My little girl is captivating. She smiles when she sees me often now and I love that. It is great to be recognized by Ana and greater to cause a smile. She is at that point where she is not crawling but sort of swims on the floor and scootches herself to wherever she wants to be. Generally she wants to be somewhere with a toy on the floor that she can gnaw on and she is very good about getting there fairly quickly. When she stops and does not feel like playing with a toy, Ana will often be on her belly and hold both of her arms out like a parachute jumper before pulling the cord. She will lie like that for a long time and just look around, head up, arms out and raised above the ground. That's what she does most, look around. And when she is amused she will smile and laugh and I love it.
Enzo loves it too. He will come up to her and just start laughing until she laughs too. It's awesome. Enzo asks about "baby Ana" more than for either of his parents. The first words when he woke up from a nap today were "baby Ana?" He is concerned about her if she fusses, brings her toys and plays with her often, and is fairly cautious of her when he plays around her. It is amazing to me to watch them together. Ana adores her brother and stops to watch him play and smiles for him whenever he stops by to amuse her. This morning she was moving around under the coffee table looking for things to chew on with her gums. Enzo came into the room, saw her and got under there with her smiling and laughing, just to hang out with her. Then he got out and started laughing and performing for her and she was a completely wrapped audience; yelling out and laughing when he smiled at her. When he started playing soccer, she watched for minutes from under there as he went back and forth in the living room. They are adorable together.
As for kicking the soccer ball, Enzo has become pretty impressive. We were playing back and forth in the kitchen yesterday. I treasure these times we have. He enjoys to kick and run, dribbling the ball through the house or in the grass. And he can throw, too. He has a toy football and a toy baseball that he throws pretty far and with great accuracy. He does not catch yet but we played catch today anyway as he threw the baseball straight to me to catch. Then, he watches the ball come back to him and then runs as needed to pick it up. He loves to play ball above all other playing. He also enjoys airplanes; to see them, to have me make the shape with my hand and then to make the noise as my hand flys over him, and now to play with his own super cool wooden one that his mother bought for him at the thrift store.He caries it and makes his own airplane noises.
I have heard that people relive their day when they sleep. Sometimes Enzo will go through his day before sleep. A lot of the times that sounds like him repeating names "y Mama y Papa y Mama y WaWa (Maggie) y Gaga (Dog- Monte), y Ana y Mama y Papa..." while he rolls around in bed getting closer to sleep. I find it adorable to listen too. The day Tami bought him his new airplane he and I also watched an episode of Top Gear together. That night he said "Coche" "Airplan'" over and over. This happens when he is winding down and so the mood we are going for is quiet and sleep inducing but sometimes he is just funny or catches us off guard and we have to stifle the laughter. After he went to the last A's home game of the season with Tami and her family, that night lying in bed, quieting down, The Kid yells out "OkLnd!" and claps his hands in the dark! Then he does it again and again, "OkLnd!" Clap Clap, and he just laughed in between. Fantastic. There is enough light in our room for me to look over and see Tami, like me, enjoying the moments and also trying hard to not laugh aloud.
Enzo is growing up. He was taller today. I admitted to myself that he is not a baby but a little boy. And he has all this character. One of the new things, besides his ability to learn words instantly when we don't expect it, is that he will laugh super loud and place his hands on his knees and sort of squat a little bit and throw his head back laughing. Where does he get this?
These are beautiful kids. They grab my attention, smile and laugh, love each other, Ana smiles at me, and Enzo will hold on to me to snuggle in when I carry him. They make me smile and laugh, and make being on the floor the best place to be.
