A night out

Ah, a night out with a one-year old. After a relaxing Friday at work consisting of back charging engineering, watching a Slinged TiVo'd World Series Game 2, eating Fideos Marinera, arguing the merits of providing turbine enclosure warnings in proper Castellano and trying to snow ball the Galician government into granting us social medicine cards; I asked Ewa if she and Bianca wanted to head out to our favorite - you know, classy place - for tapas.

It opens at 8; early for the Spanish, but borderline fussy time for Bibi. This place is next to our pediatrician's office, which makes it approximately 135seconds on foot from our front door. We staked out our preferred table near the window to minimize second hand smoke exposure and tried to contain the tiger. We were the fifth and sixth people in the place and it holds, at maximum occupancy, 20 people. We enjoyed our opening tapa of conejo - rabbit - though to be fair Bianca ate most of Ewa's. The Ribeiro del Duero was dry and savory.

Balancing eating your own messy - on account of the peeling - meal out at a quaint restaurant while entertaining your tired, yet jazzed child is one of the feats of parenting we've mastered through necessity not choice. We tried to distract Bianca with a children's cheese dessert thing, bread and books; to little or no avail. We then resolved ourselves to trade off the assignment of constant B duty - Ewa drew the short stick because of the dish being served; I shucked our langostinos. There were one or two grandmas, abuelas, assisting us in blocking Bianca's desired departure out onto the sidwalk. Then another family came in with a baby with some cheese corn type snacks that Bianca just had to have. They were civil enough to let Bianca indulge herself bringing us 10 minutes of quiet with which to finish our shrimp before our second course came. Bianca, being her typical engaging self, had met everyone in the bar as they entered and was wowing the grandmas with her coquettish smiles.

When we leave this town no one will ever remember who Ewa and I are/were, but they will remember Bianca; for better or worse. Of course, since her ears aren't pierced, her shoes are the leading indicator of her gender if she's not wearing pink or purple; a couple of people had to look twice. She did make it out onto the sidewalk, trying her step-downs and step-ups. She woofed at some doggies and looked/banged on the glass paned entrance doors. The staff, having seen Bianca periodically as she's grown, never flinched.

Despite no accouterments, you'll never see a booster chair or changing table in the bathrooms here, the thing that I continue to love about Spain and this area in particular is the openness and communal sense of the people here; epitomized at dinner. Other parents won't fret if your child borrows their trike at the park, they'll help pick up other children who tumble on the jungle gym and won't worry if you pick up their child, they don't mind kids wandering around restaurants, they don't freak out if their children approach strangers and say hello, and older women will pick up babies they don't know and say hello while saluting unknown parents.

We finished our meal, downed our wine, dragged Bianca home, bathed her, put her down; then, decompressed. Like all forays out with Bianca, especially in the evening, we leave the place tired, rushed and somewhat nostalgic for when we could have two bottles of wine at dinner without concern about handling a slippery, squirming child in the bath afterward; yet overwhelmingly, we are proud of our daughter and the emotions and response she elicits in others, perfect strangers, secretly hoping we can nurture her intelligence and charisma and give her the life she deserves.

Slowing Down

I'd like to think we've gotten over the hump at work. The machines are running and I can find time to leave by 6pm most days. While we (Read: Ewa and I) are glad to be back in Spain; Bianca is having to adjust to only having one or at most two people entertaining her, not the 4 adults, 3 dogs and 3 cats she had at her abundant attention getting disposal in New Hampshire. She's taken to whimpering and pointing. We're not sure if she's more upset that she can't conjure the words to describe the things she is pointing at or if she's upset we can't translate her whines and retrieve the item she wants. Admittedly, its not easy when she points to a dresser full of cosmetics, colognes and creams.

Her newest thing - among many new things - is she has taken to carrying around shoes that she wants us to put on. She loves these patent black Mary Jane's we got in the US even though they are still too big for her and she drags them to us then touches them to her feet. She even requested to only have the right Robeez on today. I think she's doing it just to keep us guessing.

Ewa just reminded me that I've written nothing (much) about this summer. Work intervened and though we had a very eventful summer I had little time to jot anything down.

A week before her first birthday Bianca had a bit of a rough go. On Thursday she was throwing up and wouldn't eat or drink so I came home early to take the girls to La Coruna to see the pediatrician. She told us to watch her overnight and if she didn't improve to take her to the hospital. By this time she had had nothing to eat or drink for 30hrs. She couldn't keep anything down or in. We stayed up all night with her on Thursday giving her electrolytes every 5min for the first hour then every 20min after that. I moved her crib into our room as well. We finally got some sleep around 4 and we thought she was better, but she woke up with a fever. We tried to give more electrolytes and took her to the doctor again as her mood brightened. After lunch she took a turn for the worse again and we had no choice, but to take her to the emergency room. She was listless and sleepy and weak.

She was given an IV in the children's section of the emergency wing and we were told after a couple hrs of that we could try giving her more electrolytes and maybe some yogurt or breast and she if she could keep it down we could go home. She couldn't, so she was admitted. We spent the next 4 nights in the hospital. Bianca was better 24hrs later on Saturday, but she still wouldn't eat and still had diarrhea. I don't wish the feeling of seeing your child with IVs and bruises in her arms from blood drawings and failed IV pricks on anyone. She screamed relentlessly whenever the docs took her out of our room for tests etc. Then, when she was feeling better we had to entertain her all day in a hospital room when she couldn't walk or wander (b/c of the IV).

Ewa and I both stayed on Friday night, platooning on the rather comfy couch/bench thing in our private room with Bianca. On Saturday Ewa sent me home for a real night sleep so one of us could be fresh on Sunday after 2 nights of very little sleep. On Sunday, Ewa came down with a little of what Bianca had, despite her religious use of latex gloves when changing Bianca. The doctors had determined by this point that Bianca probably had rotavirus and didn't want it to cycle through the family; but Ewa caught a mild case. She went down to the emergency room for her own dose of electrolytes via IV and also went home for the night so she could finally get some real sleep. Bianca and I had a quiet night and Ewa returned on Monday feeling much stronger. We were finally released on Tuesday afternoon and I returned to work on Wednesday. Strangely, though my job is very time demanding, I have the flexibility to just disappear for the week. I was checking emails every day at home and answering them during Bianca's naps and I had my phone the whole time. Of course, it helps that I have guys I can depend on and a hospital 5 minutes from home.

Stool sample results on Monday confirmed rotavirus and Bianca had lost 400 grams during her illness. It slowed her down for a little while, but she recovered like the strong, resilient child we know she is. To lose a pound when you only weigh 19 is tough on a little body. Ewa was a rock. I had two mild breakdowns. The hospital wasn't even sure how to bill us, and only now have we received the bill; which is really a reminder to provide our social health card numbers. So, almost a year to the day after she was born, she was again in the same hospital, two floors below her first room. The care was excellent as we've come to expect. The hospital food, Ben, for me was fine. The staff was accommodating to parents and took great care of our little girl.

Bianca in the US of A

Bianca's second trip to her homeland of the US is going wonderfully. She loves the dogs and cats; feels right at home in her grandparents' house; and has entertained all of her aunts and uncles as well as her great grandparents. Here's a couple of photos to tell the story of our trip so far.

Bianca with her "Uncle" Mac.

At the World Famous Milford Pumpkin Festival.

And Apple picking

Packing with a 1yr old

Ah, the joys of packing for a trip with a 1yr old to help you remove everything the second you get it in the suitcase. I think she's getting her own version of pre-travel jitters as she was all over the map today. Wish us luck tomorrow on a 9hr flight from Madrid to Boston.