Birthday laughs

Bino found the birthday horns hilarious. See? (I love his laugh. And his five little teeth. And everything.)



I can remember our first day together so clearly. It was before discovering he was in trouble, before they took him away from me and off to the intensive care unit. After they cleaned him up and checked him, they brought Daniel into the room with me. Since Pedro and I hadn't had time to decide on an official name yet, we christened him Bino (short for bambino). Pedro had to leave after a while to go home and finish unpacking so that the apartment would be presentable for the grandparents' visit, and so I had Bino all to myself for several hours. He and I snoozed together off and on throughout the afternoon and into the evening. In my waking moments, I watched him, cooed at him, snuggled him, marveled at him. Cynics might attribute some of this to the effect of all the drugs they were giving me, but everything seem enveloped in a haze of wellbeing and happiness. I can still feel that.

What a year it has been. He's brought so much joy to my life, and to Pedro's, to this new life we're sharing together.

Feliz cumpleaños, Bino

It's Bino's birthday! Yesterday we celebrated here at home with carrots, cake, and presents. The obligatory before and after cake pictures are here.

As for the presents, he enjoyed the wrapping paper and his new book the best.

Bino plays guitar-- really

Those lessons with Papa are really paying off. Watch him strum.

Bino de la bolsa

In Guatemala, "el hombre de la bolsa," or "the man with the bag," uses his to carry away children who don't eat all of their soup (so says Pedro). If such a fellow ever showed up at our place, he'd have a hard time spooking our Bino, who seems to find bags absolutely hilarious.

The video doesn't quite capture the incredible delight that Bino took when he discovered these. He started laughing uproariously and shaking them without any prompting from us whatsover.

The boards you see on the floor are parts of our beautiful new bed, our anniversary present and yesterday's project.

The Tunnel

No, not the "existentialist classic" by Ernesto Sabato. This blue thing, from Ikea. It promises hours of future enjoyment for all of us here. Obviously, Pedro and I couldn't hold out on keeping this under wraps until Bino's birthday.

Dental hygiene

This post is to help reassure the grandmothers that we're not going to allow Bino's teeth to rot before they all come in. If Papa's going to teach Bino how to eat meringue cookies, Mama will show him how to use a toothbrush.

Speaking of teeth, he has three now (two bottoms and one on top), and two more just cutting through. No wonder we're not getting any sleep.

Cookies

When I came out of the kitchen after preparing lunch, I discovered Papa and Bino had already started on dessert-- if you look closely (click on the photo to embiggen it), you can see the powdered sugar mustache on Bino's upper lip.

Bino with guitar

These past few days Bino has been exploring all sorts of new things, particularly those involving his father. During the weekend, when Pedro would get up to move to another part of the house, Bino would follow him as fast as his little hands and knees could carry him. And when Papa picked up his guitar, Bino insisted on having a lesson.