Impermanence

With two little boys blooming in every way, I realize everyday that life is transitory. What used to be is no longer so and these days Santiago is setting all the changes.

The biggest change of all is his talking. He repeats all words and grows his vocabulary every day. Mateo does a wonderful job at making him repeat after him, often breaking words down into syllables so that it’s easier for Santi to learn. The only bad thing is that his speech is not as clear as Mateo’s used to be at this age. I often have to ask Mateo to interpret because no matter how hard I try to focus, I just don’t understand. His vocabulary is mostly in English and Spanish but he’s getting his dose of French in there. He talks and talks and talks, everywhere, non-stop; he also likes to sing, although most of the time I never know what.

It’s always fascinating to observe how fast children learn. After nearly two years of having bought the Wii, we finally installed it and Nico is now obsessed with the tennis. He makes the boys watch him play (NOTE: he thinks that’ll inspire them to get into the game!!), and the other night he was having a loosing streak. And, what would you know, at the end of the game, Santi says, “You lose!!” No prompting, no coaching, just like that! Another example of that sponge-absorbing brain he has: an airplane flies by and Santi says: “Erplen .. avon … avanca (translation: Avianca).” Or like today, when I asked him if is going to want to dessert. And he answers, “Mmmmmm (translation: YES), cocole (CHOCOLATE)!”

Not to brag, but Santi is a star climber, an adorable runner, and is excellent at fine motor skills – you should see his dexterity at inserting threads through balls! Or grabbing ping pong size balls with thongs!! He’s amazing!!! I’m so proud!

Perhaps the biggest transition in our home is the relationship between the boys. Santi ADOOORES his brother; it melts my heart to see how excited he gets when he sees Mati! Mati has to be the coolest person on Earth – he continues to mimic anything and everything Mati does. If Mati busses his plate to the kitchen sink, Santi demands to do the same with his. If Mati sits down, crosses his legs and picks his nose, so dose Santi. They are starting to play more and more together, although that always involves crying, shouting, fighting and ultimatums from Mom or Dad. But it’s adorable to watch them interact, play together or sit in front of each other and “read”.

Mati continues to say the funniest things as he process and makes sense of the world around him. He is super interested in knowing what the foods he eats are good for, i.e. quinoia for protein and hence energy. So the other day as they were devouring a box of blueberries, I told them they would grow up to be handsome old men because of the antioxidant properties in the blueberries. The following day, he was again having blueberries, but I told Nico out loud, not to give them too many because it was late. Mati looks at me and says, “But you said we would be handsome old men if we ate a lot of blueberries!!”

Funny as he is, his mood is still very unpredictable. We have days of relative calm and then tropical storm Mateo gathers force and hits the shores again! He’s making progress with his occupational therapy – he’s MUCH MORE daring physically (i.e. jumps from high platforms), although his fine motor skills still lag behind. However, when we talked to his teacher about two weeks ago, she expressed satisfaction with the progress he’s made, although she complained that he talks a lot and hence, is disruptive to others. Yes, it’s bad that he’s disruptive, but I couldn’t help but laugh when she said he talks a lot. I mean he’s FOUR!!! What is he supposed to do all day? Sit with his legs crossed, take notes and not say a word? Clearly, he’s a communicator … he take after his mom!

Mati is a little Energizer bunny – so much energy and he still refuses to take naps (I, on the contrary, continue to offer them to him … just in case!). It’s all about playing, whether it’s with his cars, his costumes (he loves to dress up), his legos and blocks (YES!! He finally got into them), or devouring books.

So without much further ado, here are some recent pictures. We have ADOORABLE videos coming, as soon as Nico gets some time. Cheers!

Santi also requests to sleep with toys in addition to his "doudou" (like Mati). Sometimes it's cars, other times it's a bear or Mickey or Popi.

Reading time

Painting time

A very concentrated Mati painting in his astronaut costume

Finished piece, signed (sort of!) by the artist

Santi's masterpiece

Stttttttrrrrrretching ... waiting for lunch!

My boys!