Lately

Time for a blog update, I think.

Ana Luisa is really growing up fast. She is taller, has thinned out some, and her speech has really taken off. She talks constantly, and we can actually understand most of it. She makes us laugh all the time with the things she says.

She is not very fond of farm animals, especially cows. She has had major issues with cows since we went to a dairy farm in the spring and a cow mooed and startled her. Since then she makes sure whenever we visit a farm to let us know in no uncertain terms that cows scare her. She did a little better with horses when we went to a farm a couple weeks ago. And she adores her aunts, so being in Tia Padu's arms made up for having to be near a farm animal.

She has also discovered mama's shoes. And other accessories. She is such a girl.


She loves to help out in the kitchen. Here she is making peanut butter sandwiches with papa.

Ana Luisa is a very confident little chef. She is certain that she knows exactly what she's doing when I let her "help" me. For example, she will grab an egg and say, "Ok mama, ok," as she cracks it and throws the whole thing (yes, eggshell too) into the mixing bowl while I'm trying in vain to help her crack the egg and get only the edible parts in the mixing bowl. Then while I'm trying to quickly get as many eggshell pieces out of the bowl as possible, she'll say, "And now the flour..." and grab whatever measuring spoon or cup is most convenient and start dumping flour all over me, and the egg and eggshell pieces. Somehow everything seems to turn out alright though.

She also loves her baby doll, Baby Abby, and will often ask to carry her in a baby carrier. We've discovered that footie pajamas make great baby carriers.


She has also claimed my purse as hers, and goes around saying things like, "Oh, there's my purse! Now where is my phone? I can't find my phone!"


And I had to take this picture so that I would remember the story behind it.Sitting at breakfast one day, Ana Luisa put her fork down the front of her shirt, which lead to the following exchange:

Me: Ana Luisa, that's not where forks go. Take your fork out of your shirt please.
Ana Luisa: But it's a baby fork. (whispering) Shhh. It's sleeping.

She is so funny, cute and weird.

And then there's big brother. Our sweet boy has had a tough last few weeks. We were at a bookstore just after Halloween decorations started to appear in stores. He grabbed a book off a display of Halloween-themed books, and when he opened it, the book, which was a "sounds and lights" book, screamed. I grabbed it and closed it quickly, but he was already freaked out. Since then he's been trying to make sense of all the decorations going up around the neighborhood, at the grocery store, and pretty much everywhere else we go. Are witches, monsters and ghosts good or bad? Is there any reason to be afraid of them? We're trying to keep things light as he processes it all. We have elaborate story lines now where the giant 15-foot tall inflatable Frankenstein down the street is the kind daddy monster who makes his baby monsters laugh with his silly face. And I overheard Juan Pablo not long ago saying to Ana Luisa:

"Ana Luisa, did you know, that there was a witch that screamed, but then she went to catechism class and learned about Jesus and learned how to love, and then she liked Halloween! And then she and the monster and the mummy and the ghost all danced and sang, it's Halloween! It's Halloween!"

His little story made me laugh, but it is a confusing time of year. And then there's the catechism class, which he mentioned above. Three weeks ago, Juan Pablo started Atrium, a Montessori catechesis program that meets once a week for a couple hours. His teacher is a mom from our playgroup, who he knows pretty well, having seen her once a week for the last year and a half or so, plus sometimes also at Mass on Sundays. I thought he would love the Montessori thing. He does, it seems, but being away from mama for two whole hours has proved very difficult for my little man. And I'm in the classroom right next door with Ana Luisa, watching his teacher's kids. He has been wearing a necklace we made with a picture of me around his neck. Whenever he starts to get anxious his teacher comes and asks him about it, which helps a little. Jeff and I joke that it's just a precursor to an "I love mom" tattoo someday. This past week he had his best week yet, he only ended up coming to the nursery with me once. It also helped that Jeff came to the class and stayed with him for the first half hour or so.

But between the two hours of separation a week, and the confusion of the Halloween decorations, we've been dealing with some anxiety issues. There are some upsides to this though. We get more snuggles at night (he's back to sleeping in our bed most nights). We've had lots of conversations about how mama always comes back, and how even when he can't see me I still love him and I know where he is and he doesn't need to be worried because I will come back for him. And about how Jesus is the strongest and he protects us and takes care of us. All good things. Plus Jeff and I have had many, many more opportunities than usual to grow in patience and understanding. We need that too.

And throughout it all, Juan Pablo is still our sweet little man.We are going on a vacation soon that will hopefully give us more time to focus on him and fill up his "love and attention" tank. It will also give us a bit of a break from all the Halloween stuff. And in the meantime we pray for his sweet, innocent little heart, that God would fill it with peace.