Photo of the Day #16: My masterpiece... for sale

Hola again,

My apologies for not posting the last couple of days... though I need not apologize to my loyal fans. Every hard-working toddler out there needs to take a break every now and again, so I didn't post anything on Saturday and took off on a well-deserved vacation on Sunday. I'll update you on that soon, and catch up on my photos of the day.

But today, I want to talk to you about my masterpiece. It is not yet named, but I may call it "dinero," which (for my non-Spanish speakers) means money. And, yes, it is for sale. But you likely cannot afford it.

See, I had this great idea last week. Thursday, in fact. I was tired of Dada going to work every day, even when I asked him not to. And I recently learned that Dada goes to work to earn dinero, to buy things like potato chips and candy. So, I decided to work on Thursday as well. I painted this picture so that Dada would never work again, and instead stay at home and play with me. I told him all about it Thursday evening and was very sad to see him go to work on Friday. I was confused. But no longer! Now I know that I must sell this beautiful piece of art in order to finance Dada's early retirement.

So... look closely. Bidding starts at midnight. XOXO,

Sebastian

Photo of the Day #15: In lieu of a photo...

Mama and Dada went out to the movies. And, though I could write extensively, they forced me to go to bed instead. And then signed out of Blogger. Tomorrow should be more interesting for my devoted fans. And Joaquin and I will be sure to wake up extra early to punish them for staying out late tonight...

Photo of the Day #14: Tia Lilly

Today's entry is all about one of my favorite people, Tia Lilly. It just so happens that the feeling is mutual, as I am one of her favorite people as well. Actually, she probably loves me a whole lot more unconditionally then I love her...mostly because she is so laid back and I demand, well, loads of trips to ice cream parlors when she is around.

Before I even go any further, I have to tell my Tia E, one of my most devoted fans, that she shouldn't feel left out...she too will soon have her own blog entry. But I decided to honor Tia L with her own entry tonight because she is currently interning with the Seattle Times, covering the 2010 Washington State legislative session, and she just published her first entry on the Seattle Times' Politics Northwest blog. You can read it here. And I don't want to spoil the ending but let's just say that Washington State could soon be known for more than just how "high" it's mountains are.

Anyhow, back to Tia Lilly. I first met her when I was 5 months old, when we both went to Florida for my Tio Eddie's wedding in June 2007. Needless to say, she was smitten with me from the start. Here we are on the day we met.


It was a tearful parting as we did not know when we would next see each other since she lived in Washington and I lived in Peru at the time. Little did we know that we would both be seeing much, much, much more of each other in the ensuing year and a half. For you see, in April 2008 she came for a 2 week visit and ended up staying until early June! I'm that irresistible.

Oh what fun we had! We:

played peek-a-boo in the curtains,

had our own photo shoot,

went to the park (could the wagon be any smaller),

wore matching pajamas,

ate toast with jam for breakfast (she made it, I ate it),

ate loads of ice cream,

she taught me how to take off my socks,

and even went camping!

The day that she left in June was very sad and I gave up ice cream in protest...for about 5 minutes. I would have held out longer except that I knew that I would be seeing her again in August in the great state of Oregon. Here she is with my cousins, Zev and Hayden, and I:

I guess that our time in Oregon together was just too short because just a few short weeks later, she was back in Peru! I did tell you that I am irresistible, didn't I? You might want to purchase travel insurance if you ever come to visit me in Mexico to cover the cost of multiple changes to extend your return trip home. I know that Tia Lilly wishes she did! The second time around she stayed for more than 2 months and we had double the amount of fun.

I waited up late for her the night she flew back to Lima.

Here we are engaging in one of our favorite pastimes: hanging out under Tio Nilo's coffee table.

Hanging out on the couch together. Don't worry, I'm actually wearing a diaper.

Hanging out with my lady before she went to the Marine Corps Ball...with someone else!

The last ice cream before she went back to Washington in December....so sad.

But I'm pretty sure that she'll be knocking on our door soon. After all, Spring Break is just around the corner! In the meantime, I'll be scouting out all the best ice cream parlors in town.

Photo of the Day #13: Shalom

While I generally believe that most of you regularly tune in for the sole purpose of seeing super cute photos of yours truly, I will from time to time post something that illuminates certain aspects of our life abroad. Just think of them as super interesting commercials during regular scheduled programming.

Mexico City is home to an estimated 37,500 Jewish people (about 93% of the Jewish population in all of Mexico) and a good majority of them live in Polanco, our neighborhood. There are many kosher stores and restaurants within walking distance of our apartment and no fewer than 11 synagogues within a 10 minute walk of our apartment, one of the most Orthodox being just a block away. Every Saturday, you can see groups of Jewish people walking down the promenade on Avenida Horacio to Bet El, one of the largest synagogues in the city. Mama captured this picture on a recent Saturday outing with Joaquin.

Photo of the Day #12: Meet Liam!

Hola amigos,

Not to worry... I am back with another edition of my exciting "photo of the day." As the title notes, I would like you to meet Liam. Or, as I like to call him, "Lem." Liam is a week older than I am but, bless his heart, he's never held that over my head. Instead, we hang out together and try to decide who's favorite color is really purple. (This is a long-standing discussion, which, I must admit, has sometimes led to crying.) We've gone to the zoo together, each other's homes, and really all over town. Just in case our parents are reading this, I won't say where else we've been... but let's just say that my tolerance has improved! And I know the difference between reposado and añejo Tequilas!

Here we are at a favorite watering hole...


Apparently, I must have passed out because now I seem to look like Batman.

A closer look... And yes, I am a trouble magnet.

Can you say Super Friends?

Discussing plans to fight crime later that night...

What I thought was a PRIVATE conversation.

Training. After this rigorous drill, we did innumerable pull-ups.


Hand to hand combat. Gotta keep the skills sharp.

And you kids out there... remember that crime never pays!

XOXO,

Sebastian

Video of the Day #11: Must Eat Camera

A video of my little brother, Joaquin, engaging in one of his favorite pastimes, trying to pull the camera out of Mama's hand to eat it...this particular instance in August-

Photo of the Day # 10: Swinger

A photographic history of my affair with swings-

Just a couple of weeks old and already enjoying the swinging lifestyle.

Enjoying a little downtime the day before my 1st birthday!

Two, wild and crazy guys!

Oh wait. These two guys might be even crazier. That's my cousin Hayden to my left (your right).

Swinging solo...my wingman had to work that day.

They even have great swings here in Mexico!

We had to hit the swing set on the only sunny day over Christmas vacation in Morgantown.

I've also included this video for your viewing pleasure:

Video of the Day # 9: Mama and Dada's Liquor Cabinet

I accessed it while Joaquin acted as the lookout. It worked perfectly. And after a few sips it all started tasting better. By the end of it, I thought Joaquin was the funniest baby in all of Mexico. By the way, has anyone seen my pants?

Photo of the Day # 8: Cry Baby

I swear, I'm innocent.

Joaquin just found out that Santa doesn't bring bad babies gifts.

Photo of the Day # 7: Grandma and Opa

We had our first visitors about a month after we arrived in Mexico. Grandma and Opa came down for a week in September. It was a short visit but packed with fun. And next time they are driving down (from Oregon!), so it will be a longer visit.

Here we have Mama, Grandma, Opa and Joaquin at one of our favorite restaurants (also, it is a bookstore), Pendulum. The chilaquiles verdes are to die for!

Opa and Joaquin

Yours truly and Opa

Grandma and Joaquin at our favorite gelato place

Photo of the Day #6: Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. I love making cupcakes. And most importantly, I love eating cupcakes.

Meanwhile, Dada misses me saying "cupcapes."

Photo of the Day #5: The Maiden Voyage

Near our apartment here in Mexico City is a huge park, complete with two very dirty ponds, a state of the (play)art playground, an aviary and a large statue of Abraham Lincoln (a gift from the American people to the Mexican people). It is a fairly quiet place during the week but is filled with all manner of people on the weekends: prepared food vendors, fruit and vegetable vendors, craftsmen, young guys hawking cell phone and blackberry covers, balloon vendors, people walking their dogs, people walking their kids, young couples with no other place to go making out on every park bench, little kids in motorized cars terrorizing the people walking their dogs and kids, people floating remote-controlled boats in the filthy ponds...the list goes on and on. And while I love the balloons and ask my parents to let me get behind the wheel of one of the motorized cars, the thing that I love the most is watching the boats. In fact, I've been pestering Mama and Dada for one ever since our first day here back in August. Well, apparently they have an in with Papa Noel (that's Santa Claus to those of you North of the Border), because a fully motorized, remote control boat showed up under our Christmas tree this year. It's a good thing that Santa was able to obtain our forwarding address!

And she's off! I really wanted to break a bottle of champagne on her hull but it mysteriously disappeared.

My first mate and I

I think that Joaquin had something to do with the bottle of champagne going missing. He is clearly drunk.

So happy!

Mama and Joaquin enjoying the cruise