Officially Ecuadorian

Today Mateo was register as an Ecuadorian citizen in the ecuadorian consulate of San Francisco. It is a great day because this gives Mateo open doors to two countries, two cultures, two worlds. Now he is an American and Ecuadorian citizen and he will make the most out of it during his life. He probably won't remember much of these first months of live here in California but he will have the memories Pat and I share with him as he grows up. Ecuador will be his country for his first few years. We will of course come back to visit family in Florida hopefully once a year. Pat and I will speak English as much as possible but everyone else will speak to him in Spanish. I will make sure he learns both languages. Who know if he would choose to come back to United States for college. I would love for him to have that choice...

Walking soon!!

I think this guy is going to walk very soon. As soon as he figured out that standing up was much nicer than crawling, this is all he does now. He crawls for a bit but as soon as he can pull himself up he will do it and practice his balance skills. Today while we were waiting to see his doctor, he started to walk holding our hand with much more confidence than ever before. Later in the evening we went to a party and he continued to walk and walk and enjoy it very much. Of course my back hurts now since I need to be bending to his height to hold his little hand. It is like there is no turning back, mommy here I come -- I WILL WALK SOON! He is not even 10 months!

Almost toddler!

self-weaning?

It is sad but lately Mateo is not interested in nursing when I come back from work. We used to have that special time to reconnect after being gone for 5 hours. Now, it seems like he is not hungry and does not need that time. He is also skipping his afternoon nap... Would it be possible that there is so much to do, see and learn that there is not time to eat and sleep? Of course, he is so tired by 5:30 or 6:00 pm and off for the night. The good thing is that he continues to nurse at night so I know he is getting still some nutrition from my breast milk. I plan to nurse Mateo until he self wean. Looks like it might be soon!

Having fun on the ground

He will the that tall some day

Best picture

This is the best picture of Mateo I have taken so far. He looks so happy and beautiful. I hope to make a big print of this and have it in a wall in our house in Ecuador. He is growing so fast and leaving us with good memories.

Yesterday we saw Charlah Robinson, the person who touched Mateo first when he was born. Charlah was my doctor and helped us tremendously through my pregnancy. Thanks to her and her good care Mateo stayed in my belly 39 weeks. We came to love Dr. Robinson. She is special.