Beach Day

Here in San Diego we had somewhat of a heatwave last week! It reached 94 here in Encinitas, and I've never seen my thermometer get that high! It finally cooled off today - back to the normal 72.
We decided to hit our beach on Monday since Keith was off and since it wouldn't be it's normal chilly windy beach day!
Bella was in all brights and couldn't wait to get there - she loves the beach. Luca wouldn't go near the water - it was too cold for the likes of him!
Luca wasn't the only one who wouldn't go near the water. Ever since the fatal shark attack in our neighboring beach, people are being a bit more cautious - I've never seen our beach so empty.
We did see lots of dolphins, though, and that put our mind at ease. If there are dolphins, there won't be sharks - at least that's what my Dad always said!

Deja Vu

What are the chances that you'll get to be your dad and mom's patient at the same time in a make-shift OR in your own house?
Pretty well if your dad's a plastic surgeon, your mom's an anesthesiologist and you're a little wild man.
The crazy thing about it all is that this wasn't unfamiliar territory for Keith and me - last year we had to do the same thing for Bella!
Today, it was Luca's turn. As he was fleeing his dad to escape nap-time, Luca tripped and fell in our bathroom - right into one of the tile steps leading to the bath. Luca suffered a deep gash in his forehead, and Keith instantly knew that we would once again be sewing one of our kids up at home.
Luca was a trooper, and with a little help from Mommy's medicine, he did just fine. Keith was just finishing up the 10 stitches in the video above.
Needless to say, we are grateful that we are able to spare our toddlers the trauma of going to the ER, but hopefully, we won't be needing to do too much more of this!!

Luca's ABCs

This was too cute for me not to post (plus, I want to make sure my parents can stay caught up!) I know that it seems like the "Luca Show" lately, but he's doing so many new things that we can't help but be excited about it. He was truly a "late bloomer" when it came to speech (or talking whatsoever), but in the past few weeks he's come a long way. We're very proud of him, and he's proud of himself, too. The grin on his face when we can understand what he means when he talks says it all.

This is an adorable attempt at singing his ABCs (as you can tell, Keith has got his down pat)!

Broccoli!

A very exciting thing happened in our house the other night. Our extremely picky eater, Luca, ate BROCCOLI and loved it! As you can imagine, having Luca continuously turn his nose up at anything that doesn't look like elbow macaroni is extremely frustrating. Especially since our firstborn, Bella, always ate just about anything from sea bass to jalapenos to fillet mignon. I honestly thought that somehow "those picky kids" could be made to eat anything if us parents just handled it right.

I, however, learned that you can't force these little buggers to eat. Over time, I've had to accept that Luca will broaden his menu selection in time, and that for now, macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets will just have to do. Thank goodness he's always liked fruit - that gave me some consolation every time we gave him some form of pasta for a meal!

The other night at dinner Luca was eating his easy mac and bologna (another newly acquired taste) when he spotted his steak-eating sister scarfing down some broccoli. For some odd reason he pointed to it and acted like he wanted it! I obliged him and he really liked it! Needless to say, I ran to the camera to record this monumental occasion. Check out the video - you can also hear how cute he tries to say "broccoli."