It took over an hour to figure out how to add air to the tires (the pump end – for which I cannot find a name – just wouldn’t fit into the valve), but we took Marina out with her bicycle for the first time today. She can still barely touch the ground.
No one would believe us, but we’ve captured it on video. It’s Marina’s version of One-Two-Three only it’s Two-Three-Two (in Spanish).
All she wanted to do was eat the cupcake, but instead MAMMA and PAPPA made her sit through 4 versions of Happy Birthday (English, Spanish, German and Serbian). In the end, Princess Marina had lots of fun and more than a healthy dose of refined sugar (carrot / orange, vanilla lemon and chocolate orange cupcakes) at her If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Party. And everybody knows what happens if you give a cat a cupcake… he might want some sprinkles to go with it.
A sunny windy Saturday at the Barceloneta. We nabbed an inside sea-side table for our regular Buenas Migas Saturday desayuno which led to some creative “rocking out” to the 80’s music inside.
The word of the week is allá – the place where mamá and papá need to high-tail, so that Marina can do her thing SOLA. In the video she says ciao, her other fav word!
yeah (yes)
My mom and dad, A.K.A. Gram and Gramps, came to spend a week and a half with Marina and a week in Tuscany. Marina thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them -- playing with the things in Gram's purse, going to the zoo, playing at the beach, etc. etc. I think the photos (sorry there's so many) are pretty self-explanatory and sum up the visit quite nicely.
OK, this is really just for true fans of Marina, 'cus to anyone else this might be a totally boring video. It's significant, though, because as soon as she gets this down, it's one less thing we have to do for her and one more thing she can do on her own.
I took this video with our new camera just after Marina finished her breakfast. There's just something about her this morning that strikes my funny bone. Make sure to play it in HD and in full-screen mode!
Every once in a while Flavia snaps some photos of Marina at lunch time. In this photo she's outside on our balcony overlooking Plaça Letamendi eating asparagus, pea, green onion, and goat cheese pizza. It's also one of the few times she didn't immediately pull of her sun hat.
It's been a while since posting any bath photos, so here you are. This time we made it a bubble bath -- which is just all the more fun!
美咲ちゃん(Misaki-chan) having fun with one of her birthday gifts from Japan. For each animal in the book, there's a button that plays the animal's sound. Her favorite, as in the real world, is the dog (inu).
美咲ちゃん(Misaki-chan) having fun with one of her birthday gifts from Japan. For each animal in the book, there's a button that plays the animal's sound. Her favorite, as in the real world, is the dog (inu).
Whoah! Flame accompanied by song?!!???!?
I hope it's ok with Raquel, but below I'm pasting her response to Gina's mom's request for a report on how the party went:
"Marina estaba PRECIOSA y creo que se divirtió mucho. Estaba con vuestro vestido... parecía una princesa. Al principio, creo que se veía rara, pero luego se lo tocaba, se daba una vuelta... (como una princesa, vamos). Eso sí, no se lo podrá poner mucho porque le queda justo para ahora, y con lo que crece... Al principio se extrañó de que hubiese tanta gente, pero luego creo que se lo pasó muy bien. Había bastantes niños: unos cuatro o cinco y casi todos pequeñitos. Con los gorros, los "matasuegras" (no me imagino como es en inglés "son los que soplas y se estira"), los dulces... miró la vela con cara de "qué es esto" y creo que pensó lo mismo con el "cumpleaños feliz"...pero... le llegó la hora de comer y volvió a ser la "princesa más feliz del planeta" (come estupendamente bien). Gina y Tyler, seguro que tienen un montón de trabajo hoy. Éramos bastantes y no sé a qué hora se irían todos... Seguro que enseguida os envían fotos. Fue todo muy bien y seguro que a "la princesa de la casa" le hubiera gustado que estuvieran sus abuelos... pero, otra vez será."
Thanks to Gina's mom, Marina DID very much act the part of a princess/hostess greeting everyone at the door and making everyone feel at home. She enjoyed very much every minute of the party and was sad when it was all over. The only thing she couldn't quite figure out was why there was a burning stick in a cupcake in front of her while everyone sang a song to her.
We celebrated Marina's first birthday by having cake and chocolate at Sampaka. Qué divertido! And what a mess!
美咲ちゃんは菜食主義なのにえびフライチャンが大好きです！
A morning on the Barceloneta - breakfast at Buenas Migas and exploring on foot - followed by an afternoon nap and an afternoon pretending to make pasta. Sunday afternoon in the park downstairs (this was her first time on a playground) followed by a coffee at Starbucks. Why Starbucks? Because it's a nice clean smoke-free cafe where she can walk around freely and the staff there just adore her. She loved the balloon they gave her, but we were a little afraid she might pop it.
It's teething time again, so it's back to putting anything and everything in her mouth. The top two teeth are erupting this time.
In just a couple short weeks, Marina has gone from being all about crawling to being all about walking!
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 :)
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.
"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..."
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...
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!
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...
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!
Marina continues to open Christmas presents. She seems to enjoy the wrapping paper and tags more than anything. Her favorite presents include the plastic case that the soft blocks came in, her pink ball as well as Biscuit's Pat and Play Christmas book.
Marina has been adding to her repertoire -- this week it's "bah."
A new favorite of Marina's: shoelaces! She's getting pretty good at untying them. Now we just need to teach her how to tie her own laces:-)
Flavia has been taking care of Marina during the day while Gina and I go to work. She's been fantastic and Marina likes her a lot! It occurred to me that we had no photos of them together, so here are some shots I took right before Flavia went back to Argentina. We look forward to her return in January.
Just last night all of a sudden Marina started babbling (I guess they call it "canonical babbling"), saying "doo doo","dah dah", "goo goog", "boo boo", etc. Anyway, listen for yourself -- I caught her on video today as she was exploring our bedroom furniture.
Anything can be a toy. Marina is making her parents proud by showing an early interest in cooking.
We have liftoff! In addition to crawling around, Marina has added a third dimension to her exploratory excursions. She is now trying to climb anything and everything.
Yet another Marina fix. She is undergoing a growth spurt, so some new clothes are in order. It's getting chillier now, making the furry pink jacket her new fav!
Marina and Martina are beginning to interact a bit more. Aren't they adorable?
At just six months, she's getting places! No more leaving her by herself for even a minute. While she's not truly crawling yet, she pulls herself forward with her forearms.
Sweet potato! Even better than the rice cereal. Love the Baby Bjorn bib - it catches everything!
Introducing solid foods at 6 months -- rice cereal! She actually didn't hate it. A little messy but no problem.
We're not that excited about it, but Marina's headed to daycare tomorrow for a few hours each day this week before Gina goes back to work next week. We'll see how she does... hopefully she doesn't hate it.
Just a lazy afternoon in our apartment. Gina snapped these photos of Marina and Martina and Martina and her mom Emilia. I personally like the shot of Marina with her feet in the air -- clearly her feet are more interesting at this point than playing with Martina...
Another Buenas Migas moment.
We're continuing our breakfast routine at Buenas Migas. I just had to post these photos. In fact, we'll be posting photos fairly regularly even when we have no "news" to report.
We owe a huge thank you to Tyler's office mates, who gave us the tropical island themed floor gym! Marina loves it.
How patriotic! Yes, she is American!
Thank you Alder and Ruth for introducing Marina to Sophie. You should see how she just loves to gnaw on her and wave her around. I guess Sophie's withstood the abuse of many a baby over the decades since she was introduced in France, and we gather from our recent trip to Provence that she's still famously popular there.
Favorite aunt (only aunt) Tía Marisa came to share the love with her new niece in early June. She and Gina spent 10 days walking and eating and playing in Barcelona. There was some drinking too, but not as much as a breastfeeding mom might have liked. Marisa took over the late afternoon fussy shift; she particularly enjoyed Marina’s morning stretch IN PERSON.
We're getting out more with Marina. To the sea. To the mountains. Up Diagonal. She is very content being wheeled around in the Babyjogger or MaxiTaxi or just carried in the BabyBjorn or sling. This is also the month of smiles!
Gina's parents (hereafter to be referred to as Nonni and Nonno) came to Barcelona to spend about three of Marina's first four weeks with us. We are so grateful for their help and advice, the time they spent soothing and playing with Marina, and their babysitting while Gina and I could go out for brief walks to the sea or Tibidabo.
After a mere 5 hours of labor and no epidural, Marina Misaki Alioto (click here for more photos of ME!) was born at 7:05 am on March 26, 2008. Marina is named for her mami and papi's love affair with 2 beautiful port cities, for her great grandfather's years as a fisherman in one of those cities and for her sister who happens to have their favorite first name. Marina is pronounced the same way in English, Spanish, Catalan and Japanese. Her second name means "beautiful bloom or blossom" and originates from the myriad suggestions from Japanese family and friends in their second home… Kyoto.
