Wonderfully Wacky Weekend

"Sigh", I exhale as I think of this weekend; what a weekend! We didn't stop.

Alberto could have kept on going.

And he was curious about EVERYTHING. Oh yes, did you notice his short sleeves and the clear blue sky. Gotta love South Florida in November.

Thanksgiving was interesting but after much thought, insight and perspective from a friend, Alberto had a blast = Thanksgiving was GREAT.

The evening started with Alberto full of energy and not wanting to stop; not even for a picture with Abuelo and Camille.

After everyone ate, except for Alberto who didn't want to eat, instead wanted to play, the children began running from one side of my sister's house (that is furnished with really expensive, valuable and pointy things) to the other. That was until they discovered a big toy, the piano.

But the fun really happened, when the kids went out front and started playing in the "pumpkin patch". Alberto saw the pumpkins and yelled, "ball" and he proceeded to dismantle the little pumpkin patch. The other cousins followed his example and they had a blast throwing the pumpkins all over the yard and driveway and then sprinting around her circular driveway as though he was on a track. Mind you, my sister just had to walk away.

But even with all that activity, Alberto was ready to go the next morning. So off to the park we went. I do have video of him chasing a duck. It's pretty funny. But once I redirected him to the playground, he decided he was ready to play on the "big kid" side of the playground. And yes, my little 33 inch, almost 25 lb, 18 months old climbed up this contraption by himself, went through the tunnel, positioned himself on the slide and went down and repeated it several times.

At the end of our excursion at the park, he sat pensive wondering now that he has conquered the "big kid" playground, what is his next big challenge in life. Oh, the thoughts of a toddler. Amazing!

It was good to have this time together. I've been reading Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child, and in doing so, I have gained a lot of insight and am trying to implement the things that I've learned into our daily life to strengthen our "connection". I must admit that I have noticed a difference in our interactions since I started implementing these little changes in our day to day life. Fortunately, the changes are pretty practical and easy so it hasn't been cause for "drama". And it's brought a lot of fun into parenting -- not that it was drudgery -- but "fun" always makes things, well, fun.