The Trip (Part 2)

We are on vacation mode and it's been great. We had a great weekend at the beach and spending time with our family. We have gotten a lot of help with Lucas and Matias, so our hands are now a little more free to sleep a little later, have meals without having to rush, and enjoying some free time. We are back to the slow life, where you can actually take breaks.

Today we had a fun day. Just hanging around in my parent's home in the morning. It felt like a Sunday morning. Lucas has been wanting to see the Emoji Movie since he saw the trailer on TV. Last time he went to the movies it was with me and Alegna stayed home with Matias. I wanted Alegna to have that same experience and also that movie looked terrible, so they went to the see it together. While I was waiting for them I went Pokemon hunting with my cousins and raiding some gyms trying to catch a Legendary Pokemon. Lucas really liked the movie, Alegna not so much but I think she enjoyed the experience and the bonding.

Lucas had some popcorn, juice and chocolate while at the movies. He also had had a few glasses of chocolate milk in the morning. I guess it all came together in his bloodstream and by mid afternoon he was running all over the house tackling whoever was in front of him while screaming at the top of his lungs. We decided to take him to a water playground near my parents home so he would use up all that energy. He ran and played and by the time we came home he was ready to go to bed. It was a relief to finally get him to bed at a reasonable hour. The past couple of nights he's been going to bed pretty late. We had some time on our hands so we went to have dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant. We had some arepas, patacones, malta, chicha, papelon and a lot more. It was a Venezuelan food feast.

What did I watch?
The Space Between Us: These next couple of weeks I will not have access to my DVR so I will not have a wide selection of movies to choose from. Nothing special about this movie, if you get past the absurd premise and that it is probably targeted to teenage girls, it is a little entertaining movie to pass the time. Nothing more.

The Vinciguerra Boys

Lucas had been sick all weekend and today at 5:50 AM he woke up with a really bad cough. I knew Matias was about to wake up for his feeding so I managed to convince him that his cough would go away if he slept a little more and that he would not be going to daycare today. That made him happy and slept while I was patting him on the back every time he coughed. I managed to feed Matias quickly and we all went back to sleep. I knew I had to get my rest because it was going to be the first time I would spend the whole day with the Vinciguerra boys.

We woke up again at 8:30, I gave Lucas some breakfast and while I am preparing Matias's bottle for his next feeding I realize we are out of formula, this is the last bottle I'm going to be able to make today unless we go to the supermarket. Lucas has no fever and the cough seems to be gone so I get them ready and we are off to the Stop and Shop. Before leaving I have a serious talk with Lucas. I'm going to need you to be a responsible big brother today, I can only fit Matias's car seat on the shopping cart so I will need you to walk beside me and listen to everything I say. He puts a very solemn face and assures me he will be a good boy. And he was great! We were able to do all the shopping for the week. I ask for his help or opinion every once in a while so he stays entertained, but the challenge of showing that he is a big boy to his dad seems to be enough to keep him focused and happy. He gets a couple of treats for it: some PAW patrol mozzarella sticks and Sesame Street cookies.

We get back home and together store all the groceries. Lucas really enjoyed figuring out where everything we bought goes. Finally we go to the basement and have a Pokemon marathon. Lucas has been so good I decide to spoil him a little bit and let him have his lunch while watching TV. Matias has been a little restless, maybe he is used to having all my attention these days and is getting jealous. Nap time comes and Lucas picks his books that he wants read before sleeping. He does not cry or complain he needs to take a nap, he has been keeping his promise all day. But Matias will have none of that, he decides to have a complete meltdown, so again I need to talk to Lucas. I explain to him that I will not be able to read his books today, that maybe since he is a big boy he can read them by himself. He says ok and starts going through them. I leave the room to try to get Matias to calm down. I can hear Lucas going through the books' pages and reciting everything he knows about them from memory. He's making me so proud today. Matias finally goes to sleep and I get to Lucas's room but he is also asleep. I can finally relax for a couple of hours and I fall asleep too.

What did I watch?
A lot of Pokemon.

The Cartoon

Watching cartoons with Lucas is one of the best bonding experiences I can share with him. I can divide these experiences in three kinds:

The first one consists of cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid and have managed to get him interested in them. He is a big fan of the Thundercats, Voltron, Pokemon, Animaniacs and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This is the best experience for me because I get to share the things that influenced me in my childhood and I can answer all his questions since I'm pretty knowledgeable in everything that is happening. Unfortunately this is not always a successful strategy, although I have gotten him hooked on some of my favorite cartoons, others he just does not care about. He gets bored really easily when we try to watch some Looney Tunes or any of the old Disney shorts for example.

The second one consists of the new cartoons that he likes but that I just can't seem to stand. The biggest example of this is PJ Masks, but I can also think of Animal Mechanicals and Chuggington. Others are so bad I don't even  make the effort of knowing their names. I just sit next to him, stare at my phone and pretend to be paying attention.

But then there is a third category, this category consists of cartoons that come from him and he has somehow hooked me into watching them. Among this, the biggest by far is PAW Patrol. It is the only show with which I share my DVR with him. We have a constant supply of PAW patrol episodes taped so we can watch them together once or twice a week. By now, I have seen every episode about 4 times, so when a new episode comes out it is a big event in our house. Sometimes, we are even luckier and one of these episodes introduces something new and special into the PAW Patrol lore. We have been following the cartoon so long that we have seen many of these. The introduction of two new pups: Everest and Tracker (his favorite because he speaks Spanish like him) and some new gadgets like the air vehicles and the spy gear. About a month ago we started seeing commercials for the next big thing: The Seapatroller! A big ship where the pups could make their rescues at sea, with new water vehicles for each of them. Since then Lucas has been asking me every day if the Seapatroller episode is out. When I saw the episode taped in our DVR  todayI could not wait for him to get home. The first thing I told him when he got home from daycare was: "Guess what's finally out? The Seapatroller!" His response was so satisfying: "Wow, you said we had to wait many days and now finally the many days are over!" We were finally able to watch it and it was glorious! Not really, but his excitement was.We saw it twice in a row.

The rest of the day was meaningless, just a long wait until Lucas would come so we could watch some cartoons together. I did manage to cook some chicken and finish the laundry.

What else did I watch?
The Set-Up: Very good movie which lost Friday's poll but I did want to see anyway. The whole movie happens in real time and the biggest highlight is the actual boxing fight.

The Story of Mankind: This is a movie famous for being bad and boy is it bad! The premise consists of a trial in outer space where they have to decide the fate of mankind after inventing the H-Bomb. On one side is the devil played by the masterful Vincent Price (the only positive thing I have to say about the movie) and on the other side the Human's Spirit (whatever that means?) played by Ronald Colman. They try to go through different periods of history where humanity was at its best and worst to try to make a decision. It is filled with cameos from stars like the Marx brothers, Hedy Lamarr, Dennis Hopper, Peter Lorre, Charles Coburn, etc.