Diego is two pics: http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4f546b784f446b794e6e77794d444d304d446b314e673d3d0d0a&sb=1

So now is our time to brag about how amazing our little Diego is! He has been a "sign"-aholic since June of last year. In Dec of 08 he started combining his words and signs.  Now sometimes if we give him a blank stare as he says something to us verbally...he looks at us patiently and does the sign like duh come on guys! He often combines 2 word sentences and occasionally wows us w/a three word sentence. Since initially writing this a couple of months ago...he has started trying to ask for things saying/signing "May, I up?" It's so cool to watch him put concepts into practice! His understanding of complex directions and explanations is amazing.

Funny things he says... Buh-Blow for 007 our cat. Me Me for excuse me. Eee-peen for airplane. Heart for vitamin. (???) His most used Spanish word is "juevo" (aka egg) For "love you" he says "Ma-mo" (his version of Te amo which he says to an English or Spanish initiation). He also recently made up a sign for carwash (which sounds like hogwash when he speaks it). He pretends or talks about carwashes pretty much all day long.:wink:

He knows 2 shapes...circles and hearts. He's testing out colors but always gets orange correct. He's really starting to pick up counting in English & Spanish. The other morning he counted as he scooped blueberries for a smoothie. I was working in the background and he correctly took himself up to 6 as he counted his scoops! He's also starting to get into ABC's in English & Sign.

He is quite a charismatic little guy. He has such a twinkle in his eye and is becoming more adept at his pretending. Dogs are his principle players cats are a close second. Although he often pretends he is a cat. He makes friends wherever he goes...but is not always sure what to do with "playmates." He is definitely at his point of testing limits. We have to repeat no a lot and he has had some unfortunate experiences w/time out. Overall he remains a very loving and pleasant child...and quite obedient (we will not complain!)

Our biggest recent event was putting him in a "big boy" bed as of his birthday. He gets us up earlier now-- not a parental fave. haha We had fun with this rite of passage. Leif made him a quilt to match his room (see the pics page for that) and we took pictures and both put him to bed. He has only had a couple of times where he has been out of bed disobediently...We say "Success!" He loves his bed.

Recently, I woke up to a "creature" at my feet. I, Leif, wondered...kid or cat? After a few moments I decided...kid. So I was waiting for the crawl up to cuddle. As Diego got up to the bed on all fours, J.D. seeminly passed out, suddenly flies to the ready extends his arm w/a bone pillow and "THWAP" firmly pegs Diego! Puzzled and blind without his contacts in, J.D. stares at the motionless "cat" as I begin to laugh hysterically and Diego, stunned, remains motionless. "J.D., you just hit our child!" Amazingly Diego did not cry at all but crawled into my arms as J.D. plead his apologies...and was immediately forgiven.

He is currently potty-training.  The nice thing about this is that he's virtually doing it himself.  We have been really relaxed about the whole thing and have been letting him lead us.  We have all been very happy w/the experience thus far.  He's been toying w/it for the past few weeks but really getting into it the last couple.  This morning I've let him run around "neck-ed" and while I was sitting here typing he ran in and out of the b/room several times...then he ran to me "MOM,MOM!"  Sure enough he had taken care of business!