Lilah Rose

On Saturday October 17th 2009 I took you to the Parque de Atracciones in Casa De Campo on the western edge of town. After a long ride on the metro we stopped in for some mediocre Chinese food and then hit the park.

I have more photos which I will post later but for now I just want to post my candidate for movie of the year. Your first “Free Fall”.

As you rode up it was clear to me that you didn’t quite grasp, while watching from the ground, what you had signed up for…on the initial drop I could see signs of the whole thing going very wrong very quickly but you quickly found your feet, so to speak, and had a blast…so much so that on the way out it wouldn’t do but you had to ride it one more time (luckily for me, we made it on line just before they shut it down!).


(The whole thing is great but my favorite bits are the little wave before you got going and your “bravery” at the very end).

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Well Lilah after 3.5 years you are finally, sleeping in your own bed, sleeping in your own room and putting yourself to sleep!!

The recent development of you being able to put yourself to sleep has gotten me thinking about the evolution of your bedtime routine. So here it is, as complete as I can remember.

For the first few months it was really easy, hand you to your mom and you would nurse yourself to sleep. On the odd occasion that she would be unavailable I would typically stand up and rock or do deep knee bends until you fell asleep. The key during this period was for me to stand ,if I even tried to sit down you would snap to attention and start to cry, no matter that I kept rocking you.

At about 6-9 months things got a bit trickier as you would be dead tired yet refused to close your eyes and therefore would just stay awake and fuss about being awake. In this time I learned that once you reached a certain point I only needed, by any means necessary, to get you to close those peepers. For a while I could gently blow into your face causing you to blink and viola, you were gone. Eventually, however, you turned this into a game and started laughing and blowing back in my face, argh. I was able to counteract this for a short while by brushing my hand gently across your face, forehead to cheeks.

Thankfully it was around this time that you would let me sit or lie down. So I got in the habit of laying on the couch with you on my chest and gently rolling back and forth until you closed those perfect little eyes. You and I watched many a football game in this position, OK I watched and you snored.

Somewhere between a 18 and 24 months you got tired of me holding you in order to go to sleep and preferred to lay on your belly whilst I gently rocked you with a hand on your back or bottom. This approach continued well into your 3rd year.

One nice addition, once you started talking, was one could gauge exactly how tired and close to sleep you were by the frequency of “I love you”s that you would mutter periodically.

In the fall of 2008, while we were in an Apt. in Norwalk awaiting, our move to Spain, you slept in your own room and bed (at least you started the night there) for a short stint, but it didn’t last and every morning you were in our bed anyway, still we had to put you to sleep.

While we were in Spain you went back and forth between your room and bed and our bed, again you usually migrated to our bed during the course of the night anyway. All the while your mother or I had to spend 30 minutes or more reading/rocking/cajoling you to sleep.

In January of this year you started sleeping AND WAKING, consistently, in your own bed in our room, getting you to sleep was still a nightly chore.

Last week you were finally willing to relieve us of our bed time duties (or least reduce it down to a story) and put yourself to sleep in your own bed, in your own room. And so far there have been only a few mornings where you made your way into our bed during the night. Hooray!

At the time, I was not very happy with many aspects of the arrangement (some times more than others). However, looking back, I wouldn’t trade any one of those nights putting you to sleep for anything in this world (OK, OK there are a couple of them that I would gladly give up…but not many). It was truly a magic time and, don’t tell her, but I think your mom was right all along in her approach to bedtime.

Sleep tight buddy.

After 2 years talking about it and 3 months actively looking we have finally gotten you a dog to call your own. Her name, for now, is Gidget and she is, according to the shelter, a 14 month old Pit/Pointer mix. She came to live with us yesterday, Monday March 30th, and so far so good. Your preferred name for her so far has been Butter Bean but your mom isn’t so sure that it fits so there is no consensus as yet.

While she is very much a puppy she is mostly housebroken and doesn’t seem to be to scarred from the 4 months she spent in the shelter. She was picked up by Bridgeport Animal control in December and from there, thankfully, made her way to paws here in Norwalk.

You two have made fast friends and she has been, so far, very conscientious or how small you are and hasn’t pounced you, though I wish the same could be said of your mom and I. As your mom tells me that this afternoon you two spent the day playing fetch and you, of course, were beside yourself with joy.

While we are only 2 days into getting to know our new friend, we all agree that we seem to have made a good choice.

I am quite excited Lilah.
Tonight was the first time you “Actively” watched a nature/science show. We have watched them in the past but your demeanor was not that different than when you are watching “your shows” (Blue’s Clues, Little Bill, Little Bear) in that you just sit there sort of zoned out and visually “bothered” if anyone tries to engage you.

Tonight you were full of life and asking questions, so many, in fact, that it was hard for your Mom and I to watch, “what’s he doing”?, “Where they goin’”?, “What’s gonna happen next”?, “A MONKEY”!. You found the howler monkeys and their prehensile tail fascinating, along with the 6′ otters (“those are big otters mommy”). You were a little bothered/scared by the entomologist as he couldn’t manage to keep from getting bitten or stuck by the various insects he was studying (Army Ants, Tarantulas, scorpions) and were constantly checking on whether or nor the ants were coming back or not (with hands over ears, which is your “I don’t want to be scared” posture). This guy also induced hands going over ears as well (“I don’t want him to bite his hand”).

The show in question was: Lost World: Land of the Giants which is airing on “Green Planet” (thanks Mam for keeping the slingbox running).

Today, Lilah, we made our way out to Parque Regional Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Which is about a 30 minute drive just north east of Madrid, where you participated on your official first hike. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze and enough clouds to keep the temperature bearable.

The park was free to enter and a lovely drive up to the trail head. You probably walked a good 40% of the time all on your own, mostly the flat and downhill portions, the rest of the time you were either on my back (the way up) or your Mom’s back (the way down) talking about any and everything that popped into your little head. As is your habit of late, you were most concerned with what any and everything was saying (what’s that Rock saying daddy? What’s the ground saying mommy?) as well as hunting down your echo, luckily we eventually found her towards the end of the trail, not so sure the rest of the park was equally pleased with your discovery, and certainly not with the hunt.

You found and commandeered a hiking stick about 5 minutes after being let out of the backpack which stayed with you through the end of the day (actually it might still be in the Premacy) along with the requisite bird feather. Around the halfway point we stopped for some oranges, apples, and sesame seed treats. A wrong turn kept us from making it to the summit, but that should provide enough of an excuse for us to go back (along with the swimming hole).

As we neared the end of the hike you pointed out that you had dropped your hat….about 500 yards UP the trail, I guess it could have been worse…. One guess who had the pleasure to back and retrieve it….

And of course no hike is complete without a stop by a cold mountain stream to cool off and relax, and today was no exception. You were not to keen on the whole idea at first but eventually you warmed up to the idea as you can see in the pictures below.

On our way out of the park we stopped by the village below for a bite to eat and a look at the local castle as well, needless to say your were OUT like a light by the time we got home (well after your first roadside poop).

Third trip to Ikea and your first “playpen” experience.

On Saturday we flew into Barcelona relatively early and were able to walk around on the beach and the docks next to our hotel, while at the docks we stopped by a little bar to have some tapas and had easily the most delicious calamari rings, they were hand battered, and fried to perfection, so tender that they literally melted in our mouth.

The following pictures of the beach are the only ones we were able to take with a proper camera.

Saturday night we went out to eat at a Ikibana recommended by the concierge that was very satisfying. Lilah especially loved the interactive fish pond projected on the floor by the entrance, though at first she was a bit pensive about stepping on the “fish”. Lilah really took to the waitress, as Camille put it “She acted like a 9 year old boy with a crush on his babysitter”, she would stare and lean into her chest at any chance she got (all the tables were the high sidebar type tables which suited this quite perfectly). Lilah constantly demand her attention whenever she stopped by and on at least two occasions reached out and, to our shock, groped her. The waitress took this all in stride and thought (or at least made us believe) that it was the cutest thing. Here are some poor quality photos of that Dinner (again from this point we were limited to the camera on the phone). In true Spanish fashion Lilah got to sleep sometime just before midnight!!

Sunday morning Camille, Lilah and I headed down to the “Rambla” a street lined with shops and cafe’s along with the Boqueria (or Market) where you can get just about any cut of meat (including Bull’s Balls and various animal heads), seafood, and some amazing looking (and pricey) fruits and veggies. While we didn’t make it to the Boqueria we did manage to stumble upon a Palm Sunday procession which was quite a sight, Lilah enjoyed the brass and drums; it took Camille two attempts to get the video as the first time around (which was a much better vantage point by the way) she failed to press the “record” button.

Lilah and Camille took a nap as I went down to register for the conference and attend the first training session. When I got done with my conference activities for the day we decided to head down to the Science Museum for a look see (see the Itsy Bitsy Spider post). For dinner we found a little out of the way restaurant and on our way to the table Lilah and Camille managed to knock over our neighbors water glass, drowning the last few bites of her steak, they were unfazed by the incident (though we did buy them dessert). Again Lilah got to bed somewhere around mid-night. Here are some additional pictures from that excursion.

Monday morning Lilah and Camille headed out to the beach and to wander around Barcelona as I headed to the conference. That evening we had planned to go out for a nice dinner but apparently the plane ride and two late nights caught up with Lilah as she had a fever. So Camille spent the evening with Lilah in the hotel and I went out to the dinner provided by the conference hosts at Codorniu [wikipedia: Codorniu Winery, the world's largest producer of bottle-fermented sparkling wine made by the traditional champagne method (méthode traditionelle), was founded in Spain in 1551. It produces 60 million bottles annually. Spanish sparkling wine from the region Catalonia is known as "cava."]    Where we were treated to a tour of the catacombs, a lovely 4 course traditional Catalonian dinner and a couple of numbers from a Flamenco dancer.

Lilah and Camille spent tuesday in the hotel as Lilah continued to have a fever and I spent the day at the conference, the conference evening activities were held at a night club so I opted to have dinner with the family in the room and go to bed early.

Wednesday was the last day of the conference, once the conference ended we checked out and made our way back down to the Rambla to wander by the Boqueria. We stopped by El Quim located at the center of the Market and sampled the fried egg with grilled baby squid (whole with ink sacs mind you), a house specialty, it was…interesting could have used some green chile (but then again I think everything could use green chile).

I hope you are sufficiently bored.

After 6 months of anticipation and preparation we were finally on our way.  The van arrived to take the family and I to JFK for our move to Madrid Spain.  We traveled light carrying only 1 large roller suitcase, 3 large roller duffel bags, 3 carry-on rollers, 2 overstuffed laptop bags, stroller, car seat, 1 insulated bag of food stuffs, 1 oversized cloth bag, and a medium sized plastic tote covered in duct tape.

We made it to the airport and through security without much hassle and plenty of time to spare.  The flight was uneventful, Lilah, as always, was a great traveller and did very little crying and/or complaining, Camille was able to nurse her to sleep shortly after the dinner service.  I believe Camille was able to get a little sleep at least she seemed to drift in and out.  I, on the other hand, tried lying still for about 45 minutes then gave up  and watched the the first few episodes of “Flight of the Conchords” and the first season of  “Curb” .

As we finished our breakfast the plane finally descended beneath the cloud cover and we could finally see the city of Madrid……covered in SNOW?!?!

As we prepared for the landing Camille entertained schemes of ensuring that Lilah stayed asleep as we deboarded the plane…the welcome to Madrid announcement from the Captian took care of that plan…so after sleeping only ~4 hours since waking up from her nap on Friday afternoon at 2pm Lilah was up and rarin’ to go for her arrival in Madrid.

As we came off the end of the jetway Lilah, the ham that she is, threw her hands up over her head and shouted “ESPANA!” (now as we left NY we asked Lilah where she was going and provided the answer as “ESPANA” but this was completely unprovoked).    It took over an hour to collect all of our bags, thank goodness for Blue’s Clues.

Being that we had arranged for a car service to take us to our apartment from the airport we figured immigration was basically the last bump in the road, we couldn’t have been more wrong.    Upon finding the car service counter we were told that the city of Madrid was “closed” due to the snow (less than 6 inches mind you) and that all of their cars were stuck in the city and our best bet would be to take the subway into the city….out 2.5 year old and two luggage carts piled with 13 bags disagreed.

We went out to the taxi stand at which there were about 15 people and no taxis.  After about 20 minutes of sitting outside 3 taxi’s finally show up…now I don’t speak spanish but they were clearly telling the folks in front of us that they could/would not take them where they needed to go b/c the roads were to bad.   We knew our apartment was only 12 miles from the airport so Camille walked up to one of the cabbies and gave him our address and he was more than happy to take us.  Somehow he managed to pack all of us and our 13 bags into this tiny european hatchback, we were not very comfortable as we were 3 abreast in the back seat, luggage and stroller in the floorboards, bags stacked in the passenger seat and the back completely full, but hey we only had to travel 12 miles…..

As we got out of the airport and onto the motorway we quickly realized that our day was no where near bein over traffic was at a standstill in all directions on all visible roads.  That 12 miles took almost 3 hours and 280 euros.   About 45 minutes into the trip after not moving for what seemed to be an eternity Lilah, completely unprovoked, started yelling “Rapido, Rapido” (translates to “faster”)  which gave us all, the cabbie included, a nice laugh, probably the last one of the day.

(we learned that the airport was closed down at noon for over 5 hours…so in the end I guess we are lucky that we even made it Madrid).

As we learned over the next few days it had been 5 years since the city of Madrid had seen snow, and it hadn’t seen this much snow in over 30 years.   The general population of Spain were very pleased with their snow as Snowmen could be seen on almost every median in the city center and adults were hurling snowballs at each other everywhere you looked.  The kicker, of course, is that by the next morning you could barely tell that it had snowed at all…..