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January 27, 2009

Marina goes further

In just a couple short weeks, Marina has gone from being all about crawling to being all about walking!

January 24, 2009

Thank you Tia Marisa!

Marisa's Christmas gifts for Marina included this adorable jacket from Peru. It was an (almost) instant hit -- Marina doesn't like to wear jackets or hats or mittens inside :)

January 21, 2009

Afternoon tea with the group of "mamis" and "bebes"

The moms made a kind exception and allowed me into their exclusive club -- I was the only father amongst the crowd of moms and babies this afternoon. It was a giant reunion of sorts, with tea, chocolate, juice, pastries, etc. Marina is one of the older ones with only a few kids older than her. She would not sit still for the group photo on the sofa, preferring to run around with other kids' toys instead.

January 20, 2009

Watching the inauguration speech

"Hurry up and finish, President Obama, I'm ready for bed!" Marina has been waiting for this day her entire life, but all she hears is "blah blah hope over fear blah blah unity of purpose blah blah worn-out dogmas blah blah happiness blah blah blah..."

Finally something to clap about

Obama's words were so inspiring, Marina began clapping for the first time. She babbled over all the doom and gloom rhetoric, though, preferring to focus on the positive. I'll post part of our inauguration-watching experience to YouTube and blog it in a separate post.

January 17, 2009

Hanging with Mar(t)ina

She and Martina are definitely a lot more interactive now that they're almost 10 months old. For now, I'd say Marina's still got the upper hand, but who knows for how long...

January 15, 2009

Marina is already walking

She must take after her daddy, who also started walking when he was 9 months old. This has been an exciting week with Marina taking her first steps unassisted! For a while she has been standing up and walking around while holding on to furniture, but then about 3-4 weeks ago she started to stand on her own. On Saturday, she started by taking a couple steps, on Tuesday she took about 13-14 steps, yesterday Gina counted 38 (OK, it's time to stop counting:), and now she's able to practically cross a whole room on her own!

January 10, 2009

Marina enjoys the Very Hungry Caterpillar (in more ways than one)

Every night right before bed, I read Marina a short story. Sometimes she really gets into it -- for example, while reading "The Very Hungry Caterpiller" she even bit off a corner of the last page...

January 06, 2009

Last day with Valeria

Today was Marina's last day with Valeria, Flavia's friend who baby-sat Marina for a month while Flavia was in Argentina. Thank you, Valeria!

Els Reis d'Orient

The Three Kings (Gaspar, Baltasar and Melcior) arrived at the Port Vell of Barcelona on the Santa Eulàlia (a la Nina, Pinta and the Santa María) and Marina, Tyler and I were there to greet them. After receiving the key to the city from Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu, the Kings made their way through a crowd of fans (kids and adults alike) to collect letters and to spread joy and PEACE. Marina handed in her letter to Gaspar which asked for a visit from her "yayos" or grandparents this year. She got a little help from mom on the text. Mom and dad enjoyed chocolate con churros at Valor while Marina dined on bananas with yogurt and cardamom before heading off to the most magical celebration in Barcelona of the year - LA CAVALCADA. Half a million citizens of Barcelona showed up to see the parade welcoming the Kings to town. Marina's eyes nearly popped out of her tiny head.

It's difficult not to gush over the event. The entire city gets into the act with a parade of beautiful floats, kids on stilts and camels - yes, REAL camels. And these Kings have the key to the city. They can get into ANY house, ANY apartment to bring toys (usually just one) to every girl and boy. To see more, take a look of this official blog of the city of Barcelona: Kings arrive at Port Vell, Barcelona

January 04, 2009

Por una cabeza

Marina enjoyed listening to this classic tango, played and sung to her personally at our table outside at Buenas Migas. I hope you enjoy it, too.

January 01, 2009

Bon any nou!

Happy new year 2009! We celebrated with börek and baba ghanoush, some Rioja and of course the 12 grapes, one for each ring of the campanas at midnight.