Mateo & Santiago: Everyday Life

This past week was marked by three days of HOT weather. We hit about 85F, which is very rare in the Bay Area. To help quench the heat, I took Mateo to Lake Anza on Monday (sorry, no pictures of this outing, since I had enough to carry with the towels, beach umbrella, lunch and Mati to add the camera on top of all of that!). Mateo had a GREAT time! He played and played by the edge of the water, busy scooping sand out and putting it in his pail or on his body. The water was cold, at least to me, but he seemed to enjoy it as he sat or walked in it the whole time. We topped the morning off by having a picnic together. I love days like these, where I enjoy the simple pleasures of life with my little guy!

Mati is making progress containing his jealousy. Oh yes, he's one jealous guy. Up till very recently, Mama couldn't hold another baby without him pushing the baby away or trying to hit him/her. He now shows interests in babies - "babus" as he calls them - he'll squat down to their level and gently caress them or even kiss them. I held a friend's 6-month old and at first Mateo was gentle with her. But after three or four times of caressing her and showing her some love, he was asking for my full attention: he wanted to be held! I snuggled him with my free arm, but that was not enough. Mr. Bossut-Ugarte wanted the whole enchilada!

He's getting possessive now with his toys, especially his balls. A friend took his ball to play with it and Mateo went up and started hitting him and pulling on his jacket. I'm trying to teach him that if he kicks the ball to the other kid, s/he in turn can kick back to him, and BOTH can play with the ball. But it's hard ... sharing is a VERY foreign concept.

Mateo is using body language to communicate more and more, especially his frustrations. He's biting (but I think four teeth coming out at the same time has something to do with it - and he only does it to family members, especially Nico, la Tia and me!), throwing mini-tantrums, throwing things on the floor, pulling cheeks and hair and like I said before, hitting others. He lets you know what it is he wants and he always wants it NOW. It gets difficult at times, like on Saturday when we went to a birthday party and Mateo tried an alfajor with dulce de leche (a pastry). He LOVED it - I gave him one and he asked for more. I gave him another one and he asked for more and more. Since I didn't give in, he started kicking and crying (not that I'm trying to make up excuses for him, BUT he was also tired). The good thing is that his tantrums don't last very long, not even minute, because as soon as he starts crying, all he wants is to be held and that calms him down right away. And, there are only a couple of instances which prompt him to get frustrated: sharing toys, being tired, etc - all other times, he is still the fun-loving guy everyone loves! :)