17 month Photos

Sneaking a treat

Anna has finally found the cabinet where the dog food is kept in the laundry room. After I left the laundry room tonight to get a few more things, I returned to find her doing this:

Weekend in the Mountains

This weekend I had a great time with Mom and Dad and their friends with all the snow up in the north GA mountains. I learned how to sled on a cookie sheet for the first time!

I kinda liked falling down at the end too!

Thanks to Marnye, mom’s friend and resident snow angel expert, we all learned how to make snow angels. I can’t decide if this, or the sledding was more fun…(Mom says thank you Stephanie for recording this!! )

And I made a new snow bear friend (made by Mom and her girlfriends).

Snow Days!

In trying to avoid going stir crazy indoors, we decided to venture outside with Anna. The first day out on Monday wasn’t too successful…

The we decided she just needed something fun to do. What better use of an outdoor swing than to turn it into a sled? Things did get a little better, and yes- as you can see in photo #1 above we started out with gloves but lost them somewhere along the way…

Ultimately this was the general look on her face the entire time…

Then there was Day II today- Tuesday. I think this video says it all. She’s just learning how and when to say “woah, woah, woah” appropriately- her reaction to walking on the snow for the first time alone is priceless. She loved being out there so much that when Andrea tried to take her back inside she pushed the door back open with her hand and said “no, no, no” reaching back outside for more.

Looking forward to Day III Wednesday!

Anna’s First Birthday 10.20.2010

So this post is long overdue, but here are some of our favorite photos that tell the story best of her first birthday…

We started the day by turning her car seat around. This pic tells it all…

That night, we decided to take her out for pizza and ice cream and celebrate the kid in all 3 of us…

The following weekend we had the big party, smash cake and all…

She got so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts from her family and friends, but her favorite of all that day was the hot pink rocking horse from her aunt Susan…

11 months and a Heck of an Engineer….

That’s the kid-friendly version of the song, right? We had to post this photo in honor of football season. However Anna wasn’t cheering for her Papa’s alma mater…she was instead just excited to feel sleeves on her arms for the first time that she can remember. As soon as the sleeves went on, she shook her arms for about 5 minutes as if she were trying to figure out what to do with them. Andrea grabbed the camera and this is what came of it.

So what is Anna up to these days??
1. Trying to walk. She can stand for at least 15 seconds independently and loves to push anything she can across the floor. Of the two actual push toys she has, she prefers Andrea’s purple Rubbermaid step-stool she’s had since maybe 1999…with every color of paint we’ve ever used on it. Her eyes light up and she reaches for it with laughter every time she sees it.
2. Trying to talk. She tries to say so many words and understands even more. She has times where she jabbers nonstop, varies the volume of her voice and laughs at herself too. Here’s Andrea’s list that she thinks she understands so far:
dog, woof, milk, bird, Bonnie, Marlowe (the all important beagles), all done, Daddy, Mama, 1..2..3..(tickle), byebye, her name, necklace (she loves it every time Andrea wears one), hair (she points to hers every time you ask her), diaper, water, bath, car, up, out, bed, nightnight, yeay (she claps when you say it)
Words she says or attempts to imitate consistently:
diaper (uh-per), woof, water (wa-ah), all done (ah-duh), bath (bah), bird (buh), necklace (esss), poop, byebye (the clearest thing she says), bump (in the 5 little monkeys song…bumped his head..), Marlowe (her favorite beagle), book (buh- a shorter version than the buh for bird), mama, dada, horse
She says other words in imitation at times, but these are the most consistent.
3. Trying to take turns. She willingly gives you something she is holding and tries to engage you with it now. She tries to feed you food, give you her block, and hand you the ball instead of pushing it randomly back to you.
4. Trying to follow directions. Last week Andrea looked at her after rolling a toy to her and said “Anna, get it- get your bird (yes, it’s a bird on wheels)” Anna stopped, looked up to Andrea, grabbed the toy and gave it to Andrea. The first one step direction she has ever followed.
5. Trying to feed herself. She likes to take the spoon from mom and attempt to feed herself more and more. Needless to say, this is a disaster most of the time.
6. Adjusting to Montessori School. Anna is attending Discovery Montessori Academy and is in her 5th full week there going from 8am to 3pm every day. It took her about three good weeks to adjust, but she is easily separating now and only cries long enough for Andrea to leave the room when she drops her off.
She is still a champion sleeper, going to bed right around 8:30 now and will sleep until 7:30 if allowed. She falls asleep or at least stops crying once put down in under a minute most nights.
Favorite books:
The Eye book, by Dr. Seuss
Hand, Hand, Fingers, by Thumb Dr. Seuss
Chugga Chugga Choo Choo
Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you See?
Where’s Spot?
5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Good Night Gorilla
Dogs
Here are Andrea and Anna reading one of her favorites…Anna now requests this book by hitting herself on the head when they look at her bookshelf…

Barcelona days 5-9

So, we finally figured this city out…

The beach is not too shabby, but definitely man-made. Anna can say the first ocean that touched her toes was the Mediterranean!

Sagrada Familia…a work in progress…

And Anna found herself a nap in progress instead while we were there

The Fundicular ride up to Mount Juic…

We then took a Gondola up to the very top of Mount Juic and arrived at the 17th century fortress at its top. A site of many political executions, it is now a beautiful site to view the entire city…



We ended that day by rambling back down Mount Juic on foot, walked past the Olympic stadium where the 2010 European track and field championships were being held, then down the steps of the National Art Museum of Catalunya for a stunning water, music and lights show at the ‘magic fountains’ that evening. Here it is before the fountain is turned on…

And here it is at night after…



We also made our way over to Gaudi’s Park Guell. Not as impressive as we had imagined, but still worth going to see. It seems he had trouble finishing things he started. His once planned housing project for the wealthy has now turned into a long and winding park.



All in all it was a wonderful trip. We couldn’t have asked for Anna to be a better traveler! Anna had many firsts on this trip- first stamp on her passport, first plane ride, first train ride, first ocean swim, first hotel stay, first gondala, and first taxi. We thought it fitting to end with a photo of her in the Taxi we took to the Airport at 6am the day we left. Andrea couldn’t get over the child safety seat the cab driver pulled down from within one of the passenger seats. Anna loved it. It was the first time she faced forward in a car with a window she could see out of…

Our driver spoke only Spanish, and much of it- she talked as if we understood every word she said much of the way to the airport. Very lovely lady, as were most people we encountered there. She used “bambino” often and smiled…Anna stared in awe of her every time she spoke…

Barcelona Days 3-4

So far we can’t say Anna has adjusted to Barcelona time. She’s somewhere out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, temporally speaking. This means she wakes up around 11 AM each day, which would leave Anna and Andy plenty of time to ramble about the city until Andrea wraps up her conferencing for the day around 5 PM, but thanks to the Spanish tradition of Siesta, the city is shut down from 1 PM to 4 PM each day. Everything is closed and so there is nothing to do.

Anna and Andy typically spend some of this time at one of the parks within walking distance. There are several, and they are all dominated by large metal spider-like sculptures:

So that from a distance the park looks like it contains a very intimidating roller coaster:

(Aside: I didn’t realize the date/time stamp was on when I started taking these pictures.)

These parks are usually completely empty and it is not hard to see why. They are not very inviting by design. The only places to sit are stone benches and walking or sitting on the grass is forbidden, not just by a sign, but all grassy areas are enclosed by a wall of stone overlaid with rebar, so that it looks prepared for war:

Between the park photographed above and the beach is a similarly off-putting public playground, situated on the top of an underground public parking deck:

It’s no surprise the kids aren’t out there playing on painted asphalt. Next to this playground is a new and completely unoccupied building of condos:

The biggest news around here is that, due to the collapse of the credit markets, there are over 1 million unoccupied new homes in Spain. Aside from the tenement-looking brown apartment buildings, there are several of these buildings, also empty, scattered throughout Barcelona.

And that all but completes your tour of the area around the convention center. I want to share one photo of the grocery store across the street from our hotel:

That is a wall of dried pig legs and shoulders, selling from anywhere from about $60 to $100. These people are serious about their pork. Next to this are three refrigerator cases devoted exclusively to various cuts and curings of pork. It is quite a site to behold.

Last night, we went to the President’s Reception at Andrea’s conference. The reception was held at the Barcelona Maritime Museum. On the way there, we stopped by the Columbus Monument:

A few things about this photo:

1. I realize it is too dark to really see the statue but I may never to get to see it in the day time because no one, and I mean no one, eats here before 9 PM, so when we head out for the night, it’s already getting dark. The President’s reception started at 8:30 so this is the statue at about 8:25.
2. Columbus is not pointing to the New World, as you might imagine. He’s pointing eastward, toward Europe. The official version is that he’s pointing towards his home, Genoa, Italy, but that doesn’t make much sense to me. I think that’s just a convenient excuse for them having set it up pointing the wrong direction. The monument is meant to commemorate Columbus’s return to Europe after his most famous voyage. Barcelona is where he first landed, for some reason.

At the President’s reception, we were treated to something I can only call Spanish People Stacking:

The one on top there is little girl of about 5 and she climbed to the top of all the various formations they created.

We spent only a short time at the reception before going off to our nearby dinner reservations for 9:15. The concierge helped us make the reservations and, when describing how to get to the restaurant, told us to turn down an alley and, “I would be scared, but you just keep going.”

Sounds like a recommendation to me!

The restaurant was called Los Caracoles, which is Spanish for “The Snails.” When we arrived, there was a fellow at the door cooking chickens on a rotisserie. As soon as he saw us with the stroller (or trolley, as it’s called here), he ushered us around to a side door, where the manager, a Brit, met us and ushered us in to our table. The bread course featured snail shaped rolls, which were delicious.

Andy ordered the house specialty: the snails. Andrea ordered the chicken. Both dishes were excellent.

The snails were not in the usual butter and garlic sauce, but were instead in a kind of gravy that you would expect to find on a pot roast. The chicken was rotisserie’d to perfection: juicy with a crunchy skin. Los Caracoles was by far the best restaurant we’ve been to since we’ve been here.

We’ve tried several tapas places, and the conclusion is that it’s good, but if you’ve ever had tapas in the U.S., you’ve had Spanish tapas. It’s such a simple way of eating that there’s nothing difficult to attempt to duplicate.

A final update: Anna has taken an interest in Andy’s crossword puzzle book:

We are setting out a bit earlier tonight in order to try to get some good pictures before dinner.

More updates soon…

Barcelona Days 1-2

Despite being terrified of elevators and trains, Anna handled the plane without a single complaint. She slept for most of the trip, but I managed to get a couple of pictures of her awake and playing while we were in the air:

Anna’s new favorite game is to look at you, smile, then fling herself backward. I caught her just before she jumped:

Once we landed, we took the train to our hotel, which was a big mistake. The train system in Barcelona is extensive, but it is not user-friendly for those with luggage on wheels (like us), a stroller (like us) or a wheelchair. The trains are elevated above most platforms and there are lots of steps with no option for elevator or escalator. Even though we had to change trains only once, we climbed up and down several sets of steps and ended up walking about a mile between the two platforms. The $40 cab fare back to the airport will be worth it.

The photo below is Anna at the airport train platform at about 11 AM  Barcelona time, which for all she was concerned was 5 AM Anna time:

Within about 20 seconds of this shot, she was sound asleep.

We are staying at the Hilton Diagonal Mar, which is a very nice hotel and which is convenient to the convention center, but it is also not convenient to any of the city’s sights, which we have yet to venture out to see.

We arrived on Saturday and spent most of that time adjusting to the local time zone. On Sundays, absolutely everything in Barcelona is closed except restaurants, so nothing was a go on that day. On Monday, Anna and Andy ventured out to the grocery market while Andrea attended the conference she came here for and we anticipate going out for dinner Monday night.

The view from the elevator lobby on our floor reminds me of seeing Washington Heights / Harlem from the George Washington Bridge:

That is to say: brownish apartment buildings as far as the eye can see.  The city skyline is dominated by these buildings. There are no skyscrapers.

The large building in the foreground is the Diagonal Mar Commercial Centre, which is a fancy way of saying the mall. There’s a McDonald’s with some interesting selections on the menu there and there is a Starbucks, which is very fortunate for us because the only coffee at the hotel is instant.

The view from our room features the convention center and beyond it, the Mediterranean:

Not very romantic, but this is the modern, “new” part of town, most of it built for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games which were held in Barcelona. The large jutting panel on the right of the frame is a large solar panel which provides some green energy for the convention center.

There is an interesting warning on our window:

On Sunday night we got a taste of the more traditional part of Barcelona and it was beautiful, but too dark for pictures. We will take more daytime photos of the city as the week goes on.

The beach is within walking distance of the hotel and it, too was made for the 1992 Olympics. In fact it seems to be still under construction. This is probably why part of it looks like a scene from Sarajevo during the mid-1990s. We have not ventured out onto the sand and into the sea yet, but we will make time for that this week so that Anna can dip her toes into the Mediterranean.

All these pictures are actually still shots from our video camera. We had some trouble with our still camera but we now have that resolved so we should have more photos to post soon….

8 months speech imitation