Elsa Mora

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County!

Today I wanted to share something with you: A GREAT MUSEUM! Bill and I took the kids to this magic place and we all had the best time! The most beautiful things are found in nature and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is a wonderful place to see and understand all that beauty. I took some photos for you! If the photos are beautiful imagine how amazing is seeing this place in person! Let's take a look:

Note to the reader:
THE THREE SPECIMENS in the LAST PICTURE ARE NOT PART OF THE MUSEUM COLLECTION!!! :0

I am sooo glad that we went to this place! These photos are only a fraction of what you can enjoy in this museum. They also have one of the greatest gemstones collections that I have ever seen and a lot more! We are always looking for new places to take the kids and this one was specially perfect with the hot weather plus they have a special room for children where they can play and have fun. Diego spent a looooong time in front of beautiful a fish tank. He was just fascinated and so relaxed looking at "Nemo" and all his cousins! And he keept saying FISH, FISH, FISH...

Now I wish you a beautiful Monday!
And see you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUR MEETING YESTERDAY WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!!!! I still think that we are in a dream! Those of us who know what an IEP meeting is, have lots of horror stories connected to it in our brains. If you Google IEP you get 230,000 related links. I didn't read each one of these links but maybe 99 % of them. (I'm kidding!) The truth is that we had to read a lot and educate ourselves the best we could in order to understand what we were going to face regarding Diego's IEP.

Here I will mention some of the magic elements that helped our IEP meeting to be a success:

*The good wishes and good thoughts that you sent to Bill and I. They arrived just in time, as soon as I opened the door to the room where we had the meeting an unexpected wind blew my dress all over the place in a Marilyn Monroe style. Sometimes the good energy that you send to people arrives to the final destination under the form of wind :o

*I wore my ballerina-looking shoes (per Natalie's request) and my black and white pin with the papercut image that you saw the other day. Two of the women at the IEP loved it. Thank you!

*We didn't bring any lawyer with us in order to keep the atmosphere friendly and nice. The people who work in these meetings are human like you and me and it is not nice when you start the relationship with them in an aggressive way.

*Great human quality regarding the people in our IEP team: I have to say that every single person in our IEP group was great, smart, sensitive and friendly and the most important thing: They love their job. You know how dangerous it is when unhappy people have to make important decisions for you.

*And finally: the fact that Bill and I knew exactly what we wanted for Diego. It is always very helpful to communicate your expectations in these kinds of meetings. And these expectations were the result of the advices that we got from wonderful specialists that have been following Diego's progress for months. A HUGE THANK YOU FOR EACH ONE OF THEM!!!

So my friend, starting in september our little man will be able to attend a special class 5 days a week and we are sure that he is going to have lots of progress! He will have a Preschool Shadow Aide to help him in his new social life, he will have speech therapy and other important therapies and the most important thing, he will have a WONDERFUL TEACHER! We already meet with her and she is everything that you want for your child.

Now I can say that Bill and I are sooo relieved! We can finally breath normally and talk about something that doesn't include the term IEP! We are so excited about this new face in Diego's life! September will be a very special month for him, Diego will love school.

THANK YOU AGAIN MY FRIEND FOR YOUR WORDS AND YOUR THOUGHTS!
They mean a lot to us.
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Today!

We are going to have the important meeting that I told you about before, regarding Diego's personalized plan for his school education starting in September. Bill and I are nervous but ready. Please, wish us good luck! We will need it! I will come back tomorrow with a report about whatever happens today. I just know that Diego has a strong team in Bill and I. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that our little man has the plan that he needs to have lots of progress in his academic and social life. I should leave now, we have to be there in about an hour!

I leave you with this photo of our prince, he has no idea of what's going on right now but one day in the future we will tell him everything!
See you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Hola Amigos!!!!

I am so happy to be back here with you again! The last two weeks have been extremely busy! We have been in this race trying to get to that place of calm and routine that we all need and we are getting closer and closer to it. We still have a lot going on over here but we are all fine which is the most important thing. Diego is talking more than ever!!! You will be surprised to know that he already knows:
*How to count from 1 to 10
*He knows most of the colors of the rainbow.
*He can say the name of many animals.
*He is more self-regulated (he can sit for a longer time when we go out with him)
*He has more eye contact than ever and he smiles all the time!

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: The other day he engaged in a whole game with a boy named Fernando in one of the places where he gets his therapies. That was the very first time that Diego REALLY PLAYED with someone that he didn't know. It was WONDERFUL to watch him laugh and run and have fun, just like any regular kid! I was close to tears because I could not believe it! And Fernando's Mother was as happy as I was because her son was also having so much fun. Fernando is 4 and he doesn't talk yet but he is very developed emotionally and I think that Diego felt attracted to that, they had a great connection. Our little man is doing amazing, we are sooo proud of him! All the therapies and all the hard work are definitely paying off.
And I have only beautiful things to say about Natalie. Bill and I think that she is gifted when it comes to creativity. She makes these amazing drawings and little sculptures with the most unexpected materials. We thought that they were things that every kid was doing in her class but then we found out that these are just her own ideas. Natalie has a natural urge to create things with her hands, she cannot stop doing it. She is always carrying some pens and paper wherever she goes. That's why we got her into some special summer art program that will start in July. She is thrilled about it. We are so proud of our mini Artist in the family.
And what can we say about Miro? He is almost a man. He is sooo tall and handsome and sweet and he is the best big brother ever. Natalie and Diego are so lucky to have him in their lives, it makes a whole difference having such a special brother. Everybody loves Miro!

But I have to finish this post saying that the man up there in the photo; Mister Billy, is the most wonderful father that I ever met. We celebrated Father's Day with him yesterday and it was great. Bill is quiet and modest but he has the biggest impact in our family. Whenever we go through a hard time Billy knows how to transmit us calm and he is so good at reminding us what's really important, which is celebrating life and love! We love you Billy!

And before I say Good-Bye I also want to let you know that in these two weeks I never stopped creating new things :) and I will be sharing them with you in the next days. YAY!!!
Have a beautiful Monday my friend and see you tomorrow!!!!!
Elsita :)

(And if you are a Papa I hope that you had a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY yesterday!)

Winner of the Little Bag! (and something special)

First of all I want to announce that the winner of the little bag is: Julie! Hola Julie!!! The little bag is packed and ready to go! I gave Diego one of Bill's books and he opened it in page #12 that's how we found out who the winner was. This was the most practical way to do it because if you give Diego a bowl full of little papers he would never pick only one but a whole bunch of them! I want to say THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for participating in this little game and if you happen not to be number 12 don't feel disappointed because I promise to do this game more often. To be more concrete we will have our next giveaway after tomorrow (Wednesday, April 30).

Below you can see a little drawing that I made to say Thank YOU for participating in the little bag giveaway. I wrote your names in the body of the girl :)

And now I want to share something special with you and that is the album of photos from our walk on Saturday April 26. This link will take you to the album where you will see the photos and below the photos you can read the little text explaining everything. I hope that you enjoy it. This event was so important for our family.

Have a wonderful Monday my friend and see you tomorrow!
Elsita :)

Our Children :)

And today I want to share this little present from Natalie with you :)
I can't even describe what I feel when she comes to me with these kinds or little treasures. She says: I made this for you Mommy! And then she knows that I am going to hug and kiss her and say that she is the most wonderful Artist in the whole world. Being a parent is a very hard thing sometimes but these little moments are worth all the hard work. I am so lucky to be the Mom of Natalie and Diego!

Tomorrow we are going to participate in an important walk over here to raise money for the research about Autism. Bill and I are proud to announce that with the help of lots of wonderful friends here in Hollywood we have raised over $20.000. Diego inspired our friends and relatives to donate money to this important cause and we want to thank each one of them for their generosity. Go Diego go!!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday with the news about the winner of the little bag!
Elsita :)

Great News!

I made this little bird to illustrate the good news that I want to share with you today:
Diego is getting NINE extra hours of DTT (one of the therapies that is helping him so much). Like the little bird in this picture Diego has a great potential for flying but in order for him to do it we needed to provide him with even more help from the outside world. The confirmation of that extra help arrived yesterday and we have been celebrating since then. These few months before Diego turns three are crucial for his development. Our little man has been having sooo much progress! I still cannot believe that he is saying words and even short sentences. He still doesn't do it in a logical way but this a great beginning. It is called echolalia and it means that he repeats words and phrases that he heard before and it is very cute, this is a list of his favorite words and phrases:

Mommy (that one is my favorite :)
Natalie
Daddy
Miro
Hey, what happens?
There it is! The Monkey!
Cat...Miao!
Where did it go?
Come on! You can do it!
OK!
Yes, I want.
Car, Bye-bye car.
Oh no! There it goes!

These are the most popular ones in his repertory :) From echolalia Diego will start making connections with reality and then one day he will be using language as a way to communicate with everyone. And then in a few years I will invite him to write a post right here in this blog!!!

In the mind time have a beautiful Friday, a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday!
Elsita :)

Lesson: Don't Say Anything, Just Observe!

One of the "homeworks" from our Floor Time classes about Autism was to carefully observe Diego and notice the things that call his attention. By doing this we are able to find different ways to engage with him based on what he enjoys. This works GREAT! Whenever we follow his lead we get to create a bridge of connection with him. "Following your child's lead" this is an idea that we heard ever and over in our classes. The concept is that instead of creating our own focus of interest for him we should go the other way around and let him show us what he is interested in and join him. I have done this several times now and it is such a wonderful experience. The teacher always asked us not to talk or ask anything or present him with anything, just relax and OBSERVE. By doing this I realized how often we impose our ideas in our children (which is many times important too) but it has been a revelation for me just to shup up and look. One of the things that I discovered is that Diego is fascinated by plants and nature in general.

Whenever he has the opportunity he runs outside to play with the plants in our backyard.(We keep the back door closed because it's not safe for him to be ourside by himself). He is always trying to open that door and I realized that he just wanted to play with the plants. He enjoys how the plants move, he loves to carefully touch the grass, he looks at the flowers from very close, he almost touches them with his nose, he likes to put his body against a bed of ferns that we have...it is a whole feast for him. I have rediscovered our backyard through Diego.

I have also enjoyed nature since I was little but as we grow we sometimes lose a little bit our sense of wonder. The other day I was telling my friend Margie how crazy our lives were right now since there is so much going on. I told her how, at the supermarket, I left my car key inside the car and the car self-locked and I had to take a taxi to our house and come back with an extra key to pick up my car...she said that when things like that happen is because we need to stop for a sec and take a brake and I couldn't agree more with you Margie.

In my personal case there isn't a better rest time than when I create something with no other purpose than pure and personal enjoyment so I knew that I just needed to do this. That's when Diego's fascination with plants game me an idea. After I took a five minute brake (I lay down on my couch and closed my eyes) I went outside and picked up a group of the elements from our backyard that Diego likes the most and I decided to play with them in my studio. All of the pictures below are the result of this wonderful resting-creative time. After I finished I had a big smile on my face and the confirmation of the idea that sometimes we really need to stop and become like a child, rediscover the world around us and play. Thank you so much Diego for being such a great teacher for me AGAIN! I always learn the best lessons from him and Natalie :)

Lolita :)

David :)

Francisca :)

Ismael :)

Julianna :)

Noelia :)

See you tomorrow!!!!
Elsita :)

Last Oscars Report (And Something Else :)

And today I want to start this last report with my favorite Oscar speech this year by Marketa Irglova, the most natural girl at the event that night (she had no makeup at all, no high heals and the sweetest smile that you can imagine). But before her speech let's read this important detail from Wikipedia:

When Markéta Irglová was awarded the Award for Best Original Song with Glen Hansard for "Falling Slowly" at the 80th Academy Awards ceremony, her acceptance speech after Hansard's was pre-empted by the orchestra's music cue to leave the stage. In an unprecedented move, host Jon Stewart invited her back on stage to deliver her acceptance speech following the commercial break.

Thank you sooo much Jon Stewart for doing this YOU ROCK! And here is the speech:

Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along the way. Thank you.

HOPE AT THE END OF THE DAY CONNECTS US ALL, NO MATTER HOW DIFFERENT WE ARE.
...FAIR PLAY TO THOSE WHO DARE TO DREAM AND DON'T GIVE UP.

You said it Marketa! Thank you so much for reminding this to us!

Now amiga and amigo one of those days when you feel like watching something inspirational, not pretentious, full of heart and feelings then stop by your local movie rental store and ask for ONCE. I watched this movie because of Bill. He said: Elsa I have this treasure that you must see. I watched it in our cabin at night while the kids were sleeping. Once is so real and simple, it looks like a documentary and by by the end of it I was in tears (of joy) and appreciation for the little jewel that this movie is.

Also if you want to add some unique music to your collection, the kind that will put you in a sensitive and creative mood all you need is this link. I already have my copy (we are talking about the music from the movie ONCE). Now if you get it I recommend you to go straight to tack #2 (If You Want Me) and then track#4 (When Your Mind's Made Up) I keep playing these two songs over and over, they blow me away!.

After the Oscars ceremony when people started going out I had the pleasure of giving Glen Hansard a BIG hug while Marketa was talking with their fans. He was just SO REAL AND WONDERFUL, take a look at his autogragh and see how much love he has to give to other people. You will find that love in their movie as well as in their music.

And now my friend that our OSCAR report series has reached its end I would love to add a little something to this post:

We all know that in the end every award is a human creation to recognize something remarkable that has been done. It always feels great to win awards because they give people confidence in what they do and the confirmation of how talented they are. Now, my favorite awards are those than happen in real life in the most subtle ways. I have been dying to tell you that I have gotten the most amazing award ever from my little man (Diego). Most of the time before he goes to sleep I rock him in the rocking chair in the darkness of his room for a few minutes. We have a little game where I say some simple words and he repeats them with me almost whispering. In the last days I have been teaching him how to say Natalie and he is the cutest little thing, he says something like Lalalie. Well the other night out of the blue instead of Lalalie and in his whispering little voice he slowly said Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, THREE TIMES!!!!! I had to contain myself not to ruin this magic moment, I wanted to scream but instead I just cried in silence. In that moment I really felt what is like to win an OSCAR, honestly, I felt so proud and happy and emotional, I just wanted to thank everyone for everything. I felt like a real winner, just listening to those three little words that define who I am for Diego. Those awards are the ones that really matter in the end of the day for everyone including the most famous stars. We are all human and we all find the biggest joy in the rewards that come from loving someone else.

Now I am leaving you with a BIG BIG HUG because I am SOOO HAPPY, I JUST WON MY OSCAR and it has been placed in a very special corner in my heart!!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

ELSITA :) (Mommy is my real name!!!)

Manuel and Manuela, Bill and Elsa :)

Manuel and Manuela look kind of alike but they couldn't be more different from each other. They often have to talk and find solutions to their differences. Right now they are talking about Manuela's hair accessory and whether she should wear it on the right or left side of her head.

Sometimes they don't agree with each other and get frustrated. Here Manuela just decided that she will wear it on the right side of her head and Manuel can't understand why she doesn't take his fashion advice.

But they deeply love each other and know that their love is solid and unique and that's what really matters!
In this picture they both decided that it is silly to argue about a simple plastic hair accessory so they are happy again! Happy Valentine's Day Manuela and Manuel! Today they are going out with their baby Manolin to celebrate this wonderful day!!!
The end :)

Now Elsita and Bill have many things in common even though they come from completely different worlds. (Here is their very fist picture together in Havana)

One day they both decided to sign a paper saying: We will be together forever in the good times and the hard times, loving each other and supporting each other. Since then Elsita and Bill have been going through the most beautiful experiences that you can imagine as well as through the most painful experiences that a couple could go through. (Here is Elsita holding the paper)

Elsita and Bill have collaborated in many exciting projects, this includes a couple of comic books that they draw together, the decoration of their home and many others... but the most remarkable collaboration has been the two little creations that Elsita is hiding here in her her tummy in each one of these pictures.

Natalie!!!

And Baby Diego!!! Who is held by one of the most important members of their family: Wonderful Miro!!!!!
All the five of them make a strong family. They love each other and support each other and are there for each other in the good and the hard times. Today they will be celebrating their love and having fun!!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FOR EVERYONE!!!!!
And I send you all a big hug!!!!!

Elsita :)