Johnny and Grammy

Last week was Maureen's last week away from work. She took John out every day of the week. One day, Grammy joined them for an adventure at the Century City Mall. As usual, he really enjoyed his pizza and he loved running around the bookstore.

Maureen and I have realized that John doesn't need toys. All he needs are pizza, a place to run around, and a fountain. He'd be happy with just that.

John and His Friend

John has a good friend named Julia. Their mothers are old school friends and meet up from time to time at The Farmer's Market for breakfast. At first, John is always a bit on the shy side, but once he gets comfortable, he just opens up and has a grand old time. He even let Julia borrow some of his crayons. He's beginning to understand that sharing is good.

Guess Who Went To The Happiest Place On Earth Without Daddy?

First of all, I had to work, so I couldn't go. It all started early on Thursday morning. John woke up kind of early at 6:30. Maybe he knew he was in for a special treat later in the day? In any event, Nick and I took of for Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez's house at 6:45 and John settled into the bed and watched his favorite show, Oswald. That show is the equivalent of giving him a sedative. He just sits back and relaxes. He's started to laugh at the crazy antics of Daisy.

After breakfast, it was time to get ready. John is good about getting ready. Once he's dressed, he'll go sit in his big chair and wait for his shoes. Obviously, he still needs help with his shoes, but he's learned that you need to sit down and wait for your shoes. Then, they went up to meet with the Wiseman's to go to Disneyland.

I'm told he was good for the most part. He waited in lines. He rodes some rides (Casey Jr. Railroad, Dumbo {Heidi and Seal's favorite ride}, The Jungle Cruise, and It's A Small World). He had some different reactions to the different rides. He'd really just get bored and antsy after a while. I don't blame him at all. He got kind of scared on Casey Jr. when it started to go really fast.

It was such a long day that I doubt he'll remember, but it was special day for Maureen.

Who's the Smartest 19, almost 20-Month Old?

It's none other than John Dockweiler Gonzalez. If this isn't proof that he understands directions, then I don't know what is proof.



Plus, you can see how much he enjoys tormenting his little brother.

John Is Obsessed

Maureen took John to the Farmer's Market/The Grove last week. Guess what our boy wanted to do? He just wanted to hang out and watch the "agua" at the fountain. He even made a dramatic run toward the fountain while screaming, "AGUA!" I don't know what it is about water, but our little John loves water. He screams and cries bloody murder whenever we have to leave the fountain.

On a side note, Maureen discovered that he loves grilled cheese sandwiches. They had three last week. So, if you want to get him on your good side, take him to Phil's at the Farmer's Market and buy him a grilled cheese sandwich. Don't forget to buy him some fries as well. You can't have grilled cheese without fries. You and he can converse with all the old people who go there. It's quite entertaining to listen to their conversations.

Mr. Bojangles

We know he likes to sing, but we are quickly finding out that he likes to dance. A couple of weeks ago, he was rocking out to The Pixies at Village Pizzeria. Last week, he gave Maureen and Nicholas a private recital. He even has his own stage. You can clearly see that he's dancing. This boy is so well rounded. The next thing you know is that he'll pick up a basketball and shoot hoops. My boy may not be able to read at 19-months unlike Graham and Aleka, but he's enjoying being a boy.

And no, unlike the subject of the great song, "Mr. Bojangles", John doesn't like to drink a bit. Well, actually, he does love to drink milk, so I suppose he does drink a bit.

I think I have sorted out the video issues. It's just going to take longer for me to upload them. In the meantime, enjoy this nice photo of John as he enjoys the statues of little children at the Grove. The full story will be up tomorrow. It involves his favorite thing, AGUA.

The Video Says It All

There's nothing wrong with him pushing a princess stroller. He just likes to keep moving. From the minute he wakes up until the minute he goes to sleep, this boy is kinetic. When he crashes for sleep, he crashes hard.

A Lovely Day

This morning we took a trip to The Farmer's Market for some donuts at Bob's Donuts. We learned, from an obnoxious tour guide, that Bob's is one of three properties at the Market owned by Bob Tusquella. Anywho, we had a lovely time sitting and enjoying our fine snack before we took a walk to The Grove to visit the fountain. As soon as he saw it, John kept on saying "agua". He just loves fountains and water. When we had to leave, he wasn't very happy, but we still had a really great day. He even helped with pushing Nicholas' stroller.

John Is Sitting at the Big Table Now

Over the last few weeks, John has been hitting several new milestones. First, he gives up his bottles. I never thought that would happen. He just loves drinking milk and water from his sippy cups. Then, he starts bathing in the big tub. Now, he's sitting at the dinner table in a booster seat. He hasn't quite mastered utensils just yet, but give him a couple of weeks and we'll see where he is with that.

Johnny the Champagne Boy

John has recently started taking baths in the larger tub. We've put away his tub that fit in the larger tub and he's having a good time discovering the boundaries of the new larger area. At first, he was quite hesitant to sit in there, but over the last couple of days, he has learned to enjoy himself. Plus, he really loves his bubble machine.

Hopefully, you'll be able to enjoy the video clip. It'll take you back to a time where Lawrence Welk ruled the tv on Saturday nights, Bobby and Cissy danced around, Arthur tapped his little heart out, Joe Feeney sang Danny Boy, and Norma the Champagne Lady did whatever it was the Champagne Lady did.

A Fun Day

John had a great day today. He took a walk to his two favorite fountains and even got to have a fun visit to Grammy's house today. As soon as we started driving up the tree lined avenue to Grammy's, he knew where we were going. Thanks Grammy for watching JD while we took Nicholas to his 2-month check-up.

After we were finished at Dr. K's (see Nick's blog for details), we thought it would be a nice idea to go to Village Pizzeria for an early dinner. It was the perfect time since it was pretty much empty when we got there, but people started filing in after we got there. We thought it would be easy to have John eat some cheese pizza. We even thought it would be interesting to see his reaction to their yummy garlic rolls. Clearly, he is my son since he loved the pizza and the bread, but he rejected the salad Maureen offered to him. He even got the chance to rock out to the Pixies. They were listening to the Doolittle album. My favorite is Surfer Rosa, but enough of my talk about The Pixies and their recordings. Something truly exciting happened:

John drank water directly from a cup. Lately, he's been using his sippy cup and not a bottle at all. Tonight, we didn't have a sippy cup, so we had a cup of water with a straw. He still doesn't quite get the mechanics of sucking through a straw, so Maureen started to give him water by holding it up to his mouth. Like the champ he is, he kept drinking his agua and would continually ask for more.

After dinner, we took a walk along Larchmont and saw a bunch of woof woofs. John started yelling at random strangers who'd turn to see the little 2.5-foot wonder yelling at them. He needs to learn the friendly voice.

19 Months Old Today

John is quite entertaining these days. Or, I should say that he is easily entertained. He just loves running around in circles, laughing, and clapping. He's a happy little guy and he's being very good when it comes to his brother. He still hasn't touched him in an untoward way. Let's just hope he stays on that path.

He's had a great last couple of days. Yesterday, he ran around like a crazy kid at the gym. He did bump heads with a little girl and made her cry, but it was completely an accident. That reminded me of the time we were scrimaging against a team of girls at HealthSouth (now Toyota Center) and the girls would just bounce off us burly he-men. Some of us felt bad, but others didn't care. John also accompanied me on our weekly grocery run. He helped me pick out groceries. He picked his own bananas. Well, he pointed and I took them.

He was great at breakfast today. We walked to Fiddler's after he had his breakfast. He read his books and colored while Maureen and I had our respective breakfasts. As always, "Lil Scraps" enjoyed little bits of pieces of toast, banana, eggs, and bacon.

Our John and Our Nicholas

As you can see, Nicholas was just trying to enjoy his time in his swing (thanks Lowther Family of Sylmar, CA for the swing). John, on the other hand, wanted to have some fun whilst trying to avoid a bath. You see, John decided to run out of the bathroom in the "raw" to avoid his bath. He does so enjoy running around like a little naturalist.

Why Does He Hate Baths That I Give Him

This photo was taken while Maureen was giving him a bath. When I give him a bath, he just screams and cries until I start blowing soap bubbles. Then, he's as happy as can be. I suppose I just don't put up with all his shenanigans like Maureen does. Oh well, I suppose I'm just all business when it comes to bath time.

I Think Someone Wants to be a Programmer

It could be worse. He could work for a Dutch oil company. We all know where that leads. Plus, he can work in his footie jammies with polar bears on them if he were to be a programmer.

I just hope he doesn't destroy this keyboard.

Maybe He'd Like Watching Lawrence Welk?

John would enjoy it. He seems to like music, dancing, and singing. He'd be a great fan of Bobby and Cissy's dancing routines. For those of you who can remember the Lawrence Welk Show, I think I'm sure he'd like the little black man, Arthur, that looked like Ben Vereen. And, he'd love Norma the Champagne Lady with all the bubbles. If you can see the video, you'll also learn that John does not like to be kept waiting with the bubbles.