Mateo the Soccer Baby

Some pictures of Mateo playing soccer!

The star arrives to the field and is ready to play ...

Positions the ball ...

Shoots ...

Follows through ...

Graceful hand placement!

Mateo at Studio Grow

Some pictures from our visit to Studio Grow today. Enjoy!

Attentively listening during story time

With his buddy Paz

After watching an older kid shoot some hoops, Mateo exhibited his quickly gained basketball skills

Long Weekend

Another long weekend with Nico ... we all enjoyed it very much!! :) We certainly took advantage of our time together and decided to fill our days with tons of activities.

On Friday we took Mateo to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. Every time we go, we find that Mateo has changed preference in the activities he wants to do - this time he chose to stay outdoors, playing in the stream. It's the same height as he is and it has fake fish floating around. He was fascinated taking the fish out of the water and putting them back in, walking around with the fish, eating the fish ... He also found much joy in chasing the pigeons, splashing water and on one or two occasions, actually trying to climb INTO the stream! Mateo also did some shoveling in the sand, while we got to admire the Golden Gate Bridge looming right over us. And lets not forget the "tu tu" or the trains, as my little meatloaf calls them (from "choo choo").

Mateo sporting the latest fashion in accessories for babies!

Taking a quick break to admire a lady bug that landed on his hand

While Mateo took his nap, we headed over to Tennessee Valley Beach. Our little prince woke up just in time to see the ocean. It was a beautiful and relaxing afternoon, until a wave knocked Mati down from under his feet and nearly swept him away to Japan!! Nico, who was on duty, "didn't see that coming!" Fortunately, Mati wasn't terrified by the experience and wanted to go back to touch the "aya, aya".

On Saturday, we went to the City to see the new Indian art exhibition at the Asian Art Museum. The rest of the afternoon, Nico and Mateo spent together while I got a haircut and went to dinner with my girlfriends. On Sunday, Mateo and I enjoyed the company of Tia Mumu and Tio Brandon, while Nico played tennis. Mateo played soccer with the tios and showered my sister with wet slimy kisses and lots of hugs.

Mateo's relationship with his stuffed animals continues to grow deeper and deeper. He often asks for "Ti" (Noukie) and "Popi" (his monkey), most often when he wakes up, and takes them up and down the house, or wants them to be with him in his highchair while he eats and most definitely now, to go to sleep. He kisses them, hugs them, pulls their ears ... so very endearing!!!

SF Zoo

This past Saturday we went to the San Francisco Zoo to celebrate Karina's 2nd birthday. We all had a great time, Mateo enjoyed walking around and seeing the animals. He even got the opportunity to kick the ball around some. However, his ball created quite a stir at the zoo, ALL the kids wanted to play with it. And, Mr. Mateo has become the possessive type with his toys, so he had a hard time letting others play with the ball. Sharing is a very foreign concept for him, but one we will have to work on a lot!

The birthday girl, her parents, Nico and Mateo

Jeanette with Karina, Nico with Mateo, Mae with Nicholas

Group picture

"Goooooooooolaaaazoooooooo!"

The unwilling sharer

At the children's zoo

Little helper

Our Weekend at Pescadero

We spent last weekend in Pescadero, a tiny seaside village between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. Nico took Friday off and we enjoyed three days by the sea. Mateo was thrilled with so much "aya" (water) and liked to watch as the waves rolled in and the water covered his feet and legs. Despite the water being COOOOOLD, he was very comfortable. (Ironically, he had a panic attack when we tried to give him a WARM bath in the hotel. He tried to climb out of the bathtub as soon as his feet touched the water, which is really strange since he loves his baths at home.)

"Aya, aya, aya!!" Calling the water, and the water obeyed ...

"Look at my hair!"

His walking is getting better and better each day. He likes to walk on his own, only accepting to hold my hand when he goes up and down stairs. He is quite a sight to watch, just to give you an idea: we walked into the supermarket the other day and three ladies were paying for their groceries. Mateo walks towards them, with much poise and confidence, and just as he were a rock star walking onto stage and waving to his fans, he started waving to them and saying "Hi" (or at least his version of the word). Needless to say, they all melted, including me!! :)

Which brings me to another point: Mateo the attention seeker. This baby is going to be a movie star with all the attention he likes to attract unto himself. He likes to make other people laugh or see them react positively to something he's done, and as soon as he knows what that is that makes people tick, he'll do it over and over again. Examples include flirting, shaking his head no, going around and around in circles and blowing kisses.

There are two new things he's been doing lately. First, is walking with one finger poking his belly button while he sucks his thumb (he clearly has a belly button fetish!!!). And second is going around the house with a set of keys and "unlocking/locking" the doors.

On Tuesday, Mateo went to his first concert. We went to see The Wiggles, which are supposed to be for babies and small kids what U2 is for adults. It was more of an experience for me than for Mati, since his attention would come and go in spurs. Kids were screaming out to the different characters as they came on stage (a la Beatles or Elvis!!), brought signs and banners, and just out right, got out of their seats to sing and shake their booties! It was very adorable!!

Mati was mesmerized the first 5 minutes of the concert, watching the lights and the four men dance and sing on stage (I was mesmerized watching Mati, I wish I had taken the camera to capture his focused look). After that, he wanted to get up and walk (it's ALL about walking these days - good luck to us on the plane in June!!). He then got interested again when four teddy bears, a giant strawberry, banana and apple, and a dog came on stage to sing. At the end of each song, he politely clapped or threw his arms up in approval. He also showed for the first time distress at watching someone get hurt. There was a giant balloon on stage which was inflated only half way during one particular song. Each of The Wiggles pushed it up in an attempt to get it upright but obviously it would come back down, "knocking" them down to the floor. While the older kids laughed, Mateo did not finding it amusing. He pointed at the scene and almost started to cry. :(

On a final note, Mati is a talker! He is attempting to imitate our sounds more and more. Over the weekend, he started saying "tao tao" for ciao, ciao. Yesterday Nico told him some word in French (I forgot which one) and he repeated it. His repertoire is increasing and we understand him most of the time.

Today is my meatloaf's 16th monthary. Where did this past month go???? Enjoy the weekend ahead and some more pictures from our trip to Pescadero below!

"A big hello to all my fans!"

"Hello, hello."

"Did that bird just say hello?"

At the hotel

Relaxing by the outside fireplace

Che Guevara meets John Wayne