Yummm pupusas

It's been a great weekend with my 2 favorite people -- my honey and my baby. Wil and I haven't had a relaxing weekend in so long, so I have really looked forward to this. Friday night we had a goodbye dinner with my mom's fiance (Ron) who is going back to finish his school year in California and Saturday we spent most of the day at home, but in the evening we went out for pupusas (Salvadoran tortillas filled with cheese, beans, etc. and fried)! We had been craving pupusas (they are El Salvador's best kept secret -- like KC BBQ) for a while. It had almost been 2 years since I had had pupusas and Wil suggested we try and find some.

Just to be honest, we were both a little scared of where we would find them. What the restaurant would be like and in what kind of neighborhood. So, at about 7 pm (typical late Salvadoran dinner) we ventured out and found a place on Independence Ave. Now granted the place was among several international restaurants. But we had real pupusas! They were actually good. Now there is a rivalry between Honduras (this was actually a Honduran restaurant) and El Salvador and who actually invented the pupusa, but to me, they don't taste that much different. Anyway, they had a few things missing. The cortido (okay to those who don't know what this is, it's the "cabbage-like" stuff that you put on top of the pupusa) and the sauce. They served them on the plate with the pupusa. Maybe it's just me, but I missed having that huge jar of cortido on the table and the ketchup bottle of salsa. I also missed eating at a picnic table fully decked out with a plastic table cloth and dirt floor, but maybe that's just be reminiscing. However, they did serve our pop in glass bottles with even a little rust on the rim. :) Gotta love imports!

Overall, it did give me a little flavor of El Salvador that I've been missing and Elisa even liked the little bit that she tried. What a true Salvadoran.

Baby Storytime

We went to baby storytime at the library today. Elisa loved it. She is such a social butterfly. She wanted to get into the teacher's bag, explore the room and talk to all the kids. She is already a joy, but is more now that she is starting to gab and approaches people on her own. :) She definitely had to have gotten those qualities from her papi!

Nearing the end...

I think my baby is near the end of her cold. I never really understood how awful just a cold could be for a little baby. Makes me want to just put Elisa in a germ free suit and not let her out! Colds are awful! Adults can just pop a pill, but poor babies just have to bear with it. And my pediatrician said they can get 10 to 12 their first year. Elisa is almost 9 months and on her first -- at this rate, she should have a cold every day until she turns 1!

Wil is finally coming near the end of 2 of his spanish classes. I am so relieved. While I know he loves teaching, it is not fun to miss him all day and not get him home til 9 pm or so.

Wedding news, my mom is getting married June 18! I am so happy for her I really love her fiance, Ron. They are planning on a simple ceremony and we're going to start encouraging Elisa to be walking by then so she can walk down the aisle with Papi and Mady. Or do I really want her walking yet? :0

Runny noses

Well, Wil made it back from his short weekend trip to Moline, Ill, but he brought back a cold to us. So, Elisa and I have been battling with runny noses and coughs for a few days now. Poor girl. It's the first time she's been sick and she is so incredibly adorable. Sounds funny, yes. But you can tell she is trying to be happy as she still babbles (while coughing) and smiles despite a little temperature. She has such a great attitude.

She is loving to be rocked recently, too. At first I thought, great, we're going from just easily putting her to bed each night with a book or two, a few songs and music and she's out, and now she will just sit in her bed and talk until you pick her up and rock her. I don't mind for now, though. She never really liked rocking as a little baby so I will just enjoy the time I have now snuggling with her.

I know I need to take some updated pics. I promise that will happen as soon as my baby feels better.

Talking like a bear

Well, our little girl has found joy in babbling A LOT. We also discovered that she was moving her mouth kind of strange. And just yesterday I figured out why. You see Elisa has been having night terrors and the only way that we calmed her down was by playing her TJ Bear. I'll explain what he is in a moment.

Anyway, while babbling I noticed she was moving her mouth in a mechanical way up and down. Well, guess how the bear talks? Like a robot, of course. If you remember Teddy Ruxpin, well, TJ is his modern counterpart. He was a Christmas gift from Grandma Cindi. Although of course she doesn't follow along with his story books just yet, she loves to lay in her crib (or sit when she doesn't want to sleep) and play with his moving ears, eyes, mouth and arms. So, Teddy is currently a permanent fixture in her crib as it does keep her entertained if it's 5 am and mom and dad aren't ready to get up quite yet. Now if TJ only had a remote that we could use from outside the bedroom...