Anthony is 23 months old!

On Friday, Anthony reached a big milestone: the last time I'll be able to refer to his age in months. From here on out, he'll be 2, then a little over 2, then almost 3, then 18. At least that's what it feels like!

To "celebrate," we took him to the beach. Because nothing says "celebration" like taking a child who is suddenly deathly-afraid of the water and is genetically disposed to dislike oceanfront activities (direct quote from Brandon: "I hate getting all sandy and wet") to Miami's famed "clothing optional" Haulover Beach.

Don't worry, we stuck to the non-nude portion of the beach, although Anthony did take off his shirt.

At first Anthony wanted nothing to do with any of it ("bye-bye, beesh; bye-bye, beesh") and tried to point the way to the exit.

He especially wanted NOTHING to do with the ocean, making a break for higher ground at his first opportunity.

We decided to give him a chance to get acclimated, and the introduction of a pail and shovel helped immensely.

Eventually, I dare say he cracked a smile.

Yep, definitely a smile.

Not sure what this is all about.

All said, Anthony seemed to enjoy his day at the beach, perhaps siding with dear old dad on the getting wet portion of the activity, but not appearing to mind the sandy aspect. But still, when we asked him if he was ready to go, he immediately popped up and starting tugging his stroller open...so we'll just go ahead and call the results mixed.

Or, maybe he was just anxious to get home to all his fancy toys....

Who needs to drive to the beach and pay for parking when you can crawl inside a cardboard box ?

I've gotta Sientate for this one

So apparently Anthony is talking in Spanish now.

When the little guy presented me with a paper flower he made at daycare for Mother's Day, he ran to get it sing-songing "flores! flores!" This morning his teacher told Brandon that the other day when the kids were supposed to sit down, our nino told another little boy, "Sientate, Lino."

I'm not sharing this to brag, or to act like my kid's some genius or something. We live in Miami, after all, where even most stupid people are spectacularly bilingual (and trust me, there are plenty of stupid people in Miami).

I'm sharing this because it's terrifying and I want it on record in case something happens.

I am SO NOT bilingual (no comments on where this places me on the stupidity continuum, por favor) and at this rate, Anthony will probably end up conversant in two languages, one of which I completely don't understand.

Can you even IMAGINE how much talking behind my back and evil scheming that is going to allow him and his little friends to do?

Look at him plotting my demise. Ay, Dios Mio!

Mother's Day Weekend

We spent The Holiday Weekend (capitalized because surely Mother's Day trumps all other holidays) attending a friend's first birthday party on Saturday and pretending we were actually serious about taking action on repainting the kitchen on Sunday.

The latter, naturally, never happened, but the party was lots of fun, and made me think Anthony is REALLY going to enjoy his own birthday celebration is just over a month...

Yes, I see the presents, Anthony. No, they're not for you.

I guess we're going to need to get balloons for his party...

Lots of balloons. The party was held at a local park, so naturally there were lots of kids around. I swear, every one of those kids shyly approached our group to ask the hosts for a balloon.

Anthony was no different, and snagged a red balloon all his own...

...which of course was on its way to who-knows-where within about 30 seconds. He took it pretty well, though, looking somewhat confused by the turn of events but forgoing tears for a simple, "bye-bye balloon."

Of course, the appearance of cupcakes helped the situation immensely. I'll have to ask my friend for her recipe, because Anthony devoured his.

After a cake-related costume change (dude got frosting in his HAIR, and Saturday's supposed to be the day I don't have to force him to take a bath!) Anthony hustled over to the playground to burn off come cupcake calories.

He basically did laps around the equipment to get to and down the slide. Fortunately, despite the recent inhaling of a cupcake, this did not result in any puke.

It was a fun Saturday morning, and it definitely got me excited for Anthony's big day next month. Anyone want to take wagers on whether we'll have the kitchen painted in time for a party?