Ohlee! 18 Months Today

Today Anna is 18 months. What a milestone. As I’m sure I’ve already written, time moves super fast these days.

I’m at the computer writing while listening to the most lovely rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Anna is in bed for her nap, and we’ve read a number of books already. I put her in her crib with Piglet and her doll and a few books for her to read to them. She done reading and is now singing (in a tiny, very high pitched voice) “Kinkull kinkull lil tar” – the words fade out a bit after that first line, but amazingly she’s got the tune spot on.

It was been so much fun watching her recently. She’s really turning into a funny little person. The crazy thing is to see her traits that she gets from Carlos and her traits that she gets from me, but the craziest thing is to see her traits that are all her own. One thing that is a little disturbing is her temper. The majority of the time Anna is a very good natured and happy child. But, when she’s tired and something frustrates her, look out! When she gets mad, she makes me think of the Incredible Hulk. Remember on the TV show when someone made the scientist mad (I can’t remember his name), he would look at them and say through clenched teeth: “You don’t want to make me angry.” Well, Anna gets look and then turns into the Hulk – except for she doesn’t turn green, she doesn't triple in size and she doesn’t turn into Lou Ferrigno. Yesterday she got mad at her play stroller (a toddler-sized stroller for dolls, etc. that she just got yesterday – it seems to be a de rigeur toy here and Anna loves it) because it wouldn’t cooperate with her plans to place three teddy bears in at the same time. So she clenched her fists, yelled and bit the stroller. Yikes. Hopefully, this temper will ease up once her coordination develops more and her stroller plans don’t get thwarted quite so often.

We went to Barcelona last weekend, for an extra long weekend (it was a Bank Holiday weekend here). It was great to see the abuelos (español for grandparents for you gringos out there), and they went nuts for Anna. The weather was wonderful, lots of sun and the perfect temperature. We flew with Swiss International Airlines (I think it replaced Swiss Air), and they get a huge thumbs up in my book. Wow, they were really great. Excellent customer service (not something that is a defining characteristic of Iberia Airlines), and the best thing was on the way back we flew through Zurich and the Zurich Airport has a gorgeous playroom/nursery for kids. Anna was on cloud nine! During our layover, there was a huge room filled with toys for her to play in. Just a service that the airport offers. Wow.

On the job front, I’ve got training scheduled for Thursday next week. I think the scope of my work will become clearer after this. For now, I think I’ll be adding information to the organization’s website about cases in the US involving the Alien Tort Claims Act (a law that has been used to sue for human rights violations in US courts). Oh, in case I haven’t mentioned, the organization is a small non-profit that acts as a resource center for information on human rights and business. In particular, they monitor activities (both positive and negative) of companies as they relate to international human rights. It should be really interesting.

New words:
Ohlee = hola
Tannkoo = thank you
Gassjass = gracias
Umblela = umbrella