Mi Primer Caballo

I'm on Spanish Time

Today I finally mastered the art of the Spanish schedule. I took my first real 3 hour siesta! (Thank you Sofia for singing me to sleep.)

Below are some activities of a typical day in La Puebla del Maestre.


Morning Walk - We try to wake up and get out of the house before sunrise to take advantage of the early morning fresh air. Luckily for my parents the sun doesn't rise until around 8:30. The roosters start singing when it is still dark. I love to listen to them in the morning. Here we are on a family stroll. Mom is being silly. Maybe that's the effects of all of the figs she has been picking and eating. They are everywhere!


Home for Lunch - Lunch is the most important (and biggest) meal of the day. For example, today I had a banana, a pear and a slice of watermellon, all of which I ate by myself. As you can imagine, lunch is always followed by a bath for me (I still like wearing the food as almost as much as eating it). Our house is the one across from the payphone on the right.


Siesta


Tapas - We like to go our for a walk in the evening around 8 when the sun is low in the sky. Then we sit for some drinks and tapas (cereal for me) around 10. It doesn't get dark until 10:30! Then we head home again for a good night's sleep.

Llerena

a beautiful mideieval city where my grandfather lived as a child. . . .

El Alba en la Huerta

Me gusta Extremadura

We took a morning walk in el campo (the countryside) before the sun got too hot. We picked almonds from trees by the side of the road. As you see in this photo, olive orchards blanket the hills.



el arbol del aceite


el castillo de mi abuelo


the black sheep


El Pueblo del Maestre (Miguel Angel's family's village where we are staying) is at the far left of this picture.


mama divertiendose

Un Paseo Colesterol

Yesterday after a day of recovering, we took a paseo colesterol (translation: cholesterol walk) to balance all of the eating and sleeping. We went to see the plot of land my grandpa Miguel Angel gave to my father. It is called la huerta which means the garden. I loved it! It was full of olive trees, fig trees, membrillo trees, and berry vines.

My grandma Sofia, my aunt Rosario, Daddy and me. I was dancing in the Baby Bjorn because the countryside was so beautiful!


Three generations entering la huerta.


Miguel Angel was our tour guide.
I can't wait to someday be on my own two feet to explore all of the wonderful hidden places la huerta holds!

Salidas y Llegadas: Catalunya a Extremadura

Friday was a crazy day of departures and arrivals.

5:30am - depart Bellaterra (where Grandma Anna lives outside Barcelona) and drive to the Barcelona airport
7:00 - depart in airplane (my 7th flight!) from Barcelona
8:00 - arrive in Madrid airport and take a taxi to a hotel while Dad goes to the US embassy
12:30 - lunch at the only open bar - Madrid is deserted in August when everyone flees the heat
14:30 - depart hotel in a taxi to the bus station
15:30 - depart in bus for Merida
19:30 - arrive in Merida
20:00 - depart with Miguel Angel and Sofia in their car
21:30 - arrive in La Puebla del Maestre

Somehow I managed to enjoy the entire trip until the last 1/3 hour when I was pretty exhausted. My parents are so happy and grateful that I make such a good traveller.

When we arrived in La Puebla, Dad was totally surprised that Miguel Angel had built a new house on their property. Now, in addition to the traditional adobe house there is a beautiful patio and a second house with a large sala de estar with a fireplace and biblioteca where I sleep. I like the sound of the churchbells across the plaza that mark every hour with their song. In the morning, roosters sing to remind me that it's time to wake up.

My days on the Costa Daurada

reading books with Mom



making faces with the best beach babysitter, Nuria


Dad and Gabriel built me my own private pool



Gabriel almost disappeared!


time for a nap


walking home after a long day of fun

M'agraden les vacances

Life at the beach is good. Mostly we eat and sleep. Sometimes we swim. Actually, I have been "swimming" in the Mediterranean Sea. The water is warm and calm and very shallow. Perfect for little boys like me.


playing with Anna


playing with Gabriel

Estem arrivat a Barcelona!

And now begins my first summer in Spain!

Yesterday we flew from Boston to Barcelona with a stop in Schipol airport, Amsterdam. I was a fantastic traveler, winning praise from my neighbor on the plane and gratitude from my exhausted parents. On the first flight I slept, ate and played with hardly a single tear while Mom and Dad took care of me. On the second flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona we all slept very well. Grandma Anna picked us up at the airport and we went back to her house where we met aunt Nuria and cousin Gabriel for a delicious lunch and a siesta.


Gabriel and me. . . . Somos primos!!

After siesta we visited friends in Sabadell.

Andrea, Victor and Arnau on Arnau's 19th day of life.


Victor thought I was so big and heavy compared to baby Arnau!
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Today is Nuria's birthday. We celebrated with champagne and ice cream cake. Well, they celebrated with those foods, I had pear and potato papilla prepared with love by Dad.


Happy Birthday Nuria!

Sitting Up!

My First Tooth!!!!

Today is a special day. I got my first tooth! It is the front, bottom, left one. Yippeee!!!

My Song

Middletown Weekend

This weekend we went to Middletown, Connecticut to visit some of Mom's college friends from Wesleyan. We stayed with Steve and Julie and their daughters Lily and Violet. I received more kisses from girls than I ever have before. . . . and it was GREAT.

On Saturday we went blueberry picking at Lyman Orchards.

Blueberries are delicious (I ate fifteen or so. . . blue in, blue out).

Lily at work.

Violet enjoying the fruits of our labors.

We ate lunch on the deck at the orchard store. . .

. . . and Dad let me have my own peach. He thought I'd just suck on it but I showed him! I almost finished it. Who needs teeth?

We did some lounging by the pool at Steve and Julie's. That is our friend Derk sitting next to Julie. He makes my Mom laugh. A lot.

This is me, diaper-free and happy.

Aaaaaaaaahhh, relaxation.

I'm 6 Months Old!!

Last week I turned 6 months old. We celebrated with 2 major purchases. First, my own highchair. Now I sit up like a grown-up. Second, I got a real crib! It's fun because I have space to roll around and practice scooting. So far I can push with my feet but I haven't figured out how to simultaneously move my hands in order to move forward. Nevertheless, I manage to get from one side of the room to the other with a lot of rolling and grunting.

Dad assembling the crib.

Me enjoying the crib.

I am making huge progress on the eating front. I have mastered drinking from glasses and bottles (see below), and I can feed myself with a spoon! Sometimes I forgo the spoon and use my hands to push the food into my mouth. If that doesn't work, I resort to a more direct technique - I just put my mouth down on whatever it is I want to eat. It works! My diet now includes cereals, squash, potato, banana, apple, carrot, peas, peach, plum, rutabaga, turnip, melon, and, of course, the occasional pork chop.

Don't worry, I'm not really drinking it- just pretending!





I am still a good sleeper at night. My parents especially love this. I am not a huge napper, though. I like to take little 20 minute cat naps here and there and maximize the time I have to play by myself, to laugh with Mom, and to observe the world on our many walks around Cambridge and Somerville.

My personality is growing along with the rest of me. I love to laugh and find many things quite funny. Last week my mom was cracking me up with a silly sound she made while telling Dad a story. Click on the arrow below to see a clip.



Look at my growing feet! Compare them to my "small parts" 4 months ago.