Every time we go to church Cristiana always makes a friend, usually with boys (just our luck of course!). I was actually able to capture her and a new friend last Sunday sitting next to each other, which doesn't last very long, so I was lucky to pop out my phone quickly enough. They were quite cute together.
On Friday, Cristiana and I met up w/Ramena, little Meme, Tracy, and Gracie @ Monkey Joes. It's been a while since we've been to a Monkey Joes and Cristiana's experience was very different now than back at our first visit. Cristiana had just started walking on her own when we first visited Monkey Joes, now Cristiana is climbing up ladders and stairs all on her own like a pro. I was very impressed with her agility, I mean she was all over the place and most of the time doing things on her own. The girls has a great time bouncing and sliding, but the biggest hit was the mechanical car. You'll notice in the slide show the tons of pictures of the girls in the car because they were all over it at various times throughout our visit. I'm sure we'll be using our frequent visitors pass much more now that Cristiana seems to be really enjoying everything there is to do at Monkey Joes.
Before we headed back home from Pompano, we decided to head to Miami and visit my mom. My mom was so excited to see Cristiana (hence her balloon decorations you see in the background that she hung up for Cristiana). Cristiana didn't seem to remember her at first but after a few min. they were old pals. She enjoyed knocking down my mom's million trinkets she has all around the house and playing the maracas with her abuela. Jaime and I were very happy to enjoy some good ol' authentic Cuban food and Cristiana really enjoyed the Moro (dirty rice w/black beans).
We headed back to Pompano on Wednesday for another short business trip w/Daddy. It seems that we will be making these visits every few weeks w/daddy and are more than happy to keep him company (and enjoy the beach as well!) We stayed in the same place as our last trip down, but we were fortunate enough to get a 1 bdrm rather than a studio which allowed us to actually talk and enjoy a little bit of cable while Cristiana "slept" (didn't sleep very well..but that's been normal for the past few weeks). We had a decent trip down and a wonderful trip back up...she actually napped on the way up, without a fuss. It was fabulous! While we were there Cristiana of course enjoyed digging at the beach and had a great time in the kiddie pool @ the sister resort across the street. She also LOVED running around the big curving balcony we had in the living rm. She spent so much time just throwing her ball out on the balcony , running after it, and then throwing it back inside (gave mommy some quite time to watch TLC (we don't have cable @ home so we enjoy it when we're out)). We had a great time as usual and daddy will hopefully be able to get into the pool with us next time.
Cristiana and I met up w/Krisin & Ava @ the Altamonte Mall this past Tuesday so the girls could play in the playground. The girls had a great time as usual and it was nice to be able to sit back a bit and let Cristiana play. The last time I took her to this indoor playground I was on her like a hawk because I was worried she would hurt herself or get hurt by other kids, but she has become so stable in all her solo activities (climbing stairs standing up rather than crawling, actually going down the slide in a normal position (she use to
go down on her tummy as she did with everything else) in the last few weeks, so I didn't have to worry as much. The playground was also less crowded, since most of the kids are back to school now, which helped me feel even more secure about letting her do her own thing. I'm sure these two will be hanging out at the ma
ll together when they get older, but probably playing in the stores rather than in the playground! Thanks for the pics Krisitn!
I decided to buy Cristiana her first rain coat and rain hat a week or two ago, since Lord knows it rains practically every day here in Florida during the summer. She's used it quite a lot since we bought it and she seems to really like wearing it. It has made life a bit easier since I don't have to worry about keeping her under my umbrella and trying to 
cover us both if I chose to put her in a stroller. I think she looks soooo cute in it and it of course compliments her crazy 
personality (our crazy little monkey!)
This weekend we went shoe shopping for Cristiana. Poor thing needed new sneakers since her last pair, as mommy found out after sizing her this weekend, had been outgrown by 2 sizes (no wonder she didn't want to wear them the other day....whoops). After going to various shoe stores (crazy how indecisive you can be for shoes that are not even a ft. long and will be outgrown quicker than you think) mom and dad decided on the cutest pair of Skechers. I was planning on going 
the usual route and buying some Stride Rites but after seeing these I was sold, especially since they don't seem too clunky on her feet compared to other sneakers in her size. Though Cristiana is a little thing, she is wearing a size 7 sneaker. Some other brands made her look like she had clown feet but these adorable Skechers are just right for her size.
It's amazing how helpful our little ones are at this age. Cristiana's been helping me sweep for months now, I ended up buying her a child sized broom and dustpan so she would stop stealing mine while I was sweeping. She loves to help unload the dishwasher and will put all the utensils and the Tupperware away (it's the only things she can reach). And every time daddy is working on something, like putting something together or other home improvement type things Cristiana jumps in right away. Here she was helping daddy put the screws in on her little chairs. I know this stage doesn't last forever (at least the wanting to help) but we will enjoy it while it's here.
I took Cristiana to a back to school party they had @ My Gym up in Lake Mary. It was free admission as well as free pizza and juice, you know we always take advantage of free events. Cristiana had a great time running around like a nut and climbing on practically everything. She really surprised me with how brave she was climbing by herself things that were more for older kids (well, she did climb out of her crib already) and her balance was quite amazing (I guess she takes after her mom). Her favorite things were: the green see-saw (pictured here), she kept going back to it and rocking herself and especially loved when an older girl sat on the other side and had her going up and down, the big ball pit which was filled with older kids, climbing up the slides, and of course all the balls. We also ran into Julie and Haley there which was a nice surprise. I did take advantage of a special they were having, so Cristiana will be going to a My Gym class for at least 2 months, which I'm sure she'll love. She did have her first taste of pizza here (I'm sure her pediatrician would be cringing about this right now), but she didn't seem very impressed (thank God)! Can't wait to start her classes here.
Cristiana and I went over to Ava and Kristin's for a dip in the pool and some girl talk yesterday. The girls had a great time together as usual, and it's always great to see how well they interact together. The girls were chasing each other around (several times right through Kristin's shower), went up and down the slide right after each other, and crawled through the tunnel. They would clap for each other and even give each other high fives..it was super cute! Towards the end they had finally warmed up to each other (they haven't seen each other in some time since Ava and Kristin have been out of town) 
and were giving each other hugs and goodbye kisses. Thanks for having us over ladies and thanks for all the wet mussy 
goldfish Ava!
So, Cristiana actually climbed out of her crib today after her nap while mom was working and dad was at home with her. It's partially our fault since the crib was not at it's lowest mattress setting, but honestly with how short Cristiana is, I would not have thought for a second that she would be able to climb out of it, but surely she did. Jaime said he saw her in the video monitor just alternating between sitting and standing and he thought she would go back to sleep, but after a few minutes of quietness, he heard her bedroom door fling open and there she was. Jaime put her back in the crib to coerce her to do it again, since he was worried she had hurt herself, and she climbed herself out again and quite carefully and skillfully to his description. I guess that I should expect that from our crazy monkey since according to my mom I use to climb out of my crib all the time. The crib has been officially moved down to it's lowest mattress setting as of tonight. She can't escape us now! Or can she?..hmmm...
Cristiana's friend Amelia came over to play on Wednesday this week and the girls had such a good time together. They played with Elmo's kitchen, they jumped in Cristiana's crib, they had snacks together (well, Cristiana ate some of Amelia's lunch, she wants everybody else's food, and I tried to stop her), they played in the pool, on the swing and gave each other several hugs before Amelia went home. Cristiana has become a big kisser, she loves to give kisses, but hugs are rare and few, especially with other people besides mom and dad, but she definitely loves her friend Amelia because she would not stop hugging her. It was truly one of the sweetest things I've seen. Thanks for visiting us Amelia and Monica, we hope you'll come back over to play soon!
We finally got Cristiana's outdoor swing up and running. One of our great neighbors helped Jaime build the small structure to hold the swing since none of our trees were suitable for the swing (branches too high or low branches too flimsy), so no more "Baby Bow Flex" for Jaime (see previous post titled Baby Bow Flex). Cristiana LOVES being in the swing, she will kick and complain if you even mention taking her out of it be
fore she's ready to get down. I'm sure we'll be spending a lot more time outside now that the swing is there.
Jaime had to travel to S.Fl again for work, so of course Cristiana and I tagged along for another short little trip to the beach. This time we stayed in Pompano Beach @ Wyndham Vacation Rentals. We really liked this hotel/timeshare and plan to stay there in the future when Jaime travels down south for work again. It was very modernly decorated and the room was huge with a kitchen, living room area, bathroom, bedroom, big balcony, and even a jacuzzi in the bedroom area which Cristiana was the only one to enjoy it. Everything was super clean, even the outdoor areas (pool and all) and the staff was REALLY friendly. We were lucky to get great weather for the day 1/2 we were there and of course enjoyed the beach as well as the pool. Cristiana really LOVES the water but when we're at the beach, she seems to love diging in the sand and playing with her pail and shovel more than anything else (hence the tons of picture of her playing with the sand). Lately Cristiana likes to grab our keys, put on one of our shoes, and grabs an additional item such as a bag or her wagon and walks to the door and says "bye,bye" as if she's going somewhere. She did a lot of this while we were at Pompano, I think mostly because she wanted to be outside enjoying the pool or beach. She also really liked sitting in the balcony (who could blame her with such great weather outside) but she did decide to drop her sippy cup down the balcony (we were on the 6th floor) and luckily into the pool (look for the picture in the slide show), crazy girl! Can't wait for our next trip!
