El Blog de Amina y Maren

Maren's first months

2008-03-23T22:38:00.003-04:00

It's been almost 2 months since Maren was born.

Here are some pics of her first days at home.

She eats all the time and is already outgrowing her 0-3 moths clothes. She is much bigger and louder than Amina. And she already rolls over on her own. Sometimes when she is really angry she cries so hard it seems she is going to pass out. I'm a bit worried because she reminds me of a certain sibling of mine. Let's just say her nickname is Lil'H.

Here are some more pics

Another interesting thing: Maren has blue eyes. Apparently they may change later, but for now it is unexpected.

Here are some pics Alex's fried Patricia took. The blue eyes are clearly seen here.

Cumpleaños

2008-02-04T18:48:00.002-05:00

Back in September Amina had her 4th birthday. She had a rather complicated request for her cake theme, but we did our best to accomodate (see pictures). Abu came and we invited about 10 friends to the pool. It was the last day the pool was open and the water was very cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Here are the Pictures.

I added a couple of pics from another pool day. During the summer we spent a lot of time in the neighborhood pool. I was Amina's swimming instructor. There was lots of crying but by mid July Amina could swim a good 8 feet and fetch rings with her hands from the bottom of the pool (in the 3 foot deep part).

Javier and Ayana's Wedding

2008-02-01T18:23:00.000-05:00

If you can't wait, here are the pictures. Another link is at the end.

My cousin Javier and Ayana got married this summer in Raleigh, North Carolina. Anamari, Pupi, Amed, and Helvia all came to Baltimore. We rented a minivan and drove down to Raleigh. Amina was asked to be the ring bearer so it was important that we arrive on time. It took us about 5 and 1/2 hours. We would have made it in 5 except Amed decided to drive 55 during his stretch. Also, Alex was pregnant so we stopped about 10 times so she could use the bathroom. We all stayed in a chain hotel (forgot the name) which was fun b/c out of towners, from both families, were staying there. I saw a bunch of folks I don't get to see much: cousins, aunts, uncles, etc...

The wedding was held at the beautiful Duke Garderns. Amina agreed to be the ring bearer after we told her that Javier had a lollipop in his pocket which she would get once the mission was complete. It was not as easy as it sounds: it's more that just holding the rings. First, she had to wear an itchy crown made of flowers: pretty, but very itchy. Second, the rings are placed on cushion which she has to hold with both hands while walking. But the hardest part involved being patient. Not easy for a 3.5 year old. While Alex, me and the rest of the Arce, Nazario, Irizarry, Quintero and UHS 94 clans were seated, Amina had about 50 yards to march down the aisle (really a paved path on a nice lawn). The ring bearer goes next to last right before the bride, so Amina had to wait all by herself for what seemed to be an eternity (about 20 minutes). Finally one of Ayana's aunts, an impromptu wedding planner, gave her the go ahead. I was probably the most nervous person there. The ceremony was right next to a pond and the final part of the march involved going down some stairs. I saw myself jumping in the pond, fishing for the rings. Half way down the aisle I realized she was going to have to use one of her two hands to hold on to the stairs railing and that the cushion would flip over! This is exactly what happened, but luckily the rings didn't go far. A couple of guests and Alex helped her place the rings back on the cushion. She kept walking and delivered the goods to Javier, who handed over the lollipop. Amina took the crown off, stuck the lollipop in her mouth and sat next to me. I told her she should stay next to Javier. She didn't seem to mind and stood there the entire ceremony.

The wedding party was very nice. It was in the gardens with gourmet southern food, e.g. grits with shrimps, was served, and a Jazz band played. The next day we hung out with Ayana's family. Among other things, we played wii. The next day we drove back to Baltimore. My mom and dad then visited too. Which reminds me: in a span of about 2 weeks I drove to the airport 6 times: pickup my siblings + Pupi, pick up my mom, drop off my siblings, picked up my dad, I flew somewhere to give a talk, dropped off mom and dad.

Here are the pictures

New Blog Title

2008-01-31T20:06:00.000-05:00

It's been various months since I blogged. Various things have changed that will permit me to blog more ofter. One of them is that I am now using Picasa to show pictures.
This makes writing these entries much easier. I will retrospectively add some entries from the past few months.

Another change is the arrival of Amina's sister Maren. This explains the blog title change. More on that later, but here are some pics.

Brixen Pictures

2007-09-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

Amina's second hike was in the Dolomites. This time uphill and not really self propelled. The first picture is from a bike ride around Brixen. The second is in the dolomites. We hiked to a restaurant.

Ascona Pictures

2007-09-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from Ascona. We also went on a hike. It was Amina's first self propelled hike. It was 1.5 hours (all down hill). At the end some of us jumped from a 40ft bridge. The jump was easy, but I almost died of tachycardia as the water was at least -10 degrees Celsius.

Europa

2007-09-02T16:44:00.000-04:00

Every summer a group from a project I work on (Bioconductor) organizes a class in Brixen, Italy. This summer I was also invited to a talk in Ascona, Switzerland. The organizers were nice enough to have it the week before our class. The Ascona conference was in this great center, Centro Stefano Franscini, overlooking a lake in the Alps. It was built in a place called Monte Verita which was founded by a group vegetarians, pacifists, nudists, Freemasons, feminists, Theosophists and bohemians. The town of Ascona was great. It is in the Italian part of Switzerland. This reminds me, at the center we were served 3 meals, most of them Italian but with a Swiss flare: the total amount of calories was always exactly 2000 calories. No joke. BTW, I was most impressed with their train system. Instead of train numbers and estimated departure times, you get a list of platforms and times. If your card says "platform 2 15:42pm" you get on whatever train is on platform 2 at 15:42pm, no need to ask destination, number, etc... If you happen to get on the train that was on platform 2 at 15:43pm you're not going were you thought you were.

Ascona was a great little town. Very kid friendly. They had a playground, a beach, and water slides all within 5 minutes from each other and walking distance from the conference center. Amina had blast. We went down the water slide (a big one) various times. I asked her if she wanted to go down the water slide on her own (as a joke) and she said yes! So my days of going down a slide with her are over.

One fun thing about this place is that, unlike the US, they do not seem to worry about lawsuits. The waterslide was pretty much unsupervised. Also, they had go-carts in the playground completely unsupervised. You put in 1 swiss franc and away you go. This is all documented in the movie (link below).

After the conference was over we took a train to Brixen. We had fun there as well, especially at the Aquarena (previously discussed here). Amina went four times. Amina wants to write something (the movie is below):

:-**************************************************************************************
Amina

:-( :) :-*********************************** :-)

The movie [5 MB]

La Princesa Rebelde

2007-09-02T16:21:00.001-04:00

Despite Alex's best efforts at making Amina a Barbie-hating feminist, genetics have overcome. Amina loves pink, long hair, and princesses. In March the Enoch Pratt Free Library had a princess ball. It goes without saying AMINa (Amina typed that and the upcoming emoticon) had a ball :-)

ps - In case you are wondering, I'm supposed to be a dragon.

Febrero y Abril

2007-08-21T20:47:00.000-04:00

We made a couple of trips during the academic semester. One was to Puerto Rico where I gave a talk. Amina enjoyed playing Xbox with her Uncle. She is getting pretty good at it. I am hoping she can become a professional.

In April we visited Oakland for RECOMB. We visited Amina's friends Paloma, Santos, and Cielo. We ate at a couple of our favorite East Bay restaurants: Cafe Intermezzo and Phnom Pehn. They are both still great, especially Phnom Pehn. On our way back from Intermezzo I was carrying Amina and she asked me to run. I did, tripped and fell. I am happy to report that my instinct was not use Amina to break my fall but rather to sacrifice my hands and knees to break the fall. In the picture below Amina is showing a cartoon depicting the fall to her friends.

Winter Fun

2007-08-10T22:55:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time! I will try to update the blog little by little. I'll start where we left off. We got back from our PR Xmas break to find snow. Amina enjoyed making a snowman ('un frosti') and sledding. Turns out the side of our house has enough of a pitch to sled down. Here is a movie. Beware the movie is 38M. It can take 10 minutes even on a fast connection.

Puerto Rico

2007-02-17T23:17:00.000-05:00

As mentioned earlier we were in Puerto Rico from 12/31-1/14 and we spent most of our time at family parties. I forgot to mention that, thanks in part to my mom's maternal grandmother who had 16 children and my mom's paternal grandmother who had 9, Amina has like 300 second cousins/aunts/nieces. And about 50 of them are females between the ages of 3 and 8. So at each of these parties Amina had a little pack of cousins to play with. A sample is depicted below.

When we were not at some party, we were at the beach. First, we went to Guanica then to Vieques. For those who don't know Vieques, it is the island the US navy bombed for various decades. You can read all about it in, where else?, Wikipedia. On May 2003 the Navy started vacating Vieques (no thanks to the Bloomberg School of Public Health) and today one can visit almost the entire island, including the areas that were used for bombing practice. These areas have some of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. They are almost untouched by humans. In fact, the roads in the recently opened areas are not paved. Believe it or not a park ranger gave me a ticket for speeding. No joke: $75. I deserved it though. In any case, I am happy I was able to enjoy all this now before developers (my father says they are a much worse enemy than the Navy) come and destroy everything. The two weeks of sun was fun, but now we will have fun in the snow... more on this soon.

Fiesta tras fiesta

2007-02-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

During winter break we went to PR, from Dec 31-Jan 14. During the first week we went to 6 parties on six different days. On 1/31, Amina made it past 12 so she officially celebrated her first New Years. On 1/1 (my aunt's annual 1/1 party), 1/4 (my cousin Augusto's B-day), 1/5 (my family's block party), 1/6 (Fiesta de Reyes), and 1/7 ('cousins party' at my sister's). I made a short documentary. The file might not stream and it is 5M so it might take more than 1 minute to download.

De tal palo tal astilla

2007-02-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

So Amina doesn't like it when I laugh at things she says. This has been brewing for a while. About three months ago she started asking me, in a slightly suspicious tone, "Hey Papi, waz funny?" when I laughed at her. This usually occured when she asked "funny" questions like "Can we take my car to pororico?" (she means *my* car). I would usually try lying. Well, she has finally figured out I am laughing at her, not with her, and she gets pissed when I do so. Here is a recent "conversation"

Amina: Mami, a los pajaros le da frio cuando hay nieve? (do birds get cold when it snows?

Me: Je je

Amina: HEY PAPI! No te rias de mi! (Don't laugh at me)

She screams when shes says this and gives me the evil eye. Next day.... We are passing by Scott's house:

Amina: Mami, mañana yo voy a casa de Scott... OK Mami? Mañana OK? (tomorrow Im going to Scott's house... Tomorrow OK?)

Me: je je

Amina: HEY!! Anoche te dije que no te rieras de mi!! (last night i told you not to laugh at me)

So now I have two people setting me straight day in and day out.

The grinch

2007-02-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

First, apologies for the lack of posts. Grant due 2/5 and i just finished catching up.

So I almost ruined x-mas, which Alex and Amina still celebrate ( i celebrate festivus). Since early fall Amina has been asking for a princesita mariposita. These are actually pretty cool. You pull the string and the doll flies. If you do it right it'll fly a good 5 meters and stay in the airs 3-5 seconds. So Xmas morning she wakes up very excited opens the gifts and hands it over so I can take off the strings that keep it in the box. Using a pair of wire cutters I snap all the little strings. I get to the last one, clip it, but it doesn't come out. The string is still there, although I was sure I had cut some string. It took me about 3 seconds to realize I had ruined X-mas. I cut the string one uses to pull and make the damn thing fly. I spent the first 2 hours of X-mas morning drilling holes in the thing to try to snap the string back into place. I was able to fix it so that Amina could make the thing fly but I couldn't get the string to automatically coil back. So Amina had to twist the doll by hand every time. It was very, very sad... Next morning we went to Target (first thing) and got another one. Surprisingly they are only $8. Toys are so cheap these days.

In other news, I did not get the plasma TV I wished for. Santa sure knows me well. Instead I got what I really wanted: a pair of socks. Yes, that makes three Xmases (is that the plural?) in a row Santa ignores what I ask for and brings me what I really want. Here is a table:

Year	Asked for	Got
2005	iPod	Bowl
2006	iPod	Some kind of Art (see pic)
2007	Plasma TV	Socks

Here they are:

Amina funny

2006-12-20T06:44:00.000-05:00

Aqui fotos de cosas que Amina hace, muchas veces sin avisar, que nos hacen reir.

1. Quitar adorno de Santa Clos del arbol y ponerlo como conductor de su carro favorito.
2. Exhibicion artistica de varitas magicas. Flowers are for losers.
3. Torre de papel de banyo. Y cuidado con a) guardarla ("Mami eso no se quita!") o b) coger un poco del papel de uno de los rollos ("De ese no!" y entonces apunta al que esta guindando.)

Sankofa

2006-12-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

So Amina has been taking African Dancing classes at Sankofa. This is the closest thing to Bomba y Plena we could find in Baltimore. Amina and I have been going every Saturday for about 2 months now. The first day Alex got into an argument (alex says "i think of it as a lively discussion") about something or other so I banned her and her Euro-centric ways from Dance class. It's been great ever since. At first Amina was timid, but now she loves it. She was also afraid of the drums the first time they played them in class. They are actually really loud. But I've explained to her that, despite what her mother says, loud drums = fun. She somtimes wakes up singing the songs. Usually the singing continues while she is sitting on the toilet. Hopefully, her cousin MariGabi will teach her Bomba y Plena in a couple of weeks.

I made a short documentary. Its about 8 megs.

DC

2006-11-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to DC. We used priceline to get a one night stay at a 4 star hotel for $125. It was 4 blocks from the Mall so it was very convenient. Both days we were there it was in the 60s so walking around was very pleasant. We wanted to go the Archeology museum, but it was closed. Instead, and since we were right next to it, we went to the DC Aquarium, which is a surreal experience. It is in the basement of the Dept of Commerce building. You walk down a flight of stairs, covered with dingy, amateur paintings of fish and other sea creatures, which leads to a dropped ceiling-ed, dimly lit basement with about 50 tanks of murky water and voila! you are at the DC aquarium. Really odd and yet worth checking out if you are there b/c it is so weird. After that we went to the Museum of Natural History where Amina took some pictures of her favorite Over the Hedge characters (see "Ozzie" the opossum). After a stop at the merry-go-round, we went to the Hirschorn Sculpure Museum where I got told by a security guard that you can't ride the escalators backwards. Very anal I think. We could not find anywhere to eat around the hotel so we drove to Arlington (10 minute drive.. and also amina's nap) for some really good Vietnamese food and then back to the hotel to watch one of the Harry Potter movies. The next day we went to the Zoo. All these activities were free, except the merry-go-round and, suprisingly, the aquarium. The zoo has no gates or fences. You just walk in through one of its many entrances. Strange to think that you can go for a jog and there could be orangutans hanging out above. The hippo was the most impressive.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T23:36:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving we had a big dinner at our house for anybody who had no other plans. A bunch a people came as you can see in the pics. Including some cousins from NY. We had a total of 19 people.

On Friday we went to Port Discovery with Els and Luca. As you can see, Clifford makes his second appearance on this blog.

Baltimore : Greatest City in America

2006-11-18T23:12:00.000-05:00

More and more I think that Baltimore is not that far from being the Greatest City in America. For those who weren't aware, that is the city's official slogan. I had many reasons to like Baltimore, but now I have a new one: the local parades. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Mama Kabibi, Amina's dance teacher, asked us to go see the Thanksgiving parade instead of going to class. The idea is that the kids could see dancers dancing in a line just as she is trying to teach them in dance class. Keep in mind these are 3 and 4 year olds. So we went and whereas in New York people were fighting mobs to see stupid balloons, we parked two blocks from where the parade started, paid $0.75 for the meter, and casually strolled over to where the parade folks were lining up and got to walk among them while they warmed up (see pic of a Robin-less Batman). There were maybe 2000 people watching, but we got to sit right on the curb at the corner were it all started (Eutaw and Pratt). Also, the parade was not simply balloons and bad singing acts, but rather: Batman and Robin (who beamed candy at the crowds) in the Batmobile, a bunch of guys dressed like Elvis, an absurd number of beauty queens, Sheila Dixon (our future interim Mayor and the person to whom the comment "you go baby!" was directed), Donut from the wire in fur jacket, a few marching bands, and Amina and my personal favorite: the community bands/dancing troupes. These bands consist of a many women (Amina calls them 'princesitas') and some men of all ages, shapes and sizes, dancing while a bunch of guys play drums. They are very coordinated and well organized but best of all some of the dancers look like they have somewhere else to be very soon. They are busting out the moves but simultaneously checking their watches (alex says: rafa does a good imitation). The icing on the cake was a heckler that was funnier than 99% of the comedians on TV. He was hitting on all the beauty queens, especially "Mrs. Maryland" who kept pointing out her ring to him. Anyway, it was a ton of fun, free, and easy...

Raking leaves

2006-11-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

So according to the Internet an oak tree can have more than 200,000 leaves. We have 7 oak trees. How many leaves are we raking? Perhaps it's better not to dwell on that... We started raking this weekend. But this year is different from the rest because Mike Sherlock has finally convinced us to build a bigger compost bin so that we don't have to bag and throw away any of them. 70% of the nutrients a tree uses is given back in the leaves. If you are in Mount Washington and happen to see a Honda CR-V with a bunch of leaf bags on the roof, that is Mike who goes around picking up bags and spreading them in strategic places (like our back yard). So we have upgraded our 6ft x 3ft x 4ft compost bin to a 15ft x 5ft x 5ft bin that I am hoping will store all our leaves and some of the ones Mike rescues.

We did maybe 1/3 of all our leaves this weekend. I don't mind raking at all, but bagging is a pain so composting them and throwing some of them in the beds is really much easier. Amina actually helped. She raked a bit and hosed the leaves in the compost bin. Between this and getting me the remote when I don't want to get up, I estimate she has paid back 0.01% of her diapers costs.

On the same tree-hugging-note, I've also learned that for every inch of rain that falls on 1000 sq ft of roof, 100 gallons of water goes down the drain and that this is very bad for the environment as well. Apparently, rain runoff is the Chesapeake Bay's worst enemy. So we made and installed a 55 gallon rain barrel (see pic 1). It has a hose and everything. We have filled it up and used all the water 3 times already.
I'm hoping to install seven more, but I first need to convince Alex they are not that ugly.

The arboretum

2006-11-09T00:05:00.000-05:00

We have been working often in the arboretum lately. I think it looks the best in the Fall. Mike Sherlock won a national prize for the creation of the arboretum. Amina took the pic below there on Oct 29:

Trico-tri-jalo-uin

2006-11-08T23:23:00.000-05:00

This past week was Halloween. The previous weekend was Brian's famous Halloween party. Alex went as a roaring twenties lady (Amina called her a "señora"-- apparently the child lacks a sense of historical dress), Amina as a butterfly and I as a bumblebee (again). Brian made fun of me for repeating and I deserved it. He went as
Frankenberry so I had absolutely no comeback. The party was fun. At first Amina was afraid of Mugsy the dog, but she quickly warmed up to him and gave him various snacks and got various kisses. She took a picture of Mugsy (see pics).

On Haloween Amina went trick-o-treating with Luca (dragon) and Wanikiya (spiderman). They got tons of candy. Our neighborhood gives out the good stuff: chocolate bars! Much better than my experience were getting 1 chocolate bar was a succesful Halloween. We used to get hard candies of the following all-time favorite flavors: pineapple, coconut, and honey. Most kids considered honey unacceptable and threw them back at the houses that gave them out. We had few trick-o-treaters come to our house. Nonetheless, one of the older kids had the best costume (see pic).

Weekend of Contrasts

2006-10-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we went to Baltimore Flugtag (flying day in german). In case you don't know this is an activity where homemade, human-powered flying machines dive off a 25-foot ramp above Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Most of them go straight down, but some go as far as 70 feet. Unfortunately the event was corporate sponsored so they had MTV-type-hosts narrating the event through speakers loud enough to be heard over the entire Inner Harbor. There were more than 20K people and most of them young and wearing whatever uniform is being dictated by MTV these days. But it was a nice day and so we sat on Federal Hill and watched from a distance. It was actually fun watching the machines and many were objects Amina recognized (e.g. elephant, a hat, etc...) so amina enjoyed it too. She also was highly amused by the fact that they plunged straight into the water.

On Sunday we drove about 30 miles north to a Wildlife Rescue where Wendy, one of our neighbors, voluteers and which was hosting a fundraiser. It was great. First, they let us into the pen where some of the rescued animals live (see pics). They had donkeys, goats, llamas, deer (in a separate pen), pigs, ducks, chickens, rabbits, etc... I was goosed by one of the donkeys and one of the Llamas tried to eat my ear. Apart from that it was very safe and sanitary. Second, they had volunteers showing off birds and you could get really close. They had an owl, various other raptors, and a raven. An actual Raven, not a crow. They are very different and much scarier especially to those of us who saw the Omen when we were 12. Third, they had great food. I was expecting hippie food (they did have vegan brownies...), but they had a spread and a half. I thought it was ironic that they were serving hot dogs. I guess not all cows get rescued. Last but not least, they had a moon-bounce and no restrictions on age either way so Amina and I bounced away...

On the way back we drove on Falls Road (as opposed to 83). It was very scenic. The picture with the church and the cemetery is from that ride home. Amina fell asleep in the car which was good because later Aimee came to give me a haircut which meant Caleb was coming to play.

Weekend Activities

2006-10-17T22:25:00.000-04:00

Three weekends ago we went to the book fair. We saw the traditional Clifford the Big Red Dog with African Drummers parade. Amina likes Clifford and she repeatedly asked "?dónde esta clifford?" during the 10 minute walk from the parking to the parade. We also saw a presentation by a children's book artist who showed us how she draws (remember you can click on the pics to make them bigger). That weekend we also went to a celebration of the fact that the BMA is now free.

The next weekend we went to the same celebration for the Walter's Art Museum or, as Amina calls it, "La casa de Walti". Walti is the Egyptian lion you see below.

Fotos de la Fotógrafa

2006-10-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

Cumpleaños

2006-10-06T23:03:00.000-04:00

On September 11, 2006 Amina turned three. We celebrated a week early because Abu was visiting. We also celebrated my birthday. We had a 1/4 kegg of beer, some food, a piñata and many games. Many kids came: Charlie, Gus, Luca, Micah, Lauren & Alexandra, Emmet, little Brian Caffo, Caleb, Ayla, and Luce, their parents and a bunch of other friends. Despite my attempts to steer Amina towards a inanimate object, such as car or the traditional donkey, Amina chose a piñata in the form of a Mermaid. I was a bit worried this would traumatize some of the children but most of them hacked away... and all watched. Gus put the final touches (and almost took away Amina's chances of having siblings) and made the candy and money drop to the floor. I was then forced to play children's music. Amina danced and Charlie helped me with the words. By 1pm most of the kids left to take their naps but Ayla, Luce, and Amina carried on til about 6pm while the parents worked on the 1/4 kegg. By this time the girls were running around in their underwear and neither Alex nor I clearly remember what happened between 2 and 6 (Abu was taking a nap) but the important thing is everybody survived. I was told various guests were victims of water gun attacks.

Fotógrafa

2006-08-20T20:01:00.000-04:00

Amina now likes taking pictures. We discovered this because one day I noticed some extra pictures, mostly of random people, neither of which Alex nor I had taken. E.g. notice Primus, who does not appear to be happy to have been captured on "film"). So Alex and I can finally appear together in pictures. I've included a few of her better ones.

Seattle

2006-08-06T01:28:00.000-04:00

We went to Seattle for the 2006 Bioconductor conference. I saw a bunch of friends there including Benilton who brought me a bottle of Cachac,a all the way from Brasil. While I was at the conference Alex took Amina all over town. The hotel had a free shuttle to a bunch of places. Under the Space needle they have an amusement park and a children's museum which Amina of course enjoyed. According to Alex, "The folks manning the plane ride didn't think Amina was tall enough to ride but I stood her next to the wooden 'you must be this tall....' and she was exactly tall enough so they couldn't say no. I thought she might freak but she loved it."

My high school friend Luis Felipe lives there and showed us a great time. LF does not believe in wasting time so it was action packed. The conference ended on Friday at 5.00 and at 5.30 he picked us up to go swimming in
Coleman pool which is right next to the Sound and uses sea water. We hit traffic so we didn't make it, but this didn't stop LF from taking us swimming. We ended up swimming in Lake Union. By then it was 7pm so it was a bit cold but we swam a few laps and even dove off a board they have on a platform in the middle of the lake. Amina went in as well, leaving Alex the only dry lame-o. LF then fixed us dinner.

The next day we went to the Zoo. Amina was very excited to see an elephant. In particular when it sneezed. She kept asking me when he would sneeze again. That afternoon we did make it to Coleman pool and swam a few laps. Half the pool was reserved for "family swim" so Amina got to float solo on giant noodles and foam lily pads. That night we had dinner at LF's again. On Sunday, the day of our flight, we managed to catch the first part of Sandy's party in Bainbridge Island and stuff ourselves on some tasty salmon. We took LF's car on the ferry. The day was perfect and we made back to the airport with 1 hour to spare. I didn't make it to Southwest's A group... but it doesn't matter if you have kids cause you get to go first anyway!

Rinconada Pool

2006-07-20T01:08:00.000-04:00

A few blocks from where we live is the rinconada pool. Entry is $3 pp and Amina is free. They have a lap pool and a gigantic kids pool. They also have diving boards and tons of 'attractions' for the kids such as a big mushroom/waterfall and these stationary bikes that you pedal to shoot water at other kids, but the best is a mini slide. Amina came down that thing dozens of times in a row (note in the pic the shortest person in line). Much fun was had by all.

Yerba Buena

2006-07-19T00:42:00.000-04:00

Our third weekend here we went to a playground in Yerba Buena Gardens. This is in downtown San Francisco. It is a great park. The slides are very fast so it's fun even for adults. A drawback for young kids is the large amounts of older and sometimes aggressive kids that also use the park. Check out Amina in picture 2. At the end of the day we wound down on the Merry-go-round, or rather Amina and friends wound down and the adults just got dizzy.

Palo Alto Bike Ride

2006-07-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

The first thing I did here in Stanford was visit the Stat deparment. It was humbling to read the name plates as I walked by the offices. BTW, Stats has their own building here. The second thing I did was rent a bike. One can bike everywhere. It's flat and pretty much every street has a bikelane. Amina and I go for bike rides here every so often. She doesn't like it as much as I do, but she is nice enough to come with me.

No one has thrown a rock at me (yet), but then again I'm biking in bizarro-east-baltimore. Every house here is worth more than 1M (
Here's what zillow says about houses next to us). The Beamers far outnumber the minorities. I haven't seen a Saturn yet. There are also no cheap eats. Stanford yuppies make us Baltimore yuppies look like steel workers. However, biking here is not as safe as you might think: there is a mountain lion one needs to watch out for (see picture). If attacked the sign suggests one fight back. This is one of the best signs I've ever seen. Signs usually say "Do not enter", "Do not feed the ducks", "Do not run", etc... But this one says "DO fight back". Deep down I kind of wanted to be attacked so that I could follow this instruction. My plan was to throw sand in it's face and then kick it in its 'nads.

Together again

2006-07-08T04:03:00.000-04:00

After eight long days separated, Alex and Amina arrived in SFO on July 4. We wasted no time and went to a 4th of July party. A Mexican 4th of July party. Its just like an American 5 de mayo party but with illegal fireworks and authentic Mexican food. There Amina met her new friends Paloma, Cielo, and Santos. If you include Amina, and you round-off their ages are
2,3,4,and 5.

Amina woke up at 4AM EST and went to bed at 11PM PST with only a 30 minute nap which must be some kind of record for an almost 3 year old.

The next morning Alex was excited to see I had made the apartment look good. I used what I learned from being forced to watch 'Sell this House'. Amina was excited to see that our backyard is literally a tot-lot. The place is called Escondido Village. We live in the housing for graduate student with kids. There are about 20 buildings that form an enclosed area where they have 100ftx100ft sandboxes with slides, swings, old school see-saws (the ones you can hurt your partner by getting off when they are up). All the kids just leave their toys outside and they are pretty much public property. The kids become sort of public property as well since you just let them go and hope for the best while sitting in your living room sipping very cheap and tasty california wine. It is so awesome I was inspired to make a lisa-gram:

Below is a view from our living room:

More to come...

Leyendole a mis amigos

2006-06-13T19:57:00.000-04:00

So on Sunday Amina was reading to her friends. She was showing them a horse behind a barn door in a pop-up book. This is exactly what she was saying "See the horse! You see it Dora? You see it Chicken Little? You see it Otra Dora?".

Another Fine Saturday in Baltimore

2006-06-10T07:44:00.000-04:00

1. & 2. We started the day looking for bugs in the garden.

3. I like to hold the ladybugs. We also saw a big caterpillar which I wanted to hold but mami said it was a bit too big for her to pick up. I think mami is a bug wimp.

4. Next we went to the Farmer's Market. Here I am playing with Luce in the little park behind Rick and Amy's house in Charles Village. We also hung out with Megan, Lauren and Alexandra and the two kittens and one squirrel they were taking care of, but mami forgot to take those pictures.

5. Spam bowling at the HonFest. I didn't win a prize but I'm OK with that.

6 & 7. Next we walked around the neighborhood handing out some of Wendy's anti-ivy flyers. We stopped for a bit at Scott and Joanne's house and I played catch with Scott while papi played basketball with Max. Once again, the photographer (mami) was alseep on duty. Scott gave me one of the boy's small gloves so now I have my own. Thanks Scott! We went home and I played some more catch with papi. After dinner, the three of us watched The Incredibles. And a good time was had by all.

Using your words

2006-06-01T20:58:00.000-04:00

Warning: This post contains references to caca

In amina's day care they teach her to "use her words". So for example, instead of a well deserved kick in the behind to a kid that takes her toy she is supposed to say "No JohnDoe! I don't like that!" So today Amina was going twocies and, apparently, had some sort of constipation which made it a bit painful. When it was all said and done, she looks in the toilet and says "No caca! I don't like that". Someone at daycare needs to explain this does not apply to inanimate objects. I will someday teach her about gruños and maños.

One fine saturday

2006-05-09T00:18:00.000-04:00

1. 9:AM, Saturday, 5/6/06. Alex has been up for 3 hours and Rafa and
Amina.....
2. A beautiful Spring day in Baltimore
3. Pony rides at the Towsontown Spring Festival (which otherwise sucked)
4. Time for a beer
5 & 6. AVAM Kinetic Sculpture Races (http://www.kineticbaltimore.com/)
7. Papi tiene que ayudar -- lo ven?
8. A lovely day was had by all. The night was good too. We don't have
any more pictures, though, becomes Mami ditched us to go to the Mt.
Washington school auction with Els and Amy -- and all she brought home was a
jiffy lube certificate and a barnes and noble gift card! Papi says she
pulled a bait and switch claiming they were going to be auctioning Ravens
tickets. That's fine b/c Papi and I watched Chicken Little and we did NOT
take baths. Teach her to abandon us on a Saturday night...

New Movie

2006-04-16T22:06:00.000-04:00

I finally found time to put together another movie. It's been a while.

This one shows Amina playing computers and puzzles. Its about 1:20 mins, 3Megs and you will need QuickTime.

1:02:03 04/05/06

2006-04-05T01:02:00.000-04:00

I stayed up to post this at 01:02:03 on 04/05/06

Pony Universe

2006-03-27T19:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks to grandma, Amina is slowly organizing her army to take over the world....

Sick x 3

2006-03-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

Amina was sick for about 2 consecutive weeks. It started with a fever on a Wednesday (day 1) which we controlled with Ibuprofen. However on day 3 we went to the pediatrician because she was pointing at her ear and making funny faces. She did indeed have an ear infection. The dr said she might also have strep throat but that if she did the antibiotics would take care of that too. On day 5 she started throwing up anything that went into her mouth. She vomited 4 times. We called the dr and apparently there was a stomach bug going around. There was nothing to worry about and, because she was no longer complaining about her ear, we did not have to worry about the antibiotics. Regardless, denying her of water was very hard because after much fluid loss she was super thirsty and would ask in a very weak voice for "un poquito agua" while she used her index and thumb to make the international sign of small. Day 6 and 7 were a bit better cause she was holding down some water and gatorade. But still lots of vomiting. Something quite surprising is that many times she would vomit but not cry. In fact, in one vomiting episode that occurred while watching 'Finding Nemo' she immediately turned back to the screen and yelled "Mami! Look! Bruce!". Bruce is the vegetarian great white shark.

Days 5-7 were hard because she was lethargic and would not want to even move. We're not used to seeing her like that. Movies (Toy Story 2 and Bugs Life in particular) were the only thing that lifted her spirits. On Days 8-10 she started eating and had moments with energy, but was still not herself. On day 11 Hives appeared. The dr said these were normal. After taking a nap, the hives were much worse and she began to scratch and cry, so we went to the hospital. It turns out she had strep throat too (probably since day 1). I guess our dr forgot about his previous assessment when he told us to forget the anitbiotics. On day 12 I had to leave for 1 day for an invited talk. It was really hard being away but much harder staying alone (for Alex) because that night she vomited again! According to the docs this was still the stomach virus.
Since then she has been getting better and better. I guess the virus is gone and the antibiodics are kicking in.

Days 13 was a bit tough because pampering came to a halt. I guess she was re-getting used to the fact that she can't do whatever she wants... like watch movies anytime. She whined and cried much more than usual but by Day 14 it was over. I thought it would take much longer. Now she is going back to school but having a hard time saying goodbye. It's pretty bad and depressing. We hope she gets over that soon.

There was one positive to all this. Once vomiting was over, staying home from work was kind of fun: watching (and commenting on) movies and building puzzles. These 12 days of practice made her quite good at it. The 24 piece puzzle below she can now make all by herself in under 10 minutes. That's faster than one of our adult neighbors who shall remain anonymous.

Mr Potato Head

2006-03-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

Amina has been sick for the past couple of weeks. Mr Potato head helped her get through it. Turns out she has strep throat.

Rompecabeza

2006-03-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

Below some pictures of Amina putting together a puzzle of, who else, Elmo. She can only make the head. If I try to help she yells at me "I do it! I do it! I do it!". The last picture is my favorite part: clean up.

Poster Session

2006-02-27T22:38:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I took Amina to a poster session at the School of Medicine after picking her up at day care. By this time of the day she is quite hungry. When we got there the food was gone. Molecular Biology students appear to be a hungry bunch. So, I did what any responsible father would do: bought Amina a bag of fritos. Amina held that frito bag as if her life depended on it. But because it was crowded she wanted to hold my hand as we walked and thus could not eat. So, we walked from poster to poster and everytime I started to read one, she would sit on the floor between my legs, open her bag, and start eating. When I was done reading, she closed her bag, stood up, and walked with me again. After about 7 posters the bag was empty so we went home.

Btw, did you know Frito's only have 3 ingredients? Can you name them? In contrast here are the ingredients in Nacho Cheese Doritos:

Pobre Frosty

2006-02-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

El dia despues de hacer a frosty, estuvo como a 60. Al pobre se le derritio la cabeza. Cuando llegamos a casa, Amina se preocupo. Algo asi fue lo que oi: "Papi! papi! wha happen frosty? wha happen? wha happen? wha happen frosty?". Lo unico que se me ocurrio contestar fue "Pues, Amina, que hoy hizo calor y se le derritio la cabeza". Amina contest "Oh."

Snow

2006-02-12T19:15:00.000-05:00

Today we got about 1 foot of snow. Alex was sick so Amina and I spent the morning shoveling.

No more unsupervised computer use

2006-02-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

Today Alex calls me from the computer room because an installation CD "doesn't work". I
say "move", sit down, and try another CD. It's the drive. No CD goes in. Pressing the eject button doesnt work. Rebooting doesnt work. Then I remember Alex has been complaining about a missing Barnes and Noble gift card. I stick a 6x4 card into the drive and out comes the gift card. I wonder who stuck it in there.

Don't believe him

2006-02-05T20:48:00.000-05:00

Papi goes around telling people I like to dress like him. Believe me it's not true.
Can't wait to learn to dress myself.

Trip to PR

2006-01-22T20:19:00.000-05:00

We just got back from PR. It was lots of fun. We spent 3 days at the beach. On our way, we made a pit stop for lunch (Pic 1) at a great place called "La Fonda de Angelo" in Santa Isabel. Abu, Abuelo, Papi, Mami, Titi Helvia, Cristi, Titi Anamari, Pupi, Dona Rosa, Titi Ila, Ana, Yanqui, Gabi and me stayed in a 3 bedroom apt Abu rented. The party poopers complained about waits for the bathroom but I had a blast. Our first day there we went to Gilligan's Island, were I tried to drown papi (Pic 2) for making me run around naked all day (he claims he was potty training me). The rest of the time we spend in the metro area. The hotel we were staying at was great because it had a pool with a water slide which I made papi go down at least 20 times (pic 4). I also participated in my first fiestas de la calle san sebastian (pic 3).

Naked and $75

2006-01-22T19:14:00.000-05:00

There are many potty training methods. Apparently there is one called the "Naked and $75 approach". The title is literal: Naked as in "let the kid run around in the buck" and $75 as in "its going to cost you $60 to clean that carpet stain plus a $15 'smells like crap' fee". When I heard about this approach I thought "How can I not try this?" So, we tried it in the beaches of PR with a third world twist: no potty. Unexpectedly Amina starts yelling "potty!! potty!!" and as you can see in the pic it was a total success! Well, the owner of the sand bucket disagreed...

Diccionario de cocina

2006-01-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

para aquellos de ustedes que no dominan el ingles:

Diced=picado	Chopped=picadito

Minced=bien picadito

Por fin! Alguien que me ayuda!

2006-01-07T14:51:00.000-05:00

I have been cooking for others for a looong time, yet i have never had a truly reliable helper. If I had 5 cents for every time that something burned because my mom didn't keep an eye on it as promised... I'd have about 80 cents. One time i was making pad thai for alex and her friend els... alex agreed to chop some scallions asap as I was stirring and had forgot to do that part. Next thing I know she's pouring hot coffee on me (not on purpose... she tripped.. i think... i hope). Apparently she needed the coffee more than the dish needed the scallions. Rick, my roomate in Berkeley, got very annoyed when I explained the difference between slicing, chopping, and mincing. Anyways, I finally have a helper who 1) follows directions 2) does not complain! check it out

This movie

Recuerdos del ayer

2006-01-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

Romanian Xmas

2005-12-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

On xmas eve we had the best time at ciprian and adinas house. alex, helvia, amina and i went. two of ciprian and adina's friends, vali and lili, were also there with their 4 month old baby, andrew. all 9 of us partied till 10.30pm. adina made great food: stuffed grape leaves, roasted pork loin, eggplant dip, rice, and an amazing walnut roll for dessert! I deep fried falafels and codfish balls. i also made ciprians favorite: sweet plantains. lili made cow stomache soup which was completely different from the puerto rican version, mondongo, but just as tasty.

we drank chueca (sp?) (romanina moonshine). adina claims its legal... im no lawyer, but i have to disagree. we drank enough to think that flambe-ing the plantains, with the chueca, was a good idea. luckily no-one got hurt. but we did waste some good chueca.

vali impressed us all with his appetite. he consumed at least 24 codfish balls and 10 falafels, before sitting down for dinner.

cant wait for new years party!

Navidad

2005-12-29T21:24:00.000-05:00

Despite papi's objections and ramblings about festivus, santa came and i got some gifts. titi helvia got me a generic doll which i have decided to call dora (dont sue me viacom) and a stroller for dora. mami got me a dora backpack and a dora dvd. i havent let go of the stroller for 5 days. i liked these gifts so much i didnt bother opening the other 2. Mami got exactly what she wanted: a bootleg Vicente Fernandez/Ramon Ayala CD (thanks hecdog!.. i mean santa clos). papi got what he has been wanting for years now: gloves and a small oil on wood painting for his bedside. he also got a wooden salad bowl.

Tea Time II

2005-12-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

After tea, amina feeds her "pet"

Busy weekend

2005-12-11T17:10:00.000-05:00

This weekend was pretty busy. On Friday we went to Mimi's Cafe (my new favorite restaurant). Saturday morning we went to Port Discovery where I worked as a waitress and cashier. Saturday afternoon we drove to DC and visited the Museum of Natural History. Papi was excited because he found a parking spot right in front of the museum. whatever. Later that night we went to a party in DC at Sandra's house, the real reason for going to DC. We then drove back to Baltimore. On Sunday morning we went to the grand opening of the new ANIMAL PLANET AUSTRALIA: WILD EXTREMES at the Baltimore Aquarium. It was cool but not as exciting as seeing Nemo, Dory and Bruce again. We then had brunch at the Hollywood cafe. We had plans of going to wegmans that afternoon but papi wimped out. He claims to be sick. Instead mami went and got a festivus rosemary bush and we decorated it.

Tea Time

2005-12-06T09:27:00.000-05:00

Amina and her "friends" having tea.

monkey see monkey do

2005-12-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

The other day I read amina some books to help her fall sleep. i left my glasses in her room by accident. two hours later i go in and i find this:

Visita de Abu y Abuelo

2005-11-20T18:54:00.000-05:00

Este fin de semana visitaron abu y abuelo. primero se comieron 6 ostras, 6 ostiones, 2 clam chowders, 2 platos de crab cake (all lump), un poco del pescado de papi y despues me saludaron y me dieron mi regalo: una gorra de los red sox. fuimos directo del aeropuerto a jartarnos de frutos del mar. se creen que es chiste? papi dice que no le dio tiempo ni decir bienvenidos a baltimore antes que abuelo se echara el primer ostion.

Ayundado a Papi

2005-11-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

Papi is terrancing part of the backyard. he thinks itll help avoid erotion. im sure it wont. but i helped anyway.

Halloween

2005-10-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

This halloween I finally got to trick-or-treating. I went with papi, mami, els, and luca. luca and i were a ladybug and a bee (again). I collected tons of candy. Mami ate all the brand-name chocolates and left me the generic brand loli-pops. lame! I made up for it by eating all the gum drops at school.

MI nuevo chichon

2005-10-30T21:55:00.000-05:00

Esta noche mami y papi fueron a comer en el cuido. Habia comida para todos los padres y estaban todos mis amigos ahi. Papi y mami comieron en nuestras sillitas chiquitas. Papi dice que yo era la unica de todos los ninyos sentada tranquilamente comiendo ademas de la unica que pidio mas lasanya. Mami senyala que yo tambien soy la unica de todos los ninyos con el apellido Quintero. Aparentemente hay una conexion pero todavia no se cual es. Tambien estaban John y Roni con Micah y Emmet pues ellos tambien van a mi cuido solo que estan en salones diferentes. Yo me diverti mucho hasta que me cai bajando las escaleras y tropece con el pasamano. Me dolio y por eso llore por 30 segundos. Pero Mami me dio una galleta asi que deje de llorar para poder comer. Aqui una foto de mi nuevo chichon.

she's cute, she kicks ass...

2005-10-02T22:38:00.000-04:00

chequen mis botas nuevas. la mas hip.

Visita de Anamari

2005-09-26T22:36:00.000-04:00

este fin de semana me vino a visitar titi anamari. ese viernes papi me llevo a ver a elmo en la produccion 'super grover' de sesame street live y entonces estabamos en casa jugando y llego titi. primero elmo y despues titi -- toda la gente cool viene a baltimore!!! goze un monton con ella. fuimos al farmer's market y al community playground, al science center (donde nos montamos en este carrusely a muchos restaurantes. mejor aun, papi y titi me llevaron a un juego de los red sox. me diverti mucho aunque me parece que los fanaticos de los red sox estan un poco locos, no offense titi y papi. tambien titi me ensenyo fotos en su computadora y vimos los increibles juntos. yeah! ah y hablamos mucho con tio puki por telefono. estranyo a titi anamari pero mami y papi me ensenyan sus fotos y ademas abu mando un libro con su foto en la portada asi que la puedo ver todo el tiempo.

Mi segundo cumpleanyos

2005-09-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated my birthday. My birthday was actually last Sunday, but Papi was in Norway so we waited to celebrate it together. Els says that in Holland being out of town during your child's birthday is grounds for termination of parental rights. I don't know what that means but maybe it could be that you have to give them extra presents because papi and mami gave me TWO Dora la Exploradora books. I love Dora. I also love Elmo so Mami put up an Elmo Birthday sign in the backyard. This morning for my birthday party lots of friends from the neighborhood and from school came over, including Luca, Micah, Emmet, Charlie, Stephanie, Lauren and Alexandra. We had lots of fun playing in the pool and the sandbox and the hammock and with the balloons and the water and the juice and the bagels. Instead of cake, Mami put together a big plate of Dora la Exploradora cookies -- did I mention I love Dora? -- and marshmallows. Luca and Lauren and I ate the most marshmallows. Stephanie really liked the Dora cookies. Oh and I had two candles in the middle and Micah helped me blow them out. I also got lots of very nice presents. We had a lot of fun today and no one had to get stitches so it was a good day.

Colors

2005-09-05T23:59:00.000-04:00

Ya se algunos de los colores: azul, amarillo, rojo y verde. Tambien se que Elmo es rojo y el sapo es verde.

Weekend with Abu and Titi

2005-09-05T23:39:00.000-04:00

Este fin de semana abu y titi me vinieron a visitar. Gozamos un monton. Abu me leyo muchos libros, incluso cuando estaba en el potty. Tambien abu y titi me ensenyaron muchos videos en la computadora. Mami y papi nunca me dejan pasar tanto tiempo al frente de la compu pero yo no les dije eso a abu y a titi, je, je. Tambien fuimos al acuario a visitar a nemo, papa, dori, bruce y turtle. !Que sorpresa fue descubrir que todos ellos viven en Baltimore! Ademas fuimos al science center, al parque y a comer en varios lugares. Me gusto mucho la visita pero me puse muy triste al final pues abu y titi me dijeron bye-bye. Empece a llorar asi que papi y mami me dejaron jugar en el carro y ver "Buscando a Nemo" cuando llegue a casa. .

Leakin Park Trains

2005-08-15T21:46:00.000-04:00

This Sunday, Mami, Papi and Els took Luca and me to ride the trains at
Leakin Park. The Park is close to our house and the day was very hot
so there weren't very many people and we didn't have to wait in line
for very long. Luca was very excited to ride the trains. Luca loves
trains, cars, trucks, construction vehicles -- basically anything with
an engine that moves. I thought the train was OK. I went along more
for the company. (Mami says I'm a social butterfly. She says I am
puro Quintero. I haven't quite figured out what that means but maybe
when I'm older I'll understand.)

Luca was very sad when the ride ended so we went a second time. That
time Mami let me sit on the wood slat that the adults sit on --she also
let me stand part of the way though I don't think that is allowed-- so
I enjoyed the ride more that time. As we were leaving, we ran into
John, Roni, Micah and baby Emmet. Els and Luca had to go home because
Luca was very tired, but we stayed so that I could play with Micah. I
went on the train two more times with Papi, MIcah, John and Roni. Mami
took care of Emmet since he is too little to go on the ride. Mami then
went on the train while Papi and I waited. At that point I started to
think that Papi and Mami used me as an excuse to go train riding.
John was also very excited about the trains which makes me think that
maybe adults have children so they have an excuse to do kid things
without looking like weirdos. Either way, I had a good time. I think
we are going to go back in the Fall when the leaves change colors.

Bathtub

2005-08-05T22:31:00.000-04:00

sometimes it's fun to take a bath with friends.

Garden

2005-08-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

Mami likes to garden. Papi sometimes helps her. Here are some pictures
of our garden. On Sundays, the three of us all go and work on the
neighborhood gardens. Or really the adults garden and Luca and I play.
Mike our neighbor and director of the gardens says that when Luca and I
are older, we can help weed. I think there better be marshmallows
involved.

Dancing with Austrians

2005-07-04T21:34:00.000-04:00

One night all the students and faculty from the course went
first to visit a castle and then to eat traditional South Tirolean food.
Outside there was a two man band entertaining a older group with some
music. yes they were wearing liderhosen and yes they tried playing Guantanamera.
No one was dancing so I decided to bust a move. Here is an
AVI movie which is 3.6 Megs so be patient.

Acquarena

2005-07-03T22:12:00.000-04:00

Bressenone had the best water park that Papi and I have ever seen: Acquarena. Of
course, I've only seen that one water park but Papi assures me it is
much better than Villa Coqui. When we would pass by Papi would say to
Mami: "Iwantsome. Iwantsome. Iwantsome." Papi is un copion. Mami
would roll her eyes when Papi would say that to her. She does that to
me too when I say it. I wonder if her eyes hurt? I don't think Mami
likes water parks very much but she liked this one. There were lots of
nice pools and it was very pretty. Papi and I went on the big water
slide. This is even bigger than the one in the Hotels in Puerto Rico.
A couple of times I went underwater with Papi in the landing and
everyone would stare and wait for me to cry, but I didn't.

Bike Riding

2005-07-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

One day, Papi took the morning off from work and we went bikeriding in
Bressenone. We had a lot of fun and rode all the way to an abbey.
Mami and Papi bought me my very own ice cream. Here are some pictures.

Bressenone

2005-07-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

This summer, Papi, Mami and I went to Italy. Papi taught a class in
Bressenone and the we spent a few days in Italy. We really loved
Bressenone though it took 15 hours to get there. Papi and Mami said
they would not do this again until I was older. I don't know what they
were complaining about. I very much enjoyed the car, plane, bus, train
and walking. Anyway, Bressenone had water fountains and ice cream
everywhere. It was great.

While Papi taught his class, Mami would
take me around town to play in the fountains and eat ice cream. I
impressed them by saying my first sentence: "I want some." I kept
saying it over and over and over again. Sometimes I'd even repeat many
times: "Iwantsome. I wantsome. Iwantsome. Iwantsome." It's important
to make onself understood after all. There were many ice cream shops
and I wanted to make sure they knew the important role ice cream now
played in my life. Venice also had lots of ice cream stands. Here is
a picture of me in front of one.

Chinese Dinner

2005-05-15T22:16:00.000-04:00

Jean, Papi's grad student, and DongMei, Giovanni's grad student, are graduating. Jean, DongMei, their parents and Francesca and Giovanni came over for dinner to celebrate their graduation.

Really Papi just wanted Jean to teach him how to make more Chinese dishes. They made a lot of food. About 14 dishes. It was very, very good. Jean and Dong Mei's parent were very nice and everyone had a good time. Also, I am posting a picture of me in an outfit that Aimee brought to me from China. I thought I would dress up for the occasion.

Sherwood Garden

2005-05-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

Hace como tres meses que no escribimos nada! Pero ahora volvemos y aprendi a anyadir retratos! Si cliquean en la foto pueden ver una version mas grande.

Empiezo con estas fotos de cuando fuimos a Sherwood Gardens (aqui en Baltimore) en mayo. Fuimos con unos amigos, Ingo y Elizabeth, que se compraron una casa a una cuadra del parque. Este parque es famoso por los tulipanes que siembran.

Yo amo el peligro

2005-04-15T22:27:00.000-04:00

Check out this movie

"Projectile vomiting"

2005-04-13T18:50:00.000-04:00

Anoche Alex estuvo vomitando de las 11 de la noche hasta las 4 de la manyana sin parar. Pensabamos que ibamos a tener que ir al hospital pero conseguimos a la dra. de Alex que llamo a una farmacia y nos tenian lista la receta. Guie a 70 millas por hora a la farmacia, llegue en 5 minutos y el farmaceutico se tardo 10 minutos en escribir en la computadora A....L...E.....X.....A....N.....D......E.....R.

Entonces llegue y Alex mas tranquila, fui a chequear a Amina, que se habia vomitado toda la cama. A la manyana siguiente parecia estar bien (comio soysage con ketchup) asi que la lleve a la escuelita y fui al trabajo a una defensa de tesis. A la media hora me llamaron para que la buscara pues habia vomitado toda la escuela. La busque y estaba como si nada. La que la cuida escribe en su informe diario que Amina 'did some projectile vomiting'.

Mis primero puntos

2005-03-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

Nadie me vio, pero me cai y me parti el labio. sangre un monton. mami y papi estaban muy preocupados pero despues de como 30 segundos pare de llorar y segui hablando por el celular. mami seguia llorando! fuimos al hospital pavia donde titi helvia se encontro con nosotros. llegamos como a las 7:45am. alli un enfermero me chequio y me mandaron a esperar en la sala de espera. la persona cuyo trabajo era entrar mi informacion no sabia ingles ni usar una computadora asi que le tomo como 45 minutos entrar toda mi informacion. como 10 minutos mas tarde no llamaron y un doctor muy buena gente me chequio el labio. determino que necesitaba puntos. esto no lo iba a permitir. otro doctor vino a ayudar y le advirtieron a papi que iba a dar pelea. tenian razon. me amarraron con una sabana (como una momia) para que no pudiera tirar punyos y patas y mientras un doctor me aguantaba la cabeza y papi me aguantaba el cuerpo el otro me puso una inyeccion en la bemba. ay que dolor! me libere los piese y empece a patear a papi a ver si me lograba escapar. trate de usar la lengua para empujarle los dedos al doctor que me trataba de poner los puntos. por mas que pelie no pude evitar que me pusieran dos puntos. tomo como 20 minutos y no pare de pelear. acabe tan sudada que tenia el pelo mojado y para recuperar me tome un siesta de 1 hora 10-11 y luego otra de 1-3. ya por la noche estaba como nueva!

de alex

2005-03-24T13:52:00.000-05:00

so yesterday i put what i considered a 'child proof lock' in the
downstairs bathroom so guests could have privacy without amina locking
herself in. basically, it's a screw-eye and a hook. seems a bit
tricky for an 18 month old.

this morning amina closes the bathroom door with her in it and about 2
seconds later i hear "scratch, scratch, click" 30 seconds of me
freaking out and yelling for rafa upstairs, i hear 'unclick', i open
the door and out she walks very casually.

i think she may have been insulted by my assumption that she couldn't
handle that silly lock and therefore felt i needed to be taught a
lesson.

needless to say the lock has been reinstalled at the top of the door.

Diccionario

2005-03-15T23:12:00.000-05:00

para que me entiendad cuando visite:

En Espanyol
----------
agua - agua
alla - llevenme a donde estoy apuntando
mama - alex
papa - rafo
no - no
bibi - bibi
apu - sapo
abu - album de fotos
nene - nene o nena
ma - 1. mas 2.musica por favor
Gabi - marigabi
uau uau - perro
ca ca - pato

En Ingles
-------
Out - 1. saquenme de la sillita
Baby- Bebe
mo' - more
Elsh - Els
Aplyu -Apple Juice
fis - Fish
ice - ice
Elmo - Elmo
Eni - Ernie
Bibe - Big Bird

Como anyadir comentarios

2005-03-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

Para dejar un comentarion *no* tienen que abrir una cuenta. simplemente cliqueen en "Comment" y debajo del area para escribir el comentarion escojan "Other" (hay tres opciones). Les va a pedir nombre y URL/web page... solo tienen que escribir el nombre. cuando acaben de escribir el comentario, le dan al boton que dice "publish your comment"... eso es todo.

si abren una cuenta pueden escoger la opcion "blogger" y entrar el username y password... pero no tiene que hacerlo

My friend luca

2005-03-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

Luca is my best friend. He speaks english and dutch but no spanish... he calls me "amna" which i think means amina in dutch. he calls papi "awa" and calls mami "titi". i dont know dutch so here it goes in englsh.

luca is almot 2 and he lives very close to my house. in fact i can walk to his house and actually know the way there. papi didnt believe me but one day i pointed to the door, he opened it, and i walked all the way to luca's house without any help. turn right at the end of the path, then right at the alley, then the second right and its the second house on the left... easy!

Luca likes three things: cars, trucks, and trains. but he is nice enough to watch elmo with me when i visit. this is important becuase when i visit mami and els (luca's mom) talk about boring things... papi, luca and i need to find things to do.
sometimes papi plays guitar and luca and i dance. which is why whenever luca see's a picture of a guitar he says "awa awa awa". I also like pushing luca when he sits in my car and running after each other while screaming.

La critica de musica

2005-02-24T23:29:00.000-05:00

Amina le gusta oir musica. en el carro, si el radio no esta prendido, empieza a decir "maj maj maj" hasta que lo prendemos. ahora si es una cancion que no le gusta empieza a mover la cabeza y decir "no no no no". a veces quiere oir una cancion en particular y dice que no hasta que llegamos a la que le gusta. entonces se pone a bailar en el asiento.

btw, parece estar de acuerdo con amed sobre el regeton. Ahora hay una estacion latina que toca: regeton, northenyas, bachatas, y merengue de los 80. no es chiste! el otro dia pusieron "EL Negro"! Por lo menos fue la version de wilfrido y no las chicas del clan.

El mejor baby sitter

2005-02-23T23:41:00.000-05:00

Papi es el mejor baby sitter. mami me obliga a hacer rompecabezas y a leer libros aburridos. en cambio papi me cuida asi!

No lloro!

2005-02-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

Hoy, por primer vez, Amina se quedo en el cuido sin llorar.

Queso?

2005-02-18T00:17:00.000-05:00

la nieta de ana helvia nos vio comiendo gorgonzola con galletas y nos pidio "maj maj maj". se lo dimos para que se diera cuenta de que no le gustaba el queso apestoso... acabo comiendose como 10 galletas con queso. ya se estan empezanod a notar los efectos: aqui un retrato reciente.

La nieta de Ana Helvia

2005-02-15T23:50:00.000-05:00

ayer amina se comio 1 boul de sopa de calabaza, 2 somosas, 4 amarillitos, 2 pedazos de brocoli y un pedazo de pizza (tamanyo de adulto) ademas de las 3 botellas de leche. yo peso como 10 veces mas que amina asi que imaginense yo comerme esta lista x10. ultimamente esta comiendo asi. estoy un poco preocupado. alex dice que no esta gorda. yo contesto: todavia. alex tambien dice que es un "growth spurt". yo solo espero que el "growth" sea para arriba y no para los lados.

No mas cuna!

2005-02-13T22:45:00.000-05:00

Como saben odio mi cuna. lloro como nunca cuando me ponen a dormir en ella. hoy papi y mami se rindieron y me pusieron a dormir en una cama. la cama esta cerca del piso y rodeada de almohadas por si me caigo. ja!

Chuck E.Cheese's

2005-02-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

Hoy fuimos a chuck e cheese's. mis amigos luca y micah iban tambien. pero cuando llegamos estaba repleto. no estaban dejando gente entrar hasta que otros se fueran. papi y yo nos queriamos quedar pero los demas no. papi y yo les hicimos este sonido. yo volveremos otro dia. al final no fue tan malo pues fuimos a Barnes and Noble a jugar con los trenes.

Se me pegaron los piojos

2005-02-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

El miercoles anti-pasado mami me encotro un piojo. Buscando en el internet aprendi que el tiempo de incubacion del piojo es de dias a semanas (leanse esto) asi que estoy bastante segura de quien me los pego! ademas que en mi escuelita nunca han visto un piojo...

mami le pregunto a papi, quien tiene experiencia piojera, como matar los piojios. papi le explico que en su epoca abuela le cogia el champu de pulgas prestado a sofo y esto no solo le mataba los piojos sino que le dejaba la cabeza ardiendo por dos o tres dias. mami decidio llamar a la doctora quein primero no le creia que eran piojos y despues la trato de hacer sentir mejor diciendole que no eran tan malos ya que "some primitive cultures live with them". bueno la doctora recomendo RID. esa misma noche me recortaron el pelo y me lavaron el pelo. llore much porque no me gusta que me tiren agua en la cabeza y este champu tomo mucho tiempo quitar. encontramos 10 piojos muertos. papi y mami tambien se recortaror y se lavaron la cabeza. papi tuvo 2 piojos y mami 3.

el sabado papi me estaba espulgando y encontro otro piojo. asi que papi decidio pelarme el coco. mami no queria, pero a mi no me importa. lo unico anoin es que ahora papi me dice "bald-ina".
yo le contesto que a mi crece el pelo, pero el es feo pa siempre. lo otro que no me gusta es que mami se pone triste cuando la gente piensa que soy un nene. como quiera, me tienen que recortar porque no me dejan ir a la escuelita si tengo piojos y a mi me gusta mucho. pa colmo mandaron una carta a todos los padres de mi salon diciendo que alguin tenia piojos y que tuvieran cuidado. como soy la unica calva es bastante obvio que es la del "primitive culture". que verguenza!

hoy todos nos lavamos la cabeza otra vez y no encontramos ninguno! tambien ya no nos pica la cabeza. hace dos semanas me despertaba por las noches rascandome. ya no me pasa! para celebrar, maynana voy con mi amigo luca (ya les contare mas del) a chucky cheese.

Aprendi a tocar la armonica

2005-02-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

Me gusta cuando papi me toca la armonica. aunque siempre toca la misma cancion: "Ill be coming 'round the montain". He querido aprender a tocar pero cuando me la pongo en la boca nada pasa. hoy me di cuenta que ademas de ponermela en la boca tengo que soplar. fui a ensenyarle a papa y mami, que estan hablando en la cocina, que apreni. por los primeros varios segundos no se dieron cuenta que era yo la que estba tocando. entonces me vieron y me se pusieron muy felices. ahora me la paso tocando y bailando.

Elmo Elmo Elmo

2005-02-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

Estoy obsesionada con Elmo. Quiero verlo 24/7. Tengo un DVD y me gusta
esta pagina.
Si veo a mami o papi usando una computadora le pido que me dejen verlo diciendo "Elmo Elmo Elmo Elmo Elmo". si no me dejan la ultima vocal se convierte en llanto. Cuando papi y mami no me estan velando y veo una compu en la mesa, me trepo en una silla y luego en la mesa y trato de poner a elmo yo sola. a veces me sale otras veces otras cosas pasan... el otro dia le puse la pantalla en blanco y negro a papi y le tomo media hora cambiarlo a colores otra vez. a veces me mangan antes de tener un chance de tocar la compu.

No pongan nada en el techo del carro.... nunca

2005-01-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

No se preocupen. no fue amina.

Yo soy duenyo de dos cosas que valen mas de $1000. el carro y la laptop (la casa es del banco). hoy se me perdio una y no fue el carro. estaba poniendo a amina en su silla y puse mi bulto en el techo. le dije a alex "ponme el bulto en el baul en lo que acomodo a amina". alex no me oyo. alex me llevo al trabajo. fui a buscar el bulto en el baul y no estaba. le pregunte alex si la habia puesto... no.
el lunes siguiente era la fecha limite de una propuesta importante y sin la lapop tendria que estar en la oficina todo el fin de semana (incluyendo las noches).

cancele todas mi cuentas de credito etc.. porque en la laptop esta esa informacion. cuando acabe de cancelar todo, entra un polica (Balto PD) a mi oficina con mi bulto. si no fuera por mi miedo a las macanas lo abrazo. una donya lo encontro por casa y lo llevo a la estacion. usando correo viejo que se me olvido sacar los policias decifraron a donde ir a devolverlo.

la propuesta la acabe a tiempo.

Primera entrada

2005-01-01T16:10:00.000-05:00

Este es el Blog de Amina Irizarry. Aqui contaremos las aventuras de Amina.