Top Four Cute Things Dante Did Today

4. He walked in the room, quietly sucking on a pacifier. He stared at me working on the computer and looked at the screen for a few seconds. Then my face, then the screen, then my face. Then he wobbled to the table next to me, took my phone, stared at it, then brought it to me and put it on the armrest of the chair. Then he wobbled back out of the room, all without one word.


3. Charlotte's Web came on TV when we were eating lunch. Normally he is very happy and energetic during lunchtime, and he talks and screams. But he was so intrigued by this movie that he slowly slid out of his chair, then walked over to the arm chair (eyes glued to the screen) and sat down. He sat there sucking on his pointer finger, watching intently. Carlos thought it was so amusing that Dante was so quiet, so he started doing things that Dante would normally do. There would be a cow on the screen and he said "Mira! Dante! Mira! Ves la vaca!? Si?!" (Look! Do you see the cow?!) And he kept doing it for every animal on the screen. Dante stayed in a trance-like state, fully amused by the talking pig and the spider who could write words.
On a side note, when they showed the rat named "Templeton" my host parents asked me if it was his first or last name. I said I didn't know. They asked me if it was more of a traditional first or last name or if I knew anyone with that name. I told them it was very weird and that I had never heard it before. They seemed really intrigued by the rarity of this name.


2. His dad was getting ready in the bathroom to go out, putting on cologne and doing his hair. Dante opened the door and walked in, pointed to his new Frog-shaped inflatable tub sitting by the shower, then told me "Mira! Mira" (Look! Look!) His dad told him to get out so he could finish getting ready. I started walking back down the hall, then Dante comes out and says "Mira! Mira!" then holds out a finger. I was like "What, your finger?" Then he just swiped it across his forehead, and left a blatant white streak of face lotion. Then he just left it like that and continued walking around the house with a white streak on his face.


1. Before he went out with his parents, he walked into the room, and simply said to me "Adios, me voy a la calle." (Bye, I am going out.) Then he left.

CUTE OVERLOAD

So finally I got to Alicante, I waited outside in the cold (45 or 50 degrees, so cold but not too cold) while I waited for my host mom to arrive. And no, that wasn't supposed to happen. She arrived, and she spoke perfect English! That was a big disappointment. So then she showed me around the apartment, in English. I responded to everything in Spanish. (After dinner tonight, it came about that they said they'd only speak Spanish from now on...but they still say English every now and then)
I took a nap, then when I woke up, I heard a tiny little spanish voice down the hall. When I first arrived, only my host mom was home, and now she had picked up her 2 yr old son from school (which I am curious about...what school is there for 2 yr olds?). Remember in one san sebastian entry where I said children's voices are even cuter when they're in Spanish? Well, IT IS TRUE.
Dante doesn't know any words in English, so he is super duper cute. When I went to the kitchen and he came out from the patio, the voice in my head made this noise: gaajkshdgksueyrgh. That is an affectionate gargling noise of a CUTENESS OVERLOAD!

He was really shy at first, where he hid behind his parents, the table, the door, a chair, or anything that he could just peek around from, since I was a stranger.
He soon warmed up to me, and he got into his little show and tell mode that kids get into, where they just want to show you EVERYTHING. Instead of "lookit! lookit!" he's shouting "mira! Mira!" as he shoves various toys, a placemat, a shoe, and a cereal box in my face. Later I saw him wandering the hallway alone and asked him if he'd show me his room. He got SO excited at the idea of this, and immediately ran into his room and showed me all of his toys and the mini plastic slide in the middle of the room. When he showed me his chair in the den, I pointed to his shirt to ask him if he knew what number it was, and my hand brushed across the super sticky surface. Later, my host mom informed me that he likes honey. A lot. Like, 3 or 4 times a day.
In the den is also MY favorite toy of the bunch, a Mr. Potato Head doll named "Darth Tater."

Later, after dinner, he sat and watched a 7 minute clip from his favorite cartoon [edit: Pocoyo] as we finished eating. During the clip (from youtube) he was in a trance. After the clip, he was calling papa to fix it for him so it would play more. I have never seen a child refuse desserts and chocolate, but he did just that as he zoned out to the red octopus and yellow boot-shaped duck on screen. Then, of course, when it was time to go to bed, he was all "NOW I want chocolate." Then he just began naming random foods he wanted, and it was hilarious. He even said "pine nuts" at one point. Then he just began naming more and more foods. At one point, my host dad said "would you like me to make you something? perhaps a strawberry souffle?" Dante, with the most serious face, thought for a moment, then said, "Yes, I do."

Eventually he left to go to his room, but before he put on his jammies, his mom carried him in my room, and she said "what do you say? hmm? Oh, he wanted to give you a kiss before bed." And so I ducked down a bit and he gave me a peck on the cheek, with a huge grin on his face! SOOOO CUTE!