I began to panic late Sunday night. Labor Day would be Mark’s only weekday off till Thanksgiving, by which time Smudge might be here. Time is running out for our family of 3 to spend time together as a family of 3! At about, oh, 2:00 in the morning I insisted to Mark that we do something fantastic to celebrate the holiday. Good man that he is, he acknowledged he didn’t understand my concern but that we’d do whatever I wanted.

I forgot that our greater metropolitan area does NOT know how to do holidays. When I checked yesterday morning, I learned all events were done on Saturday or Sunday; nothing special to go to on Labor Day itself. I should have remembered from the 4th of July…no matter what day the 4th is, activities are always done on the Sunday closest to the holiday. Dumb.

Mark suggested that we go downtown to the fountain plaza, let the Menininho run around and get wet, then walk through the plaza together and grab some dinner. It wasn’t the grand day out I’d envisioned, but it was a blast!

M. was not shy about running into the fountains at ALL. I loved watching him laugh as the water shot higher and higher. When we first arrived, there were a handful of other small kids around, each manning their own water spout. After a while though, a bunch of older kids came by. One, who looked to be about 8, came and sat on the spout the Menininho was playing in so that he could not play anymore. When M. tried to share another boy’s spout, that kid hit him in the stomach. Yes, I told that kid off. Seriously! Where are these kids’ parents? Yes, kids will be kids, but it’s a parent’s job to teach their children to be mindful of others, especially babies.



Anyway, we left soon after that because I was afraid M. would get hurt more. We had a great walk through all the little shops and restaurants of the city. Basically every place was closed for the holiday, so Mark had to do some research to find a restaurant for dinner. He was actually able to find a Mexican restaurant that did gluten-free. The food was really pretty good so I’m sure we’ll be heading back there again!

We finished up the evening chasing the Menininho around the living room and trying to narrow down nursery themes.

What did you do for labor day? Those of you with more than one child, did you freak out about spending more family time together before the 2nd child was born?

Finally figured out how to get 18 months of pictures off my phone. Here are a few (no particular order).

My son, except for his big brown eyes, looks just like my husband. Sometimes they act so much alike I wonder if I was even a part of the whole process.

The other night I received confirmation that yes, Menininho is at least slightly related to me.

We had company over for dinner and I made Mark’s new favorite dish: gluten free chicken enchilada bake, along with a nice spinach salad. The Menininho devoured his casserole immediately and signed for more. I figured before I gave it to him, I’d try to make him eat a little bit of the salad because he’s been on an anti-veggie kick recently. It was a no go.

Mark piled some more enchilada on M’s high chair and I tore up the spinach and mixed it in. He’d never taste it, right? First bite went well, and then the kid started gagging. I jumped up, thinking he was choking. Nope…he had noticed a SPECK of spinach on his tongue and was trying to force it out of his mouth. Talk about the Princess and the Pea! Once he rid himself of the vegetable, he meticulously combed through the rest of his food and removed every single piece of green to the side of his tray.

Sigh.

I was praying that by introducing him to a variety of veggies early on (beets, eggplant, acorn squash, you name it) we’d skip this stage. Maybe it’s genetic, because I was the same way as a kid: carefully cleaning off my food of any offending vegetables or anything else that I deemed distasteful that day. Hopefully with time and continued exposure, M. will once again broaden has palate.

Here’s a short clip of his other recent eating habit (and hear his first word!).