Johnito at playing McDonalds

Here's a video of Johnito yesterday playing at McDonalds. He loves to go there and play and he's making friends really easy now which makes me happpy because I don't want him to be shy like I was.



And here's another story about Johnny. I was preparing to take him to the babysitter and then go to work afterwards so I told him I needed to put my laptop in my bag. He told me "Me too daddy. I need to put my laptop in my backpack." He has had a toy laptop for at least a year and a half but on this day he wanted to be like daddy and take his with him. It seems that lately he is doing things like this more and more.

Johnny's new shoes

Here's a cute story for you. Johnny needed new shoes since his feet are getting bigger so first we went to Payless to check his size and although he tried several different styles on he didn't like them because he wanted Spiderman shoes like the ones he was already wearing. So we left and went to Academy where they had Spiderman shoes but not in his size. The next stop was JCPenny's and after the saleswoman retrieved a pair of these newer style Spiderman shoes she put them on Johnny and the first thing out of my dear little 3 year olds mouth is "Where is the mirror?" That's right, he had her take him to a mirror so he could see how the shoes looked before he decided if he wanted them or not. This is starting way too early for me.

Johnito Swimming

A few weeks ago a family from church watched Johnito for us because I had to go into work early. They took him to the swimming pool at their apartment complex and finally I am putting up the video that Connie took of it. Enjoy familia.......

Pictures of Johnito Swimming

Connie took these pictures of Johnito when he went swimming a few weeks ago. He's our (not so) little gordito.

Think For Yourself My Son

Copied from my other blog, www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

This past weekend my wife and I bought back to school items for our son who is going to a pre-school and it’s the first time for us. Even though it wasn’t very much in quantity I was able to get him a Star Wars folder and a Star Wars notebook and almost got him a Star Wars lunch bag but instead ended up getting him an old school looking metal lunch box from Cars. My wife accused me of pushing Star Wars on him and she’s right of course. A father’s gotta do what a father’s gotta do.

Now, I’m not stupid enough to believe that I will always be able to make my child dislike everything that I think is bad, poorly made or just plain old ridiculous crap. It’s not very sensible to think that he’ll never like any soulless music or any pandering drivel that’s only aim is to take dollars out of our pockets. I know that at least for a little bit of time it’s inevitable. No matter how much I play good music like Alejandro Escovedo, Rush, Satelite Kingston or Grupo Fantasma he will be exposed to something that will be designed to draw young ears to it but will have not one ounce of originality or heart to it. No matter how much I try to teach him to think for himself I know he’ll follow some trends and just do what’s popular. That’s the way it is.

The good news though is that if I do my job as a parent right then maybe that period of following trends will be mercifully short and it won’t take long for him to realize that there’s more to life out there than what’s being force-fed down our throats on TV, movies and radio. After all, I don’t want to raise him to like what I do just because I like it. He should learn how to think for himself and not be afraid to stand up for what he believes in and learn how to tell what’s good from what’s not. It takes time to learn what you really like in life but I think if you learn how to be yourself then the rest will come naturally. Of course what do I know? I’m just a guy trying to do right by my family and praying that I don’t do anything to mess my kid up. But then again, haven’t most of us thought that at one time or another? Thinking for yourself is about the most important thing I think I can ever try to teach my son.

We've been sick, but here's a video

You have to forgive us, the whole family is sick to one degree or another and that's why I haven't posted anything new. John got sick first and I believe he passed it to Connie and I though he seems the least affected by it. There's something to be said for the marvels of youth. Anyway, Connie's friend Edelmira invited Connie and John to her church for something a few days ago and this video is of the kids playing.

Getting ready for pre-school

At the end of the month Johnito will start pre-school again but during the school year it will be different than it was this summer. Now he will be learning a lot of new things. So for the first time Connie and I were given a list and shopped for Johnito's school supplies. Today I took a picture on my cellphone of Johnny carrying his backpack while we shopped for some clothes. He keeps telling us every day that he wants to go to school and of course doesn't understand when I tell him that school doesn't start for several more weeks. Luckily I got him a Star Wars notebook and a Star Wars folder and we almost got him a Star Wars lunchbag but I saw a Metal one like the kind I used to have when I was a kid and Jonny wanted that one which was from the movie "Cars." Connie thinks I'm pushing Star Wars on him and she's right but hey, a dad does what he has to do.



Also, Connie thought she had lost our camera. A lady from church watched Johnny and her family took him to the swimming pool at their apartment complex and Connie thought she had laid the camera down while getting Johnny ready to go and had left it. Tonight she found it on the dresser in our bedroom and of course tried to say that I must have taken it out of Johnny's backpack and put it there but the truth is she did it that very night and forgot about it. It's fine for me because the camera was not cheap and we couldn't afford to replace it right now. So this week I'll try to get the video of Johnny swimming here on the blog. This video is Johnny at the playground for a local mall.

Pictures from Connie's birthday

Connie's Birthday

Here are a few videos that we took during Connie's birthday party last week. Johnny had a lot of fun but usually he thinks any party is for him.