Knotts Berry Farm

Well today was your very first trip to an Amusement park. What a lucky day to go. First day of November and the temperature is 87 degrees. So we got down there a little after 10:00am. Me being the Veteran that I am, we were able to get in for free and only had to pay for the parking. We went straight to Camp Snoopy and started looking for rides that you could go on. You took some pictures with Snoopy and then it was off to the rides. You seemed more anxious to step on puddle of water than get on the rides. Most of the rides have a height requirement that you were just slightly under. Pretty funny considering you just turned two. Luckily one of us was able to get on most of them with you. You really enjoyed the car ride with your mom and the truck with me. You did bonk your head once and quickly learned that you need to hang on while on the ride. As time went on it started to get warmer so we decided to call it an early day. It only took us around two hours to get you through all the rides. So, everything was going well and we were on our way back to the car in the parking lot when in slow motion you eat some concrete with your forehead and front teeth. What an ending to a great few hours of fun. You actually bleed a little, but were soon fine. We stopped at In-N-Out for lunch and then straight home. You feel asleep rather easy and enjoyed a long nap. Hopefully you'll get to go again soon and know more about what's going on.

dpgmarine

Halloween

Today was Halloween and you had a blast. You were a little D.I. complete in urban gear. You had your black boonie cover, black long sleeve shirt, urban color cammie trousers and your black and white vans. How cool are you? First we took you down to the Stonewood Mall here in Downey. It was crowded, but not too overwhelming. We got there around 6:00p.m. and the most of the stores were already giving out candy. It seemed that most were already out of candy before we even got there. It didn't matter because all you wanted to do is walk around the mall. There were lots of different costumes in the mall including other little military people such as yourself. While in Macys one kid came up to me and asked if you were a soldier. I told him you were a little Drill Instructor for the Marines and he said cool. Later we passed by another kid who was dressed in full desert digital cammies. As we passed them the older guy said "Look, he's Special Ops" referring to you. I thought that was pretty funny. Candy was very sparse so we made our way through the whole mall and took off. Next we went over to Nancy's house to go hang out for a while. You were actually there just a few hours ago with your mom. We got there and your homie Sebastian was sitting on the steps in his spider outfit giving out candy. We mingled a little and then we went around the block in search of more candy. We were able to acquire a little more on our little trip and then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes and we were off back to the casa. We fed you some more stuff since you seemed hungry and didn't really eat much today. Well you were pretty tired and so we put Sesame Street on for you while me and your mom were watching a documentary. As expected she fell asleep while I was still watching the movie. I guess Sesame Street ended so you came into the living room and I asked your mom to put you to sleep. She asked if I could brush your teeth and you started to climb up on her while I went to the bathroom. I went towards your room and noticed a funky odor. Mom started yelling for you to get off and started saying Yuck....I go into our room and there were wet poop stains all over our duvet cover. Mom starts yelling that you've got poop all over you. Panic mode sets in. We bring you to the room and I open up your diaper and there is just a huge amount of I don't even know what to call it. All I know is that it smelled so bad that it could have woke the dead. I clean you up and decide you need a quick shower. I take you in and wash your body off and you're as good as new. I wish I could say the same for our sheets and your pjs. You also ended up getting poop on your mom's pjs. Hilarious! I threw the sheets and your mom's pjs in the wash and your pjs in a bucket with soap. Tomorrow morning we'll take the comforter to the laundry mat to get that cleaned that up. I guess this was our trick for the night. Well everybody is asleep right now and the time on deck is 11:20p.m. I just want to say that you looked so handsome and I can't believe how much you've grown to this point. Hopefully you'll sleep in since we put the clocks back an hour tonight. A tentative plan for tomorrow is to take you to Knotts Berry Farm so we'll see how that goes. Well it's time for me to go. Good night! One more thing, the house still stinks like death even with all the Febreeze I sprayed!

dpgmarine

Sleep Over

This past Friday night, you had your very first sleep over courtesy of your godparents Robert and Marissa. In the meantime, your parents were out in Hollywood at the House of Blues for a rap concert starring Tech N9ne who happens to be your dad's favorite artist. We actually planned to pick you up after the concert which was about 1:15a.m., but you were asleep and they were kind enough to let you spend the night. The report back to us was that you did very well, missed us a bit, and ate a whole lot of food. Your homeboy Joshua seemed to enjoy your company and would try to emulate the things that you did. You ended up watching Transformers with Marissa before falling asleep. We were awoke around 7:00a.m. by a phone call telling us to come and get you. I'm very happy you did well and hopefully more and more people will enjoy your company in the future. A great night of music for us and a first for you!

dpgmarine

Happy 2nd Birthday

Well you did it Vladimir! You made it through another year. You have changed so much throughout this last year. It's been quite the ride seeing you grow up. There's been the good and funny times, and the not so funny and cranky times. All and all, you are growing up into this special little man that knows how to make me smile whenever I look into your eyes. And though you may be the size of a three year old, you still have a long way to go. I can't wait to see you today after work and just enjoy being in your presence no matter what crazy things you might do. This is your day and I hope you know how much I love you!!!

dpgmarine

Scratching the surface

Yesterday was a very scary day for you and us. Around 1:00p.m. I got a phone call from your mom saying that you had an accident at your nana's house. Immediately, my heart jumped into my throat, until she said you were doing okay. Apparently, you were able to push your way right through a window screen and fell outside into a rose bush. I couldn't believe it. I got off work and went straight home. Your mom was already on her way to pick you up. We were able to get you an appointment to see your doctor around 3:30p.m. When I got home your were in good spirits. It looked like nothing ever happened to you. That was until I turned you around to the backside to see the damages. It looks like Freddy Kruger paid you a visit. You were cut from your back all the way down to your legs. Ouch! You gave me a hug, and I squeezed you tight. What a tough little kid you are. You only would cringe if we actually touched your wounds. So after seeing the doctor, we were told to keep a close eye on the cuts to make sure they don't get infected or start to swell up. Neosporin should do the trick in helping the wounds heel right up. This was a definite learning experience. I thank God that you weren't seriously hurt and it just serves as a reminder to everybody involved that children need to be constantly supervised because in the blink of an eye something like this can happen. After your doctor visit we went to Home Depot and purchased some screen clips that will hold a screen in place so something like this won't happen again. A cheap $3 fix but more important, a wake up call to all of us!

dpgmarine

Haircut #2

On Saturday morning we had a sudden urge to get your haircut. We had been contemplating for a while whether to let your hair continue to grow or give you a trim. Well it was decided you needed a trim so we went out to find you a barber. We drove around Downey for a little bit trying to find someone that was going to be able to put up with you at a reasonable price. Well we finally came upon a small barbershop down on Downey Ave that wasn't expensive and had someone waiting to cut your hair. It was a young female, but little did she know what she was in for. I had you sit on my lap and from the very beginning you knew something wasn't right. I'd like to say that you fought the good fight. And you did, but you forgot one thing and that is that I'm much more stronger than you. I had to restrain you because you really weren't happy. You started sweating and turning red while the barber tried snipping your hair with her scissors. At one point it also took your mom to hold your head while the barber ran the clippers through your hair. At first with the initial trim you still had your curly locks. So we decided that it needed to be cut more and decided on a number 7 clip for your sides and back. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, there was hair all over all three of us. You kind of calmed down later while we sang to you and finally the horror show was over. The other barbers and customers were very good spirited about it considering you were screaming for your life. At last, the deed was done. You looked like a completely different little boy. You looked so handsome. We had to get you home and shower you up so you wouldn't be so itchy. When I went to pay the barber I had intended on giving her a three dollar tip. Me being the clumbsy oath that I am, ended up tipping her a total of eight dollars instead. Boy was my face red. After all is said and done I think we found you a new barber, but I'm not sure when your next haircut will be. Only time will tell.

dpgmarine

Beach Smeach

On Saturday, we were finally able to pull out your first little pool. We had bought it last weekend from Big 5 along with an old school foot pump to inflate it. It was pretty warm in the morning so I decided to give it a try. Well it was simple enough. Plug the two holes and the begin the pumping process. I quickly found out that this wasn't as easy as pumping up a bike tire. In fact after only a few minutes I was already tired, sweating, and getting frustrated at the lack of progress. Luckily, Vlad's tio David was also on hand to try and help blow up the top portion of the pool with the mere air in his lungs. Together it would take us approximately 20 to 25 minutes before it actually looked like a pool. After all the hard work it was time to get you inside. Your mom applied sun tan lotion to you and you were ready. Unfortunately, the water didn't really have time to warm up, but you took it like a man. You were sat right down and didn't even really complain. Your tio and mama would join you and you had a blast. It quickly got warmer, but the water was still taking its time warming up. You were splashing the water, and throwing your toys outside the pool. It looks like you have a new cool summertime activity courtesy of Big 5. The only problem is, I don't want to deflate it after all the effort it took to get it up and running. Oh well, I gues we'll have to just suck it up!

dpgmarine

Ouch!

On Friday we were all off from work because of the 4th of July weekend. It was early in the morning and I had just come back from a morning run. After that, I wanted to cut the grass in the backyard since I hadn't done it in a while. After you had breakfast you came outside for a brief appearance. It was kind of warm, so we decided to just leave you in your onesie for the time being. Big mistake! You were just running around for a little bit and were actually headed back inside the house. Well, in typical Vlad fashion you ate it. This time it was your knee kissing the concrete. It was pretty rough on your little knee. You cried for a little, but mostly when neosporin was applied to the wound. Now the mark is known to you as "Ouch." Everytime I say that you, you lift up your shorts and look at it and say something. You especially don't want us touching it. This was your first big scrape on your legs and hopefully last for a while.

dpgmarine

Habits and Sayings

This is just a quick post to annotate some of your current weird habits and sayings before you stop them and I forget. I'll begin with some of your habits. In our living room we have tile flooring and in a certain spot there is a small black stain that you always sit next to and start blabbing away. Don't know why, but for some reason you always go there and point to it and start talking about it. Outside the house in the backyard, there is a large crack in the concrete and everytime you see it you proceed to step on it and yell in an angry fashion. You'll do this two or three times. In the bedroom(usually on the weekends) after we get up and put your shoes on, you immediately run to the very left corner of the sliding door and shake your head saying no. After I say no, you do it one more time and I again say no. It's always two times, no more no less. You also have this hair fetish(especially with your mom) where you grab our heads and sniff our scalps. After sniffing, you look at us and start laughing. You may do this over and over again until we stop you. On to some of your sayings. (These will be spelled to the best of my abilities) The first is something to the tune of "Ah Shlah". This is followed by a Hmm Mmmm. You also have a variation of this called "Ah Ta." Also whenever I ask you the question, "Do you know that Daddy loves you?" you say "Ahhh." We usually do this in sets of threes. Well that's all I can think of right now so I guess that's it.

dpgmarine

Crop circle

(Cue X-Files theme music) On Friday when we were off from work together, I had you playing with your blocks. You always enjoy playing with your blocks whenever you get the chance. I always ask you if you want to play with your blocks and you immediately sit on the floor in your room and wait for me to grab them. I usually just open them up and dump them into your lap. Normally, you do one of three things with them. 1. You put them in your mouth. 2. You chuck them around the house. 3. You've actually started trying to assemble them together. On this particular day, after putting you down for your nap, I walked into your room to put your blocks away. "What the?" is what I said to myself when I first saw this formation that you had created. I can honestly say I had no hand in the making of this artwork. It may not seem like much, and you probably had no clue what you were doing....Or did you??? I just had to capture this because you've never done it before.

dpgmarine

D.I. Vladi

So yesterday I was thinking about you and I had an urge to find you some military gear. I remembered that there was a store in the Montebello mall that sold such items. After work I went over there to pursue my intentions. When I got there I was disappointed to find that there was only slim pickens as far as the eye could see. Just as I had lost all hope, I found this black cover that I could just picture you in. I started looking through them and saw that they were for adult sized heads starting at a size xtra small which was 6 3/4. I kept looking at it thinking would this fit your grape. I said what the heck and decided to get it for you. When I was about to pay I saw that they also made dog tags there. I saw that they made black ones and thought what a perfect accessory to go with your cool new boonie cover. Five minutes and thirty dollars later I had the combo in hand and was anxious to have you wear the new digs. When I got home and had you try it on it fit you, but it was a bit snug. We ended up having to return it later that evening and get you a size small which was a size 7. Wow! What a big brain you have Vladi!!! Well today I was off from work and we spent the day together. You looked like a mini drill instructor. Now please don't mistake Vlad's innocence for weakness. He may not look tough now, but if he chose, I'm sure he would make one mean D.I. Your mom might not like me even mentioning such a career path, but know that whatever road you choose I will support you 100% even if you choose to follow in my footsteps and join the Marine Corps!

dpgmarine

Bonk

Today your mom had to work so me and you had another day together. You took a nap around 11:30am and woke up around 1:00pm. After you got the sleep out of your system, I fed you some lunch. Oddly enough, you woke up in a good mood. I decided to take you out for a walk around the neighborhood. I had you don your new camoflauge bucket hat to match you camo pants, grabbed your water, and we were off. Everything was fine for the most part. The sun was out and you were enjoying our walk. We turned the corner on Old River School Dr. and continued North. Your head must of got hot so you took off your hat. We were about halfway up the street when "Pow!" That's the sound of cranium meeting concrete. No matter how many times you try, concrete will always win. You went into silent cry mode as I picked you up. Initially I thought you hit the side of your head, but then I saw the knot on your forehead. Uh Oh!! Mama's gonna be mad. I quickly offer you some water to distract you from crying and it works. You sympathetically sip from you cup and I hug you tight. Within 20 seconds you stopped crying. David U Genius! I still don't know how you hit your head because you're pretty good at putting your hands down to break your fall, but every now and then that massive head makes its way through towards the ground. I've been pretty lucky to this point because all of your major bonks have occured on your mom's watch. I guess even my luck was bound to run out. I'm just glad that you were okay and lived to walk another day. By the way today is your Birthday and you are now 20 months old. Happy Birthday Vladimir!!!

dpgmarine

Friday Fun

Yesterday was our annual Bldg 2 picnic at my job. I had worked the previous Saturday to cover my hours for Friday so I was off. I was hoping that you would wake up later so that you wouldn't be tired and grumpy while we were over there. The morning started off with you being brought to the bed when your mom was leaving to work which was around 6:10am. Not a good start. I was able to persuade you to go back to sleep with me and we would end up getting up around 8:00am. I fed you, gave you a bath, gave myself a bath, and we were on the road by 10:30am. It was very cloudy with a slight drizzle and I thought this was going to ruin our fun. As we made our way up the 605 frwy it looked even darker towards Azusa. As we got closer I realized that I had forgotten to bring your ball for you to play with at the park. Thanks to my quick thinking we stopped at a local grocery store and bought you a brand new ball. New ball: $1.00 Entertainment value: Priceless. So we finally arrive at our destination around 11:15pm and surprisedly it wasn't raining and the skies were partially clear. We head over to the picnic site and make our presence known. We are greated by your titi Melissa, the boss Cyndy, and my co-worker Jenny. You seemed to be in a anti-social mood or maybe it was just the bad weather. Jenny was kind enough to put you on the swing and give you a couple of pushes. You seemed to enjoy that and you also began doing the kicking motion with you feet as you swung as to say you wanted to go faster. We were able to meet with a lot of my co-workers and friends. Most of the time rather than meet and greet, you choose to go off on your own and explore the park. Luis finally shows up, but seems to be empty handed. No monkey in tote. He offers you another ball for your enjoyment. Sam then offers to entertain you for a while allowing me to get some food. There was BBQ chicken, rice and some other stuff. I enjoyed the chicken and you made your way back to me and shared the chicken with me. Finally Luis' wife shows up with Ba Than "BKA" Jigme. We go over to say hello and he's already having a blast on the swing. The two of you have a blast swinging away and laughing it up. You hung out with Michele, who tried to get you to rock on a purple dinosaur, but you weren't having any of that. We also got to meet Cyndy's husband Ron. He greeted you with a hello and you replied back with not only one, but two consecutive burps. Very classy! There was also a limbo contest going on and we waited for the perfect opportunity to enter. Just as the bar was at its lowest point, we snuck over and attenpted to go under. Unfortunately, it was low enough that you hit your above average head directly on the bar and didn't make it under. Oh well, maybe next time. You started yawning so I thought we better get going because I wanted to take you over to work so a few other people could see you. So we grab your ball, a water, and one of those oversized cupcakes and make our way out. We sat in the visitor's parking lot for a few minutes while I dialed numbers trying to reach people. I wasn't able to get a hold of anyone so we took off home so that I could put you down for your nap. We arrived back home around 1:15pm and after putting our stuff away and changing you we laid down. You were very tired so I knew this would be a piece of cake. I think you feel asleep by 1:30pm. Normally after you fall asleep I slither my way off the bed trying not to wake you up. This time as I was almost off the bed I thought to myself-Self "You don't have anything to do or anywhere to be." I then decide to roll myself back onto the bed and lay next to you. Next thing I know it's 3:00pm. You wake up, but I convice you to stay asleep with me. This was great. I love snuggling with you and I was able to get some sleep at the same time. Before you know it your mom was home from work. Me and you had slept for almost two and a half hours. What a beautiful thing!!

dpgmarine

The sleep that never was

(Readers Disclaimer: Some may not like what I have to say, but it's the truth and how I feel!)
Last night was something else! I had made the announcement that I wanted to be in bed by 9:00pm since I was feeling very tired. Normally I go to sleep between 10:30 and 11:00pm, but every now and then I want to try and get more than four hours of sleep seeing as you need some sleep to function. So your mom hops into the shower and me and you climb into the bed with the ol' boob tube on. Now granted, I knew that this was not going to be an easy task because I had put you down for a nap around 5:30pm and you had already slept for an hour and a half. Well, about 10 to 15 minutes go by and oddly enough you start to fade away. Inside my head I'm saying "yes" this is going to happen. I can see it now, 6 hours of beautiful sleep coming my way. Enter your mom-The scene quickly changes. She innocently slips into bed and you turn away from me to face her. Okay I say, I'll let mom finish off what I already started. So I get comfortable on the very edge of the bed which is where I normally end up. Suddenly, I open my eyes and see the shadow of this apple head sitting up to the left of me. It then falls back down for a few seconds and then re-appears. Oh no!!! You're starting to act very restless and nothing is being done to stop you. I continue to see how this is going to play out. Just as I suspected the sandman leaves the room and you are wide awake. I look at your mom with a look that probably wasn't too pretty and I get a blank stare back at me. Time to take action! I snatch you up and put you on my right side away from her and once again try to get you to go to sleep. You're a little agitated, but you start to calm down. I look at the clock by the bed and it's now 9:45pm. Damn, I've already lost one of those six hours I was so anxiously awaiting. It seems like you're fading away again, but you start doing your flipping and flopping all over the bed and finally I can't take it anymore. I spring up and haul you off to your crib to let you put yourself to sleep. This would be around 10:15pm. I believe mom is already out and she's a pretty deep sleeper whereas I'm a very light sleeper. Do you go to sleep? No! You decide you're going to test out your vocal chords and begin to cry really loud. Now you've awoken another person. Angry dad! Mentally at this point I was already writing this blog as all this was transpiring. So your cries begin to get louder and louder. I'm not going to budge. It's now 10:30pm. I get up and you're standing in your crib, but I only lay you back down and cover you with a blanket and tell you to go to sleep. This would only infuriate you more so the cries start to flood the otherwise quiet night. Now you decide to stand up and start opening and closing the door that's just within your reach. Angry dad jumps back into action and this time emphatically drags your crib away from the doorway and lays you back down. Out come the cries. At this point I was lying there in bed with my eyes wide open. I was prepared to let you cry until you had nothing left even if it meant that I got only one hour of sleep. I wanted to prove a point to you and let you see that crying isn't going to always get you what you want. Time on the clock is now 10:50pm. This whole time your mother was either asleep or ignoring us and I think it was the first rather than the second. There she was off in dream land which is where I wanted to be, but instead I was trying to combat the storm that was Vlad's fury category 5. Finally, your mom awakes from her hibernation and jumps out of bed. Now I'm saying to myself she better be just laying you back down and trying to put you to sleep in the crib. I really didn't want her bringing you to the bed cause it just doesn't work when the three of us are together. Voila! Here she comes with you in tote and angry dad is furious. I give you guys my back and try to ignore you guys. At this point it's around 11:05pm and I think you've tired yourself out from all the screaming and crying. You started to wiggle around a little, but it looked like your mom was intent on putting you to sleep. So a question mark pops into my head. Why couldn't you do this two hours earlier????? Anyways, you give in rather quickly and fall asleep. As for myself I end up having a nightmare that I was shot in the back 8 times being in the crossfire of two gangs shooting at each other. The pain felt so real, but that's a story for another day. I guess I had enough of that dream so I awake and look at the clock 11:45pm. Awesome! I get out of bed and go over and forklift you out of the bed and put you in the crib. As I shuffle back to the bed with only 3 hours of sleep staring at me I think why, why did this have to happen this way....Needless to say I was dead tired by now. I don't remember turning the alarm off at 3:00am and when I opened my eyes it was already 4:15am. Damn it again! Now I'm going into work later than I wanted to. I guess I'll try again tonight to get to sleep early and see what happens!

dpgmarine

Cabbage Patch

Last night we went out to dinner at Acapulco. I had a coupon for a free meal after taking one of their online surveys and you better believe I wasn't going to let that go to waste. It wasn't really packed so I expected to get our meals in a pretty timely manner. After we gave the waiter our orders we had some time to fool around. You were sitting in the high chair and started to waive your hands up and down. So in typical fashion, I began to egg you on and do the same thing. I was waiving my hands up and down and saying "Yo Yo Yo" as we used to do in the past. Next thing I know you grasp your hands together and in a rather smooth and methodical motion you start to go from left to right. I started to crack up and wanted to see if you really knew what you were doing. So I raise my hands up and down again and you do the same. Sure enough after a couple of seconds you begin to sway you arms in a circular motion. Wouldn't you know it, you were doing the cabbage patch dance. This would continue to go on and on all night if I had let it. Finally our food arrives and we get ready to dig in. You were still pretty enthusiastic about your new little dance, but eventually you gave in to your hunger. By the time we were done, we were all fat and happy. Isn't that what life is truly about? Being fat and happy.

dpgmarine

Shhhhh!

Again, today is Friday May the 29th and I am off of work today so me and you are home together. Currently you are sleeping while I listen to some rap music. Tech N9ne is on right now! The day began with you once again amazing me with your intelligence. I have been showing you how to say shhhhh. That's one of the pages from one of your favorite books and I've been showing you to say this along with putting your finger towards your mouth while you do it. Anyways you were in the room while I was in bed and you were going through your books as usual looking for one to read. I made eye contact with you and started to say shhhhh to you. You replied by saying it back to me. All of the sudden you start looking down at your books. In my head I was thinking no way are you trying to find that one particular book with the shhhh in it. Sure enough you went through looking and then amazingly you remembered that you had put that particular book on the other side of the bed. So you run over to the other side and grab the book. You then proceed to open it up and find that exact page and once again tell me shhhhh. I was speechless. Your little brain is already working at an amazingly level. Wow!!! A little more about the rest of our morning. We went over the other house in Lynwood so that I could try to restore some order to what used to look like a front yard. Nana agreed to watch you while I attempted to bring the yard back to a decent state. It has been around 3 or 4 months since the grass has been tended to so you can imagine the science experiments that were growing. Let me just say this, never let horse hay get out of control. That stuff was everywhere. It took me approximately two hours to get a hold of things and I can say that it now looks decent. I'm sure I'll be feeling it in the morning. While I was busying hacking away in the yard, you were busy throwing up on yourself. Don't ask me why! I fed you eggs in the morning and I think you had a cookie as well. Something made your stomach unhappy. Nana was kind enough to clean you up and give you a bath. That saved me some time when we got back home. We got back around 11:30am and after I showered up I proceeded to put you to sleep. What a piece of cake that was. You were out in five minutes. For some reason I've always been able to get you to sleep fairly easily, but we won't get into that right now. Well that's it for now. I'm signing off for now. We have our good friends Omar and Ana coming over for dinner tonight. I have to start cleaning the house up a little. You will probably start to wake up right now as well so I have to go.



dpgmarine

The Beginning

Today is Friday May 29th 2009. From this day forward I will begin to document the life and times of my son Vladimir Parra. Currently Vlad is 19 and a half months old. Vlad, I apologize for starting this so late in your life, but like they say better late than never. I will try to keep up with you because everyday you do something new and your old habits tend to go away. I want to keep track so that we can one day look back and have a laugh or two at your expense. I really don't have any excuses since I'm not in school right now, but things always come up and side track me. So let us begin our journey and share with the world your wonderful life experiences as seen through the eyes of your father.

Dpgmarine