John Enjoys Mommy's Music

This an actual shot of John as he is listening to one of Maureen's favorite groups, Air Supply. Sad to say it, but we've seen them at the Canyon Club, not once, but twice. Maureen even got a kiss on the cheek from both Russell, little fro man, and Graham, tall blondie. Russell likes to wear leather pants for part of the show. Honestly, a man his age should not be wearing leather pants.

Little Russell, as we like to call him, knows how to do so much according to this song. He can do all sorts of things and he can take the darkness from the pit of the night and turn into a beacon burning ending endlessly bright. I'd say that's quite resplendent!

If he could really do all the things he says, I don't think that Air Supply would be playing the Canyon Club in Agoura and The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas. Do you?

John enjoys the video to this song. His favorite part is where the black back-up singers are hand dancing. Watch the video and you'll understand what I am saying (2:10). My favorite part of the video is the wooden acting at the beginning. You don't see that kind of acting unless you are watching an old episode of Beverly Hills 90210 and whatever flavor of the day band is at the Peach Pit After Dark. They deliver their two lines and that's it. Case in point, the Cardigans at Kelly Taylor's CU gradutation party:

Famale Singer: Yay, great congratulations.
Male Guitar Player: Yes, graduating from college is quite an accomplishment.

Johnny's Favorite Member of Debarge

John was very distressed this morning to find out that El Debarge had been arrested on a couple of outstanding warrants. El sang one of Johnny's FAVORITE songs, Who's Johnny?.

Somehow, JD is going to be ok with it. I think we'll all be OK. El will pay his debt to society, so he'll be free to make great music again some day.

New Poll: Halloween Costume

We have a few options for John's Halloween costume that he'll wear to St. A's School costume pagent on Friday. What do you say? Cat? Tigger? Zebra?

YOU DECIDE

Little Striped Riding Hood

The Boy Loves A Good Story

JD loves books. Look at the glee on his face. Is there anything better than that?

Yakisoba???

According to an ad we just saw on FLN, EVERYONE LOVES YAKISOBA!! I had no idea that I loved Yakisoba. I had no idea what it was. Here's a shot of John's reaction when I asked him about Yakisoba. He had no clue either. Like father like son.

Handsome Boy School of Modeling

John is the first attendee of the Handsome Boy School of Modeling. We use all the techniques from America's Next Top Model (except the Aswirl because that's just a little to flamboyant for our liking) and teach handsome boys, such as John, how to be top models. He'll be bigger than Derek Zoolander or Hansel, just you wait and see.

Jurisdictions

Saturday is Jurisdictions Day. If you don't know what jurisdictions are, you obviously do not watch 17 Kids and Counting on TLC. In the world of the Duggar Family, chores are called jurisdictions. Maureen and I are good about splitting the jurisdictions about the compound. John's only jurisdiction is to be happy and healthy for as long as possible. He's off to a good start on the jurisdiction. As he grows older, we'll have to come up with some that are a little tougher.

Back to the Duggar Family, there's something that doesn't seem quite right about them. They are a little too "Golly Gee Whiz", but there's something very interesting about them in the same way. Watching an episode of their show is almost like watching an episode of 7th Heaven except that none of the daughters are hot...unlike Mary Camden. Anywho, they talk about jurisdictions, home schooling, and God all the time.

One thing I will say about them is that they are far more entertaining than the Gosselin family from John and Kate Plus Eight. Jim Bob and Michelle do not rely on the community around them liek John and Kate. And, they don't complain about having sooooo many kids, unlike John and Kate. You can tell which family I like better.

They sing all the time, enjoy paintballing, go to Silver City in Branson, and generally talk about the good things in life. One interesting thing that they talk about is the Home Schooling Conferences that they attend. I had no idea that these gatherings occurred. If you look at the clothing the girls who are home schooled wear, you'd think they lived in Walnut Grove with the Ingalls family or lived in Avonlea with Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.

If you get a chance, go to their web site: www.duggarfamily.com . You can read all about their lives, but be sure to check out their recipe for Tater Tot Casserole. Maureen won't let me make it. I'm just curious to see what it would taste like. Then again, they use cream of mushroom soup in it and lord knows that I wouldn't eat that.

Yeats

I took the liberty to read some William Butler Yeats poetry to the boy a couple of days ago. I asked him to tell me his favorite selection. From my understanding of baby talk, learned through years of reading Sugar and Spike aka Sal y Pimienta comic books as a youth, he says An Irish Airman Foresees His Death. I think he just chose that since Shane MacGowan once put it to music. Oh the moodiness of our John. What are we to do?

For the record, my favorite Yeats poem is The Stolen Child.

Next week, I'll read to him from the collected works of Robert Frost...a particular favorite of mine. I like the fact that he uses such simple language just like John Steinbeck. If they wanted to say the sky is blue, they'd write the sky is blue.

The Ladies Man

No, he's not the Ladies Man with a radio show. That's Leon Phelps and there is only ONE LEON PHELPS. Besides, JD is too young to dispense love advice and drink Courvoisier (said with a lisp). He'll just have to go n being the sweet little boy that everyone just loves.

He's not about to start looking for love in all the wrong places. His mother and I have plans for him. He's either going to marry Heidi Klum's daughter, Leni, or he's going to marry Salma Hayek's daughter, Valentina. It is destiny.

Random Shot of a Shooting Star

Sometimes we are brave enough to play flying baby with John. More often then not, he tends to drool or spit up. Usually, he leaves the spit up for me. I guess he just wants to thank me for being his web master.

I like this shot because you can see our John's devilish little smile. His mother says that my smile is devilish, but I tend to think it's creepy like the Joker's. I'm not talking about Caesar Romero Joker (Really, we all knew he still had a mustache under his grease paint. You'd have to be a moron not to see it) or Heath Ledger Joker. I'd say my creepy smile is more like Jack Nicholson's Joker.

Also, if you look closely in the middle of the photo, you'll see Ralphie's dad holding his FRAGILE leg lamp on the dresser.

Happy Birthday Mommy

Today, October 20th, is Maureen's birthday.

Maureen's Birthday BBQ

On Saturday, we had a lovely barbeque out in Westchester for Maureen's birthday. Tri-tip and cake were on the menu. Salad and potatoes were also served, but I stuck to the tri-tip (from Marconda's at the Farmer's Market on Fairfax). It was seasoned properly and cooked just right.

Anywho, gone are the days of the cocktail parties with Twister for prizes at 1:30 AM. Now, it's just a kid fest. These are two of Maureen's God children with John. They loved him and showered him with so much attention. They know that jumping on the John-Train is the right thing to do.

I was on potty duty with Jakkers. He didn't want his mommy or daddy to take him to the bathroom. He only wanted to go with me. It's good practice for John's eventual potty training, I suppose. Either that, or it'll make up for some of the misdeeds of my youth. Jakkers had quite the imagination. The crocodile on his shirt would attack me and he'd laugh and laugh when I'd feign injury. It's good to see that small children can be entertained with so little effort.

Sleepikins

Our little guy needed to take a nap after mass. Really, don't we all need to take a nap after mass...that is, if we haven't already taken one during the homily.

Our Little Monkey Boy

Our little guy loves to grab his little feet. It kind of reminds me of the little chimps that wear diapers and pull their feet.

John's Favorite Book

JD enjoys it when his mother reads to him. He's been known to sit through six books at one time. He just loves picture books with images of little children. This is a good sign. Hopefully, he'll be social like his mother and not anti-social like me.

His favorite book is one called "How Do You Know It's Halloween?". On every second page, there is a flap. The text on the first page gives clues and ask "Who or What Am I?" The reveals are pumpkins, bats, spiders, and my favorite owls. The reason I like this is because Maureen reads it in such a way and say, "Who-Who-Who Are You?", much like a hooting owl. One evening, I basically had to keep saying "Who-Who-Who Are You?" over and over for a good ten minutes to keep my boy silent. What can I say? He has me wrapped around his little fingers.

John and His Toys

Our John enjoys playing with his toys. Here's an example of John and his pal, Ellie the Elephant (he also has Foxy Fox). If you stick through the end of the video, you'll hear a little gaseous explosion.

He's already grabbed his hoohoodilly. He's quite the tooter and belcher. All he needs to do is drink whiskey and he'd be a fully initiated member into the Brotherhood of Man.

Peek-A-Boo

John likes looking at the world around him. He loves to watch other kids as they do anything under the sun. Maureen picked up a nice book for John today. It's called Peek-A-Boo. Basically, it's a book where each second page has a flap that hides the photo of baby and the words Peek-A-Boo. On the last page, there's a mirror that allows the reader to play peek-a-boo with himself. John really enjoyed it.

Little Jack Frost

Maureen took John for a walk this morning to the Farmer's Market today. She bundled him up and put a cap on him. Actually, it's one of the few caps that'll fit his little melon head. They were kind enough to bring me some breakfast from Bob's Donuts. Dang, those are some good donuts at Bob's.

Meet the Twins

John had the distinct pleasure and privilage to meet his twin cousins, Matthew and Samantha. Samantha is 2-hours older than her brother and wants to be a fashion designer/model. I told her that she should be patient. If/When John marries Leni, Heidi Klum's daughter, he'd have an in with his mother-in-law and she could be on the show. Nepotism is the best thing since sliced toast. Matthew isn't quite sure what he wants to be, but he's a good egg. He was quite helpful in changing John's diaper.

John has met all his cousins save for Shelby. She lives in Arkansas and he's not quite ready to make the trip out there just yet.

In coming posts, we'll see more encounters with his other cousin's. John still wants to give Marielena a big hug and a kiss for not wishing her a happy birthday on her actual birthday. She's always so kind and dances around with him. I'll be sure to post the photo. We may even be able to get a photo with his eldest cousin, Dillon, if he's in the mood. He's in college and posing with his baby cousin may not be on the list of his priorities in life.

John Is A Storyteller

John likes to spin quite a few yarns about this and that. We think he gets that from Grandpa Juan.

Our John Is A Real Boy

Grammy Brady related an interesting story. Whilst changing his diaper, John reached down and grabbed, not touched, but grabbed his whoo-whoo dilly. Our little boy is turning into such a little man.

On a more serious note, he slept over 7-hours straight last night. He hasn't quite 8-hours of sleep like Charla Smith of Hanford, but she's 17-days older. Give John some time and I'm sure he'll beat her sleep patterns. He's quite the overachiever.

One of John's Favorite Songs

John loves to hear his mother's soothing voice. He likes to be serenaded as he recieves his bath.

If you look closely, you can see John doing his impersonation of his favorite rapper, LL Cool J. For those of you in the know, you are aware that LL Cool J loves to lick his lips as he speaks. Our John is no different. He's almost like David Archuleta from American Idol, except he doesn't have a creepy stage dad that wears caps all the time.

John's Quarter Birthday

Today, John officially turns 1/4 of a year old. It seems like only yesterday he was in the incubator in the NICU at Cedars-Sinai. He is quite healthy, happy, and alert. He loves his mother dearly and responds to her voice quite amiably. I think he just tolerates me and he enjoys my rendition of Fur Elise. Aside from that, he tends to cry a lot when I'm around. I think it's that small people can sense my lupine nature.

We were going to throw him a small party with a quarter of a cupcake, but our John hasn't exactly been very cooperative this evening. He's being a bit fussy right now. Basically, he needs sleep and he has no time for our monkeyshines. Oh well, I suppose that can wait until tomorrow or the day after. There's always time for skylarking at a later date.

John Is A Great Listener

Your Favorite Five Head

By an overwhelming majority, John Dockweiler Gonzalez was voted as your favorite person with a five head. Thanks to all who voted; however, I do have one thing to ask. WHO IN GOD'S NAME VOTED FOR CHRISTINA RICCI?!?!? Come on!! Get on the JD Train before it's too late!!! You are going to get what's for!! We are going to gather in a circle around you, point at you, tease you, and throw rocks. That's how we did things back in Catholic school. It's not very nice, but quite effective.

Mama Loves Johnny

My two favorite people.

Johnny Goes To A Party

Being the society dandy that he is, John has numerous party invitations every weekend. This week, he had the good fortune to be invited to the 2nd Birthday party for Little Baby Chicken Fried thrown by Mr. & Mrs. Chicken Fried (See Photo) at Grandpa and Grandma Chicken Fried's house. There was a Disneyland theme since LBCF LOVES Disneyland. The party was full of all sorts of little rugrats who were just having the times of their life. They played pin the tail on the donkey, had Mickey Mouse cake from Hansen's Bakery (YUMMY!!! The Mrs. just loves Hansen's!!) A good time was had by all and John was on his best behavior and wearing a snazzy Petit Bateau outfit that we picked up at Flicka on Larchmont Blvd.

If you look closely in Baby Chicken Fried's hand, you'll see a red envelope. Believe me, you'll want to receive those red envelopes. I won't tell you what's in them. If you are curious, look it up on the internet. I'll give you points for trying. In any event, red envelope presents are AWESOME!!!

Who Needs TMZ?

This was a shot of John as he was being harassed by the paparazzi. Don't mess with the boy. He's my son and knows how to cover his face from any photo!

Fur Elise In Action

Check it out. John's fussiness goes away once we start with the Beethoven. It's the cure all.

Bathtime for John

Yet another clip of our John enjoying his tubbie.