Brodie's birthday weekend

I'm happy to report that much fun was had as we celebrated Brodie's birthday all weekend long and into Monday, too. Yes, we had to do have her all-class celebration on Monday because another little girl was having hers on Friday and we didn't want to detract from either girl's limelight. In all it was a lot of work, but I have to admit I had a great time planning, shopping for and directing it. I think the key was not asking what Brodie wanted and just making choices that I knew she would generally approve of. Giving children too many choices can lead to tantrums and meltdowns and your kid might get upset, too. Preparations included selecting decorations - we kind of went with a multi-color, Mexican fiesta theme and hung paper floral streamers and paper globes throughout the room. Then I had to plan and buy the adult food (wine/beer, manchego, bacon-wrapped dates, olives, cut fruit), select the kid meriendas (snacks) and select the goodie bags for her party on Saturday and the all-class party on Monday. These bags and their innards are called chucherias and are stuffed with bad candy and plastic little toys that pose a choking hazard to small children and will later live in the landfill. For the Saturday party we filled little paper cones with Jelly Bellys (these are exotic candies over here!) and for school we opted to do traditional candy and marshmallows in Disney princess bags. For both days I baked cupcakes and used my mother-in-law's recipe for butter cream frosting. They turned out great and seemed to be a hit with all the children and parents. Cupcakes as we know them are not generally made here and if you do find some form of them, they're usually too dry and the icing leaves something to be desired. Most importantly all but one boy's parents stayed and we all got to know each other. Everyone was so very nice and seemed happy for the opportunity to meet other parents. One mom said, "I love American birthday parties - especially the fruit!" That made me laugh, but she said that generally kids parties are nothing but sugar explosions. Sadly, Brodie was the only child who ate it! She's a little fruit fly that one. On Sunday we took Brodie and Sabine down to Fuencarral Street which they close to traffic every Sunday morning. Brodie's big birthday gift was a pink Orbea bike with training wheels! She was tentative at first, but pretty soon was cruising along on her own until she fell over. Ack. We all saw it happening (in slow motion, of course) and it was painful, mainly because I know how scared she was, but she cried into her daddy for just a bit, dusted herself off and said, "I want to get back on." I thought Kyle was going to explode with pride. It was a perfect weekend. The posted snap is from the Saturday party - Brodie is sandwiched between Jaime on the left and Jorge on the right.

Birthday preparations and Behavior Study

Last Saturday we attended a birthday party for one of Brodie's class mates named Alicia. Before then we had only spoken a handful of times to her parents who are very nice as well as to the lady that usually walks Alicia to and from school. The party was hosted at a place right around the corner from us called "En un Lugar en Chamberi" (loosely translates to "Some Place in Chamberi") Trust me I've more than once joked that I couldn't remember the name of the place but that it was "someplace in Chamberi", cracking up no one but myself, I'll add. Anyway, it's fairly small, but it's basically an indoor bouncy house with a ball bouncy area and a couple of slides. Off to the side there's another small room for toddlers and where kids can do crafts, they'll paint your face and make balloons. Needless to say Brodie had a fantastic time and we enjoyed getting to know some parents in the upstairs area where we could overlook the craziness. Pretty quickly, though, I realized that we were the only family from Brodie's school. Carmen (Alicia's mom) said that she didn't know any of the other moms and that I was the only one that she had ever really spoken to. I was stunned. I've been disappointed at the lack of parent involvement/opportunity to get to know one another, but I assumed that all the Spanish moms knew each other and were getting together frequently for sangria happy hours. I mentioned my disappointment in not knowing other families and she said "we Spanish are "cerrados" (closed) and we don't talk to someone unless we're spoken to first." Hmmm....duly noted. With this piece of information and the discovery of someplace in Chamberi (I can't remember the name) we decided right there to host a birthday party for Brodie! As fun as planning this party has been, it hasn't been without its hiccups and stresses. Under normal circumstances I would have insisted on inviting all 25 classmates to the party because I had no way of discreetly getting in touch with just a few of the moms and the last thing I wanted to do was create a situation where feelings were hurt. However, our party spot is not cheap and let's just say that for for the cost of inviting all 25 friends (plus 3 that don't attend her school) we could pay for a weekend getaway EASILY. At first I was adamant, but then Touria whipped out her iPhone and showed me the number, so that's when we decided to have Brodie list out who she wanted to invite from school. Fortunately or unfortunately she really did only want to invite about 8 kids from school. It felt wrong to not force her to be inclusive, but again we were glad she was able to narrow it down so easily and as Kyle pointed out, she's been in school almost 5 months and only been invited to one birthday party, so we're guessing it's acceptable to only invite closest friends. On Monday I bought invitations and the plan was that I would arrive early to pick up Brodie and then she would point out the friends we agreed to invite and DISCREETLY hand the parent an invitation during pick up. If only things had gone as smoothly as it had in my head. The minute she saw the pink envelopes she was jumping and waving them around and then yelling out to her friends!! ARGH!! If this were a movie we would have been in slow motion with a spotlight beaming on us and an exaggerated look of pain on my face. I felt terrible! Long story short, they got handed out and we ended up inviting one more little boy that wasn't on the original list. I'll never make that mistake again. Four year olds just do not understand the concept of discretion! But since then, all the parents of invited children have been strikingly chatty and friendly. Parents who never, ever even said hello now wave AND say hello. I think this confirms Carmen's assessment of Spanish culture. Maybe it's a generalization, but since handing out those little pink envelopes everyone has been way friendlier and almost in a relieved way. Like, ok, we've spoken, the seal has broken and now I can be friendly and you won't think I'm a weirdo! Anyway, every child invited is attending and today I start the cupcakes. Updates to follow. Posted is a photo of Brodie and Alicia at last weekend's birthday party.

Bus vs. Metro

No sooner were the words "spring is springing" written and winter decided to rear its ugly, annoying head. This week has felt like hardcore winter that doesn't plan on ever going away, but despite the cold I decided to explore the Madrid bus system today. Since arriving almost five months ago I've only ever taken a taxi, used the metro or walked to reach Point B. Figuring out bus routes and schedules seemed daunting and I also envisioned packed, standing-room only scenarios. No thanks. But, I recently realized that not using the bus was really limiting our exploration of the city. Although the metro is fast and efficient, there are very few stations that have elevators. This creates a huge problem for me during the day when I'm alone with Sabine as most stations have multiple stairwell areas and you have to physically pick up the stoller to make it down or worse, up. Again, no thanks. Well this past weekend we were in the park and we ran into Brodie's frienemy, Jorge "Pepinosa" and his father. We got on the subject of public transportation and in a not so subtle way he informed me that the metro is for weirdos and the bus is for a higher caliber of people. Really???? Hmmm...I have very little experience with city buses, but I have to admit I've always kind of imagined city buses as a place where winos and hobos go to nap. I thought the metro was the smart choice as long as you kept your purse zipped and didn't pass out late night so as to have your bag cut away from your body while you "slept" (this actually happened to someone we know, btw.) With this new information in hand I decided it was time to test the bus system and after many mis-steps and multiple calls to my now rightfully annoyed husband, I managed to find the right bus to take me to a store called "Taste of America" (where I buy Jif PB) and then find the right bus back to our neighborhood. Pros: Clean, you're above ground to view the city, you can push the stroller right on, filled with seemingly harmless well-dressed elderly people. Cons: Traffic, stops way too frequently, longer waits for the bus. I think the pros outweigh the cons and I plan to figure this bus thing out without having to SOS my ever patient husband.

Spring is springing

It's finally starting to feel like spring around here. I'm sure I've mentioned that this winter has apparently been the coldest anyone can remember - so glad we were here for that! The last two days the high has been around 50 degrees (I try to avoid using Celsius and the metric system if at all possible) and the sun has been out all day. In truth, I think it's for the best that we experienced a hard winter right off the bat because it will make spring that much more pleasurable. This weekend the cafes broke out all their outdoor tables and chairs and the parks were packed with families. I admit I look forward to leisurely breakfasts and lunches at one of our cafes while letting Brodie tear up the playground right within our view. From the moment moving to Madrid was presented to us, the primary images in my head were of all of us outside enjoying a slow-paced life. This past Saturday we made the 30 minute train ride to Toledo. We went only for the day so again we stuck to the very charming city center. We mainly just walked around, shopped and did the obligatory cathedral visit. I'm not sure if this makes me unsophisticated or just a plain heathen, but I don't think I can take another visit to an opulent cathedral. No doubt, this one was beautiful and probably had more El Grecos than the Prado, but I think I've reached my cathedral capacity. Dare I say it? They all kind of look the same to me. Sunday we headed over to El Rastro which is a "flea market" that takes place every Sunday in La Latina. We've found a couple of treasures over the months, old bird cages, textiles, books, but this weekend I found what are now my favorite sandals (see photo). They're a really dark red, hand made in Madrid and they were only 18 euros! They assure me they'll have them all spring and they have up to size 42 which I know will excite at least one visiting friend. The shopping in Madrid is unbelievable and it's been hard to reign it in. I've mainly bought only sale items (stuff only goes on sale twice a year in February and then again in August and I'm told stores very rarely stray from those sale periods) and books. Spring fashion is hitting the stores, though, and it's color, color, color. This is a welcome departure from the mostly black we saw all winter long and I cannot wait to stick the boots in the back of the closet and break out my red sandals.

Our little coquette

It's come to our attention that our little Brodie is without a doubt either boy crazy or impatient with girls. She used to mention some girls as friends, but now she says that the girls are mean and she only likes the boys. I'm pretty sure not all the girls can be mean, but it does make me worry. Isn't it way too early to be dealing with this? I thought I had at least until adolescence to learn how to offer the best advice and support - she's not even FOUR yet. Anyway, I've mentioned the threesome of Tirso, Jaime and Jorge "Pepinosa", but we've confirmed that Jorge is definitely not a crush and is someone who just annoys her and that Jaime is definitely her first crush. We arrived from Sevilla on Sunday and not long after Brodie wanted to cut Jaime's picture out of the school magazine, paste it along with hers onto a piece of paper and give it to him at school. She art directed and I did some of the work. We pasted each photo on a green piece of paper, wrote each name under the photo and wrote "Amigos" at the top. At first I thought this was a charming gesture, but it soon dawned on me that Jaime may only be the OBJECT of her affection and that he may not actually share her clear adoration. I immediately envisioned him laughing at her, crumpling it up and throwing it at her feet as he laughed villainously. I went through a couple of scenarios preparing her for other reactions from Jaime mainly emphasizing that he may not understand her or her intentions and I was sure he would never hurt her feelings on purpose. I stayed up Sunday night worrying about this and discussed my fear of her heart breaking with Kyle. The next morning we headed out with the card in her pocket and Kyle asked me to call him to tell him how it went - he was worried too! Sadly, it rained so she wasn't able to see Jaime because he's in another class and they only see each other at play time. The next day, Tuesday, just as we arrived at school, Brodie shouted, "There's my friend, Jaime!" Perfect, I thought, I'll lay the groundwork for the card exchange. I introduced myself to him and told him that Brodie had something for him. He said that he knew because his teacher had already told him. (Brodie had given it to her teacher for safekeeping and she must have then told Jaime's teacher - what a stir we were causing!) I asked him if he knew what it was. "Yes, a photo." "Do you want it?" He smiled, "Yes!" Ahhhhhh! I could quit worrying about my baby's heart! Then right out of a cheesy Hallmark movie, they walked off into the schoolyard and after a few seconds grabbed hands. Seriously, I can't believe I allowed myself to get all worked about this. But still, I know that from here on out kids only get older and meaner. I know I'm projecting my own fears and experiences (in 6th grade I begged my mother to let me switch schools because some mean 8th grade girls made fun of the way I dragged my feet. They'd say "scuffle, scuffle, scuffle. I had NO idea how easy I had it!) onto Brodie, but I want to protect her from all things mean! I think all signs point to me having wayyyyyyyyy to much time on my hands. Something tells me if I had a work deadline looming I'd be less neurotic. And that brings me to child #2. What is it with babies crying? Have you ever noticed that? Honestly mine doesn't cry all that much, but I've decided I'm just a nervous type of person and don't handle crying all that well. If it were 1952, I feel certain that I'd be described as afflicted with a "bad case of nerves" and I'm pretty sure other members of my family would agree. Fine then, please ship me off to the country to sit in therapeutic waters and sip hard liquor. Dare to dream.

Sevilla

This past weekend we made the trip to Sevilla. I must congratulate the Spanish for the creation of their triumphant AVE high-speed train system. What would have been an approximately 6 hour car ride was only a 2 hour and 20 minute almost luxury train ride. It's very clean, they show a movie, there's plenty of leg room, you have an assigned seat (no Southwest Airlines cattle calls here) have a bar/car and you can escape into the luggage car with your screaming baby so as not to annoy others. But the best thing? You can show up MINUTES before your train leaves and you'll be just fine. Really, you couldn't ask for a more comfortable way to travel. Our hotel was lovely and right across from the Cathedral and right in the thick of the "old town". Sevilla is the third largest city in Spain, but we stuck to the very center. Yes, it's a little touristy but that's because it's where most of the places of historic and architectural interest are located. With only 2.5 days to see the city, staying central was the key to an easy trip. The sights in a nutshell: the cathedral (largest gothic in the world, 3rd largest overall in Europe), the Alcazar (royal palace built with strong Moorish architectural influence and still used by the Royal Family), former royal gardens, a horse and carriage tour, the Musuem of Flamenco, two amazing Flamenco shows and dining al fresco whenever possible. Our last meal was at an Italian restaurant that I had read about and was not far from the hotel. It was described as "inexpensive and popular" so I was kind of expecting the Home Slice of Sevilla. When we walked in we were surprised to find it was in a very, very old subterranean building that was beautifully decorated. The food was amazing and the service as friendly as it gets. I highly recommend San Marco for any future travels to Sevilla! All in all a very nice trip free of illness, accidents and disaster. My next post will be about how my almost 4-year old is driving me crazy with her boy-crazy love shenanigans!

Hot Model/Actor Alert!

Yesterday my mother and I were walking around the neighborhood when we saw what I can unequivocally say was the HOTTEST Spanish man I've seen in person. So hot, in fact, that we gawked and kept turning back around to look without even a thought of what he might think. Usually I try to play it cool but there was no playing it cool, all dignity went out my eyeballs that were boring a hole into that poor man's face. (Kyle can't get mad because I know he felt the same way when he saw Brooklyn Decker at Whole Foods.) So this morning we're having coffee and I happened to look at a newspaper on the counter and there he was front and center. Turns out the hot Madrileno is named Jon Kortajarena and is actually from Bilbao. He's ranked the 8th most successful fashion model in the world and is in Tom Ford's "A Single Man." How do I know all this? Because I had to race home and Google my star sighting! Alas, my excitement was killed when I read that his interests are "watching independent films, reading books by Paulo Coelho, sunbathing, going to the mountains with friends, and music." SUNBATHING???? I guess he doesn't have a publicist yet.