growing up

Mariana started preschool this week at the Co-op School in Brooklyn. We're very excited about this development. We dropped her off on the first day and she walked right in like she owned the place with nary a glance back to see if we were still around. It left us happy but maybe a little sad that she could ditch us that easily. Oh well, get used to it Papa, right?

Here's a belated picture from her birthday - a new (ghetto) twist on the birthday crown.

We did manage to squeeze in some fun over Labor Day weekend. Here Mariana paints Mommy's legs, nice. She also painted all over herself and generally had a blast at our friends house in upstate NY.

beach beauty

This chick keeps us going in times like these.

Welcome back! Now go home

There were 100 great moments from our vacation but tonight I must digress into my own wallowing for a moment. Today after 9 years at my place of employment, I was laid off. The only other time I've been let go from a job was when I was 16 yrs old. So on my 1st day back from our wonderful trip I lost my job. It was a tumultuous day and I'm still numb from it all. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that as I sit here I don't have a job. I don't have a place that I have to get up and go to tomorrow. I wish I could feel the liberation in that but at this moment I feel more ...well... blank. I'm trying to fight off panic, worry, and doubt. How about excitement, opportunity and enthusiasm? I guess I'm somewhere in between. Mariana, Hilary and I will have to make some changes in the coming months- maybe some huge changes- and that has me a bit spooked.

Mangoes and the Chicken Lady

We just returned from one of the best trips we've ever had. We stayed on the west coast of Sweden with 2 of the nicest people you'll ever meet and their 2 awesome children: Anna & Magnus and Andres & Jarie. They live in what felt to us like an idyllic fairytale setting at the end of a tiny street in a tiny town 10 minutes drive to the water. They have tons of room to run around, forests, 4 wheelers, they've got chickens, a deck, swing set, they've got Rock Band and Wasa bread - but more than anything in Sweden we enjoyed spending time with their family. Anna's Dad made us moose steaks for petes sake.We met while staying at the same hotel in Bogota while waiting for our paperwork to be completed. Andres and Jarie came from CRAN, the same organization as Mariana.

Mariana is often a sucker for the boys- especially Dads. So not only did she get to hang out with Uncle Carlo on this trip but she became quite attached to Magnus. She had a problem saying Magnus so she just called him "Mangoes". She sang a little happy "mangoes, mangoes" song and asked about him whenever he left the room.

They have a 30' sailboat and one day we all went out for a cruise. The coastline in that area is an archipelago of thousands of little islands and being on a boat is the perfect way

to explore. We stopped at this one island that had only an outhouse and 2 black sheep as its inhabitants. Anna made

a big pasta salad and

Magnus bought some

freshly smoked mackerel and mussels from a fisherman selling from the back of his boat (see picture). There was a nice sandy beach where the kids played in the water and fished for crabs. Mariana LOVED the water despite it feeling cold enough to skate on. Our gracious hosts had of course brought hot coffee and dessert so we could have a nice snack on the beach. "Fika" as it's known was a big deal on our trip as we pigged out daily. Again and again we were treated like royalty. We had that same feeling we often do about how very lucky we are. One night after the kids went to sleep we stayed up till 3 drinking Schnapps and exchanging stories. I'm always amazed at how people from different sides of the planet -us from the biggest city in the USA, them from a teeny tiny Swedish village -can have so much in common. Having adopted kids from Colombia seemed almost incidental as we drank and laughed at the same stupid shit.

Mariana had her little world turned upside down and we did our best to try to

appease her. Travelling with children I've learned can be quite a trying experience. A lot of rules

went out the window and basic survival mode as parents kicked in. You want to eat with your hands? You got it. Toys at the dinner table? Go for it. Running around with scissors? Have fun kid, just PLEASE please stop the screeching, screaming and whining. Andres and Jarie would sit at the table, halos floating gently above their heads and eat quietly of their vegetables or whatever else was presented to them. Mariana sat, or squirmed I should say, at the end of the table, the girl who had a few too many beers and yelled and cried and threw food and demanded things and made her parents run around like fools trying to please their master. It was a little embarrassing but probably our own fault for getting so worked up about it. Our hosts repeatedly said not to worry about it. It just made me wonder how we could have handled the situation better.

Before we left M already had an idea of what Sweden would be like. Anna had mentioned that they have chickens at their house. Well, the chickens didn't disappoint. It was a daily ritual to go to the chicken house to look for eggs. M did a crazy arm flapping running around in circles dance whenever we said we'd take her to the chickens. Than as soon as we were back inside- "Go to see the chickens? Please Daddy, go to see the chickens?"! I'll try to upload the video but blogspot is having trouble.

In the middle of the trip we drove across the country to the east coast to see Overkill play at the Getaway Festival in Gavle, about 2hrs north of Stockholm. M was very excited to see Uncle Carlo. She got to run around backstage and make people laugh, a big dollop of cuteness in a sea of black clad metalheads. We figured it was too loud for her to watch but thought that 1 song would be ok.

She looked a bit stunned as she watched the 1st song then Hilary took her backstage so I could watch the rest of the show. Well, M wouldn't have any of that and kept asking "go to see the loud Mommy". I knew she was cool.

family ride

Just a short video from our family bike ride a few weeks ago. I dusted off Hilary's bike, loaded up Mariana on mine with me and we rode over to the new-ish french pastry shop in our neighborhood. That's a baguette Mariana's chomping on as she rolls past the camerawoman. Mom and daughter perfected the crusty bread hand off while riding- pretty impressive. M had lots of fun, and she better learn how to fake it if not because if she doesn't grow up to love bicycling she'll be disowned. (ok, not true - only if she becomes a red sox fan)

Cave Girl

Mariana knows how to use a spoon. That doesn't mean that she always will. We were eating breakfast the other day and she put her fingers into her oatmeal to grab a blueberry. I said "Hey, use your spoon cave girl". She cracked up and started calling herself Cave Girl from then on. Even when she doesn't do something cave-like she'll say it. Cave Girl's funny.
We found out yesterday Cave Girl has tonsillitis. So she gets to sit in front of the tv and eat sorbet. She's very sad though. She has a fever and stuffy nose and is sleepy and lethargic. Poor thing, she even fell asleep during an Elmo video. I bought her a new video to give Hilary a break from watching Disney's "Bolt" for the 400th time. Apparently 5 minutes into it she asked for Bolt again. She's been doing A LOT of that kind of a thing. She'll ask for juice and then cry when you try to hand it to her. She asks for the Elmo video and then as soon as it's on asks for Bolt and then as soon as that's on she'll ask for Elmo again, each time crying unless immediate action is taken to satisfy her demands. Even when you hop right to it she'll cry. Basically I think she feels so crappy that nothing will make her happy.

Sometimes this parenting thing is hard. Really hard. The past few days with Mariana being so difficult tests us and challenges our beliefs about child rearing. Do we indulge her every request normally? No way, but when she's sick it's hard to know where to let things slide and where to stick to the rules. The more upset she gets the more you want to calm her down by giving in. After a while though you realize that giving in isn't working either. In fact her whole routine has been disrupted and she's not eating, not sleeping enough, and generally can't go 2 minutes without freaking out. So what's the answer? Stick to your rules and keep your routines - just let her cry through it all? or let her do whatever she wants and cry through it all anyway? I don't friggin' know. I just know that her waking up at 530 am instead of her usual 730 is making all of us cranky.

This video features MJV with her cousin Niko.

C'mon people!

I think we're getting into the "Guess what Mariana said" years now. I imagine there will be many of these. But ok, guess what she said while we were waiting in traffic at the Holland Tunnel? We were on the way to Poppy's house in NJ and I must have been muttering at drivers being stupid in traffic. She says from the back seat, "C'mon people". Ha! Ok, guess what else she said? We were playing hide and seek in the car and she was laughing a lot. She then says to me "You're funny Daddy!". Of course the dopey uncle/son/husband/brother in me beamed at this supreme compliment.

Hilary has been taking some classes on the weekends so I've had M all to myself. It's been great. I wish I could share all the little things she does that make me smile. This video is taken at our local playground. She was all fired up after our bike ride and when I put her down she just wanted to run in circles. That little hip wiggle shake is too damn funny.

This morning I gave Maña some dried blueberries after breakfast. I often count them out to her as a way to teach her numbers. Today she counted all the way to eleven on her own without any prompting. She's also starting to say thank you and please on her own too. And she's not even 2 until August. I'm relieved more each day because there isn't a doubt in my mind that she'll be in all the gifted and talented programs. Whew, I thought finding the right school was going to be tough but not when you know that she'll be at whichever is the best.

Maña has recently graduated from the high chair to a regular chair. Ok perhaps graduating is the wrong word. It would imply some skill set had been mastered or that a certain requirement of coordination was reached. Well in Mariana's case it was just a lot of whining/ screaming/ not eating crankiness that made us give up on putting her in there. Her mother fashioned this "booster seat" from a couple of clear bins and some packing tape. Some may call it ghetto style but I prefer to call it "Mommy-rigged".