October 2012 recap

I'm trying to use this Blog to talk mostly about Hypotonia and Oculomotor Apraxia. However, I understand that some of my readers are just friends and family members that don't have a child with any of those conditions, but that occasionally read the blog just to see what is Patrick (and the family) up to. So I have decided to start writing a "recap" with the highlights of each month. Here is what happened in October:

• Pumpkin Patch - For first time!

Last year, we spent most of October in Mexico so we didn't take Patrick to the Pumpkin Patch. This year we were in town, the weather was great most of the month, and he loves the outdoors! There is a mom's group we attend on Wednesdays, and Theresa, the person who runs it, suggested we all could meet there... Yay! Patrick loved it so much that we went back a few days later, but this time daddy came with us. The apple butter we bought at this place was yummy!

• Daddy was away on travel

I didn't realize how "aware" Patrick is of when daddy is missing around the house, until Tim was sent to Europe for a week. Patrick kept asking me for daddy, all day long, all week long. At first it was super cute, but I have to admit that by the 4th day I was ready for daddy to be home, not only because we missed him, but also because Patrick was about to make me go crazy with his "dadda! dadda!". Everytime Patrick saw Tim's shoe, Tim's hat, anything that belongs Tim, or even a picture frame with daddy in it, he would point at the object screaming "dadda!". If he did that 10 times a day, I'm falling short. Seriously. I had to take a video of him and send it to his "dadda" so he knew what I was talking about. Here is the video.

Finally the day we had to pick up Tim arrived. We had to be at the airport at 10:45pm, which is past Patrick's bedtime, but I made the mistake of telling him that we were going to get daddy that night so he didn't want to go to bed. He was running around and talking like if it was 10am. I figured he would fall asleep in the car. Well, he didn't. When we got in it, he said "dadda", and I told him that indeed we were going to pick him up, so that was enough to keep him awake during the whole ride. Here is a video of Patrick when he saw daddy for first time after a week.

• Halloween!!

Just like we missed Pumpkin Patch last year due to being in Mexico, we also missed Halloween, but not this time! My mother in law sent him the cutest duck costume ever. Patrick in Spanish is Patricio, which is Pato or Patito for short, so sometimes my family call Patrick "Patito". The word "Patito" also means "Little Duck". So, a ducky costume was perfect for him! When we got it in the mail, I put it on him but he just cried. Here are some pics.

I also realized it was a bit short (Patrick is a tall kid!) but I found online some orange "skidders" that blended in nicely. We were happy the weather was nice enough to go "trick or treat" around the neighborhood, and Patrick enjoyed it more than I had imagine. I wish the pictures could do justice of how cute he looked in the costume!

I don't like the "scary" part of Halloween. Maybe it's because I grew up in Mexico and this wasn't a tradition there. Maybe, too, because I know the Catholic Church is not too fond of some of the ways people celebrate this tradition. So to not get into that conflict, I will try to make my kids wear only "friendly" costumes, as in not scary or death related ones, hoping that Halloween means to them "that time of the year when we dress up and ask for candies around the neighborhood".

I would like to start our Mexican tradition at some point as well, so the kids enjoy what I spent my childhood doing this time a year. In Mexico we make an altar honoring the life of someone we love who is not longer with us. The altar is beautifully decorated in a very Mexican way (some people add skulls and such but my family avoids that). We never made one in my house, but the whole family contributed in making one at grandma's house. Each class in Mexican schools, from Kindergarten to High School also make one each year. If you would like to learn more about this tradition, click here.

•  Superstorm Sandy

We were very blessed to not have had any type of damage during the storm. It was very rainy and windy, and we lost electricity for 3 hours, but that was it. Patrick was still awake and he was a bit scared and confused to see everything dark and just few candles here and there, but then he went to sleep without problem. We were all the time in the basement, trying to stay safe and we had on stand by a generator that my father in law sent us. Most of the people we know were OK too, but our prayers are to all those who lost a loved one and overall are still trying to recover from the storm.

Tim works in the maritime salvage industry, so unless he is traveling to attend conferences, the trips usually are "disaster" related, and the trips are therefore unexpected, too. Whether there is a ship sinking, an oil spill, or a hurricane, Donjon-Smit gets the call! Which means, my husband gets the call. Which means, he is now in NY trying to coordinate the pumping out of the NYC tunnels in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

NYC in the dark, after Superstorm Sandy

After I left my job, I was able to join him in some of his trips, and Patrick was an excellent traveler so it was easy to get in the car or on the airplane and go with Tim. Now it is different. Patrick is not only paying airfares, but I'm also on my third trimester of pregnancy which makes it more difficult to follow Tim wherever he goes, even if we are riding by car. So here we are hoping he gets back soon, and hoping Patrick doesn't ask for daddy too much this time around. I'm happy, though, that a person in my family is directly involved in helping out the people that are still recovering from the storm damages. "Dadda" rocks!