Happy 4th of Dominic!

Dominic (seen here with the Wall-E piñata I was making at 3 am the night before) sung a loud and proud “Happy Birthday to me!” yesterday as we celebrated his fourth birthday at Vista View Park. Parents always seem to find it hard to believe how quickly their children grow and we are no exception. From the seven pound, three oz screaming burrito we brought home from a Tallahassee hospital to the thirty-five pound monkey who never goes anywhere without a racecar in his back pocket, it all seems to have happened in one slow, sleep deprived blink. All of a sudden, there he was, standing in the middle of a field, throwing ecstatic fist pumps yelling “Owen DID it! Owen DID it!”as his one-year-old party guest tried his hand at flying a kite. Yesterday evening after the party, we drove down to Miami sans nap for round two of the festivities-- a barbecue at abuela Marta’s house and a Lightning McQueen cake courtesy of Danny’s parents. And an insane number of toys. We got home around 10:30 and the kids went to bed shortly after 11. All day today he’s wanted to talk about nothing but his “surprise” parties. Though Danny and I are dragging, (a broken A/C doesn’t help) and the house looks a wreck, he had so much fun that I kind of think it was worth it.

Party!

Pizza! (Dominic performed a pizza dance)

Piñata!

We Espinosas spent the entire month of September with our faces buried in Kleenex. It was a revolving door of sickness: one of us would get sick then another, then another, then another, and then the first would start over with something new. I had two weeks of bronchitis, Dominic followed me with a throat infection, Cristovan with the snots, and then Noemie with pink eye. And congestion. And an ear infection. When she started throwing up, I almost lost it. And all of us, of course, had a fever. Which leads a granola mom like me to suffer a perpetual state of acetaminophen-anxiety, seeing as acetaminophen is (I’m sure you already know this) the leading cause of liver failure. (It also came to my attention via my granola doctor, that fevers actually assist the body in fighting diseases, and should be allowed to run their course if they stay below 103.) I only administered Tylenol twice during the month of fevers. And I refused all offers of random antibiotics from crazy, self-medicating Cubans.

Thankfully, we are all better. With the exception of Toby who sounds like a sputtering engine with his chest congestion. And Noemie whose nose is still running an endless flow of gross. So maybe it’s not over…. But at least for now I’m in good health! As we’ve been recovering, it’s easy to fall into complacency and spend our days doing nothing more than lounging in our pajamas till Danny gets home. But there are fun things to do out and about these days, and the weather we’ve had around here has been amazing. The pumpkin patch at the Little Farm near Homestead is back, the Greater Miami Symphonic Band holds their children’s performance in two weeks, and MetroZoo entrance is $5 on November 1. Other things on my list of things to do: master the art of bread making, read a book, clean out my closet of broken shoes, and of course, the laundry. I should probably be doing that now. And to finish learning to play Lecuona’s Comparsa, the piano piece I started 10 years ago and never finished. You know, now that I have my own piano. Thanks mom!

Favorite quote of the day:

Me to Noemie: Cough into your hands. Es bueno compartir pero no queremos compartir los microbios.

Dominic: Tampoco las partes privadas.