Feliz Cumpleaños Aidan! Aidan Turns 6!

This past Mon, May 10th was Aidan's 6th birthday.  Like with Liam, I can't get over how quickly the time has gone by.  It really does feel like just yesterday I was complaining about how huge I was that I had wet the bed (turns out it was my water breaking) and before you know it, my sweet sweet baby boy was born.  Aidan is my pride and joy.  Different from his brother in so many ways (both good and bad).  He has just the sweetest and kindest heart of any child I know - he cares so much for others, is sensitive to peoples' feelings and wants to make people happy. 

These days his interests are in video games, legos, tv and of course, sports.  He's concerned about the environment and what people are doing to it and wants to help make it better these days.  He asks intelligent questions and presses for answers.  He's smart, witty and when he chooses to be, very funny.  On the flip side he is also very moody and sometimes I confuse him with a teenage girl who apparently takes over his body at times!

I have to give Aidan props for this past year.  It's been a tough year for us all getting ready for the move but I think it was Aidan who was most affected.  We took away everything he holds dear and told him while we were coming back to that life eventually that we would be making some major changes to our lives.  While he wasn't thrilled, I have to say he took it in stride.  He also, however, thought that we could just walk across the ocean in order to see his friends - after all it looks so much closer when you look at it on a globe!  How do you explain 3000 miles to a 5 year old?  And at one point after our move he told us that he wanted to go back home for the afternoon (to Attleboro) because it was still daytime there and therefore he would not have to go to bed.  So I think it's safe to say he understands the time change :) 

There have been so many things in Aidan's life this past year it's hard to think of them all.  He started kindergarten in the fall and when he started he couldn't identify any letters or sounds other than those in his name.  By the time he left in December, I'm pleased to say he knew them all and was starting to read!  To me this is such a huge milestone this year!  While he isn't reading books on his own yet, he's trying and he's taking much more of an interest. 

When it came time for the move, he was so great about the fact that all of his toys except what would fit in the size of perhaps a large shoe box left the US for Spain around Thanksgiving.  Amazing how little these guys can "survive" with.  Apparently we've been living with too much excess stuff!  He said his goodbyes to his friends and told them he would be back.  He didn't cry when we left (I bawled) and got on the plane and said hello to new adventures.

The first 6 weeks here were rough for Aidan and I can't say I blame him.  The reality set in that his friends were still home and he was here.  He was in a new school within a week of arrival in Barcelona.  New kids, new teachers, new home, new language.  He got punched in the penis on the bus during week 2, lost on the bus around week 6 or 7 but has come out on the other side smiling somehow.  That's a lot for a 5 year old to take in.  But amazingly, he persevered and guess what?  He loves being here!  He's adjusted to city life really well too!  He's made some wonderful new friends and met some really interesting people.  He loves his new school and I think he's learning a lot.  He's now doing addition and subtraction (I'd personally like to see more reading) and learning about things like the environment.  He loves his art class and enjoys taking Spanish (though he rarely will share what he's learned).  He tells me all the time how much he misses home but he understands that he'll be back at the end of next year when he's 7 1/2 (yikes!!!).  Until then he enjoys Skyping with his friends and family back home. 

We allowed him to open his gifts on Sunday rather than have to wait the entire school day in anticipation.  He was thrilled at the gifts people sent to him - a big thank you to our friends and family who sent him gifts.  We're waiting for our new thank you notes to come from Vistaprint (ahem, Josh) before he (I) can send out formal thank yous but they are coming! 

Most of these are self explanatory but I feel the need to put in a comment on this picture on the left.  This is Liam throwing a tantrum because it is no longer his birthday (last week as you recall) and he wanted to open the presents too.  I have to say, he was heartbreaking, but at the same time you couldn't help but laugh...

On the right, he was trying to sneak up the stairs as I brought down his new skateboard...

Showing off their new watches.  Liam's is actually not a watch nor is it his.  It was Aidan's gift that he "stole" and it's a Ben 10 Alien projector.  Aidan's is a true blue real watch - he was so excited.  Another sign that my baby is growing up - he was excited about a watch.

For his birthday we actually had a small party (for him and for Liam actually) on Sunday.  He had 3 of his close friends from school over to help celebrate with pizza, cupcakes and some games - Isa, Sophie and Santi.  And Liam had his buddy Oliver over!  The kids had a great time and it was nice for Josh and I to get to know some of the adults a little better as well.  For once, I'm finally grasping this "less is more concept".  At home we would have thrown a huge backyard party complete with jumparoo, ice cream cake and TONS of food.  No less than 15 -20 kids and their parents.  And you know what, we had just as great of a time with just 4 kids and 6 adults and I think the kids did too.

Waiting for the party to start...

On the treasure hunt...

Digging thru the treasure and coloring some pictures...

Liam and his friend Oliver play with skateboards, their size.  The kids loved the pinata though it took only one pull to bring it down!

Blowing out the candles!

The day of the party was actually Mothers Day in the US so while most of the day was focused on the kids (not atypical from any other year given their birthdays fall right during the week of Mothers Day), we did take some time for mom :)  Josh and the kids bought me a beautiful plant that I added to the ones I recently purchased for the back "yard" - fingers crossed I don't kill it.  And they also bought me flowers and took me to Hard Rock (yum American food) for dinner.  All and all a great day for all of us!

My flowers and my new plant (the one towards the back left - spikey looking)

On our way to Hard Rock (Tracie this is your worst nightmare and the kids LOVE to chase these pigeons each time we go thru Placa de Catalunya).

On Aidan's actual birthday I brought cupcakes up to his school so he could celebrate with his classmates.  Then I picked him up from school and we met up with Josh at Aidan's favorite tapas restaurant - Ciudad Condal.  It was a long day but a lot of fun.  Tuesday he had his annual physical so I let him skip school after so I could spend the day with him just the two of us.  Of course I think he has a crush on his babysitter so he insisted she and Liam come with us too. While I was sad not to have one on one time with him, I was happy he likes the sitter so much (especially since she's staying with him while Josh and I are in Rome in a few weeks) and we had a great day at the zoo and then crepes for lunch!

The year between 5 and 6 was definitely a time of growth for Aidan and I'm so proud of the boy he is becoming!  I just know that 6 is going to be a great year.  We're starting off with his first loose tooth so I think we're off to a good start!! 

Happy happy birthday Aidan!!  I love you!!

Love Mom!

16a Festa Nova Travessera

As expected, we had yet another festival this past weekend.  It's almost becoming an expectation now that we see a festival pretty much every weekend - and we're disappointed on the rare weekend we don't see anything.  Our reaction when we do?  "Ahhh Spain..." or "It's Gracia, of course there's a festival!"  Regardless it's really nice to get out and see how the locals do up traditional events.

I'm not sure what the 16a means, but I'm going to guess that it means 16th Annual.  And what was it an annual event for?  I have no idea on that either.  We think it was like a giant block party.  The road we live off of is pretty long - a few miles at least.  And there were chunks of it that were closed off to traffic on Saturday (it's a one way street so they had a few sections open so traffic coming north and south could at least cross over to the other side!).  We heard what sounded like fireworks at 9AM on Saturday morning near our apartment and thought, "well that's early for Barcelona - most people aren't even up much less setting off fireworks".  However, I think it was actually them setting up a stage at the end of our street for performances to be had later on in the day.  Oh well... no fireworks at 9AM... a bit of a disappointment ;)

We took the kids out for a walk around and it wasn't anything to write home about... oh wait, I am writing home about it.  Ok, so it was interesting enough to write about.  But really it seemed kind of low key but I think we only touched upon the areas that were having events.  We didn't realize that further down the road (until evening that is) was actually doing things too.  We thought where the barriers ended, so did the festival.  I guess we'll just have explore more during the 17a festa right?? 

The main street next to ours - Travessera de Gracia was closed off for all the festivities on Saturday!

 

I have to admit that while I don't sew (at all), I found this fascinating.  These women were making lace - it looked unbelievably intricate and complicated and they were whipping thru it like pros.

Anyways, they had a number of jumparoos set up in the middle of the street which the kids went wild for.  Liam had several meltdowns when he had to come out and wait in line again for his next turn.  Not a pretty sight.  They had pony rides and several of the stores had booths out and were selling their products on the streets.

During a break from the events we headed home where we skyped with Becky & Ray and the kids got to open their birthday gifts "in front of" them.  It was nice to have them involved even though we are so far away.  Liam was especially excited about his Darth Vadar plush toy.  And Aidan LOVED his WarioLand Shake It game for the Wii.  Thanks Becky & Ray!!

That evening we decided to head down to the Placa de Gracia where the clock tower is. This is the placa where we've been seeing the most regular festivities these days and where we've been regularly seeing our new friends Nikki & Dave and their daughters (who are Aidan's friends from school). Well, lo and behold, on our way there we found out that parts of this end of the street were closed down too for the local merchants to sell their wares. If only we'd known earlier (hence my statement before). And when we arrived at the Placa there were booths everywhere and lots of entertainment. There was a band on one side and a DJ with a ballroom dance company there. There were dancers doing the tango, the waltz and many more that I don't know but thoroughly enjoyed. It didn't look staged - they were all dressed casually to fit in with the crowd and they got people from the crowd to join in as well. So we sat down and enjoyed our dinner of tapas and the kids ran around and played (only lost them twice - yikes!!! talk about panic attack.) and had just an overall great time!!

I also got some video of the drummers doing their thing.  To view it, click the link.  Nova Travessera Drums
At the end of the evening, around 8:30, the crowds started to break up a bit which I thought was surprising since it seems that here nothing really starts til at least that time.  But I think it was because there was a whole other group coming to have their own festivities.  These were the ones promoting pot smoking.  And they were smoking it.  I've heard it's semi-legal here.  Like it's not really legal, but police officers aren't going to arrest you if they see you smoking it either.  Regardless, just walking by them could make you high... and so a good time for us to make our exit with the kids.  All we would have needed were high kids to end the night!!!
 

Julie

Where has the time gone? Liam turns 3 (in Barcelona)!

This weekend we celebrated Liam's 3rd birthday.  How those 3 years went by so quickly is beyond me - it feels like just yesterday when I was damning the stubborn little bugger for taking up what felt like a permanent residence in my uterus (he was all of a day late).  Still a stubborn kid, but one with a huge heart and who can make you laugh out loud at the drop of a coin, he makes me smile day in and day out.  And when I think about the experiences he has had in those 3 short years, well, I'm jealous!  Most kids could only dream of the things he's done and there is still so more to come! 

When I look back on this last year, I think of how much he has grown and that he's no longer a baby or even a toddler, but a little boy now.  His concept of language has come so far.  He carries on complete conversations now.  He asks questions all the time and expects you to answer him!  His physical capabilities have also come so far - his dexterity and climbing ability have improved in these last 12 months.  He climbs pretty much everything he sees and must follow his big brother's every move.  He jumps - oh he loves to jump.  Jump jump jump... on the bed, on the sidewalk, on the couch.  Doesn't matter, just jump!!  His memory has improved.  I can no longer pull a fast one on him because he remembers promises or remembers we said we would go somewhere and throws it right back at me (damn).  He's learned to follow rules (ok, this is by far not his favorite thing to do).  He doesn't parallel play so much as actively interact with other children now.  We've even begun some potty training which he was getting the hang of til I found I didn't have enough time to focus (I need to make time) on bringing him to the bathroom literally every 5 minutes. 

Anyways, this year has been one of growth for Liam.  He's more mature, more worldly ;).  He's even funnier than he was before if you can believe that.  And he's an absolute love.  And while I was thrilled to celebrate three with him it also made me a bit sad that my baby is growing up.  But now that we live in Europe, I'm looking forward to what 3 has to offer to us.  Hopefully it means getting to see more sights with less meltdowns (one can dream right?).  It means explaining to him all the beautiy and history that Europe has to offer (doesn't mean he'll comprehend it but we can talk about it).  And it means that we are at an age where we can start having some real fun!!  It also means he'll start school this fall - again, time just flies!

We started off the celebratory weekend with a lunch at Hard Rock on Saturday.  For us, there is nothing more American than hanging with the tourists and eating a 16€ burger.  And we enjoyed every last bite of that "American meal".  Liam even tried to sneak a sip of beer in.  Liam, you are 3, not 23!  You still have some time ahead of you before that! 

Left:  Aidan & Liam on the metro heading to Hard Rock...

Right:  Ahhhhh something other than a glass of wine, sangria or cava to drink.  Not many bars offer martinis here... oh pomagranete martini, I love you so!

Oh oh!!!  Don't let DSS see this.  (he didn't actually make it as far as a sip)

Celebrating 3 was also great because Liam actually understood the concept of birthday.  Now I don't mean he understood that this is the day he was born kind of thing, but he understood that he was going to be 3 years old and that he was going to have presents on his birthday.  You know, the important part of a birthday!  And all week long he told me that he wanted a Zurg toy (from Toy Story).  Thankfully, I happened to find one at the one Toys R Us in Barcelona.

On Sunday morning he woke up and I asked him what day it was.  He said "my birthday?".  I told him yes and he immediately asked if there were presents. And to that I replied, "you'll have to check downstairs".  And so off he and Aidan went to check out his stash of goodies.  Now Aidan was just as excited as Liam to see what kind of gifts were under the colorful Mickey Mouse wrapping paper and he was a significant participant in helping to unwrap the gifts. 

Some favorites (there were gifts from my parents, Josh's parents and us) - a Velociraptor (spelling??) that tries to bite your finger, the Batmobile and of course, Zurg.  Zurg probably could have been the only toy he received and he would have been happier than any kid I have ever seen.  And now of course, Aidan would like a Zurg toy too. 

None of the pictures above really need captions - except this last one on the right.  He is literally stuck inside the box!!

It was supposed to rain all day on Sunday but it turned out unexpectedly beautiful out.  So we made a trip to the zoo (thank god for that membership!) where we checked out a few animals, grabbed some lunch and then headed off to the playground where the kids really wanted to play.  Aidan ran into a few kids from his class and Liam just wandered around enjoying every bit of his day.  He was on a swing with a bunch of other kids and everytime he spun around I heard him telling the other kids "It's my birthday today".  Over and over and over again.  Of course, they all spoke Spanish and probably had no idea what he was saying. 

He walked back and forth on this bridge at least 20 times.

Left:  This is the swing where he kept announcing it was his birthday.

Right:  These are Aidan's friends from school - Guilleme and Isa

After a fun day playing at the zoo we headed home for a nice dinner and a homemade cake (ok, I used a Duncan Hines mix that cost me 6€ at the American store).  As you can see Liam thoroughly enjoyed his cake and got to eat it too!  Liam, cheers to 3!!!  I love you!

Yum!!!!

Julie

Naked Guy Riding a Bike

Ahhh Spain... need I really say any more???  He deserved his very own entry today...

Julie