Day 2 Without Mom

John is doing quite well. He has noticed that Maureen is not here, but he hasn't freaked out. He keeps walking over to her side of the room as if to try to find her. He did wake up about an hour ago and we had to watch an episode or two of Oswald. He just loves Daisy.

He also enjoyed playing BLT on the Bridge. BLT is the name we have given one of his Little People figures. Maureen and I named him after a character from Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High. For BLT on the Bridge, he puts the figure on top of the bridge from his train set and either he or I will knock down the figure as I do a fake "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" sound similar to the "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" in the Land of the Lost tv-show theme song. Anywho, he just sits there and laughs and laughs like it's the funniest thing. He also does that whenever I give him knuckles. I don't know what it is, but he laughs at that the way I laugh at AJ's story about a doctor with sausage fingers in the Army.

Update on John

John had a great night last night in the lovely hamlet of Mission Hills with Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez. He wasn't too concerned about not seeing Maureen or me. I don't know if I should be relieved or hurt. I didn't think he'd get that way until he was around 14 or 15.

He had tons of fun with his cousins, the Borrego Girls. Marielena aka Mia asked John, "Are you happy to be a big brother?" According to my mother, his response was, "Si." He likes to say that and "aqui". We at least know that he can say yes and here in Spanish.

This evening, he was having a grand old time when I picked him up. We drove home and I could tell he was tired. He kept rubbing his eyes. After his bath, we started to do the wind down routine, but he just wanted to play. So, we went to his room and he did his laps before I decided the time was nigh to put him down. Without protest, he went to sleep.

He only mentioned "Mama" once as we were winding down because she takes over after the bath. Let's hope he stays that way and makes it through to Thursday or Friday when Maureen and Tsar Nicholas come home.

Irish Twins?

What do you think? They have the same nose, cheeks, and chin (although John does have more of the Kirk Douglas cleft in his chin).

John Is Rufus and Nicholas Is Resplendent

He has a resplendent baby brother, Nicholas Edward Gonzalez. Please be sure to visit Nicholas' blog at:

http://www.negisresplendent.blogspot.com/

He hasn't met the newest addition to the family, but they'll meet soon enough.

Updates

As some of you know, Maureen is going in for a Cesarean Section tomorrow afternoon. Please forgive your corespondent if he doesn't post anything for a day or so. He has to finalize plans for a second blog about a young boy name Nicholas. It'll be resplendent!

In the meantime, please say a prayer for your corespondent. He'll be alone with the Rufus One for a couple of nights. It's good that we know John loves yogurt. You'd think he were from the Middle East with all the yogurt he eats. I'm not being racialist. I'm just stating a fact that yogurt originated in the Middle East. Anyway, if all he eats is yogurt and fruit, I think most doctors would be pleased. At least, your corespondent won't be taking him to Pink's every night for hot dogs.

A Trip To Santa's House

Last year, John was quite stoic in his sitting with Santa. This year, he was a bit more aware of his surroundings. As you can see, he really didn't want to have his photo taken. It seems he takes after me in that respect. Thankfully, Maureen was able to get into the photo with him.

For the second year in a row, Santa just doesn't look too happy. Maureen thinks it's because he's stressed out by his toy making/delivering schedule. It tends to get rough when you have to fly around the world with a bunch of reindeer in less than 24-hours.

By the way, I'd like to say that Hooray for Santy Claus is the best Christmas song ever. It would be great for small children to sing; however, it won't be sung at the St. A's Christmas show. They couldn't find who owned the rights and didn't want to chance any issues.

The Laundry Helper

John enjoys helping with the laundry. Actually, he likes going down the the basement to run around the laundry room. He just runs around and plays with the machines. He loves playing with the Pepsi machine's buttons. He just pushes them. I wonder how he'll feel when he sees that something comes out of them when he sees someone buy a drink. He also likes to stare at the dryers as they spin around. Maureen said that he was mesmerized by three dryers the other days. To paraphrase Maureen, "Who needs Disneyland when we have the laundry room?"

Santa's Little Helper

John was very busy this weekend wrapping presents for Santa. Some lucky kids will be fortunate enough to receive the gifts that John wrapped and signed. He's such a good helper.

Soy Bomb?

If you don't know who Soy Bomb is, look it up and you'll get it. Or, he's gettting ready to get busted by the police in Riverside County on an episode of COPS.

Thanksgiving Story

Last week, we went to the Gaunt Ranch (Maureen's Aunt and Uncle/Grammy's Sister and Brother-in-Law) for Thanksgiving. As always, we were welcomed with open arms as soon as we entered their home. Actually, we were greeted by the Lowe's (Maureen's Cousin Whitney, her husband Jesse, and their son Thomas) in the driveway. Thomas was so excited to show us his train that he took a header in the driveway like little boys under the age of 2 are apt to do.



As we entered, we were greeted with the delicious smell of the turkey and some fine appetizers, mostly dips and things of that nature. Mind you, I'm not a fan of dips or sauces, so I was able to much on the chips and bread. I hope John doesn't take after me that way. So far, he does seem to eat most things. Anywho, our hosts (Fred and Patty) made us feel at home. The other Gaunts, Kevin and Rachel (Maureen's cousin and his wife), came over to see us. Shortly after that, Thomas decided to go outside to see the horses.






Once we got outside, John was in heaven. He wanted to run around and look at everything. He made a beeline for the rose bushes and I had to steer him away from them rather quickly. He also kept on walking past the stables to the place where there were some brown bins. My guess is that there was horse manure in those bins, but I may be wrong. I kept on having to pull him away from it. By that time, Cousin Adriana had joined us and she delivered this great observation: Horses poop all over the place. For a five year old, I think that's pretty profound. She's always good for a good line or two like that.


Maureen specifically bought John his cowboy shirt because we were headed out to the ranch. She would have bought him a cowboy hat to match , but he hates hats of any sort and would have thrown it off. It turns out that Whitney had purchased the same shirt for Thomas. It's my goal in life to be Joe Simpson and turn the two of them into a pop singing sensation. With the additions to the family, we may have to expand the duo into a quartet. Enough of my stage father dreams and back to the Thanksgiving story, John just wanted to play with the water bucket by the pen where the horses are groomed. He kept on reaching for it and didn't understand why I wouldn't let him touch it. One day next summer, Maureen can take him back to see how the horses are groomed and we'll see if he still wants to play with the water.



JD didn't quite make it for the turkey. He had his little raviolis and some fruit compote, but he did get to sit at the kids table and enjoy the company of his cousins. As a matter of fact, he had a blast at the table. The dogs kept on coming up to him at the gates and he started to throw food at them. It was a scene reminiscent of Spanky when he was a toddler in The Little Rascals where he'd feed Pete the pup under the table. John kept on tossing the monkey bread and Cheerios on the floor. Sadie and Tango were his best friends by the end of the night, but he didn't like it when Sadie came up and started licking his face. He still needs to get used to dog kisses.



By the end of the night, Maureen had changed John into his super hero jammies and he was entertaining people with his dazzling charm and bon mots. Actually, he really wiped himself out and he slept in the next morning. It was the best feeling not to wake up until 7 AM the next morning. To quote the Fresh Beat Band, "What a great day!"