Finally uploading the August photos and sitting down to write an update. I can’t believe I’m back to classes tomorrow and summer is officially over. Although I’ve spent a huge chunk of time since returning from SIIC in July writing my written preliminary examination (one of the many hoops you must jump through when pursuing a PhD), we also had plenty of time for fun. I think I’ll tell the story mostly through photos (and it will probably take more than one post).
Earlier this month we went to a kids luau hosted by the city. The photo above is of Emilia with a few of her buddies at the luau. Here’s another of our family on the same bench, and Emilia and papa playing in the grass.
Uncle Devin gave us this soccer (we—including Emilia—prefer the word ‘futbol’) net as a gift. It’s already been the source of much family fun. Thanks, Devin!
Babysitting Nelly (Yaya and Gampa’s dog). Emilia always wants to hug her; Nelly is not amused.
Ice cream at the pool. “Big pool, big pool!” Emilia always says.
“Big spoon, big spoon!” is another favorite phrase, as Emilia seems to think she’s outgrown the toddler spoons. I must admit though, she handles a full-sized spoon rather well for someone who is not yet two.
We all enjoyed watching the Olympics together in the evenings. Our favorites included swimming (“big pool, big pool!”) and gymnastics. Emilia loves jumping, and the first time she saw gymnastics, they were doing the floor routine, so I told her she was going to see jumpy girls. Well, “jumpy girl” is now one of her favorite games. She always wanted to see “big pool” or “jumpy girls.” We found her sport when one day diving came on and she yelled, “Big pool! Jumpy girls!”
Lastly, Agustín and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary this weekend. My parents took Emilia and we spent a whole day together, just the two of us. We didn’t do anything particularly extravagant, but it was very nice and rare for us to spend that much time together, alone without Emilia, and, perhaps more importantly, without trying to do anything more than just relax and enjoy each other’s company.
Now it’s back to school for me tomorrow. Where did the summer go?
That’s all for now, but I’ll post an update about my trip to Washington DC (to visit my brother Devin) soon.
I couldn't help but post a photo of our little Spanish girl in her flamenco dress (a traditional Spanish dress). This was a gift from Agustín's brother and his wife (who would really like to have a little girl to dress up like this). The last time we tried this on Emilia over the summer it was still really big on her. Well, I came home from a morning of studying at the coffee shop last Saturday to find Agustín had spent the morning playing dress-up and photo shoot with Emilia because apparently she's almost grown out of the dress already. Just like her mom, she is not exactly the picture of grace and femininity. It doesn't help that Agustín put a onesie on under the dress, which you see peeking out the sleeves. Oh, and Emilia put the bracelet up on her bicep like that of her own accord. But she sure likes dresses and such much more than I did at that age, and handles heels better than I do even now.
Emilia absolutely loved having all these visitors; she acts shy and innocent for the first minute or so around new people, but her true self soon shines through as she calls them all by name (or just “boy” in the case of my friend Kim’s spouse—apparently she doesn’t much care for the name Jason) and orders them to play with her. She kept telling Jason, “Boy make castle!” And make castle he did!
I turned in my written preliminary examination last week, which is a great relief. Yay!!! Now it's just classes, teaching, and on to the next hoop to jump through.
Devin and Noelle looking hip, as usual
Emilia having fun with my brother Jordan’s girlfriend, Tara