Spain Dad, a baby blog

Alleke gets a cold Alleke lay on the changing table while I sang her a song and fastened the velcro straps on her diaper. It was early to be putting her to sleep, but she was nodding off already, fighting to keep her eyes open just long enough to moan and reach for me to [...]

Our friend Barbara is hoping to be a grandma soon, so she asked if she could take care of Alleke on Monday night to get some practice. So, on Monday night April and I went around the corner to get a drink, and Barbara took Alleke down to the playground. When we got home, the [...]

This kiss goes out to all the grandparents out there with grandkids who don’t live nearby. Click To Play

“I think she has something in her mouth,” I said as I glanced over my shoulder at José’s mom. José was sitting in the sand next to Alleke playing with a plastic rake. I leaned in for a closer look. Alleke’s lips were pressed together in a fish face, and her jaw was going up [...]

Click To Play

“Your flight will begin boarding at 12:05 at gate A7,” the woman said, making two circles on each of the three tickets with her pen. I watched as she smiled at April and slid the tickets to her across the counter. April turned and held out the tickets. “Can you put these somewhere safe?” she [...]

Click To Play Maybe you noticed this the first time, but if you watch the video again, you’ll notice that when Alleke isn’t covering her eyes with her hands, she’s blinking at the camera. She started blinking at us last week. She does it all the time. Obviously she’s trying to communicate something to us, [...]

The woman at the far side of the room got up and walked over to see what I was doing. My chair was pushed back, and I was leaning over a restaurant table trying to figure out how to attach Alleke’s portable high chair. The woman bent over and looked under the table. “I don’t [...]

Alleke stood next to the couch and watched the computer screen as Grandma blew a kiss for her into the camera. She clapped her hands and squealed, pulling at the couch cushions like she was about to start a riot. Grandma and Grandma had visited for two weeks earlier this summer, and Alleke seemed happy [...]

Alleke toddled over to the shelf of DVDs next to the TV. She stood on her tippy toes and reached, just able to pull one off the shelf. The DVD tumbled to the floor. She picked it up with both hands and looked it over like it was something worth keeping that she had just [...]