More on El Guapo

I know I’ve been talking about El Guapo a lot lately, but this is a really fun age. It’s amazing how quickly a baby becomes a little kid with opinions, preferences, talents, a sense of humor, fears, etc. As soon as they have the words to express their feelings and the mobility to go get what they want, a window into their personality opens up.

Here are some things I’ve learned about El Guapo recently:

1. His favorite food in the world might be pizza. At least once a day he’ll ask for “Pizza? Please?”

2. He hates having doors closed on him. I think he’s more sensitive to this than the older boys have been because he’s aware he’s the youngest and mad that sometimes everybody except him gets to do certain things. The worst is when Lego and Duplo go outside to play and I can’t go out at the moment because I’m teaching piano or making dinner or doing dishes or whatever. Since we don’t have a completely fenced-in back yard, he’s not really safe outside without an adult making sure he doesn’t run into the road. El Guapo LOVES to go outside (he’s a big fan of spring), and he’s figured out how to open the wooden front door but not the glass door past it. He just stands there longingly trying to figure out how to get the door open. One time I saw him bring my keys from my desk and try to “unlock” the glass door as he said, “Lock!” over and over.

3. He doesn’t mind going to bed. Each night when he starts acting tired, I ask him, “Are you ready to go in your bed?” Most nights, he replies in a very chipper voice, “Bye bye, Dada!” He knows that he always gives Jonathon a hug and kiss goodnight before going to sleep.

4. He’s learning to run and it’s the funniest thing ever to watch.

5. He loves Lego people (as in the toy, not his big brother). He takes their heads off and puts them back on, sits them down on each others’ heads, puts their “hats” on (sometimes it’s hair), carries them around, whatever. We tried for months to keep him away from Legos, but finally we’ve given in.

5. He loves dogs. There’s a little dog next door who’s rather old and slow, and El Guapo will follow him around until he can pet him. There’s another dog, larger and more hyper, that usually stays in their back yard, and he always asks me to pick him up so he can see her.

6. He has learned the concept of possession, which has added the words “my” and “mine” to his vocabulary. This also means that he knows if something is “Eela’s” or “Nanio’s,” and he always loves pointing out “Mama’s car” and “Dada’s car.”

7. He’s learned how to say Duplo’s name (see #6 for his pronunciation).

8. He’s expanded his singing repertoire beyond just the Star Wars theme to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Once There Was a Snowman,” and the Iron Man theme song (from the kids’ cartoon, which the boys only watched a few times but which apparently made a musical impression on El Guapo). He likes “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” but he hasn’t figured out how to actually sing it yet.

9. He has sharp eyes. Sometimes tiny details that we haven’t even noticed catch his eye. For instance, Jonathon was reading him a little book from the library about clothing. Each page had an illustration of an article of clothing, and on one page was a pink dress with a slightly darker pink bow on the front. “Tie!” El Guapo explained, pointing to it.

10. He’s polite. El Guapo often says please when asking for things and thank you when he gets them. He says he’s sorry and gives “soft touches” when he hurts someone, and he even closes his eyes during the prayer. He’s a good boy who brings joy and a little craziness into our home every day.

Stay tuned for Lego’s birthday update on Thursday! He’s having a Star Wars party.