Bad Papa

Where do I begin? Vladimir, the point of this blog was for me to continually update on all your life experiences so that we wouldn't forget them. Unfortunately, your father has fallen off and hasn't updated in over a year. How did that happen? Well, I really should have no excuse because this is very important to me. However, the last year has been very eventful and before I knew it you were already 4 years old. Life is constantly filled with surprises, changes, and as I've gotten older it really seems to just fly by. Cap that with my constant busy schedule and here we are. Well I think we've heard enough of my excuses for one post. Let's talk about you. You've really come a long way since my last post. You're talking much more to the point where sometimes we tell you enough. Sentences are still a work in progress, but you're getting there. You've improved a lot in your academics at Alameda. You do really well with numbers, letters, matching and various other activities. Our biggest battle with you that is still going on as of this writing is potty training. You've got the pee thing down for the most part, but sometimes you get lazy and drop a puddle. The poop thing is a whole different case. You will go when you're at home most of the time, but at school not so much. We are not sure what goes on in that little brain of yours. You know that you're supposed to go to the toilet, but for some reason you choose to crap your pants instead. This has lead us to the formation of the poop patrol. This unit is mainly led by your mother, but I am second in command. We're hoping that you will eventually get the hand of it and start being more consistent. You have really grown into your body. You've stretch out and really are starting to look like a little man. Another important change that we've seen in you is your inaction with other kids and people. This year, you've been around more people and really enjoying playing with other kids. You ask us about going to see other kids and we're really happy to see you wanting to be around other people. Most of all, through all the hard times, frustration, laughs, trials and tribulations, every moment has been special because you are in our lives. I look forward to your continued progress and can't wait for more great things to come. I will attached some random pictures from over that past year. I'll also do my best to get back on track with this blog. I can't promise anything because I really don't have a lot of free time for the next three months. I have a big prize that I'm working on right now and I'm trying to complete it in May. It will be the culmination of 6 years of hard work. Coming soon!

dpgmarine

List

This is just a quick list of what words that you can say or that you've said at least once up to today. These are what come to mind. Let's make this thing grow Vladi!!!

Cookie

Swing

Mama

Papa

Nose

Slipper

Sapatto

Hi

Bye

Teacher

Elmo

Light

Egg

Set

Go

Nina

Chica

dpgmarine

Huge Week

Last week was really big for you Vladimir. It started off as usual. You went to your daycare and school during the week. I was picking you up because your mom had been staying late at work. Wednesday was a nice day so I wanted to take you to the park after I picked you up so that you could run around for a bit. Anyways, I had you get into your car seat. Immediately you start looking around for something to eat and drink. I gave you your cup with water. Then I ask you if you wanted a cookie (which is really an air puff). You gave your usual grunt meaning yes. I've been asking you to say the word cookie before I give them to you. This time I asked you to say the word and to my surprise you said it back to me. You stretched out the word and it sounded like that bird when he says Coo-kie Crisp. I asked you to say it again, but you didn't. Maybe I was just hearing things. So we headed to the park to have some fun together. As soon as we start driving past the park you start pointing towards it because you are very familiar with it. We just haven't been going as often because of the rain. So we get off and you have a blast. You mostly wanted to go on the swing, but you also went on the slides as usual. When I got you back to the car and into your seat I wanted to test you again. I asked you to say cookie again and you did. I said, "Holy Ghost Batman" I'd better record this to show your mom. So I pulled out my phone and asked you to say it again and you did. David U. Genius! I wanted to keep going. I asked you to say swing and you said what sounded like swin. Close enough for me and I got you on camera again. Finally I asked you to say the word mama. To this point you've only ever said Dada even though I've stressed you to say Papa. Well, I asked and you said mama to me. I pulled out the camera phone again and got you to say it three times. How cool of you? How happy and proud was I? I just know that 2011 is going to be a big year for you. Your mom came home later that night and didn't exactly have a great day. I knew what would cheer her up. I showed her the videos of you and it brought a huge smile to her face. Then I asked you to say the same words to her in person and you did. However, you weren't finished yet. Just before she came home, you wanted to me to read your ABC book to you. When we were on the N page you said the word nose. You've never done that before. I also asked you to say the word sappato and slipper and you definitely tried your best to say those as well. Finally later that night your mom said that you knew how to say the word hi. So I asked you to say hi and you did and also gave me a wave. Amazing, you said all these words in on day. Have you been holding out on us??? I don't want to press you too much, but I'm so excited to hear you say words. Let's keep it going. Lastly, every once in a while you will raise your voice and say Dada when we play around. That night you said mama instead and started yelling it out. It was so funny. I told your mom she better get used to it and she just smiled.

dpgmarine

Our First Family Trip..Sort Of!

Alucard

I had taken the day off from on Friday so that I may begin work on a presentation for one of my classes. Of course you dad procrastinated and waited until the last week to start his ten page paper, but what else is new. Anyways after doing some chores around the house I decided to sit down and start typing my paper. Then the phone rings. It was your mama on the other line telling me that I needed to get down to your school and pick you up. Well as it turns out, you decided you wanted to have a half day yourself. In order to accomplish this you came up with the plan to bite your teacher. That's right, you bit your teacher Ms. Sandra for no reason other than maybe you didn't like being told what to do. Vlad, this was a big no no. You left a bruise on her arm and I had to bring you home. It's very hard to get inside your head because you can't talk back yet and tell us what you were thinking. You did seem like you were sorry, but we can only keep our fingers crossed that this does not happen again. Be good!!!

dpgmarine

Backpacking

Just wanted to show how cute you look with your little backpack. You were the only one in your new class that did not have their own back pack yet. So we went down to Target and got you your very own Elmo backpack.

dpgmarine

B-Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VLADIMIR!!!!!!!!!!

Son, you've made it through three years on this planet earth. A blessing to both me and your mom, you enlighten each and every day of our lives. You are truly someone special and anyone who has ever come in contact with you can vouch for that. I can't imagine my life without you, nor do I want to. Your little face and bright smile can light up a room and melt anyone's heart. I can't wait for you to hit more milestones as you grow older. A bright future lies ahead of you whatever path you choose.

dpgmarine

Throw it up!!!

Where to begin? Yesterday, we were off to take your mom to her self defense class in West L.A. Everything was moving along normally. We had stopped at Chipotle to grab some chips and guacamole for a snack on the way. Then we hopped on the freeway and were on our way. Of course you had to have a few chips for yourself. We were heading west on the 105 freeway when I decided to get into the carpool lane to save some time. Then, in one of my not so great moments I headed onto the 110 freeway instead of staying on the 105 freeway. Brain fart!!! No problem, as we continued north on the 110 and would eventually jump onto the 10 freeway going West. As we crept along the freeway I started to notice that you were falling asleep which was kind of surprising since you had just woken up around 8:00am. We were about a couple miles from the location when we heard this hurling sound coming from the back. I turned to look over my shoulder and I saw this fountain of yellow chunks spewing out of your mouth. It wouldn't stop. You had this horrified look on your face as if you had just seen the video from the movie The Ring. More and more flying chunks were streaming from your mouth and you didn't know what to do. Here's where it got interesting. Your mom was also watching this take place and then she started to appear to begin to regurgitate her food. She said that she was going to throw up herself because of the smell. So here I am driving down the 10 freeway with two heaving souls as passengers. I told her to grab the bag from the floor and throw up in there in if she had to. Cooler heads prevailed and she was able to contain herself. You on the other hand were covered in a concoction that would have made Linda Blair proud. Green, yellow, brown, all the colors of the rainbow were present and all over you and the car seat. You cried a little because you weren't sure what happened. To the best of my recollection you've only thrown up once or twice in your whole life. I could see inside your mouth when you were crying that you had some small chunks still in there. Gross!!! Finally we made it to our exit, which seemed like an eternity. We couldn't really do much since we were driving on the freeway. Your mom jumped into the back to do some damage control and we finally arrived at the school. Luckily we had arrived early enough so that she could go inside and grab some paper towels and we could begin the decontamination process. You were literally covered from head to toe with throw up. I told you mom to go ahead and change over and I would handle to rest of the clean up. I took you out and put you in the back of the Highlander and took your clothes off. I cleaned you up to the best of my ability and had you sit in the back while I wiped down the seat as best I could. The smell was overwhelming, but didn't both me much. Finally, I re-dressed you and took you for a walk to Best Buy. You were back in good spirits and we carried on with our day. We came back and watched your mom for a few minutes before class was over. We were ready to leave and unfortunately had to put you back into the seat since we don't carry a spare with us. It wasn't too bad, and we went to grab your mom a "Godmother" sandwich from the Deli and some french bread for me and you. You ended up falling asleep on the way home. We made it back to our casa and put you down in the bed where you continued to sleep. I took out the seat and me and your mom disassembled it so that we could wash it along with your clothes. I am happy to report this morning that your seat came out clean and smelling fresh again. Me and your mom were up early putting the seat back together and once complete I put it back into the car as if nothing had ever happened. You're doing well and we believe that this will get chalked up to just getting car sick. I hope that this was a one time thing, but you never know. All we can do is be ready for the next time you decide to show us what you food looks like coming back up. By the way I didn't have the heart to take a picture of you covered in chunks. Probably for the better!

dpgmarine

Heat Wave

Today we found a new place where we could do some hiking as an alternate to Griffith Park. At the request of your mom we went out to Hollyweird and gave Runyan Park a try. We got off to a late start and didn't even leave until 9:00am. It was already warming up outside so it would have been better had we left earlier, but we went for it anyways. Once we got there it was a little adventure trying to find parking. As we crept along the little streets just off Hollyweird Blvd. we could see all kinds of people either heading or leaving the area in their workout clothing. There were also lots a dogs as far as the eye could see which was something that you were going to enjoy. Finally we spotted a small space off of Franklin which runs parallel to Hollyweird and your papa was able to squeeze into a space with some assistance from your mom. We put you in the stroller and we were off. Since we had drove a little bit from the entrance I was already getting a workout pushing you up to the entrance. The heat began to bare down on us and the sweat began to pour. Well mostly me because I was the one that had to lug you up the trail. As we past the entrance there were lots of people walking their dogs and running the trails. Seemed like the Hollyweird types as all the conversations I heard were about people being writers, movie scripts and so on and so on. The entrance forked off and we went right. For some reason I didn't see anybody pushing a kid in stroller the direction we were headed. I would quickly find out why. We slowly inclined up and keep going around. It was an awesome workout. Your mom brought her toy and was taking some pics of the surroundings. You were enjoying seeing all the dogs pass by and getting your free ride. Well, once we got to a certain lookout point I looked up and saw the only way up was not pushing a strolling. It was a more steep incline and there were also stairs. No way could we get you up there. We made sure you were plenty hydrated as well as you mom who decided to drink a small coffee before we left. I was sweating, but was fine. We looked to our left and saw a more paved trail with more people and one woman pushing up a stroller. Huh, looks like the way we should have went. So I said, we have nothing but time, let's go back down and up that way. We did and before we know it, we were on our way back up, but this time for a longer distance. Your mom even volunteered to push you for a short distance, but it took it toll on her as well. We let you out to run about and even you were tiring quick. The heat was just not very friendly yesterday. So back in you went and back to pushing you I went. We got to a certain point where we decided to turn around and call it quits. Great workout, but next time we will certainly come out earlier and try out a new trail. There are lots of ways we would like to try and we plan on taking you up for some more adventures. There are a couple of trails that me and your mom would have to do on our own, but I'm not sure when we'll get an opportunity to try that. As we left I suggested that we walk down Hollyweird Blvd and see what's going on there. We sort of cooled off and were glad about the level pavement. You loved walking on all the stars where one day I know your name will be. We got to this point where we knew there was a water area that sprays up in the air. As soon as you saw it, you were grinning from ear to ear. You would scream anytime you saw someone trying to run through the water. Slowly but surely you got closer and closer to the water. You would look at me as to see if I would say something to you and I really didn't want you to get wet but relented in the end. Sure enough you got slightly wet and loved it. Then little by little you got braver and went deeper in the water. You mom got great pics of your reactions as you had a blast running through the water. People around the area were enjoying watching you run around the water and your laughter. I went around with you a few times, but mostly let you have all the fun. In a matter of minutes you were completely drenched, dripping from head to toe, but happy as can be. I knew it would be tough when it was time to go, but we had built up an appetite, so we had to go. You weren't too happy, but it wasn't too bad. I suggested that we go to In -N -Out off of Sunset and eat something that wasn't too bad for us. Great idea and we were there in no time enjoying some good food. You expended so much energy, plus what the sun took from you that I knew you'd be an easy victim for the Sandman. We got back and I sent your mom to put you out. Turns out both of you were out for the count for a while. Much deserved!!!! Meantime, your dad was here on the laptop acquiring more music for his collection. A collection I hope to one day pass onto you. I guess that's it for now. Maybe we'll had back next week or the week after that to have some more fun.

dgmarine

I've grown accustomed to your face!

Vladie, Vladie, Vladie. I got a call from your mother today around 3:30pm telling me that you had a little accident at school. You were okay, but you wouldn't let anybody clean you up. So I quickly went down to pick you up. You were sitting at a table and then you turned around. I saw your face and all I could do was shake my head. It looked like someone tried to pry the skin off your forehead and nose. I dubbed you red-nose. Anyways, you appeared to be fine and as it turns out you had fallen off the stairs on your way up the slide and ate it big time. Well I wanna say I'm shocked, but well I wasn't. Sometimes you can be pretty clumbsy. I'm just glad you were okay and that we can laugh about this later. Until then, please be more careful!!!!!

dpgmarine