Catching up.....

After a couple hints from family members, I have decided to dedicate a bit of time to update our blog. I really don´t know how to go about this so I guess I will just post the most recent events in our lives and then just insert some "Blast from the Past" posts. Enjoy!

"Blast from the Past" Music class

I guess this isn´t exactly a blast from the past. Every Monday, Dani and I drop Oscar off at school at 930 and then we hit the road to Madrid for our weekly music class at the American Women´s Club. We started the music classes in September 2007. (I felt so guilty because I had not gone to any playgroups for Dani. When Oscar was a baby I used to cart him all over Madrid to different playgroups. ) Dani just loves the class. The class is in English and we sing normal American children songs. The teacher is great. She has ducks for the kids during the duck songs, spiders for the Itsty Bitsy Spider. She also has a background in classical music so there is a free play halfway through the class with classical music. She brings out plastic animals and the kids move them in time to the music (kinda). I love the class because I have made some good friends.

Here we are with the twins, Noa and Adriana and their mother, Amber.

Miguel and his trips

I thought I would dedicate a post to Miguel and his trips.

We have a map of the world taped to the back of our front door and before he flies, Miguel draws his flight on the map. Oscar loves looking at it and tracing the flight with his finger.

He always wants to know where Papa is when I tell him where (Quito for example) Oscar spends the rest of the day landing his playmobil plane in Quito. The dining room table is always Seattle (Granny and Grandpa´s house), the train table Chicago, the sofa Madrid and the coffee table the new destination. When I went to Germany in February to see my friends there, we drew my flight on the map and he told me "Your flight is very short, not like Papa´s".

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast.

Oscar saw his first Gran Via (our Broadway here in Madrid) Production. On the 22 February, Oscar along with 20 of his schoolmates, went and saw Beauty and the Beast (La Bella y la Bestia). We rented a bus to drive us into Madrid so we won´t have to worry about traffic, parking, etc. On the bus, we sang songs from Beauty in the Beast (en español, image that) and the typical songs that kids sing on the bus. As the only foreigner, it was an interesting experience. At one point they were singing the spanish version of "who stole the cookes from the Cookie Jar" and I was praying that they won´t call on me. Of course they did and I muddled through it with the help of Oscar. Everyday he amazes me with his ability to change from one language/culture to another.

The musical was fun but long (three hours). At one point Oscar asked me if it was time to go home. I was a bit afraid that he might have nightmares that night because it was scary in some parts but he didn´t. True to form, when you ask him how the musical was his answer is "We got to ride in a bus!"