Fun with Ding Ding!

Today was a great day...but it didn't start out great.

I was ready to spend the day skulking around, throwing myself a big pity party because I just found out that we have to move in 30 days. Unfortunately, the owners of the house we are renting had to foreclose. And Adam is not here (he's working in NC for the summer) so I'm going through this alone.

I had reason to skulk.

But, I got up early and thought it would be fun to go to Barnes & Noble with Christopher. They have a yummy cafe with breakfast sandwiches and Starbucks mochas and the kids section has a Thomas the Tank Engine railway that kids can play with. Christopher loves it, so off we went!

Once we got there, I started feeling better. The breakfast was GREAT (I wanna go again!) And Christopher was having a blast with the trains, while Mommy read a book about making healthy snacks (which she really needs to start making). :)

All of a sudden, my friend Wendy calls. She's going to the Folsom City Zoo. Do we want to come, too? YES!! The Zoo has an actual train that Christopher could ride. He got really excited when I told him about it. So we played a little more at the bookstore and then left to meet our friends Wendy, Tim, Kaynen and Kenya.

We crammed everyone into Tim's work pickup truck (all 3 car seats fit in the back, and all 3 adults fit in the front!) And off we went to the Zoo.

It was a fun, cute little retreat of a zoo. It's cool because it has rescued animals, so it's sort of a sanctuary. And you get that feeling of "sanctuary" as you walk around. We all really enjoyed it!

My two favorite animals from this trip were a tiny squirrel monkey that Christopher loved, too, because 1. It's a monkey, and 2. It had a little jungle gym in his cage!; and an albino peacock. OK, I know the cool thing about peacocks is their beautiful coloring....but you just have to see an albino peacock up close. It is one of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen!


So one of the funniest parts of our little zoo trip was when Wendy told us that Kaynen (2 years old) started to differentiate between his name and his sister Kenya's. When Kaynen says his name, it sounds like he's saying "Ding Ding"! So of course, we're all trying to get him to say it in the car on the way there. :) It's so cute!!

Wendy, thank you for making my day great! You called at just the right time...and gave me the perfect excuse to not spend the day skulking. It was really a lot of fun hanging out with you guys (like it always is)!!

Proverbs 27:9b (The Message)
"...a sweet friendship refreshes the soul."

Coppe

A week in the life of a temporarily single mom

I am a temporarily single mom. My husband, Adam, is working for the summer in Charlotte, NC.

It's going on 5 weeks and I miss him! But...

...I am super proud of my hubby for what he's doing. He's working for Audio Ethics, a sound/production company that is exactly up his alley. He was even part of the production crew for a Newsboys concert. Fun!!

So, here's a recap of what my week looks like as a temporarily single mom:

My Day
6ish Wake up & get ready
7ish Wake up Christopher/breakfast/morning TV
7:30 Joanna's here so Mommy goes to work!
7:30am to 2:30pm Fun with "Nanna"
2:30pm Mommy's home!
From 2:30pm on, each day's a bit different:

Mondays we grab a bite to eat, then go to Mommy's voice lessons, then it's home for dinner/TV/Bathtime/Sleepytime

Tuesdays we grab a bite to eat, wait until it's 5:30 (sometimes Christopher naps), go to my Hip Hop class at the gym (where Christopher loves the KidsClub!), then it's home/dinner/tv/bath/sleepytime

Wednesdays: home, grab a bite to eat, hang out or run errands until it's time for the routine

Thursdays: similar to Wednesdays

Fridays: similar to Thursdays

Some days we'll throw in a trip to the mall play area or library in the afternoons. Those are always fun!

And I am very grateful that God provided us with a wonderful "Nanna"! Joanna Scales is a wonderful girl from our church who needed a part time job for the summer--while we needed someone to take care of Christopher for the summer. Perfect!

Joanna (Christopher calls her "Nanna") comes to our house every day, from 7:30am to 2:30pm, takes Christopher to the park, lets him color all he wants, and makes sure he is well taken care of while Mommy works at Air 1 radio (www.air1.com).

Joanna's family is like our extended family here in CA. Her Mom, Jan, lives within walking distance, and they often take Christopher on errands and other fun stuff like the "pito madona" (Parquecito de McDonalds/McDonald's Play Area).

As if that were not all, Joanna's little sister, Natalie (Christopher calls her "Nani") is Christopher's favorite friend from church! Natalie is 11 years old, but she loves Christopher and he loves his "Nani". So every now and then, he'll get to play with Nanna and Nani while Mommy's away.

It's all worked out great. Thank you so much, Lord, for providing for all of our needs.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Love,
Coppe

Ocholalis, chuchuquen, and other cute words!

Christopher is now 2 1/2 years old, and it seems everyday he adds new words to his vocabulary! Just a few weeks ago, I wanted to make sure we were on the right track with his language ability. We are bilingual, and I wanted to make sure he was learning both English and Spanish to his advantage.

A speech therapist came to do a free evaluation, and almost as soon as she walked through the door she could tell Christopher was fine. But she went through all the questions, and evaluated his interaction with us and with her.

I thank God that her evaluation reassured us (me) that he was more than fine. His language ability is above average for his age. Praise God! Thank you, Lord!

I had been concerned that it seems as though his vocabulary is 50% English/50% Spanish. But she said that he is "code switching" between the languages and that's perfectly normal. :) YAY!

One cute thing that happened during the evaluation:

She asked us how many words he knows. I don't know! So Adam and I started saying out loud all the words we know he uses:

Mama, Papa, Abuelayabuelo (for all 4 grandparents), water, TV, Cars, Truck, Chuchuquen (choo choo train), titoagua (for ba~nito con agua/bathtime), ocholalis (chocolate---for chocolate milk), leche, pan, tena (avena/oatmeal), chukuman (superman), batman, lollipot (emphasis on the "t"!), jugo, pititas (for papitas/french fries), hammer, bob (bob the builder), wall-e (he doesn't really like wall-e), Thomas (the train), Max & Ruby, Dora, Diego (and pretty much all other PBS and Noggin characters)...

All of a sudden, Christopher interrupted us and said "Jesus loves me"!

How could we forget those most important words?!

We all laughed, and I was extremely proud. My son's first "evangelism" experience--sharing his love for Jesus with the speech therapist.

Thank you, Lord, for a loving son...who is learning to love you, too.

Coppe