Writing from Barcelona

Gabriel is currently in Barcelona, España, with Abuelos Rebeca and Alfredo, Tía Lourdes, Papi and Mami. We are having a great time! Last week we were in Madrid, and after Barcelona we will visit Nice, Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris, before going to spend some time with Abuela Camena in Sweden. Then I think I will have more time to tell you more and post some pictures.

Last day

Yesterday was Gabriel's last day at the day care center here in Lafayette. Both Ms. Mona and I cried a little bit when we said good bye... She is a really wonderful person.

She prepared a going away gift for Gabriel that you can see here. And the last picture is Gabriel with his mother's day present for me.

But enough of that. On Wesnesday the grandparents arrive! Yippee!

Surgery

Today Gabriel had a scheduled check up with his pediatrician. It turns out he still has that ear infection, so I told the doctor we should see a specialist. He referred us to Dr. Maria Doucet, who managed to see Gabriel today. She did a test for ear drum movement and it turns out Gabriel's ear drums are not moving at all. She says that this could be dangerous because it may cause him speech problems later, since she says he is probably only hearing vowels and not consonants because of all the fluid in his ears. So she recommended a surgery to fix this. He will have it on Tuesday. She will put a little tube between his middle and outer ear to drain the fluid. The tube will remain there for at most 2 years. He will have to use earplugs for bathing and anything involving water, so we had custom earplugs made for him today too. The doctor says that the surgery is very simple and that it shouldn't bother him at all. And she thinks there will be no problem for him going to Europe on the 23rd.
Unfortunately I will not be here on Tuesday, since I am going to Connecticut for a conference this Sunday and will be returning on Wednesday. But Alfredo will be with him and granpas Rebeca and Alfredo also arrive on Wednesday.
I hope everything will go well.

Gabriel playing

Finally, here is another video of Gabriel. This was just now before putting him to bed. Here you can see how he plays with his blocks, with his car, and soccer. He has so much fun!

Ms. Mona

Here is Gabriel with his teacher Ms. Mona. I think he will miss her dearly, and she told us today how she will miss him. She says all the kids should be a copy of Gabriel :)

We are a little sad to have to separate the two of them. She is a wonderful teacher, always happy and very affectionate. I hope we will find another teacher like her.

Reading and sleeping

Gabriel is a very good sleeper now (for his first three months of life we thought we would never say this, but here we are). He usually goes to bed around 7:45 pm and wakes up around 6:30 am. Last Thursday we had to wake him after 7:00 am to go to work. Here you can see how he sleeps. He always takes off one of his pajama's sleeves. This was Thursday trying to wake him up. First I opened his door. Nothing happened. Then I opened the curtains. Nothing. Then I opened his drawers and took out his clothes for the day. Nothing. Then I went to get the camera and took this picture (with flash). Still nothing. Finally daddy had to rub his back for him to wake up... Today it was 8:30 am and he hadn't woken up, so we were a little nervous. We went to check on him, but when we opened his door he woke up. I don't know how much longer he could have slept, but it is as if he knew it was Sunday :)

Yesterday, when it was almost time to go to bed, Gabriel took my hand and walked me all the way to the rocker. Then he signaled me to sit him there (he has his ways, but he is still not talking). After that, he signaled me to give him his book (which was on his bedside table). And then he started reading! It was sooo cute that I immediately called Alfredo and had him take these pictures. On the second one he is going after the camera. The book he is reading is called "Buenas noches, Lupe" and it is one of his favorites. His grandpa Ernesto gave it to him. It has different textures on each page. On the picture, he is touching a "bubble" that is soft and mushy. But his favorite page has a little "stuffed bear" that is made out soft fuzzy fabric.