Spain Dad, a baby blog

Alleke swims by herself for the first time. Watch Swim Tube on Vimeo.

Puppy Dog Eyes by ny156uk. Alleke scampered along behind us through the park picking up leaves, too busy to notice what was going on around her until a puppy bounded over, all wriggles, and sniffed the leaves in her hand. Alleke froze, then dropped the leaves and made a run for it. I picked her [...]

Last night we were watching TV before bed, and April had Alleke on her lap. The show we were watching seemed relatively harmless until one point when the main character’s skin melted off his face, and he turned into a talking meatball. I grimaced, and April put her hand over Alleke’s eyes. When the scene [...]

Our sympathies to those who were affected by the plane crash at the airport here in Madrid yesterday. At least 153 of the 172 passengers died. Some of the victims were children. Here are a few articles about the crash: BBC, NY Times, and EL País Also, a simulation of the crash:

April’s sister, Heidi, has been living with us since May. She flew back to Iowa yesterday so she could be home for her birthday, which is today, and start her Junior year of college next week. We wanted to celebrate Heidi’s birthday before we left, so we invited a few friends to the park on [...]

Watch Sad Face video…

TVE is broadcasting the Olympics online in Spain for free: www.rtve.es/deportes/juegos-olimpicos-invierno/vancouver-2010/ There are two channels to choose from, and in full-screen mode the quality is actually better than my TV (We don’t get great reception in our apartment). Updated: 15 February 2010

Back in May while we were in Iowa, April got a phone call from an adoption agency asking if she would be willing to work for them as a Spanish translator while she was in town. April agreed, and within a few hours was sitting in the home of Vanesa, a Bolivian woman, who had [...]

Alleke took her first bike ride in her new bike seat. Watch Bike Seat on Vimeo. I used to bike a lot, but since Alleke was born, I spend my free time with either her or April (and up until this point we’ve only had one bike without a baby seat). We’re still waiting for [...]

April waited for the flight attendant to pass, then leaned across the aisle and tapped her finger in the middle of the magazine she had pulled from the seat in front of her. “Did you see this?” she asked. I looked at the page. It was a full-page ad for the Spanish Men’s and Women’s [...]