Chatty Chumus

In recent weeks, Joaquin's verbal skills have been growing by leaps and bounds. Right now he has been having a more-or-less coherent conversation with his Bear in his crib, telling him to go to sleep. He can now, on his own, pair adjectives to nouns (albeit in different languages, such as "大 burbuja!"). He can now translate something that one parent says, to the other parent, in another language, even English. He can repeat any word we say, and remember some of them weeks after we say it. Once, he asked us to raise his diaper because it had slipped down his pants by saying "Suba!".

On the more difficult side, he's become quite idiosyncratic about what he eats when, and delights in disobeying us. When he knows he's doing something bad (such as sneaking away from the dinner table), he'll look sideways at us with a grin, while inching away slowly trying to see how much he can get away with. Comes with having a clever kid, we suppose : )

Road Trip in Spain Part 5 - Jaén de Andalucia

We spent one night at the Parador of Jaén, up on the hill and next to the Castle of Santa Catalina.

Birthday Dinner for Katherine (aka Catalina) at the Parador de Jaén

Joaquin deciding what he should order

Grand dining room at the Parador

Reading book to his bear

View from our balcony

Chamu and Mamu smiling in the beginning our hike up the Castillo

Chamu and Mamu enjoying (or not) the rainbow at the hilltop

Joaquin loves castillos

Rainbow welcomed us on the way back

View from the top (very faint in the picture)

Coffee Time

Road Trip in Spain Part 5 - Córdoba de Andalucia

After Sevilla, we packed everything into a small Ibiza and drove around Andalucia.  We visited Córdoba, Jaén, Granada and Ronda in one week.  The schedule was a bit hectic and the weather was extremely volatile.  Most Andalucians we ran into told us that they hadn't seen anything this wet for more than half a century.  We still had tons of fun though, especially when the sun kicked in.

In front of Mezquita at dusk

Lunch at Casa Pepe

Chamu loves the Almond Cold Soup

Feeding beautiful carps in the pond inside Alcázar de los Reyes Christianos

Jardines del Alcázar

Joaquin loves Auntie Katherine and Uncle Mic (He kept asking about them after they went back to Hong Kong)

Joaquin enjoying his trip to the Torre (Dadu carried him up of course)

Fascinated by the little drinking fountain

Staying dry inside the Mezquita (there was so much rain that day we thought it was Typhoon 10 in HK)

Last Two Days of our Iberian Holidays

Just got into Lisboa after driving for almost four hours from the end of the Old World, Sagres.  Joaquin only fell asleep in the last 45 minutes and he was exhibiting his worst for the first three hours.   The apartment is a three-story walk up so Dadu had to carry all the loads and also Chamu.  Mamu is practically useless these days given her enlarging waistline.

It's hard to imagine but we are all a little bit traveled out, having been on the road since November 23, 2008.  We are leaving Lisboa on Sunday and will be spending five days chilling (literally) in London before going to Jordan.  Mamu heard that there are 800 steps to climb to get to the Petra Monastery (after walking downhill through a narrow passage) and she is not quite sure if she is up to the challenge in two weeks (by then the belly will probably have expanded another couple of inches).  She has also become increasingly hungry (she has had four hamburgers in the last 24 hours and that is not counting the main meals) which worries her because she has done a good job keeping the weight inline so far this time around.

P.S. Pictures from last week to come tomorrow since we had not Internet connection for the past two days...

Insomnia

It's that time in my pregnancy again: not being able to sleep at night.  I spent many nights tossing and turning and watching TV at the wee hours during the last trimester when I was pregnant with Chamu.  This time it seems to have arrived a bit too early since I am now almost 25 weeks pregnant with Chami-Chami.  It's very difficult for me to fall asleep to begin with.  And somehow I have also become a very light sleeper; any types of noise would wake me up and then it would be another many hours of tossing and turning.  The campanile at Córdoba just rang its 7 o'clock bell which reminded me that I am still up after six hours of attempting to sleep.  I guess I will not be making to Mezquita before 10am to save on the 8-euro entrance fee today.  *sigh*

Sevilla

We settled in Sevilla for one week and welcomed 2010 in this third largest city in Spain.  One week is a bit long for sightseeing in this town but it was perfect for us given the pace we are traveling.  Weather has not been on our side but we managed to get some valuable sunshine out of this week.

Joaquin is growing up really fast and has a very good handle on Spanish (thanks to Mom and Dad being around him and talking to him so patiently).  He is very social and likes to make friends whenever he sees them.

Joaquin's favorite act these days: running away from parents or grandparents!

Joaquin enjoying the street performance

Not sure how Joaquin can pick beautiful Spanish girls even when he sports his big belly in his undershirt (this trick probably won't work in a couple of years)

We met up with Yuen-Foo, who had spent the past three months learning Spanish and traveling in Spain

Chamu enjoying the beautiful, serene courtyard in the Alcázar

Joaquin and Apo feeding duckies and fish in the pond

Eating at home before Mom and Dad returned to Panama (notice Chamu now can pose and say "Cheese" to the camera!)

Our breakfast at noon at a bar (how we usually begin our day); Mic and Kat joined us on December 29 from Hong Kong

Chamu getting his gift after visiting a Belén

Mamu and Chamu enjoying the rare sunshine

Looking for boats and ducks by the river

Chamu posing with his favorite ducks

Chamu deciding what to order at a delicious bakery

Chamu and Dadu sharing the same smile

Chamu practicing his homey move (he is growing up too fast!)

Chamu in love with the white almond soup and finished it all by himself!

For our New Year Eve's dinner we had lobster and monkfish stew and a leg of lamb (poor Mic was suffering from stomachache so he was just observing)

Counting down in front of the clock tower in Plaza Nueva

Chamu trying to finish his 12 grapes at the countdown

Happy New Year!

Counting down to the New Year at Plaza Nueva in Sevilla, ready to eat our 12 grapes