Dante has been crawling for a few weeks now as well as pulling himself up. He's starting to walk around on the furniture. He cut his first tooth yesterday and another one today. He also climbed up three steps yesterday. We thought the house was pretty much baby proof because of Alejandro, only to realize that Alejandro has just learned to stay out of a lot of things. Dante's had a few fussy days (when he was teething) but he's generally a very content little guy. 
It really changed Alejandro's world to have Dante mobile. Gone are the days when he could just scoot back to get away from Dante's prying fingers. But he's handled the adjustment really well. Dante will crawl into his lap and use Alejandro as a crutch to pull himself up. Alejandro is very patient and will hold still for a while so Dante doesn't fall. Eventually he gets bored and will try to wiggle away from Dante's death grip. I've only had to break up one fight so far over a sippy cup. Alejandro's vocab is still growing by leaps and bounds. He developed a bit of a stutter so off we went to the speech therapist. His type of "speech disfluency" usually goes away by 3 and 1/2 but we were given a list of other speech patterns to watch for that would indicate a more lasting issue. He's become quite the little daredevil and we've had to establish lists of rules for different activities which he recites for Dante.
Alfonso has become fully integrated at work -- which translates into crazy busy! We are both taking Hebrew classes at the community college (but on different nights.) Hebrew is just like English except that there's a different set of characters for the alphabet, different sounds, different grammar, is written right to left and they leave out the symbols for the vowels in printed text. So basically what they have in common is the lack of consistent rules and a bunch of words that aren't pronounced phonetically. Alfonso has to go for training in Austin for a couple weeks, so the boys and I will be headed to Ohio during that time. Alfonso will come for a week as well. Anyhow, our flights are setup June 16 through July 7.
We enjoyed our visit with Alfonso's mother and hit a few of the tourist spots in Oregon -- Multnomah Falls, the tulip festival and the beach. We'll have to hit the rest on her next visit.
Love always,
debi
Well, we are all settled in here and will be for a while longer -- they just moved Alfonso's start date in Israel to January. Alfonso had been working on a compressed shift. He had nice long 3-4 day weekends but on they days he worked he would leave before the kids got up and return after they were in bed. But he finished that part of his training and goes back to a normal shift next week. We had a nice visit with mom. Dante is especially sad she left because he got held by grandma any time he made a peep.
Alejandro got his first tricycle. (Someone threw a brand new tricycle in the dumpster. It hadn't even been assembled. It was in the box, which was in pretty sorry shape, but the parts were still in bubble wrap. What's even more ironic is that the day before we had looked at the same model at the bike shop but decided to wait until it was a warmer until we bought a bike.) Anyhow, he loves it and just sits there and rings the bell. The first night we wouldn't even get off the bike to read stories at bedtime. He's talking so much and you can actually have a conversation with him. He's a riot. Some things he obviously has been told -- he constantly says "I'm too much!" Other things - he comes up with all on his own. For instance, he sneezed and when I asked if he needed a tissue, he tells me "No, mommy. I'll just use your pants." He think I'm a walking napkin. (I gave him a tissue just in case you were wondering.)
Dante gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. He'll be crawling any day now. Right now as he pushes himself up, he scoots backwards. So while he's trying to get the toys in front of him, he keeps getting farther away and gets really frustrated. He'll figure it out soon though. He's super fast at rolling though. When Alejandro turns his back on a toy that Dante wants, Dante does the stop-drop-and-roll and crosses the room to swipe the toy. It's hysterical to watch. He's discovered his voice as well. He babbles and says "da-da" a lot. Alejandro laughs and tells him "No, Dante. Say mama!"
Not much else is new. We finally finished taxes. While I'm sure that's not very interesting news -- I'm very excited. Especially since Alfonso had to go back to Albuquerque and go through boxes in storage since the movers stored documents (and a bunch of other stuff) that were supposed to come here. Life would be dull if everything went as planned though! Well, we'll be in touch. Happy Easter!
Love always, debi
We arrived in Portland on Friday afternoon and it's been raining ever since. Our townhouse is nice. The moving truck is supposed to arrive Thursday -- so once we fill this place with all our junk it will feel more like home. We have a three story house but Alfonso put up gates so I'm less paranoid about Alejandro taking a tumble. (Well, from the stairs anyhow -- he likes to stand on the coffee table.) We live really close to just about everything we need. Less than 2 miles from Intel, there are groceries stores, restaurants, shopping plazas and parks within walking distance. We found a new church we like. It's on the other side of the railroad tracks. Literally and figuratively! Across the street from our complex there's Banana Republic and Gap and the like but when you cross the railroad tracks you see signs for tattoo parlors, payday loans, pawn shops and the carniceria/taqueria. (We bought some carnitas at the carniceria after mass. Yum!)
Alejandro is adjusting surprisingly well. He keeps asking to play with his friend Julianah but he's excited about the new house. He prays for both of them every night. His latest accomplishment is brushing his teeth. He finally figured out the brushing technique (instead of just sucking off the toothpaste.) He's sleeping in a twin bed without rails (since they are on the truck still) and hasn't fallen out of bed. Talks a mile a minute and sings at the top of his lungs. His favorite song these days is "If you are happy and you know it..."
Dante is rolling all over. He's starting to sit up. He's learning to steal toys back from Alejandro. Still a sweetheart and very easy going. He has gotten up on all fours once and will be crawling before we know it. Life goes way too fast!
Alfonso had his first day of work today. He has orientation this week so he only has to work half days. But Intel will get their pound of flesh later when he's working 14 hour days. He's excited and seems pretty happy about his coworkers so that's a good thing.
Love always,
debi
Well, Alfonso received an assignment with Intel in Israel. (He applied for the position -- it wasn't forced!) First he has to complete training in Portland, Oregon. So we are moving to Portland the week of Feb 19th. Our move to Israel is tentatively scheduled for October. But Intel is still building the facility, so the date might get pushed out a few months. The assignment there is two years, so we should return by the end of 2009.
For those interested in the details, we'll be renting our house out in the meantime. Intel will fly us back to the states twice a year -- so tentatively the plan is we'll head once to El Paso and once to Ohio. The town where Intel is located is between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv but further south so we'll probably live in one of the two. Anyone who's up for the trip is welcome! We'll be living in an apartment in Portland but will have a house in Israel.
Anyhow, we are all doing well. Have lots to do in the next couple weeks but somehow it will all work out. Dante is almost five months. He's a sweetheart -- very happy little guy. He laughs a lot. He's rolling over and trying desperately to sit up (with mixed results.) Alejandro's vocab has really taken off in the last few weeks. He uses his new language skills to boss his brother around. "No pulling hair, Dante! It's not nice!" "Drop the toy! It's my turn!" But he's very concerned about hygiene. Today he came in the bathroom and ran off with Alfonso's deodorant. I found him applying to his armpits (with his shirt on but he had the right idea.) It's never boring with him around.
Love always,
debi
The holidays have been a blur! Alejandro is officially two -- we had three parties to make sure (Albuquerque, El Paso and Ohio.) Somehow, the big 3-0 snuck up on me. I have no idea how I got so old all of the sudden. We had a long visit in Ohio for Thanksgiving. Aunt Deb and Uncle Jerry helped me fly back to the land of enchantment with the boys. Then we were off to El Paso for Christmas. Santa came a couple days late in Albuquerque. We headed to Farmington for another celebration with our adopted family and got snowed in for a couple extra days. Our house is completely buried in snow and we are exhausted! Happy New Year!
It really changed Alejandro's world to have Dante mobile. Gone are the days when he could just scoot back to get away from Dante's prying fingers. But he's handled the adjustment really well. Dante will crawl into his lap and use Alejandro as a crutch to pull himself up. Alejandro is very patient and will hold still for a while so Dante doesn't fall. Eventually he gets bored and will try to wiggle away from Dante's death grip. I've only had to break up one fight so far over a sippy cup. Alejandro's vocab is still growing by leaps and bounds. He developed a bit of a stutter so off we went to the speech therapist. His type of "speech disfluency" usually goes away by 3 and 1/2 but we were given a list of other speech patterns to watch for that would indicate a more lasting issue. He's become quite the little daredevil and we've had to establish lists of rules for different activities which he recites for Dante.
Alfonso has become fully integrated at work -- which translates into crazy busy! We are both taking Hebrew classes at the community college (but on different nights.) Hebrew is just like English except that there's a different set of characters for the alphabet, different sounds, different grammar, is written right to left and they leave out the symbols for the vowels in printed text. So basically what they have in common is the lack of consistent rules and a bunch of words that aren't pronounced phonetically. Alfonso has to go for training in Austin for a couple weeks, so the boys and I will be headed to Ohio during that time. Alfonso will come for a week as well. Anyhow, our flights are setup June 16 through July 7.
We enjoyed our visit with Alfonso's mother and hit a few of the tourist spots in Oregon -- Multnomah Falls, the tulip festival and the beach. We'll have to hit the rest on her next visit.
