Spain Dad, a baby blog

Like many families in Spain, we will be exchanging gifts on Kings Day (January 6th) this year. Nativities are an important part of Christmas in Spain, so part of the fun has been watching Alleke wake up each morning and discover that during the night our three little kings have journeyed a little closer to [...]

When I put Alleke to bed on Christmas Eve, I thought twice about telling her about the presents we would open in the morning and the party we would go to at her friends’ house. Like most kids on Christmas Eve, I thought she would wake up ridiculously early looking for presents and party food. [...]

Alleke crawled to the end of her bed and switched off the lamp, then found her blankie and buried her face in her pillow. I knelt down next to her bed and began softly singing a lullaby. Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry. Go to sleepy, little baby. Alleke sat up in her bed. “Daddy?” she asked. [...]

1. She greets her friends with two kisses and says “ciao” for goodbye. 2. She lives in an apartment (750 ft2). 3. She had already been in five countries before she was born. 4. If you give her a ball, she kicks it like a soccer player. 5. Her clothes dry on the line all [...]

Casseroles & Gravy by Cameron Nordholm. I helped Alleke pull on her stocking cap and tied it under her chin, then lifted her into my arms and took one more look around the apartment before we would catch the metro and surprise April at the airport. The toys were put away. The floors were mopped. [...]

Especially when April loves nothing more than to travel, and Amsterdam is one of her favorite cities on the planet, and I offered to keep Alleke at home with me while she was gone. The idea was to send April to Amsterdam for a weekend conference while Alleke and I stayed in Madrid. April often [...]

I just finished writing my first kids’ book. I won’t be looking for a literary agent, however, because I wrote this book just for Alleke. In fact, she is the main character in the story, and the book is about her new bedtime routine. Discipline as training (not punishment) I made a significant breakthrough in [...]

“Let me check to make sure we have everything,” April said, opening the binder with the word “ADOPTION” written in permanent black marker on the binding and flipping through pages of blood test results and tax records and goverment-stamped certificates. I glanced at the clock. “We won’t be late,” April said, trying to reassure me [...]

Today after I put Alleke down for a nap, I began clearing the dishes from lunch, which included eating the cold eggplant parmesan off Alleke’s plate and checking to see if she had left any chocolate milk in her glass. What most people don’t realize is that cleaning up after a toddler is a completely [...]

Alleke’s Online Spanish Course. Live from Madrid… Watch Learn to Count to 10 in Spanish on Vimeo.