Mr. Personality, Chuckle-muffin, my Bello-licioso
What a lovely morning I had walking with Jaimito. He’s such a
delight, and it’s nice to see the world through his eyes. Everything is
important to him.
We headed out the door around 7:20 AM. He was neatly tucked into his jogger-stroller with what he calls a "beep beep," little Matchbox cars that he loves. Olaia handed him one before she left with Laura for school. "Daddy! Daddy! Beep beep," he proudly said holding it up. "Olaia!"
"Yes, I know. Olaia gave that to you. What a sweet sister you have, Jaimito."
We walked down the sidewalk and turned the corner. "Daddy!! Daddy! Doggie!"
"Yes Jaimito, that’s where the doggie normally barks at us." He remembers the exact house where a big dog habitually charges the gate and furiously attempts to protect his territory. The dog wasn’t there this morning but Jaimito made sure to point it out.
We continued down the street on the sidewalk, the overcast morning and high humidity quickly drenching me in sweat. "Whew, Jaimito, Daddy’s hot. It’s hot out. Are you hot?"
"No!" he emphatically replied. "Daddy, Daddy! Beep beep go bye bye." He pointed out cars passing us on the street heading out to work. "Bye bye!" he called waving to the multitudes of morning commuters. Some, mostly women, waved back and smiled.
"Look Jaimito, the paper tree." We stopped and examined a tree with papery bark. I have to look it up and see what type it is. Jaimito pulled off a bit and made sounds akin to "Coool!"
As we got to the edge of the neighborhood where it borders with the countryside we heard a rooster. Cock-a-doodle-doo, it crowed. "Cock-a-doo-dl-doo!" echoed Jaimito. "Daddy, Daddy! Da cock-a-doo-dl-doo." And then he crowed in Spanish, "Qui-qui-di-qui! Daddy, wow!" The rooster humored us with several more crows followed by the answers of Jaimito, big rooster of the yard in his voice fuerte. What a show, let me tell you, like a chorus of barnyard sounds.
"Daddy Daddy, da boat! Da boat en da agua!" He called out letting me know about the house that normally has a boat parked in the driveway. It wasn’t there this morning, and apparently Jaimito speculated that it was in the water. What a smartie. "Daddy, Daddy. Papoo (Papi Tito) an’ da boat en da agua! W’ mami! ‘an Olaia."
"Yes, Jaimito, you went with Mami and Papi Tito on his boat in the water. Wow! That’s neat."
"Daddy daddy, da ball!" He pointed to an abandoned ball in a yard that was now covered with mold. It’d been there for months. It’s a highlight for this little sportsman. It doesn’t matter the condition of the ball, as long as it’s a ball.
"Daddy Daddy! Da arbol!" He stretched out his hand letting me know he wanted to touch the tree.
"Yeah, that’s a big tree, right Jaimito? A big tree. Ooo, that’s a nice big tree."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Ooo Daddy Daddy, da arbol!" We touched the next tree too. It was a little tree. I rolled my eyes. There were a lot of trees, and now we were going to have to stop and touch every one. Chuckle.
We did four laps around the neighborhood, and the highlights for that little munchkin never got old. Upon every lap, they were just as fresh and new and exciting as if they were the first time.