olympic outing no.3

well, here we are again, looking back in time, wayyyy back in time. so much has happened over the last few months, and I have neglected to keep you up-to-date with the goings on of Pilar the star! in a nutshell, she is awesome! I am so happy and proud and in awe of her every minute of everyday. she is gentle, and sensitive, and smart, and funny, and curious, and silly, and flexible (still loves downward dog), and shy, and strong, and thrill-seeking, and pretty, and kind. she's one of a kind. everyday she does something new or old but in a different way, that makes me and Sergio smile, and laugh, and beam with joy that she is with us. she brings joy to everyone, her grandma and grandpa, her aunties, her teacher, our friends, neighbors, and even people sitting in their car waiting while we cross the street, she always gives them a special wave and smile!!! 


here is a list of what's going on in Pilar's world:

-getting our shoes out of the shoe cupboard and brings them to us when she wants to go outside
-wearing my high heels around the house, clip clopping
-she is still perfecting her jumping technique, and will spontaneously try jumping just about anywhere: the bath, on the bed at bedtime, on the way to the car, walking down the street, anywhere!
-standing on one foot
-humming along to feist's 1-2-3-4, yes still!
-blowing into her milk with a straw
-picking her nose and giving us the booger, and eating them in secret (she thinks I can't see her!)
-jumping off the arm of the couch, onto the couch (not the floor thank god!)
-playing in forts we make with chairs and blankets
-tumbling around and around in the duvet and pillows when I make the bed
-still playing with little cars, and says broooom broooom!
-one of her new words is 'boob' her first conjoined words were 'mom boob' 
-likes walking forrest to camosun bog at the end of my mom's street
-can do smaller stairs with no railing or hands!
-loves pushing her baby around in her new baby carriage
-is still crazy about raisins, strawberries, blueberries, avocado, watermelon, cereal, and any kind of meat.
-loves to point out the parts of the body
-knows all the animal sounds
-recognizes written numbers 1-2-3
-sleeps every night from 9pm until 7am, and naps for four hours in the afternoon (how lucky am I?)
-like hiding in the front closet, and waits for us to find her
-we now have a large bowl full of the rocks she collects, at least two or three on each outing
-loves keys and trying to open locks on doors and cabinets
-loves, loves, loves being tickled, and trying to tickle us


here are some more photos of another Olympic outing, this time with grandma sharen and grandpa mark....and mom!

at the Manitoba Pavillion, which we loved, Pilar was so intrigued by the ice sculpture polar bear! she loves eating ice cubes, and this was one huge ice cube to her. she wouldn't leave its side, even when other families came by to have their picture taken with the bear! they all got their photos taken with the bear...and Pilar!

inside the pavillion she was given a small foam polar bear, which she was also intrigued by, enough so that she eventually bit off the ears and legs! poor bear! 

outside the Canada Pavillion Pilar met this little girl visiting form Seattle. they ran up and down the ramp together, held hands, looked into each other's eyes, and hugged each other! it was sooooooo cute!

posing outside the Canada Pavillion with her grandpa Mark!

olympic outing no.2

so the olympic recount continues. we took Pilar out one night to check out the street life, and it sure was exciting! we live close to downtown so every night we could hear the fireworks, but we couldn't see them. occasionally we saw few blue lasers in the sky but that was it. 

this night we got Pili in the back carrier, and took the bus downtown. we walked along Granville street, passed the children's lantern installation, and the  up Georgia to the art gallery and Robson Square where there was so much going on! it was amazing to this public space being used. at 9 pm the first light show started and we were right in the thick of it all. there were laser projections on buildings, fire balls, and the famous zip line had athletes zipping across to loud music. it was really a family affair with tons of kids around. the music and the fire balls shooting around everywhere started making Pilar nervous and scared, so we hopped back on the bus and went home.

all in all it was a super fun night, and it was really great to catch even a glimpse of the action!

olympic outing no.1

yes I know the olympics were way back in February and it's now MAY! in this set of photos you can see the three of us out and about in our beautiful city on a very unusually warm and sunny winter day, in fact these were taken on Valentine's Day! I got to spend the day with both of my sweeties. we walked to granville island and hopped on the temporary street car to cambie street and walked to chinatown from there to check out the new year parade. unfortunately by the time we got there the parade was over, but there were still tons of people wandering the streets. Sergio and Pilar at pork buns to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and we listened to the crackle of fireworks, and the watched the dancing dragons. 

we stood in a lot of lineups waiting for the new canada line and the granville island street car. where ever we went Pili loved being cute, and getting a reaction from anyone watching her. she also loved walking around in general, which at this time, she had only been doing for 6 weeks!

photo of the month

here we are, yes me and Pilar are back, visiting our blog once again. in the last month so much has happened, and Pilar has grown and changed in so many ways. too many to tell you about right now, it's late, I just stopped by to say hi and share a photo with you. Pilar enjoyed some of the exciting nightlife here in vancouver during the winter olympics, and we recently returned from two weeks in cuba, her dad's native country. this was Pilar's first trip to cuba, and it was a huge success. she had so many wonderful experiences and encounters with people, animals, sounds, smells, foods, landscapes, and sensations (bare feet on the sand). she is much more outgoing and carefree, and sillier than ever!

some new things:
-she likes to pick her nose and show you her finger so you can remove the booger
-she says maaa and daaa
-she walks around the house in our shoes, clip clopping, even my uggs, this is hilarious!
-her new animal obsession is birds, she calls them eee eee, as in tweet tweet!
-she is still learning to jump, and can get a few centimeters off the ground now, she's not just faking anymore (lol)
-cows are moooo
-cars are brrroooooooom
-she mimics EVERYTHING we do, thankfully I like cleaning, because now so does she, I have a little helper! she helps me unload the dishwasher one spoon, one fork, and one cup at a time
-she loves ice cubes
-belly buttons are her thing now, asks everyone to see theirs by showing them hers
-she can hum in tune to feist's 1.2.3.4
-her hair has grown and she can wear a ponytail
-she likes us to wear our headbands together (see photo)

it's true love, she's my sunshine.

pretty in pink again...with mom

here we are...spending a nice quiet morning together, like we always do when dad is already at work. we usually wake up at 8.30, which is perfect, not too early. Pilar goes to bed between 8pm and 9pm so she is getting her 12 hours of sleep. and the best part, she now sleeps in her crib until about 6am! then she comes to bed with us for a few hours of cuddling and warmth.

breakfast always starts the same way...I keep a glass jar of her favorite gluten free cereal, nature's path whole o's, and I open the jar for her, and she sticks her hand inside and splashes a handful out onto the table, she loves doing this! then I make our toast with crunchy peanut butter, and feed her apple sauce, sliced oranges, and usually a fruit smoothie with blueberries and strawberries. she is crazy about smoothies! LOVES them, me too.

we sing along to some of her favorite sesame street videos, the fav is feist's 1.2.3.4. we bob our heads back and forth and sing along, well Pili gurgles along, she doesn't know the words yet. after some singing we play with some toys, she likes little cars right now, you know hot wheels etc, leftovers from my childhood. but things aren't complete without some office supplies, she is the office lady after all. here she is with my calculator. I actually had to scrub this clean recently because it was covered in goop and food, I actually scrubbed off the calculus formulas I had written on it (yes I cheated, sometimes...) now at least Pili will never know I did!

good morning! 

pretty in pink

tonight pilar and I watched the olympic ice dance competition finals, and we got inspired, and did some dancing of our own, twirls, jumps, and kicks. she's a natural! sorry no photos of us dancing, but here she is eating dinner...pretty in pink. don't mind the food on her face, she doesn't!

favorite place

well here is Pilar showing you her current favorite place to hang around...the fridge! and why not, it's cool (literally), has lot's to touch and feel, and of course eat. she can't open the door herself yet, thank god, but she scoots in just as soon as the door opens. 

she actually knows that when I'm making lunch or dinner, she will probably be able to sneak in here, and that's what she does. she pretends to be playing in the other room, like the fridge is no big deal, then when I'm standing at the sink and not looking she sneaks in, and I mean IN, she sits on the bottom ledge as you can see in the photos! she spends a lot of time sorting through all the veggies and fruits. she points to each thing and I tell her what it's called. milk. water. juice. mustard. peanut butter, etc.

while we are on the theme of food, let me list off for you some of Pilar's favorites:
raisins, chicken, apples, salmon, crackers, bread, and blueberries. 

you can also see her new juicy leisure suit, thanks nic!

tag...you're it!

this day Pilar was in an extra silly mood. our old coffee table broke so it happened to be off to the side of our living room leaving a rather generous (for an apartment) open space that felt fresh and new, different, you know? well Pilar certainly noticed! we chased each other around, and she is starting to get the hang of running, and she loves it. of course I was IT the whole time, with her squealing and chasing me, but never catching me, but almost, and she loved it!

I finally brought out the camera to capture these silly moments and she knew exactly what was going on, she knows it's a camera, she knows that the images on the screen are her, and she loves to see them, so she actually poses now for the camera! it was really cute, it's the first time she had done this. I took a few, and she would run over giggling to see them, then she ran back to pose for a few more, then hopped back to see the next ones! when I ask her 'who's that'? she points to herself. amazing.

as well as learning to move faster than a speeding bullet (well faster than her stuffies) she is also trying desperately to jump up and down. this is hilarious! she doesn't actually do it, but she bends her knees rapidly, and it really looks like she is jumping, but isn't! the last time she went to the community center she saw this is what the 'cool' kids were doing in the bouncy castle, and she's been trying ever since. and sometimes this takes importance over everything else, like she might be walking to the elevator, but she stops suddenly, holds the wall, and tries jumping. it's just so cute.

she is also fascinated with blowing her nose, with a tissue, like a lady (grandma), but you know, can't quite do it. isn't the sweatshirt so cute? strawberry shortcake! thanks Mel!

o yeah, she's also still our little resident office lady, she LOVES my little voice recorder!