I like to climb into things

The perfect LA summer weekend

Last summer, I had the idyllic experience of being on maternity leave. We would spend all day getting acquainted with each other and then evenings were spent taking advantage of summer in the city--mainly free concerts every week. What a great experience it was to try and recall Gin Blossom songs on our way to listening to them for free in the middle of downtown on a weeknight only to discover that we all knew just about every song played...they had alot of hits!

This summer has been harder as I am at work and, thus, Joaquin has to get up early to go to daycare, but this weekend was a great moment of de ja vu as we went to a free downtown concert on Friday, had a few friends over for BBQ and firepit on Sat, and headed to the beach on Sunday. Ah! Loving Los Angeles in the summer!

Some pics of fun things we are doing:

13 months old-4th of July!

This was Joaquin's second 4th of July...that sounds weird that he has a 2nd of anything! Last year, he was one month old when we took him to see some fireworks. I spent most of the time changing his diaper in a mail station. This year, we did a big fireworks show the weekend before and he did well with it...he was walking around when the first one went off and I picked him up right away. I asked, "Are you ok?" and he did a very slow head nod with his eyes as big as saucers. The actual 4th, we were with Gid's family who does their own little show in the street. That was a bit much for him...too loud and we spent half of it inside. He did eventually warm up to it and watched the rest from the safety of his carrier.

The first month of his second year has been a big one. He has grown 2.5 inches, lost about 5 lbs., and cut 3 new teeth. He is a walking machine now...doing laps around our living room/kitchen all night when we watch TV. He answers regularly now with head nods yes and no. His favorite new thing is to answer the question, "What does a doggy say?"..."Woof, woof..." And now when the doggies bark, he says woof, woof. We're working on "Moo" now. He's got high fives and clapping down...everything gets applause now!

Two of my favorite things from the past month: the first happened when I left the room for a moment. When I came back, he was in the doorway with a book asking me to read it...he had gotten up, chosen a book, and went to go find me! My other favorite thing is the talking and motioning in his sleep. He's always laughed, but now he starts practicing 'Pick It' (like in patty cake) and clapping his hands about 30 min-1 hour before he wakes up.