Field Trips

Last week was a field trip to Fish Slough - a neat little riparian habitat in the middle of our local volcanic tableland. The dragon and damsel flies were all out, as was a golden eagle, and it was a pretty special morning.

Babbo has a classmate who comes from a disrupted life - he came late to the dual immersion program, he gets excluded by the other Spanish speaking kids - maybe because he's El Salvadoran and not Mexican, and he's moved three times this year.

The boy and I were walking across the Bishop Tuff - this uneven solidified volcanic ash- and I asked him to hold my hand. I squeezed his little hand really hard, and he pulled away. I was starting to do the three squeezes trick that my mom taught me and I taught Babbo. Three squeezes stands for "I-Love-You." I apologized and said that it was just habit for me to squeeze Babbo's hand that way. I told him what the three squeezes stood for, and he gave me his hand back.

Today, I am left with the positive feeling of that kid being willing to be loved.

Last week was also a fun, intense, exhausting trip to my cousin Cathy's wedding at the beach. So many cousins and aunties and uncles I hadn't seen in years, so little time.

Terribly unPC post goes here, but, mind, it's made with love

Babbo: Mommie, are we lesbians? We love each other and we dress alike.

Babbo admitted he didn't know what a lesbian was the other day. This is awesome in light of the fact that he has been raised and very much loved by the aunties in his life. We told him really plainly that lesbians are women who love each other...and then we added the cheeky addendum that, sometimes, they dress alike. I know, horrible stereotype. The boy and I are starting to share clothes. We look like hipster nightmares.

"My shins!"

That's the sound of a boy having a growth spurt. Babbo grew over an inch in about a month. The blood sugars tended surge overnight and he was waking up with ketones - really bad ones - a first. We now know to keep a stock of Gatorade G2 (the low sugar ones) on hand to avoid having to run to the gas station kwikie in the morning when the vomit is flowing. In the end, he did well and we did well. Yay us. Now, I wish he'd stop obsessing over Nerf Gun wars on Youtube.....