I love watching junk TV and reading smutty chisme sites online -- me encanta. Over the past few days I've seen a lot of promo-ing for Madonna's clothing line Material Girl, available at Macy's, por si acaso. It's also been an unveiling of sorts for little Lourdes (Leon, remember? of the personal trainer/actor-ish father Carlos Leon). Lola is now all of 13 years old, going on 14 next month, and is all fashionista and dying her hair and into Dirty Dancing and hot pink biker shorts.

**EW** To the biker shorts part.

I'm not creepy, I know all these little details because mini-Madonna is putting it all out there in the Material Girl blog under her own section Blog, Lola, Blog. It's cute how she's so into the '80's. Guess if your mom was Madonna you wouldn't have a choice, huh. WORSHIP ME, CHILD!!! I'm sure a Madonna time-out is on a whole other level. Like in a cage, or something. And that British-ish accent frightens me. Although that seems like it faded along with the memory of what's-his-name, dad#2.

Watching Lourdes makes me feel like I'm dreaming, and Madonna is in my dream only she's not quite Madonna, she's a Latina version. Hmmm, if I were Lourdes I would totally go as Guadalupe for Halloween. Is that blasphemous?

Cabronsito! It's what you want to say when the little Frito (or Sabritas) bandito starts talking back, giving attitude or acting out. Forget timeout. Just put this shirt on them! Or not. I don't know -- I'm back and forth on this one. I think it's kind of a strong word for a kids shirt, even if when you say it in a kidding way and make it diminutive. Is pendejito better than pendejo? Um, no.

But no one knows what goes on in your crazy mama head, right! Think it loud. Throw a chancla, in your head. Better yet, walk around work thinking it. Yeah, party in your head.

We all wore them--I had white huarachitos for Easter one year. Pink ones at some point in elementary. And I have some fabulous red huarache-inspired wedge shoes now. My husband is totally obsessed with minimalist running shoes now and if I tell him about these huaraches he'd probably make his own and start wearing the Jesus sandals. I didn't call them that--they did. I'm so inner circle on huaraches that never even crossed my mind.

Anyway, I haven't bought any huaraches for baby K just yet, and since summer is almost over and it's almost boots season (ugh, the south Texan in me cringes at the thought of that--not the boot part of course, the cold part) I'll probably just wait until next spring to get her a pair. Or maybe we'll brave sandals in December when I get her dressed up as Juan Diegito on Dec. 12. I already have the outfit!

Latin Lingo just let me know that they've just put up their blue Chavo and Chilindrina shirt for sale on their website. Coolness. I did a post a few weeks ago of baby K wearing it. I bought it in the company's store in San Jose, but couldn't find it online. Until Now!

In the meantime, last week when I was in Los Angeles I hit up--at the suggestion of a friend--El Mercadito, on First and Lorena in East LA. As she had described it to me, "it's like a glorified pulga," and that's just about right. They sell everything from molcajetes to pinatas, pan dulce, boots, quince recuerdos and aceites to cure all sorts of ailments (or envidias). It's totally what I was in the mood for. In one of the tendajitos upstairs I came across a ton of Chavo, Chilindra and Chapulin t-shirts--for five bucks each, woo hoo. I literally salivate when I find a deal.

When you're gonna hang in the public park, gotta dress up for the occasion. Got this pink Latina tank top at the same place in San Jose where I bought the Chavo and Chilindrina t-shirt. But again, can't find this particular one in their online store. BUT, it's similar to this one sold online at Arte y Loqueras. Some of the other children's shirts this store carries are the ones I saw at Latin Lingo. Hmmmm.

And no, baby K is not wearing those denimish diapers. They are actual denim diaper covers. Baby K has two pairs, one from Old Navy and the others are by Wrangler, and bought those in South Texas at a Western store.

We met up with a friend visiting from out-of-town today for brunch at Founding Farmers, a terrific farm-to-table restaurant in DC. Everything from the coffee to the waffle to eggs benedict were delicious. We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table beforehand though, which really sucks when you have a hungry child who is bored with the Cheerios holdover trick.

But, baby K got to wear her lilac guayabera jumper out today! I wrote about it recently--it's the one her madrina bought for her in Miami. It is so cute, but the only issue I have with it is that there are no buttons on the legs for diaper changes, so I've basically got to nakedify my poor child to change her. Not fun to do, especially at this stage where she squirms and tries to roll over and sit up when we change her.

After brunch we took her to the National Building Museum and let her cut loose. Apparently, every other parent in the area had the same idea because it was hoppin'. We played with mega legos for a while, let her run around chasing older kids--which totally fascinate her now, and then went home. And now she is asleep! Muahahah, score.

Wearing a classic Mexican dresses is effortless, and baby K is pretty comfortable playing in them, too. The bright colors they come in make me happy, and the embroidered flowers make me feel hippy. I see them a lot in fuchsia, bright blue or turquoise and golden yellow. You can find some really nice ones--for yourself of the little one--in Aida Coronado's Etsy shop.

I gotta say, when I started looking to see where you could get them online the word "costume" kept appearing. WTF? Totally made me remember a story I heard from a professor in college, who said she wore one to a faculty party, and one of her colleagues told her he loved her "costume." Seriously. Ethnic does not equal costume. That's jacked up. But oh well, here's a comeuppance: the stares my husband got when he wore the men's version of this shirt in the DFW airport. That's right. Ugly B wore her Guadalajara poncho with pride, and our girls are gonna wear those little Mexican dresses whenever. Wherever.

So the U.S. had The Little Rascals, and everyone else in Latin America and Latinos in the U.S. had El Chavo del Ocho. Even if you didn't grow up watching the show, it was at least wallpaper on the television during visits to guela's house.  And that, at least for me, is what makes it nostalgic and made me want this shirt when I saw it at a Latin Lingo store at Westfield Oakridge Mall in San Jose, California. I've looked at their online store but can't find it. Wah, wah. I'll try to find out if they plan to carry them online.

Of course, baby K is often mistaken for a boy when she wears the shirt. Oh well.

While in Miami baby K's madrina, baby K and I made a pit stop at Guayabera World inside Dolphin Mall. I've been meaning to get the little monkey a guayabera but with the sweltering heat all week long it didn't even cross my mind to go outdoors unless I was running across the law to the pool or bearing down and taking the heat on my way to Sedano's to get yet another cortadito fix (you will soon see on this blog, it is coffee/espresso, not blood, that runs through my veins and I would be safe in Bon Temps).

It finally re-entered my brain on Sunday, our last day in town, and on that day nearly all the stand-alone storefront guayabera stores were closed. But the mall never let's a woman needing to shop down. I was stoked to find a pretty good selection. I got the monkey a halter dress and her madrina bought her the most adorable guayabera jumper (will upload pic later when she actually wears it), which she will probably outgrow in two weeks since she's at like the 97 percentile for her length, and still growing fast.

Both outfits were around thirty bucks, which is more than I usually care to pay for clothes she'll outgrow quickly, but this was soooo worth it. I got an authentic Cuban guayabera in Miami--and who am I to judge that the tag says Made in China, right? It's linen. Perez Prado goes off in my head. Good enough.

I asked the lady cashier at the store--she was definitely authentic Cuban--si tenian una tienda online, and she said gave me a long, blank stare and said mmmm, nooooo. But this other place here sells children's guayabera outfits. I can't vouch for the quality but if anyone else has bought a nice baby guayabera outfit do share where you got it from. This is one product that seems to be kinda hard to find online.