Summer Vacation

It's finally that time: summer vacation time.  The vacation, though, isn't mine, but Eric's, and for me it feels more like summer vacation has come to an end.  Eric's school is now closed until next school year which begins the second week of September, so I now have more company at home during the day.

Knowing that it would be unlikely that I would be able to get as much done during the week now, I have been working ahead on preparations for Eric's upcoming birthday party.  "Tita" has also been helping me out when they come to visit on the weekends.  In the interest of keeping it all a surprise for his birthday, I won't show any of our projects here yet, but I will say that this year's theme is, of course, Eric's favorite thing in the world: guau guau's.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that having Eric home with me all day was actually a nice change.  I assumed that I wouldn't be able to get anything done with him at home, and that his constant "mamá, mamá" would drive me absolutely bonkers, but, honestly, we've been having lots of fun together.  In the morning, we take advantage of the nice weather and play for awhile in the pool.  While I haven't been able to get my usual workout in, because his naps have been a little too short, I have been able to get some work done around the house while Eric plays with his toys later on in the afternoon.  I have even managed to go through the daunting task of organizing most of Eric's closet and clothes, even after having received a few big bags of "new" used closed from some friends.

Having him home with me has helped me get back in tune with his progress towards potty training too. After playing bare-bottomed in the pool, Eric was telling me "pee-pee, pee-pee."  Just as he did a few weeks ago, he knew when he was going to go, and was able to control it.  

Mamá, mamá, pee-pee, pee-pee!!

I left him running around the house bare-bottomed in the afternoon, and he, by himself, sat on a new, wider urinal that I bought for him and went pee-pee there.  Mommy was very proud of him, and showed him how she brought the pee-pee to the toilet (just in time before he decided to try to pour it out on the ground).  Once the pee-pee went in the toilet, I said "bye-bye, pee-pee" and flushed it down.  Over the last couple of weeks, I had been doing that myself whenever I flushed the toilet, and Eric had already gotten in the habit of waving goodbye and saying "bye-bye, pee-pee" every time he hears the toilet flushing.

A few more drops of pee-pee in the potty

The little ritual of saying goodbye to the pee-pee seems to have made things more fun and interesting for Eric, and makes him want to stop and go pee-pee in the potty.  The only problem is that he likes it so much that the process of going pee-pee in the potty takes a very long time because Eric wants to get as many goodbyes out of it as possible.  So, he does a little pee-pee, shows it to me, and points to the toilet.  I pour it out, flush it down, and we say goodbye.  Two seconds later I once again hear "mamá, mamá, pee-pee, pee-pee!!!"  Once again he sits and shows me a little more pee-pee in the potty, points at the toilet, we flush, say our goodbyes, and the cycle repeats itself. (Until mommy eventually gets tired of it all)

I've also had a chance at noticing how much more that Eric is learning to say and do.  He now attempts at saying more complicated words, and his vocabulary is definitely increasing.  He no longer refers to Sheena as "guau guau," and now calls out "Sheena" many, many times daily.  At school, he has been saying more names of the people there, and has even begun to try to say "María, Mari Tere, y Jacobo," for example.  (In the past it was limited to Ana, Tita, Pau and his version of Sofía.)  

Mischievous grin as he sneaks off with Sheena's frisbee

Instead of just saying "agua," he seems to try to say "quiero agua" sometimes, and he is no longer limited to words in Spanish.  One of his favorite things to yell out is "shoe, shoe" whenever someone tries to take his shoes off.  He absolutely does not like that!!!

Nor does he like it if you take any of his clothes off or anything away from him that he considers his!!   He's very possessive, and has very specific ideas of how things should be, and is very vocal when things aren't as he thinks they should be. 

He doesn't have the vocabulary necessary, though, for saying everything that he wants to say.  So, at times, you can find him chittering and chattering away in his own little language.  He often does it when he's using his play phones, and he speaks his own unusual conversation with whomever is on the line; usually papá.  He is obsessed lately with his papá, and every morning runs looking for him as soon as he wakes up.  He then yells out "papá no está," and I have to tell him that papá is on the boat getting him fish.  Now, some mornings, he says "papá, boat," as he runs around looking for him.

His vocabulary is quite mixed.  There are words that he always says in Spanish like "agua" or "pan."  On the other hand, there are other words that he always says in English like "ball," "spoon," and "shoe."  I'm so used to using certain words with him, that it is hard for me to keep to speaking just English when I am with him.  It is just too easy to find myself saying something like "Would you like more 'agua'?" or "Papi no está.  He's on the boat."

I do try to keep to speaking with him in Enlgish as much as possible when I'm alone with him, though.   I've been trying to teach him some more vocabulary, and have been telling him that his birthday is coming up.  I tell him that he is going to be "two" and he will be a big boy, and mommy is going to make him a cake with "guau guau's" on it.  I don't know how much of that he understands, but he now says "two" when I talk about his birthday. 

Over the next few days, we'll see how we progress.  Hopefully we'll be able to build up some more vocabulary, and we'll get closer towards our goal of potty training Eric.  For now, I'll just keep it all as a game, and see how he reacts to it.  If he seems to become more determined to go pee-pee in the potty all of the time, then we'll see...