company. We've been collecting pictures since Rudy came home and are putting them in a small album to send to her. First, though, we have to write a letter to her and then have it translated into spanish.

Since I know you also read here for the pictures, here are a few older ones, that I don't think I've used here.

Rudy at the Children's Museum in the construction zone and then just a cute picture of him wearing a baseball cap like Poppy.

More Snow

I intended to combine this with the previous post, but I had a little helper who kept pushing buttons on the computer. Yesterday we had our second snowstorm of the winter (if you can call 4 hours and maybe 2 inches a "storm"). Rudy, of course had a blast.

And back inside and dry admiring the snow outside.

Random Pictures

Rudy putting his hat on by himself. And yes, we did go out like that.

Playing at the Children's Museum. He looks like he's ready to start driving- he already crosses his hands over when turning the wheel.

Rudy's Baptism

Rudy was baptized on Sunday. In our church, infants are usually baptized so we were interested to see how Rudy reacted to having water and oil on his head. He took it all very well, for the most part he just kind of stared at the priest every time he came over to us. And when it came time for the water over his head, he didn't complain. he spent much of the rest of the day talking about "agua" on his hair.

Isn't he handsome?

I expected him to be saying "no" or trying to get up, but he just went with whatever was happening.

With his godparents, Aunt Vincie (all the way to the left) and Uncle Bill (in the middle). Bill is my brother and Vincie is my best friend , my former college roommate (a long time ago...).

And of course, he is still a mess! He sure does love his cake.

Likes and Dislikes

As with any two-year-old, Rudy has very definite ideas about things he likes and doesn't like.

He likes cars, trains, camions (trucks), airplanes, 'cletas' (biciclettas - bicycles), and camions de bomberas (fire trucks).

He likes yogurt (see previous pictures), fruit (especially pineapples and peaches), 'titas' (crackers, chips, etc), cheese, pasta and peanut butter.

He likes 'Gato' (AKA Mario) the best but is also fascinated by 'Moky' (Smoky our other cat who he has yet to get within 3 feet of) and Lou our perro (dog).

He talks about his cousins Max and 'loco' Neil at least a few times a week (it will be interesting to see who takes priority when they are both in the same place).

He likes being outside.

He likes music and singing and dancing.

He likes books.

He likes animals.

He does not like milk, unless it's in his pacha (bottle). I guess it tastes different in a cup but we just can't get him to drink it that way yet. We even tried chocolate milk.

Sometimes he does not like meat (and sometimes he does).

He does not like raw vegetables (unless he can just eat the dip off of them).

Happy Birthday, Aunt Renee!

Happy Birthday, Renee, hope you have a great day (look for a package in the mail this week). I couldn't find a picture of Max and Renee but here's Rudy and Lucy and Renee.

El Caballo

One of the first animals Rudy identified and talked about was caballo (horse). For his birthday Grandmom got him a caballo to ride on (not a real one, thank goodness).

He would talk to it.

And read books to it.

Rudy would even have the caballo give him besos if he hurt himself, but he would not ride on it. Well, he finally started riding it the other day. So here you go, Grandmom, it only took a month and a half but he will finally ride the caballo.

Shhh and Stop

When Rudy first came home, and Paul or I would correct him or tell him no, we would often be told "moolah". We assume it is probably the two-year-old version of bad in spanish but we really don't know. He would say it with such seriousness that it was like he was placing a curse on us. We would joke about being "moolah"-ed.

Well, we haven't been "moolah"-ed in a few weeks now. Rudy has now moved on to telling us "shh" or "stop" when we correct him or tell him no. It's quite funny at first, which makes it even harder to be serious and ignore it. He uses hand motions too - finger on his lips for "shh" or a hand held in front of him for "stop".

Here's a picture of him saying "shh" just to be funny. I think I was singing and he would say "shh" to get me to stop.

Is it really January?

It sure seems like October weather today! I wouldn't mind if it just stayed like this until spring. These pictures are from October but they show what we did today. Rudy helped rake leaves.

And then he spent the rest of the time pushing his lawn mower around.

I wish I had the camera with me outside today because at one point he had his lawn mower, his dump truck and his tricycle (he calls it a moto) all lined up. Still Poppy's boy!

Train Ride

We took a very short train ride - one stop- into the nearby city where they were having a Three Kings celebration. It was a good chance to get Rudy's first train ride in and experience our first Three Kings Day celebration (really the same as the Epiphany - when the 3 Kings came to see Jesus). The train ride was definitely the highlight for Rudy. The celebration was a little unorganized and we had to leave before Rudy got a present from the kings because we didn't want to miss our train (fortunately he didn't understand that he missed the presents - we'll have to plan our time better next year!).

So here are a few pictures from the train ride. Sitting on the train looking out the window.



Hearing the train blow its whistle.



In front of the "nahne fish" (grande fish) at the convention center.




Paul and I definitely need to brush up on (ie LEARN) our Spanish. Most of the commentating during the celebration was done in Spanish (although occasionally they would translate it). We were able to understand some of it (better than the native spanish speakers it seemed at times) but there were times we really had no idea what was being said.

Nothing new but old pictures

Nothing new to post, but I feel like I need to post every few days so I thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures from when we picked Rudy up.



This is how Rudy looked when he met us at the hotel. His foster mother had him all dressed up in this sailor suit. I think the translator even said something to Paul about him looking like a US Marine.





This is our first meal together in October. Paul was pretending it was very hard to pull the papas fritas (french fries) apart and Rudy thought he was soooo funny.





One of Rudy's favorite things to say at first was "mio" (mine) if he thought you were trying to take something of his. He would clutch his toy or pacha as he said it like this picture shows.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Rudy because he is smiling AND looking at the camera - two things that rarely happen together. Plus I love the curls!

And although this picture is blurry, I have to include it. From the start Rudy has been a Poppy's boy, and this picture is great evidence. This is our first night in the hotel and we were hanging out in the baby lounge. When Paul went to use the computer, Rudy pulled up a chair and sat right next to him until he was done.

Happy New Year

We, of course had a wild and crazy New Year's Eve with music, entertainment and funny hats.

2007 brought all sorts of changes for us - a new house, a new niece, a new sister-in-law and of course, a new son. I can't even imagine what 2008 will bring!