christmas eve and day

I found a post sitting in the drafts that never got blogged about. Here are a few pics from Christmas, only 8 months late! Vale looks almost the same to me, except her hair is longer now, and she has more teeth, and less cheeks, but other than that, the same :)

one point ten

Vale is potty trained....hoooray! It's taken a week but honestly there have been few accidents in that week and she is now able to run to the bathroom by herself! We've even taken trips to the zoo, grocery store, target, and park without any accidents. I'm keeping my fingers crossed she continues liking this new skill! She's still using a diaper during naps and at night just to make sure. Most of Vale's chatter this month is about food, zoo or potty training related! She's so proud of herself and has ALMOST forgotten to ask for the cracker with honey or nutella that I bribed her with in the beginning. Coming out of Vale's little mouth this month: "mas papitas papa please" "otra galletita" requesting more cookies! "afuera, chanclitas, bicicleta" wanting to go outside with her bike "hahaa, papa skyfari, hi" at the zoo, Kevin rode in the skyfari car ahead of us and Vale couldn't get enough of seeing her dad up ahead. "no no no goodnight moon" not wanting to read the last book of the night. "a ver, habre la boca" telling Annie, her potty training doll, to open her mouth to get her teeth brushed by Vale" "flamingo, peacock, AAAaaaaaa" her favorite animals to imitate "papAaaaa, Vale hiso caca en la bacinica" So proud of herself and summoning her dad to inspect. "Tia big P, seaworld, Shamu, habre, senor, caleb y Ivi" My sweet sis has taken Vale to Sea world several times and what inpresses Vale the most is Shamu and especially when it's being fed by the trainers. and my favorite phrase occured at the park the other day when she passed gas and after chuckling and assuring Kevin it was just gas, made up her very own song, it went like this.."pedo si caca no, pedo si, pedo no" Kevin and I shared a good laugh at our funny little composer!

1.9 plus all banged up

Vale is three short months away from turning 2, and I as always am astonished daily by her cleverness. She knows the abc's (with a little help) and has started singing along to her favorite kid songs you even hits the right notes. Old McDonald and a Dos y Dos song are her two favorites and she sings them all day long, even at night in her crib as she's falling asleep. Her favorite t.v. shows are Dora, Sesame street and Curious George. She can recite parts of her favorite books from memory and knows all the animals she has seen at the zoo and the noises they make, her favorite being the peacock....She makes one heck of a peacock noise too! She likes to know who people are, first looking at their shoes and then wanting to know their name and their relation to her/ who's parents they are/ etc....I never spare the details with her and I got a taste of how much she picks up the other day when she pointed to a black dog and said "perro negro" or when after spending time with her g'rents she said to Kevin " Can I have some please. " She has also learned "Vale's turn" which cracks me up every time she says it..which is all the time since she's at that stage where she wants to do everything herself...put on her clothes, buckle her shoes, zip up her jacket, blow her own bubbles, brush her teeth, fasten her seatbelt, EVERYTHING! My favorite part about Vale being 1.9 is how loving she is with Kevin and me. She is so generous with her hugs and kisses and I love you's and I feel like all the love and attention we've given to her, she is finally able to show back to us. Her forehead glue finally fell off and revealed a not so bad looking scar..yeahy!! and to keep it protected from the sun Vale got some bangin' bangs...it only took several trims to get it right(ish) and now she's sporting them like a real big kid. Here is Vale in all her tantrummy, delightful, stamp obsessed, goofy glory!

p.s. Big shout out to Tita Kalani for the devine dvf dress. Thanks tita!

numbers plus Karate!

Vale is such a show off , or maybe I'm the show off for showing off her skills. Either way, she can count to ten in Spanish and English with very little help, and recently she's taken to doing it super fast. This video is actually the first time she went all super speedy on us, I'm so glad I had my phone out (even if the video was blurry) to catch it. Also, she's been going to big C and little I's karate lessons (I'm not sure how I got conned into taking them every week) and she is obsessed. I mean obsessed. She does her karate moves all day long and talks about Ivi and Caleb doing karate all day long. And by talks about it, I mean the three karate words she knows which are Karate, hiya, and os. I googled this last word and found out that it's what is replied once a command is given and means "I will die before this task is left uncompleted to your satisfaction". I'm thrilled that Vale takes her Karate so seriously but wow, lighten up kid! Also, she is terrified of the sensei... as in, screaming, crying hysterical will not get within 10 feet of him. I found this out the hard way when I approached him after class to inquire about the yellow belt test. It could be because he's always demonstrating on one of his students how to beat up an attacker, or because he is so strict and doesn't know how to talk just scream. I hope you enjoy this cute video of Vale mixing her two newest skills.

Untitled from KarlaB on Vimeo.

lovely baby humps

hi there..with summer less than a month away Vale got an early dose of pool action at the beautiful Aviara in Carlsbad a few months back and ever since one of her favorite words is "berca" her way of saying "alberca" which is the Mexican word for swimming pool, I say Mexican because other spanish speaking countries call it piscina. I guess we sometimes call is that too, when we want to sound fancy and stuff. Vale had a blast splashing in the 1 foot pool which was fun even for the adults. Kevin and I took turns playing with Vale in the pool while the other parent lounged and sipped cold beverages. It was super relaxing and a lovely time spent with the family it was also a little preview in to what our summer is gonna look like, Vale is currently signed up for daily swim lessons that start in a couple weeks. I'm a little terrified that they'll make us dunk her. yikes, poor V. but alas, she's gotta learn since my parents pool has always been a source of worry. I'll be sure to share some of the many pictures we'll be taking of Vale as she begins her swimming career :)

p.s. thanks to tita J for letting us crash her relaxing vacation a bunch of times, and a shout out to tita Kalani for the awesome mommy and baby swimsuits! gracias!

1.8 plus tutu tumbling

Hellooo, we're on vacay for a little while and just in time to pick up the camera for stills and video of Vale as she's become quite the parrot and budding entertainer. She says words she's never said before on a daily basis and we have to listen carefully and even ask each other what she is saying because we know its a word, its something she wants, something she's heard us say before. Something important to her. Her favorite words (that we can identify at least) are parque, afuera, arriba, up, down, smoothie, dora, casco, bicicleta, backpack, ambre, juice, turtle, kiwi, beckham, queso, fresa, sandia, blueberry, Killacky, pintar, chanclitas, shoes, zapatos, 5,8,9,10, galletitas, nieve, rojo, verde, azul, amarillo, chicos, chicas, niños, niñas, señora, señor, patineta, sticker, pelo, perro, doggie, see you, hello, bye bye, ta ta, mas please, de nada, agua, keys, nariz, pies, mail, poppa, coche, brinca, caca, peepee...I'm hoping to try the potty training again this month...I think she's ready since she tells us when she's finished and usually wants her diaper changed except for when she doesn't cause sometimes she doesn't. I bought her a little doll that drinks water from a bottle and pees into a little potty to teacher her, her name is Annie and she has quickly become one of vale's favorite toys to play with especially the part where she gets to dump Annie's "peepee" in to the toilet and then flush it. Anyway, in other Vale news, this Thursday we took her to her second gymventures class where she gets to jump on a super long trampoline, walk the balance beam, and hang on the rings and parallel bars. The class is through the YMCA which Mr. K was nice enough to sign Vale up for (many thanks) and Vale just has the time of her life...Ms. Sandra, her teacher, is super sweet with the girls and even gives them stamps on their hands and feet after class which Vale makes sure to show us throughout the day. I can't wait till next Thursday!

p.s. it's hard not to notice the band-aid so here goes- She pulled a conga on to herself. There was lots of blood and one scary trip to the ER, stitches were avoided, a special glue used instead. In the end Vale walked out with a popsicle in one hand, stickers in the other with no tears in her eyes and hopefully with no memory of mommy and daddy holding her down in her already restricted board and all body wrap hold while the doctor cleaned and fixed her wound. We still haven't gotten a good look at what the healing is looking like since the glue is pretty thick but with all the lotions and home remedies I'm planning on using on her, I hope the scarring will be minimal, also, as my cousin's wife said- It could have been a lot worse, it could have hit her eye. Scary words but oh so true, and for that I'm thankful.

1.7

mi niña dulce..who kisses more than she hits and laughs more than she throws tantrums. And who says sorry when she's done something wrong faster than you can register that you've been wronged. Who dominates all the parks in our area, even those scary iron steps that rainbow over, and the slides that go too fast even for me. Who wants to eat all day and be out having fun so long as she doesn't have to be tied to her car seat to get there. who says "parque" many many times a day in hopes of being taken over and over again. Who has the strongest will I've seen on a child, she asks for what she wants food or fun and that is what we do... not because we're such obliging parents but because she has such a sweet way of asking for "galletitas" or "dora, dora" or "cicycleta" or "fuera" her eyes always shining and her gapped grin always in a smile and always with a "please" "gracias" or "de nada." Vale who never wants to go to sleep until she gets her Goodnight moon book and her own goodnight apartment routine completed by dad who is now in charge of putting her to bed...a favorite of mine that is now his own with her. Little Vale not so little anymore taking up three fourths of her crib. Vale who is fitting into her 2 year old clothes like a champ and chugging smoothies mommy sneaks kale into..who bathes in her "berca" until her water is cold and she's exhausted. I don't know how we can love you more than this and yet we do with every new day.