An American Girl in Spain: December 2010

Lilia celebrated her first birthday on December 5th, 2010. She's one year old!

Today I had her in a long sleeve onesie and some khakis and she looked so old, just like a toddler.

Lilia's party was lots of fun and very low key. We'll save the petting zoo and ponies for birthdays in the future! We invited some friends over: Esther, Roberto, and their son Sergio and our other friends Ale and Vero. Roberto and Ale are coworkers of Quique. I didn't have any round cake pans so I made cupcakes instead. They were vanilla with cream cheese frosting. Mmm. Quique may have eaten those cupcakes for breakfast the past two days... We also bought some miniature pastries for everyone. Lilia played on the ground with Sergio while the adults talked and then we started the cake portion of the night. We put Lilia's cupcake in front of her and sang happy birthday in Spanish and then English. She loved sticking her fingers into the icing, but Quique had to break it apart a little bit for her to really dig in. Needless to say, she loved it. After eating we all sat down and talked again while Lilia played with Sergio.

There were no gifts for her at the party because we ordered it online and it hasn't come in! We got her a Leap Frog Musical Table. Fingers crossed that we found a toy that will keep her occupied for a long time.

Now onto the updates! Lilia stands up on her own all the time now and can squat and stand back up, but she hasn't taken any steps. I think it will be another month before we see any steps. She's been saying "Dada" a lot, but without knowing what it means. She is such a MOVER. She hates to sit still for even a minute. She's constantly on the move cruising on the coffee table, crawling down the hallway, or stacking books on top of each other to reach the lotion on the second shelf. Yes, I caught her doing that today. I looked up to see her little body reaching as far as it could just so she could grab the lotion bottle all while toddling on her unstable book mountain.

Schedule-wise Lilia is eating 4 times a day. This is how all Spanish people eat (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner). Dinner is so late (around 9 or 10) that you need to fit a snack in there. She takes two naps a day. She's between waking up once a night and sleeping through the night. She sleeps about 13 hours going to bed at 9 p.m. and waking up at 10 a.m. We're finally starting to get a lot of sleep in this house.

Personality-wise Lilia can be such a hoot. She often will hold something out to you so you can grab it only to quickly pull it back as soon as you reach. Then she laughs a ton. If she's doing something she's not supposed to I'll say, "No, Lilia!" and she will look at me, smile, and then cautiously continue what she's not supposed to do. She also loves to be chased. I'll say, "I'm gonna get you!" and then run after her and she'll laugh and squeal as she tries to crawl away. Lilia loves to get into EVERYTHING. She likes to pull books, cds, candles, Christmas decorations, and anything else out of the bookcase. She loves the straps on her high chair and the tags on her clothes and blankets. She also loves to open up boxes and look inside a bag to see what's in it. I'm lucky because she at least doesn't put everything in her mouth. Some things she will, but not everything.

Physically, Lilia has two teeth and there are a few coming up. She has never really seemed grumpy from teething. She's getting a lot more hair including a little curl behind her right ear. She won't be needing a haircut for awhile. She's still got a little potbelly which I love. She's on the low end of the weight scale. She only gained 160 grams since her last visit at 10 months. The doctor thinks its because she's gotten sick a couple of times since being at day care, but now her weight should pick up. We've scheduled an appointment for next month to follow up on her weight. She's now allowed to drink regular whole milk instead of formula. I am SO glad we don't have to pay 12 euros every two weeks for her formula now.

Last month Lilia celebrated her first Thanksgiving, actually her first two Thanksgivings. I hosted a Thanksgiving with some of my friends the weekend before Thanksgiving and then we went to El Puerto the weekend after Thanksgiving to celebrate with Quique's parents. Thanksgiving food is the best! Lilia had a taste of pumpkin pie, but I don't know if she liked it or not...

This past week has been a long weekend for us so we've been trying to decorate for Christmas. Quique and I bought a fake Christmas tree and decorated it on Wednesday. We went to a "tree farm" to get a real tree, but that was a bust. First, the "tree farm" was in a dark garage where all the trees were piled into a corner with the branches already tied up so you couldn't see what it looked like. Second, the trees looked like sticks and the one that looked somewhat decent that I liked was 70 euros. No thanks! I'll spend my money on something that looks nicer and can be used again and again! Christmas decorating has always been my favorite. After Lilia went to bed after her birthday party, Quique and I were setting up the tree and afterwards we had some hot chocolate by candlelight while listening to Christmas music. It was so nice to decorate for Christmas and celebrate our one year anniversary of being parents. Hardest and most rewarding year of our lives!