March 16-31, 2018 - 3 years 8 months

Due to a last-minute realization that we were both going to the start of the Oosik ski race, I got to spend a few hours with Kadin in the middle of March (the 17th).  He was super excited to see me and we played on the giant snow mountain and had a wonderful time.

Here's the first snowman we ever built together!  He has hair on top of his head; Kadin's addition.

Sliding down the hill, over and over again, with Bucky chasing after us.  I felt like a river otter!  Weeeeee!

A few hours later, Kadin takes on a more contemplative look…

 And then, there were two more weeks of 

"beznjenica" 

which I just learned is Serbian for 

"a space or time without a loved one".

Kadin was back with me again on the 31st, just in time for Easter egg dyeing and pizza!  

After the eggs and pizza, we went out to the river to play in the snow with Bucky.  I love you Kadin.

Kadin would climb up the willow trunks and go "nnneeighhh!" like a horsey.

Even the walk back to our car was an adventure, as Kadito climbed up and traversed the snowplow ridge alongside Main Street, navegating steep hills and icy downclimbs.

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And these last two shots are candidates for a Historic Downtown Talkeetna Calendar, highlighting two of our local establishments with a classic style. 

 (I swear these are not posed… Kadito hates posing for the camera!!)

March 1-15, 2018 - 3 years 8 months

I only had Kadin with me for two days in March: the 1st and the 30th… A whole month without him.  Even as I write this in May, I feel the knot of emptiness come back.  It was horrible.  I survived.  

I love this little boy more than I thought possible.

Playing out on the river, with a beautiful view of Denali in the distance.

Kadin shows me the 5 cars he wants to take with him to the "other house" for the next month.  

This sums up how I feel all of March, while Kadin is "not with me". 

At least Bucky keeps me from sitting on my butt all day!

February 16-28, 2018 - 3 years 7 months

Kadin's art for his Mama…

And Kadin's art for his Abu Baiba.
He was very specific as to who got which painting.

When we go to pick up our milk, Kadito loves checking out the cows who are giving it to us.
That particular cow in the photo, however, is a beef cow grandma and she's HUGE.

I got a used little car bed for Kadito.  We still share a bed, but it's fun to play in and eventually may even be slept in…

First… the cake…

Then, the cream cheese icing…

Feliz Cumpleaños Abu Baiba!!!
(decorated with a bit acai powder mixed with the icing)

And, a video, of Kadin playing with Bucky in the snow.

February 2-15, 2018 – 3 years 7 months – Fun INDOORS!

Sorry, too many photos again, so I had to split the 2-week period (the fortnight, if you will) into 2 posts, again…

We baked yummy bread shapes using a recipe in a Spanish Sesame Street recipe book.  Kadin loved it!  And the bread was  actually really good.  We shared it that evening with Franny and Jorie during a salmon dinner.

Completely different day.  After swimming we went to eat chinese food and Kadito is adamant about using the chopsticks.  Look at that face of concentration!

This should have been a video, but I didn't get a second chance and only got a series of stills… Fun in his playroom jumping onto the beanbag.

February 2-15, 2018 – 3 years 7 months – Fun in the SNOW!

We're back!  Lots of snow and Kadin jumps right in and wants to help clear the car off.  

Yay! Snow!  Let's throw it up in the air!  And have it fall on our head… Yay!  

Snow angel.

The snow was so powdery and soft we could run and jump and land it it and then just lay there like we were in a cozy bed. The warm sunshine was nice too.

Mostly, Kadito doesn't walk too far in the vast snowy world, but sometimes he runs off, turns around, and looks at me… You coming, Mama?

January 30 - February 1, 2018 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (3 years 6 months) – Last 3 days.

Kadito has already learned to never turn your back on the ocean!  Either that or he just really doesn't want to leave.

Kadito enjoys a strawberry liquado (smoothie) at the beach-side restaurant.

Laughter is such a beautiful thing.  As is that cute little "tickle button"!

He is pointing to some boats in the ocean, I think.  This was when we took the golf cart around the island to check out some other sites.  

At the turtle sanctuary, we saw turtles of all ages getting prepared to be released to the wild.  This is the second stage – outdoor pools.

We bought a little baggie of turtle pellets to feed them (and the gulls).  You can see one little pellet at the edge of the pool between Kadin's foot and the turtle.

This is the final stage for the turtles before they are released – an enclosed part of the ocean.  Lots of fish and gulls and there was even a catshark in there which you can get a quick glimpse of at the end of the video.

We went out for lobster for our last dinner in Mexico and Kadito was the Lobster Monster.  Grrrh!

And Abuela Baiba was the Lobster Eater!  Yum!

Our ferry ride back to Cancun to get to the airport and start the long journey home.  He's such an awesome travel buddy.

January 26 - January 29, 2018 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (3 years 6 months) – First 3 days

On the ferry crossing from Cancun to Isla Mujeres

At our hotel, there was a perfect little pool with a long strip of shallow water where Kadito could run, swim, and play without me holding onto him.  See video below for the live action version – "Mama, watch this!"

Arrrgh!  Inside a shark's mouth on one of the piers.  We were having a blast, pretending to be scared, and just as I was about to take the photo, of course, he covers his eyes… ¡No fotos!

The hotel had a (somewhat sad) little tank of slider turtles and Kadin loved watching them.  One waiter let us pick up the littlest one but the next day another waiter said we couldn't because one of them bit a kid once.  They aren't mean turtles so I suspect the kid wasn't handling him properly, but oh well, no more picking them up.
I love Dito's wispy hair, necklace, and bare foot in this photo. 

We had a day of rain on the Island and so Kadito and I went to the bar to play some pool. We must have spent over an hour there.  He loved hitting them, of course, but he also loved listening to them go down the tubes and running the tray to pull them out again.

At the beach… popcorn was our favorite snack.  Kadin would walk up and down the beach looking for the popcorn vendors.  I love that in Spanish, popcorn is "palomitas" which means "little doves".

The waves weren't very big on Isla Mujeres, but big enough to still have fun!  I left Kadin's blue life jacket at a bus station by mistake and found this inflatable one at a mega store in Cancun.

January 24-25, 2018 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico (3 years 6 months) - THE CENOTES

Kadin started to get a bit of a sand rash from his sandals so we switched to flip flops!  It took him a bit of practice to walk in them but he would NOT switch back and just kept on practicing.  They have Dora la Exploradora on them.

Speaking of flip flops, Kadito found this one at the cenote and it instantly became a boat… you can see his lips going Brrrroom like the motor.  He almost didn't let me throw it away afterwards - wanted to keep it as his toy boat!

Kadito was amazingly drawn to this girl.  He wanted to play with her and would follow her around the Cenote, asking me, "¡¿La niña, donde está la niña?!" (The girl, where's the girl?!)  Finally, they sat down and Dito could show her all of his toys.  Her name was Anuk.

I was supposed to pick just one of these four photos but just couldn't decide.  So now they are a collage of my little swimmer boy happy in the water.

Kadin is swimming like a champ!  All those Wednesdays at the pool in Wasilla are really paying off.  

There are these little fish in the cenotes that like to eat your dead skin.  Kinda gross but really, more than anything, kinda fun and TICKLISH!  It was hard to not laugh/giggle the whole time!

Our last night in Playa we went to a restaurant that was built within a cave (Restaurante Alux).  We didn't eat there but explored the cave and had a lot of fun.  This video is a bit dark, but Kadin was rockin' out to the music!

Ooops… forgot a photo… my version of a "volante" (a flyer!)… Jumping off the 20' cliff at the Cenote.  Kadito stayed on the pier with Anuk's mom and loved watching me jump.  The first shot is a close up of the second one.