The Guatemalan Thunder

Better known as: TAFKAP (The artist formerly known as Pablo) or Paul, as he likes to be called, or Fred.....which is what I actually call him. Confused? So am I!

This picture was taken of us today at his ninth birthday party. I am all red faced because getting him on my lap took a lot of wrestling around and laughing. His Mom wanted him closer to my face, but "I don't trust her." kept him at a distance. Smart kid. When he was about three or four he would never willingly kiss anyone, so I would do the old "Ish, I don't want any yucky kisses from him." trick, and he'd fall for it every time, covering me with his yucky kisses. :) Today I kept saying "I'm not going to kiss you Pablo", but if he had moved closer.......

My brother Jerry, and his wife Jenny adopted Pablo from Guatemala when he was two. I mean Paul. I just can't seem to remember that. He arrived on Thanksgiving Day. After we had our dinner Steve, Kate, Tom and I drove up to the airport to join the Peterson family in greeting our new arrival. There were many balloons, and presents, and one little two year old sound asleep on his Papa. He did open his eyes after we snuggled him into the winter jacket I brought up for him. Big beautiful brown eyes. He still has those. He's not so little anymore.

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday he arrived and became a part of our family. He and Hannah loved knocking around together at family functions, and they still do....just with Tater and CeCe close behind now. Being the only boy must be tough at times. He only has girls on the other side too.

The first birthday we celebrated with Paul was his third. We bought him a trike and a helmet. This time around he got a basketball game for the pool. Sometimes on hot summer days I will go over and hop into the pool and play crazy Pablo games to cool off. He makes up the games/rules and tends to change them as we go along. We also play Mario cart together, and he beats me every time. We do a little jamming with Rock Band. He is awesome at the drums......I am not.

Diablo, I mean Pablo....Paul, whoever this kid is, didn't speak any English when he came here, but he caught on quick. We would sit with a picture book on his bedroom floor and go over the pictures. For some reason the apple pic, and him saying "apple" sticks in my mind. He was so proud of his own name, I'm glad his parents decided to keep it. Whenever he met anyone new he would point to himself and say PABLO! extremely loud. Apparently they don't have volume control in Guatemala....... something that hasn't changed!

Like the other kids, there are so many Pablo stories. I'll do my best to describe one of the cuter things he did: He would put up his arm with two fingers up like the peace sign, and then curl the fingers and go "ssss....sssss..." like a snake at you. This happened a lot the first few days he was home. Everyone would laugh and say "how cute." Honestly if you looked at him, it was some Guatemalan way of telling you off. Which I found hilarious! Also, at his baptism, when the Priest was trying to put holy oil on his forehead Pablo held up a little plastic Elmo doll and said ELMO at the top of his lungs. Now that in itself isn't too funny, but picture someone holding up a cross to ward off something evil. Now change that cross to the Elmo doll......and that's exactly what it looked like.

A few weeks ago Paul won all five of the Pine Wood Derby races that his troop held, and today he came in fourth at the city wide race! Great Job! He'll be starting baseball in a few weeks, and I'm excited to see that! We've done swimming, soccer, flag football, and t-ball, so I guess baseball is what comes next!

So happy 9th birthday to our only boy! The Guatemalan Thunder formerly known as Pablo. It doesn't matter what you call yourself, I love you anyway. ♥ P.S. I still don't want your icky kisses. ;)