Noon to midnight

We made it to Spain and have been enjoying a relatively calm week so far. Our flight over was better than the previous trip, mostly because there were TONS of empty seats on the plane...I mean, rows and rows of empties for us to spread out in. However this did not mean 7 hours of continuous sleep for any of us. For whatever reason, Elisa pulled her usual and wanted to read and gawk at people and generally fuss for the first hour and a half. Then she finally caved and slept for about 2 hours without moving in her car seat. This was during my turn at laying across the middle row of seats all while the plane ROCKED with turbulence. When it was Nacho´s turn to doze, Elisa decided to wake up and want to be held and switch positions every 10 minutes so that I might not get too comfy. Ah, this child...

But we made it. And it was a much better first day as well. Elisa took two decent naps and then around 11pm, she went to bed. Just as we were turning in around midnight, she cried out and made Nacho enter and soothe her a couple of times. But luckily, she stayed down from about midnight or so on. And when I say on, I mean until noon the next day! It was awesomely awesome. We slept, woke up on our own, ate breakfast, showered, dressed, got to chill and then, oh yeah, Elisa wanted to wake up. Since there is a 6 hour time difference with New York, we´re pretty much putting her down around 6pm and she´s waking at 6am. But the fact that it coincides so perfectly to the rhythm of our days here...waking late and staying up late...is just fine with me. Besides, she´s managed to sleep through a few lunches and siesta with us, so that´s been nice. We´ve even had two date nights IN A ROW with abuela watching Elisa and some of her cousins.

Oh, the cousins...suffice it to say that Elisa ADORES her Spanish cousins. She has been chasing her boy cousins and playing with baby Sara and it´s been so fun to watch. I already know she loves her American cousins without reserve, so it´s fabulous to see her enjoy this side of the family as much as she does. Today we drove to Encinar to have paella with the fam and despite two bouts of projectile vomiting as we took curve after curve on the backroads, Elisa brightened up the minute she hit the ground. The girl is a trooper. Plus, there were cats. She´s a sucker for any kind of animal, but this was a houseful of them so you can imagine the oohs and ahhs. More updates upon our return and lots of pictures to post. Until February!!!!

It never fails...

So we're counting down to our trip to Spain on Tuesday, and who gets sick? Yep, Elisa decided this would be the perfect weekend to come down with a runny nose and fever. Today has been better on the fever front, thankfully, but I'm just wondering if I need to wrangle a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning or let it go. Considering how busy I'll be packing and getting the apartment ready for us to leave, I am trying not to let my agenda cloud things. But with all aspects of parenthood, sometimes the wait and see approach is done more out of practicality than wisdom. Here's hoping real wisdom guides me.

Anyway, backing up a bit to explain how this trip came about...Nacho gets his monthly schedule towards the end of each month, so we just found out last week that in addition to the days off at the end of January, he also has a good 4-5 days off at the beginning of February. Now that I'm not working, I am finally able to say, okay, let's do this and so we're taking advantage of the low season and jumping on standby to Spain. Pre-baby standby was an adventure with few downsides: you show up to the airport, wait out the boarding and if you were lucky, you were handed a boarding pass and AWAY YOU GO! But these days, with so many factors to consider (packing twice the clothing/supplies, timing the amount of food to bring, hoping the flights coordinate well with nap times, bringing good distractions for the flight, etc), it's far more complicated and honestly, not a whole lot of fun. The adventure has been replaced by anxiety and moments of sheer dread. But having said that, the fact that we have these flight benefits and have a family awaiting us on the other side of the Atlantic makes this very worthwhile, if a little crazy. So, here's to hoping that the trend of the day continues (fever at bay and appetite improving) and maybe by Tuesday night we will have a cozy, sleeping toddler on the flight waiting to wake up and see her abuela!

My little kitchen helper

Lucky for me, Elisa likes hanging out in the kitchen while I putter around on many afternoons. For my real baking, I prefer solitude--usually during her morning nap--but it's nice to have a little helper when I'm washing up dishes or making a quick meal. Today I gave her a few cups, a sponge, some water and a tupperware container to make a nice mess. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to drink the water or squeeze it out of the sponge again and again. It's easy to want to control her movements sometimes especially when it's so easy to guide her, but I am working on letting her just experiment and find her own way. Besides, if she pours a whole cup of water on the floor, well, what's the big deal?

17 things about 17 months

So I found myself on the phone today with a customer service representative who was helping me transfer my old 401K plan to something else. He was an affable guy with a silky-smooth tone and lots of polished professionalism. As we were wrapping up the financial decisions, he asked if I had any dependents and I said "yes, one." He got the information and then I asked him if he had any kids yet (he seemed about the same age). He said no, but he was awaiting his first in about three months time. Wow, I said, congratulations. It's always fun to hear the excitement from newbie parents who have no fucking idea what they are embarking on. He asked how old my daughter is and I said, "Gosh, seventeen months this week." And suddenly, it hit me. I really was light years from where he stood. Safely behind the hurdle of pregnancy and delivery, of surviving those first few nights, and weeks. I didn't want to offer useless advice, just told him that he'll be where I am in no time.

And where is it exactly that I find myself these days? I thought of that for a few minutes after I hung up. I have never been one for lists, but it seems relevant that I have so many small things I want to remember about Elisa so why not make a one? 17 little known facts about my baby that isn't a baby anymore. So, here it goes...enjoy!

1. When Elisa greets us every morning, she almost always says "hi" in the most high pitched sweet little voice. It's like she wasn't sure who was going to open the door.
2. In Elisa's mind, the pigeons that roost outside our living room window are her first pets.
3. Sitting on the wooden floor last night she farted with a nice long drumroll of a fart and then said "ahhhhhhhh." Twice. I shit you not.
4. Elisa sucks the thumb of her right hand with almost religious fervor. Oddly though, she doesn't seem to stick it all the way in--something my sister finds amusing.
5. As far as words go, Elisa has repeated a number of words in both English and Spanish (Momma, Daddy, Biz (as in Markie), bottle, gato, hi, yes, thank you, brush, bye, this, that) but she really isn't using any of them consistently. In time...
6. Elisa LOVES fruit. Any kind. Except maybe bananas, but only on Tuesdays. You get the idea.
7. If making an O-face were a sport, Elisa would be a gold medal contender.
8. After making a string of babbling nonsense, Elisa sometimes finishes it with a wrinkled-nose chucklefest which makes no DNA testing necessary.
9. Peas and green beans are quite possibly her favorite food.
10. And she's never met a cracker she didn't like.
11. When Elisa smiles she squints one eye almost shut just like her Papa.
12. Elisa has a big beauty mark on her left thigh. It's like a freckle on top of a big mole.
13. At the park today, Elisa climbed the small jungle gym steps all by herself. I was amazed. Of course, she almost took a header down the slide, but I got her to sit before she walked into oblivion.
14. When she sees an animal, she squeals. And laughs. And points.
15. Elisa has become an expert at blowing kisses and tickling people. Usually when they aren't looking. She even tickled the sleeve of a woman on the bus. Not cool, Elisa. Not cool.
16. She does not like feta cheese. I think that's the only cheese so far that she's rejected. Sorry, Dessi.
17. At 17 months, Elisa is still napping twice a day and she shows no signs of giving one up. Oh, well, I don't blame her.

Something to Think About

I needed a little bit of inspiration on this cold, wet Sunday so I'm copying a list I stole from Mommy Poppins. It's basically a life list for kids living in New York City which means there are WAY too many fun things on here which no sane person could ever accomplish. But nevertheless, it's good incentive for me to stay active and plan more days out. I need things like this to help me focus sometimes and remind me of what we live with and take for granted all too often. So here it is, the biggest, baddest list for our city kids:

Life List for NYC Kids (or 100 things to do with your kids before they grow up):Visit the NY Hall of Science
Go on an audition just for the heck of it
Wave to the cameras on The Today Show
Have tea at the Plaza
Ride the Shark Boat
Climb the Statue of Liberty
Ride the row boats in Central Park
Go to Dylan's Candy Bar
Go to Economy Candy
Get locked up at the Police Museum
Go kayaking on the hudson
Take the ferry to Sandy Hook beach
Ride a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park
Have dim sum in Brooklyn's Chinatown
Go hiking in the Staten Island Greenbelt
See the new Liberty Science Center
Go fishing in the East River
Go on a fishing boat from Sheepshead Bay
See the money train at the Transit Museum
Go to the Brooklyn Children's Museum
Get a taste of country life at the Queens Farm Museum
Ride on a tug boat
Sail on the historic schooner Pioneer
Sail in the hudson
Take a helicopter ride
ride the Cyclone before it's gone
Grab the ring at the Coney Island carousel
Spend my wad at Dave and Buster's Arcade
march in the Mermaid Parade
Go to a Brooklyn Cyclone's game
Fulfill a child's wish through operation santa claus
See the ballet
Watch a dress rehearsal of an opera at the Met
Sleep over at the Bronx Zoo
See the unicorns at the Cloisters
Go horseback riding
Go sledding in Central Park
Cross-country ski down a city street
Bike across the Brooklyn Bridge and get ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
Take the Roosevelt Island Tram
See the piano dancers at FAO
Visit the Sony Wonder Technology Lab
Children's Museum of Manhattan
Children's Museum of the Arts
Sketch at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Stargaze at the Hayden Planetarium
See the rest of the AMNH after the dinosaurs and mammals
Visit the top of the Empire State Building
Take an art class at the MoMA
Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island
Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Holiday Train Show at NY Botanical Garden
Check out the Queens Zoo
See the wandering wallabies at the Prospect Park Zoo
Watch a movie under the stars
Madame Tussauds
Try all the flavors at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
Look up relatives in Ellis Island
Visit new waterside playground in Chelsea
Get colonial at the Fraunces Tavern Museum
Do a medieval workshop at Cathedral of St John the Divine
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum
See the rollerbladers perform in Central Park (just West of the Sheep's Meadow)
Fly a kite on the Sheep Meadow
See Shakespeare in the Park
Going biking on Governor's Island
Find the secret Downing Street Playground in the Village
Explore Battery Park City Parks from the South Cove to Penny Park
Ride the Staten Island Ferry
Have knishes and egg creams at Yonah Schimmel's
See the giant buddha in the Mahayana temple
The Skyscraper Museum
Play vintage video games at The Museum of Moving Image
The Museum of the American Indian
Buy comic books at Forbidden Planet
Free concert in Madison Square Park and Get lunch at the Shake Shack
Buy flowers from the flower district
Buy wholesale toys in the wholesale district (27th and 6th)
Swing Clubs at the Chelsea Piers Driving Range
Climb the rock wall on Broadway
Visit the Science Barge
Visit the Intrepid
Test out the Whispering Gallery at Grand Central
Coney Island Arcade
Cook our own food in a Korean restaurant
Sail boats on the boat pond in Central park
Billy Johnson Rustic Playground in Central Park
Explore Belvedere Castle
Medieval Festival in Fort Tryon Park
Ride the carousel in Bryant park
See the to scale panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum of Art
Get Egyptian at the Brooklyn Museum of Art
See the new Greeks and Romans at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Go ice skating in Prospect Park
Riverbank State Park carousel
See the holiday lights in Dyker Heights
Take a trapeze lesson
See the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons get inflated
Watch the circus elephants march into town
Swim in the floating barge pool
P.S. I think I've done about 7 of these already (pre-Elisa though) so maybe I'm on the right track. Will keep you posted on the progress.

A is for Art

One of the things I've been looking forward to lately is getting out and exploring more of the city with Elisa. Since Nacho had a string of days off this week, we managed to make it to the Guggenheim for Elisa's first art exhibit--a fantastic Kandinsky retrospective celebrating the 50th anniversary of the museum. I had only been in the museum one other time, maybe on our first visit to NYC back in 2000 and I don't even think we paid to go in. It was too pricey if I remember correctly. But this week was a real treat and since the inside spirals up and up on a sort of ramp, the stroller was an easy choice.

Elisa made a few friends as we waited to purchase our tickets and then we were off...
I tried in vain to get her to look up, but this is what she missed...
We took one little pit stop off to the side of the exhibit where we had a wonderful view of Central Park through floor to ceiling windows. For about 10 minutes, Elisa could wander around and stretch her legs without getting in anyone's way. We even pulled out some contraband snacks and ate a bit before continuing on. I love it when a well-planned day comes together! We finished the museum with a quick visit to the Guggenheim store, and I found a special Kandinsky print to commemorate our trip. As Nacho commented, it feels like we are able to incorporate Elisa into more of our activities without too much chaos or sacrifice.
It was supposed to be a warmer day, but it didn't feel like it with a windchill in the teens. By the time we made it over to 3rd Avenue for a bite of lunch, Elisa had fallen asleep. Of course, we were totally surprised by this so I had to take a picture. I guess all that art wore her out!
Sitting in the diner eating our meal in relative peace and quiet with no one grabbing our food and/or cutlery, I was amazed at how fun the day had been. If she acts like this more often, we might just keep it up.

How to explain...

Yesterday on Motherlode there was an article entertaining the question why does anyone have children? Hmmm...good question, I thought. Why indeed. I should explain that it was really more a question posed by a young woman who wanted to know how people come to the idea to have kids when relationships and careers and well, life, can be so complicated without them adding to the mess. She wrote as a promising engineer who tried to apply some sort of logical argument to justify the need for kids. And we all know, it can't be done. Logic doesn't so much enter this equation as obliterate it.

This being the blog from the NY Times, the question solicited a good number of responses and I began wondering to myself if I could answer her question very succinctly. And then it dawned on me that if one has to ask why, parenthood might not be for them. I mean, I never asked why before I planned and conceived Elisa. I just knew I wanted a child and luckily that was all I needed to get me through the pregnancy and into the labor room. I wanted a baby and I wanted to experience motherhood. The fact that this wasn't a question for me was probably a good thing in hindsight. If I had known what was coming, I might never have felt ready. I love the line in the article from the author's OB/GYN which says, "When it comes to children, 75 percent certain means go for it.” I think that's about right.

After a month or two post-partum, I remember looking around at other moms and dads and kids on the street and wondering how they were all doing so well. And why were there SO MANY kids everywhere? Why did people have more than one and HOW did they do it? In fact, I wondered why there weren't more dead babies. Really. Living like a zombie momma was so isolating and the colic was so torturous that I felt at times that other kids must be much better than Elisa or their parents must be way more patient and loving. Now I realize it's just a stage and we all get out of it somehow. The bad news is that another stage is waiting, and then another. And pretty soon life is all stages and changes to the routine we thought we had down pat. Elisa turns 17 months old in a week and still when I meet up with other moms the conversation turns to sleep before all else. Are you getting it? Is she waking all the time? What do you do to get her down at night or for a nap? It's amazing that we adapted so quickly to this new life and haven't all run away in the night to destinations unknown. Why do we do it? And how do you explain to a childless person that it's all worth it?

As I thought about these things and played with Elisa during our very long weekend indoors, I felt over and over again that I was lucky to be part of her life. I know I brought her here, but in a way, I guess the beauty of parenthood is that if you do it right, your child eclipses you in a way. As you watch her grow and see all that you've offered her take flight, it's easy to answer the question of why. It's because I got a kiss from her today that lasted 3 whole seconds and when she hugged me before her nap, she let me hold her and rock her while sitting on the floor in the living room. The weight of her small body was crushed into mine and I couldn't go anywhere. And that was just fine. Why indeed.

Just Dance

Elisa knows how to shake her thang. Whether she gets this from me, Nacho or maybe a magic combination of both, the girl can move. Here she is getting her dancey dance on to Yo Gabba Gabba just after a bath and before pajamas. She LOVES that naked time and who can blame her. It just feels GOOD.

New Year, New You

I love those ads every January enticing people to join gyms or start some radical diet that never works. It's always, start now, start fresh. You know, change completely. Maybe it's the cynic in me, but that never seems to appeal to me. Yes, some part of that offers hope--hope to be even better versions of ourselves. But more often, it seems designed to fail. As if with the stroke of a clock on New Year's we are going to be made over completely and instantly. And lord knows, that just doesn't happen. However, I have been thinking lately about the order of my life and what I want to keep and what I would like to change or just be done with. I've got some specific ideas so far, but when it comes to this blog, I've been thinking a lot about what I would like to do with it. I've already surpassed my initial expectations about keeping this up during Elisa's babyhood. At almost 17 months now, it's become a second nature to post new pics and videos and make sure our friends and family have a good laugh now and then.

But lately, as I read more and more mom bloggers (some of them truly fantastic), I realized I'm missing my mark. What I truly love and value about some of the other parenting blogs is how honest and real, and fucking funny they are. And before I fall to some illusions of grandeur, I know I am not that funny. But I do think I could be more honest and write about the good, bad, annoying and amazing without returning to schmaltzy standbys about how wonderful it is to be a mom. It is, but I'm mostly over that. It's also shitload of work, and sometimes there is nothing more mind numbing than repeating the same routines and meals and activities day after day. I'm not aiming to make this blog for anyone but myself in some ways, and yet, I realize that unlike my personal journal, I'm much more aware of who reads this and the potential impact my comments have on their impression of me. Me. A mother of a terrific girl who drives me batty sometimes and yet makes me swoon with love. I'm hoping that in the coming months I can work on becoming a better writer and maybe enjoy my own blog as much as I do the ones I read for inspiration. Can you be your own inspiration? I'm going to find out.

Lazy weekend

We welcomed the new year and the frigid cold with a bit of a shrug. The weekend was all about wearing pajamas round the clock and just relaxing at home. Fine by me. Here are some snaps of little bit chilling on the sofa.

She's getting much more agile moving around the furniture and getting up on things (usually with the help of the step stool--why did I buy that again??). Today I even found her standing on the couch as I walked into the living room. Yeah, no. She just laughed. I guess we'll be working on those climbing skills outdoors.