Poppa Love

Both of my children have a special bond with their great-grandfather, whom we call Poppa.

My grandfather is a person of creativity, understanding,
wisdom, and wonder.


My cousin's fiancé Monty created this website of Poppa's artwork.

And here you can see a photobook made in honor of his 90th birthday last year.


In the photobook, I wrote to my grandfather:
"As babies, both Chely and Kayalá would gaze at you with rapt attention for extended periods of time. They seemed to sense, as do we all, that an encounter with you is a gift of wonder,
a brush with the divine."

 
As you can see, he baptized both Graciela and Kayalá.


Kayalá expresses her bond with Poppa often.

When we are playing, she often wants Poppa to take a turn.

When we read books, she often pretends that Poppa is one of the characters.

When we pretend that we are going on a trip, her favorite destination is Poppa's house.

The other morning she wanted Poppa to brush her hair.
Today she designated one of the couch pillows as Poppa and kissed it,
saying, "I love you, Poppa."

Photos of the two of them, with interactions and parallel activities:

Poppa has a special affinity for O's - O's for wonder, awe, joy! 

Some of his collages incorporate O's. 

Kayalá said the other day,

"I love Poppa. I love O's."

In this video she expresses her love for Poppa and wants to visit him right away:

We love you, Poppa!

Treasure Hunt for Sister

Lately we've been into treasure hunts at our house.

For Kayalá's birthday, Chely prepared her a treasure hunt with these clues:

(Look in the lunch box.)

(Look in a shoe.)

(Look in the book shelf.)

(To find the surprise, look in the toy box.)

The surprise?  A box filled with some of Kayalá's favorite toys!

Sleepover!

One of Chely's close friends stayed over last Friday night.  The three kids had a blast!

Our only minor mishap came at our neighborhood park when our guest wanted to play tag and Chely wanted to play colored eggs.  They managed to work it out, though!

Since it was a sleepover, pillow fights were of course in order.

We did a little treasure hunt with a series of clues for each of them to find a prize (a chocolate bar).

Another pillow fight!



Making crafts and cards:

What a fun piyamada (sleepover, from the word for pyjamas)!



Happy Father's Day, part 2

Dear Dad / Gus,

Thank you for taking us on walks and hikes

and making schedules full of fun activities 

and voicing your own style of fire engine noises

(nnneeeeerrrrrwwwwww ding ding ding ding ding ding)

and doing so many other fun fatherly things. 

Thank you for being kind, generous, supportive,

appreciative, thoughtful, and wise.  

Happy Father's Day!

We love you!

Utzlaj Uq'ij Tat (Happy Father's Day)

(In Guatemala, Father's Day is on June 17th.)

Maltyox chawe chi at sib'alaj utz tat rech B'ixalja' ruk' Kayala.

Maltyox chi kab'an etz'nem kuk'.

Gracias por cantar, jugar, bicicletear, crear, arreglar, cocinar, bailar, abrazar, y amar.
Gracias por ser cariñoso, comprensivo, divertido, chistoso, creativo, y sabio.
Gracias por ser el papá de nuestras hijas.

Utzlaj aq'ij!

Kat qaj!

Swimming Lesson

Chely had her first swimming lesson on Tuesday.  All morning she couldn't wait to get going.

When we got to the pool, she got a little nervous

but was still pretty excited overall.

In the water!

 

The instructors do a great job of making the class fun and giving children individual attention.

Here they are swimming in a "train":

A pensive moment.

"Mom, I put my head underwater!"

She liked it!

Happy birthday, Bamba and Gus!