When John was a wee little laddie, he enjoyed saying Duka Duka Duka. I have no clue where he picked it up, but he loved to say it. It's been quite a while since he said it, but Our John just started doing it again. It's like he's 13-months old again except that he has a bowl haircut that I gave him, he can sort of say "excellent", and he can run around.

BTW, that isn't dirt. That's chocolate ice cream on the side of his face. One of his parents, not the one typing this, took him for ice cream after dinner at Avocado Grill. He seems to think that lunch or dinner on Larchmont Blvd always ends with ice cream at 31 Flavors.

The Real Situation

John has very good luck with the ladies in our building. They all just love him. Today, he decided to grace them with the gift of his body. Look at the definition of those abs. Look at the striation in his arms. That boy!!

Plus, he's got that really cool Friar Tuck hair cut.

Fun at Baja Fresh

As some of you know, John loves Baja Fresh. He loves to hear the cooks chopping the meat. When he hears it, he goes, "CHOP! CHOP!" He also really enjoys eating the food. He loves the chicken tacos and pico de gallo, but I think that he enjoys the high chairs the most of all.

The high chairs have wheels on them, so he wheels the chair to the table and back to the original spot when finished. Yesterday, he discovered an even more exciting use for the high chairs. The high chairs can be a fun ride. Woo Hoo!!

A Little Food Scare

Dr. K warned us not to give John peanut butter until he is self aware enough to state the following: My throat is swelling up. Yesterday, John had a little bit of Maureen's toast that had some peanut butter on it. Since nothing happened, we decided to give him a little toast with peanut butter this morning. All seemed fine until an hour or two later. John had this cough that came out of nowhere. He was rubbing his eyes and he had a giant mess in his diaper. All three of those are symptoms of a peanut butter allergy. Fortunately, the cough has gone away and John seems to be ok. Let this be a lesson to all. If a doctor says not to feed your child something, it's better to heed that warning and be spared a big scare.

Guess Who Likes Baja Fresh

As some of you know, John tends to think that every weekend outing ends in "wunch" aka lunch. Yesterday, we went to the Northridge Mall to see if we could find some shoes for Maureen. She said, "Eew, they are all ugly."

Anywho, we stopped in at Baja Fresh for lunch before our trip to the mall. We decided to go off menu and get him a chicken "pock pock" taco. He really enjoyed himself. We really didn't have to prompt him to use his fork.




I was shocked when he ate his pico de gallo. Maureen gave him a taste and he said, "Mmmm, it's good.", so she gave him a little cup. Once again, he enjoyed using his fork to get his tasty treat.



If I could get him to use his napkin instead of his shirt, I'd be ever so happy, but it must be noted that they had a good selection of music playing. They played some Paulina Rubio song that Maureen likes and they played "Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagara" aka the Spanish version of "There Is A Light".

Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Rick

Blame my dad for the tardiness. He's a bit of a dunderhead at times.

Fun with Uncle Mike

John loves going over to the Lowther residence because he gets to play with Uncle Mike. Who knew a wading pool and an ice cube could be so much fun?



As if that wasn't enough, John gets his own personal ride on the human swing, not once,



But, TWICE!!!

Happy Birthday Papi

August 17th is Papi's Birthday! Happy Birthday, LOVE JOHN!!!

The Boy Is Too Smart

Last night, we went to Target to pick up a few things and ride the up and down. We had dinner on at Baja Fresh and John ate everything we gave him. As we were getting ready to leave, I went to pay for parking at the pay station. The amount was $1.50, so I inserted a $5 bill. As I reached for the change in the change slot, guess who beat me to my money? That's right, John took the money. I was dumbfounded at first, but I was rather impressed with his gumption.

Smart Boys

We all know that John is a SUPER GENIUS, but did you know that his little brother, Nicholas, is following in John's footsteps? Look at my boys reading their books. It does my heart good to see them reading fine quality literature.

Fun with The Twins

We were invited over to the Lowther house for a barbeque this weekend. It was for Aunt Lisa, Mami, and Papi's birthdays since they were all within one week of each other. As he hadn't seen them in a while, John was a little nervous around the twins at first, but he warmed up enough to go hang out around the Slip N Slide. He didn't want to ride it, but he was willing to watch it.

Happy Birthday Aunt Lisa

Dr. K

This is the world famous Dr. K. He takes very good care of John and Nicholas. We have to remind John that Dr. K is his friend. He's beginning to come around to liking his doctor. Every time we drive by his office, John will point it out and say, "Hi Drs Karszch". He's really smart like that and I really think he'll get over his fear of doctors in no time.

Johnny meets Shelly

The other day, John was over at Mami and Papi's house. The Borrego girls brought over their turtle for Mami and Papi to watch whilst they are away. John was quite excited to play with the turtle. As you can see, he wasn't shy about picking her up. He really shouldn't be holding her upside down, but Shelly's a tough turtle. If she can survive Hurricane Anamargarita, she can survive John.

Feliz Cumpleanos Mami

Happy Birthday Mami. I really liked spending the afternoon with you and Papi. We'll have cake on Saturday.

A Great Day

Yesterday afternoon, we decided to head over to Marina del Rey to take a ride on the water taxi since John just loves the boats. Actually, we weren't too sure if he'd like it, but we thought we'd give it a try and get off the boat if he really hated it.

As is our custom, we went to Tony P's for an early dinner. We sat on the terrace and John was just so excited to see the boats. He didn't even want to wait to eat his food. He just wanted to go to look at the boats. After placing their order, Maureen took John for a walk while I got to spend some time with Nicholas. When they returned John was right as rain and able to sit down. He really enjoys coloring on the children's menu.

After we finished with dinner, we took a walk down to the water taxi stop. We were told it would be a 15-minute wait (it turned out to be 35-minutes), so we kept on walking back and forth between the Ritz Carlton and Tony P's. The door was open to the pool at the Ritz, so Maureen took John up there. He was impressed with the size of the pool and sat down in the lounge chair. He did not want to leave. He was crying as she brought him down to the walkway. He was very upset until he got a visit from a little doggie named Gracie.

When the boat finally came to pick us up, John was excited to go down the gang plank, but as we approached the boat, Maureen asked, "Do you want to go on the boat?" He said, "Nope!" Maureen picked him up and we got on the boat. Much to our delight, he was quite thrilled with riding on the boat. Every so often, he'd exclaim, "BIG BOAT!!"

The captain of the boat was very nice. He let John take a turn at the helm. He actually let all the kids take a turn at the helm and was impressed that all the boys were such gentlemen about sharing turns. John very patiently waited his turn and would say, "Next" when it was going to be his turn. I think his Grandpa Dick would have been proud to see his nautical grandson.

As an added treat, the captain took us to see the sea lions by the docks. They really didn't do much aside from lounge around on the sea lions, but John really liked it anyway.



To quote the Fresh Beat Band, "What a Great Day!!"

Tapey Taperson

I don't know how he gets things, but he got ahold of the scotch tape. See what shenanigans ensue as John manages to ensnare himself in a roll of tape.

Bounce Bounce B-B-Bounce

Those of you who know the Fresh Beat Band know that there is a song that they sing called, "Bounce, Bounce, B-B-Bounce." They sing it as they are in a bounce house. Guess who really loves that episode and likes to improvise. He may not have a bounce house, but he does have a 4-square ball that'll provide the bounce for him.

Dancey Dance

Being a great performer, John knows that he shouldn't start until he gets his cue. As soon as Papi starts making the music, the boy starts to shine.

A Star

Some of you longtime readers know that I plan to make my boy into an international star. I may not have much work to do since the boy is such a talent already. Listen to his rendition of "It's A Small World". He's like a force of nature, UNSTOPPABLE!!

Someone Has Been Partying Too Much

If I didn't know any better, I'd say this boy had a little too much to drink. Knowing him as I do, I know that he's only allowed to drink milk, water, and pedialyte. He must have been up all night talking to Casper the Friendly Ghost or that old gentleman ghost I saw in our old apartment.

I Didn't Know This Was Part of the Deal

Little did I know that I'd have to show John how to use the bathroom. Apparently, it's quite standard for boys to watch their father's urinate, but I digress. Over the last couple of weeks, I have called John into the bathroom to watch the function. He always peeks his head up close to see what's going on. Usually, he stays about 3-feet away.

Before his bath this evening, I was showing him again how it works. As I noticed him moving his head closer, I felt something on my foot. Apparently, John decided to do what daddy was doing on my foot. He gave me a look and said, "It's ok." I said, "Yes, for now, it's ok." I didn't know what else to say or do at that moment. I just went with his flow.

Maybe We Should Take Away His Phone?

I think our John is a little to bleery-eyed because he's been texting his friends too much. What do you think?