Monday, November 28, 2011

My Thanksgiving

I am taking another photography class, this time about Christmas. Reading the lessons, I feel that I captured the spirit of our last trip, hanging out with friends during the Thanksgiving holidays. It was a warm and happy time for all of us, and I think the pictures reflect that. 

Estoy haciendo otra clase de fotografia, esta vez sobre la Navidad. Leyendo las lecciones, siento que he capturado el espiritu durante nuestro ultimo viaje en la vacaciones del dia de accion de gracias. Fueron unos momentos calidos y felices para todos, y creo que las fotos lo reflejan.

PG and his shade

walking

horses

"paella"

super

berries

Gharam Masala garbanzos

Turkey

Luca Joao Victor

Fall

Kicking

Knoxville ball

Monday, November 21, 2011

The world through the eyes of a 6 year old

The years go by so quickly, and I am guessing this is a good thing. Luca is 6 now and I think, wow he is not a little boy anymore, this thing that I tell him all the time and we tell everybody, it means something. I can hardly hold him, and we can have pretty reasonable conversations, not baby-like conversations, he can reason with me, or try to, and it is a bit easier for the two of us. Still once in a while I can get a bit desperate with things that he does and I recall all the hard days when he was younger. How hard it is at times to educate a child and to not get mad. Those moments don't happen very frequently anymore, and in a way I feel nostalgic that I don't have a little baby with me anymore. But on the sunny side, he is a delight to talk to, he is funny and comes up with ideas that are still within a child's free state of mind. I love it. He keeps on asking me how old was he when he was a baby, and telling people that he was very funny (because I show him videos of himself), he keeps on talking about the Thanksgiving "feast", he says lets pretend we have lots of people here so we can make a feast. So cute, I guess it is the way he is discovering the world. He tells people how when he was little he got new implants and he had to wear a big bandage around his head. He explains kids that his implants help him hear, that when he doesn't have them on he can't hear and that when he goes to sleep he doesn't wear them either. In those moments, he makes me very proud, great self advocacy skills, and then I see the mom of the kid he has been talking too and she is horrified mouthing "I'm sorry" to me, when on the other hand I think it is wonderful that her child would ask and that Luca can explain. The world without taboos or social complexes, so nice, I wish we had more of that in our lives as adults.

Los anhos pasan tan rapidamente y bueno supongo que eso es bueno. Luca ya tiene 6 anhos y pienso, jo ya no es un bebe, esto que le digo a todas horas y que el le dice a todo el mundo tiene algo de realidad. A penas lo puedo levantar, y ya podemos tener conversaciones bastante razonables, no como con un bebe, puede razonar, o intentarlo, y es mas facil para los dos. De vez en cuando aun me desespero con cosas que hace y me acuerdo de lo dificil que era cuando era pequenho. Lo dificil que es educar a los ninhos sin enfadarse. Esos momentos ya no pasan a menudo, y en cierto modo, los echo de menos. Pero po suerte, hoy por hoy es un gustazo hablar con el, el divertido, y se le ocurre cada cosa que solo es posible en la mente libre de un ninho. Me encanta. Me pregunta a todas horas que cuantos anhos tenia cuando era bebe, y le cuenta a todo el mundo sobre el "festin" de accion de gracias, dice vamos a imaginarnos que tenemos mucha gente en casa y hagamos un festin. Que mono, debe ser su manera de descubri el mundo. Le dice a mucha gente que cuando era pequenho le pusieron sus implantes nuevos y que tenia que ponerse una benda muy grande en la cabeza. Explica a otros ninhos que sus implantes le ayudan a escuchar, que cuando no los tiene no oye nada y que cuando se va a dormir se los quita. En esos momentos, me siento muy orgullosa de el, que manera de hablar de si mismo, y luego veo a la mama del ninho con el que ha estado hablando diciendome "lo siento" , cuando para mi me parece maravilloso que el ninho pregunte y que Luca pueda explicarle todo. El mundo sin tabues o complejos sociales, que bien estaria, me gustaria que tuvieramos mas de eso en nuestra vida como adultos.

Max at the play

Ben ten

And here is the pictures of Luca during his birthday and also of the power rangers cake that I made him. I used fondant made from scratch, it was fun and most importantly, it was a hit!


Y aqui van las fotos de Luca durante su cumple y tambien de la tarta de power rangers que le hice. Use fondant hecho por mi, lo pase bien y lo mas importante fue todo un exito!


Power ranger in his birthday

Power rangers cake

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Almost 6!

Hi there!
I have this poor blog totally in a corner of my life! I think about it often, but lately I don't even think about posting anything...I really need to consider what I will do about it, either get to an end with it or just go into writing in the spur of the moment as usual. We shall see.
Today I have a nice thing to share. I was at a restaurant having lunch with some friends in a private room, when a woman interrupted us and said, is there someone here with a black and white purse??? Remember that black and white purse I made for myself last time? Well, that was me! I though oh no! I lost it, someone took it!! but no! it was hanging from my chair! And she then proceeded to say...."I loved it! where did you buy it??" so I said "I made it (with a big smile)" and she said "do you sell them?" to which if she had asked a year ago I would have said "yes!!" and figure out a way to get more of that pretty bold fabric...but right now...I had to say no. My friends were looking like me like I was nuts letting that opportunity go by! But I really have my head in so many other places right now, that I rather make things for the people I know and love.

Hola!
Tengo abandonado a este pobre blog! Pienso en el a menudo, pero ultimamente no tengo ganas de escribir nada...necesito considerar lo que quiero hacer con esto, o acabarlo o seguir escribiendo esporadicamente cuando me apetezca. Veremos.
Hoy me ha pasado algo que me gustaria compartir. Estaba en un restaurante comiendo con unas amigas en una habitacion privada cuando de repente una mujer nos interrumpe y dice, hay alguien aqui con un bolso blanco y negro??? Os acordais de ese bolso que me hice el otro dia? Bueno, esa soy yo! pense oh no! lo perdi, alguien se lo llevo!!! pero no! estaba colgado de mi silla! Y entonces siguio diciendo..."Me encanta! donde lo has comprado??" a lo que le dije "lo hice yo (con una gran sonrisa en mi cara)" y me dijo "los vendes?" a lo que hace un anho le hubiera respondido si!!" y hubiera visto la manera de encontrar mas tela como esa...pero ahora...tuve que decirle que no. Mis amigas me miraban como si estuviera loca desperdiciando una oportunidad asi! Pero la verdad es que tengo mi cabeza en tantos otros lugares en este momento, que prefiero hacer cosas para aquellos que conozco y que quiero.

And we just came back from our annual research trip to Wisconsin. Luca participates in a research study of bilateral implants. I was so impressed with his performance. Of course he has to do better as he is one year older, but last year he was sick too so his performance, although it was good, wasn't great. Now I am looking forward to seeing the results, I love seeing the way he thinks and reasons things, he is going to be a logical boy just like his parents :) We also spent time with good friends, it is great having the opportunity to see them every year. Here is Luca with the beautiful fall foliage in the background. He will be 6 in just a couple of days...my big big boy...

Y acabamos de regresar de nuestro viaje anual a Wisconsin. Luca participa en un estudio de investigacion sobre implantes bilaterales. Me impresiono como lo hizo de bien. Por supuesto que tiene que hacerlo mejor que el anho pasado pues es un anho mayor, pero ademas el anho pasado estaba muy malito y  aunque habia avanzado un anho o mas no le fue tan bien como debia. Ahora estoy deseando ver los resultados, me encanta ver como piensa y razona las cosas, va a ser un ninho logico como sus papas :) Tambien pasamos un buen rato con nuestros amigos, que bien tener esta oportunidad de juntarnos cada anho. Aqui esta Luca con las hojas de los arboles en otonho. Cumplira 6 en solo un par de dias...mi ninho grandote...

luca fall