The Opposite

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. I had one of the best experiences I have ever had with Lucas by attending his first soccer game, but at the same time 14 or more of my fellow countrymen were dying protesting against a criminal regime. This is the guilt us Venezuelans living abroad have to live with every day. It doesn't matter how great things are going in your life, there is always that hollow feeling inside reminding you that you will never be truly happy until your country is free. I named this post the opposite because that is how my relationship to Venezuela feels sometimes, the better things get for me in my life, the worse they get in my country. Today is a difficult day, I been questioning if things are ever going to get better, can the bad guys really win? All I can really do from here is hope that things get better, and that just makes me feel powerless.

In Venezuela the bad guys have the guns, the money and the power but we must not let them take our hopes and dreams. So I will focus the rest of my post on the positive. Lucas's first ever soccer game at a stadium was a success. It was Roma Vs. Juventus at the Gilette Stadium at Foxborough. We had great seats and we were able to see great players up close like Buffon, Chiellini, De Rossi, Nainngolan and almost every star of each of the two teams. Unfortunately, the only Venezuelan playing for Juventus, Tomas Rincon, captain of our national team, did not play. We did get close enough for him to say hi as you can see in the above picture.

Lucas was great during the whole game. That is 90 minutes of soccer that he was able to watch without getting bored, a great demonstration of his attention span.  His uncle did get him a huge bowl of popcorn and some Gatorade that kept him entertained for a while. Juventus scored first and he was really disappointed. But when Roma scored he had the experience of celebrating a goal at a stadium, he was happy and wanted more. During half time after drinking all of his Gatorade bottle I knew I had to take him to the bathroom. He freaked out with the crowd and the sound of all the toilets and urinals flushing at the same time and he refused to pee on any of them. I had to think fast, I knew he really had to go, so I picked my water bottle and had him pee there on a corner of the restroom. I threw the bottle on the trash and the problem was solved. In the end when I asked him what he enjoyed the most of the whole game experience his answer was "Peeing in a bottle".

Today was a normal day, a lot of smiles and easy feedings from Matias. He gave me time to reflect on what's next for Venezuela and to try to keep it positive. It's hard not to be positive with his smiley face staring at you.

What did I watch?
Crossfire: I have always been a fan of stories that use the unreliable narrator technique to tell the same story from different points of view. This movie does it really well as well as tackling some pretty advanced discrimination topics for the era in which it was made. Perhaps it is not surprising that the producer and director where eventually blacklisted for their political beliefs.

The Revenge

Nothing much happened today, it was a good day, pretty uneventful, the highlight was that we went for some ice cream after picking Lucas up from daycare. But I had time to think about this blog and how maybe years from now Lucas and Matias, when they are older, can read how their life was like at an age that they probably won't remember at all. That is what motivated me to cheat a little and not write about something that happened today, but something that actually happened a couple of days before I started to write this blog. I wanted to write this so future Lucas and Matias can read it.

I'm going to write about the first and only time until now that Lucas was bullied and how proud his reaction made me. As every kid his age, he has been pushed, hit, bit, etc. by other kids at daycare and I have thought nothing of it. It's usually just kids being kids. But this time it was something different, it wasn't innocent kid-play. We were at a 4th of July BBQ at a friend's house, it was really crowded and we really did not know most of the people there. Lucas and Matias were the only children at the party until a couple older kids arrived. They must have been around 5, and for some reason one of them (The ringleader) took an instant dislike towards Lucas. Lucas, being the great and noble kid I know him to be, got excited that other kids he could play with were there and tried to engage with them.

At first when he tried to play with them, they started saying go away we do not want to play with you "poopy baby" and they would run away. Lucas would take this as an invitation to play and would run after them laughing. I saw Alegna getting concerned but I downplayed it saying it's just kid stuff, they don't want to play with a smaller child and Lucas does not know any better and is having fun anyway, let's let them be. But then they started to get violent, they hid and ambushed him by throwing some cornhole bean bags that hit him on the chest and made him fall down. Lucas started to cry and came to me asking me why had they done that to him. I was kind of pissed but I just calmly told him that they didn't want to play with him, maybe he should find something else to do.

So now Lucas is playing in the yard by himself and they approach him again. This time they are trying to punch him and kick him. The good thing is that Lucas did not cower, he was trying to defend himself as best as he could against these two bigger kids. He firmly stood his ground and yelled "No Thank You!" and "I Need Some Space!" like they have taught him at daycare. He was doing all the right things, being non-violent but standing his ground. I went to get him before the kids could react and hurt him. Then we started to talk and he asked me why were those kids so mean. I just told him that some kids were just like that and that sometimes it was just better not to play with them. But, then my anger got the best of me and I added, but next time that a kid that is bigger than you tries to hurt you, kick him in the nuts as hard as you can. This got him all excited, now he felt that he was a superhero that had to kick the villains in the nuts. Alegna gave me a face and I had to calm him down. You will only do this if they are bigger and they are coming to hurt you, don't go and fight them.

I tried to keep an eye on him for the rest of the party but I got distracted for a moment and it finally happened. I saw them from far away approaching him, Lucas did not run, he did some sort of Karate stance and actually tried to kick them, but they were stronger and between the two pushed him to the ground. Lucas was crying when I got to him. I was angry and proud but it all suddenly turned to embarrassment when he said in full volume "Dad, I tried to kick them in the nuts like you told me to, but I couldn't!" I said that's OK and took him away.  That was the end of the party for us, we better just leave and never see these kids again.

This experience calmed me down a lot. I think we are teaching him the right things like being confident and kind which are better weapons against bullying than kicks to the nuts. He got beat up this time. I think it is an experience we all need to have sometime to know that it is not the end of the world. You must know pain so you are not scared of it. I think he'll be ready next time.

What did I watch?
Chimes at Midnight: All Shakespeare movies are kind of the same, they usually stick very closely to the material and the language and you can't really fail with that recipe, but then why are you even trying to redo the exact same thing again and again? I do feel that I should praise the battle scenes in this movie, they were raw and violent at a time when movies shied away from that kind of violence, but the violence is not glorified like in current movies, it is shown as absurd and unnecessary.

The Leopard Man: This was the third movie of the Tourneur-Guest partnership that kind of invented the low budget horror movie genre. It is almost a rehash of the much better Cat People.

The Maestro

I come from an Italian family, so to us soccer is like a religion. I am a Napoli fan, the biggest team in the area from where my family comes from. Napoli was big in the 80s, when Maradona was playing for them and was decent for about half of the 90s. I am old enough to remember some of this so I became a Napoli fan. In the late 90s and early 2000s Napoli was bad and playing on the 2nd and 3rd tiers so my brothers did not have a chance to follow them. Instead they are Roma fans.  Because of this now there is this big friendly rivalry whenever we are together Roma Vs. Napoli. Part of it is trying to get Lucas to root for one of the two. My brothers have gotten him Roma gear, but until now my influence has prevailed and he confidently states that Napoli is the best team. When he plays soccer he will tell me that he is Hamsik or Insigne (Napoli players).

However, this Sunday there is a game in Boston, Juventus Vs. Roma. It is going to be Lucas's first experience on a soccer stadium so I have been building it up for a couple of weeks. I want him to be excited and for it to be special. I found out that Roma would be training today in Harvard, so I had Lucas skip daycare, dressed him and Matias from head to toes in Roma gear and went there.

The day was cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain, but luckily it never did. We were at Ohiri Field at about 10 AM and I was amazed of how little the crowd was. It had to be about 10 people tops. The players just walked in from the hotel, no bus, no crowds. They must love the anonymity the US gives them. The players started walking in and I kept whispering the names in Lucas's ears. He would shout De Rossi! Florenzi! Perotti! and they would all wave. De Rossi actually came to him and gave him a high five. Lucas was beaming with happiness and so was I. I kept telling him to yell for Nainggolan but he must have gotten scared with his haircut.

In the end he was asking where is Totti? I had to explain that he was no longer playing for Roma. "Il Capitano" retired. Then an interesting conversation started: Why did he retire? Because he is getting older and the older you get the slower and weaker you get. But I am growing stronger, when I'm 4, I'm going to be very strong. Yes, Lucas but once you turn 30, it all goes downhill and he was 40. Now my son is scared of growing old and he's only 3. Meanwhile Matias was just hanging out in his stroller, smiling as always, no complaints about spending a couple of hours outside under an overcast sky.

What did I watch?
A lot of Pokemon again, that's what I get for making my kid skip school.

UPDATE: They took our picture and posted it to Instagram

The Visa

This year both Alegna and I were eligible to become US citizens. We filled out all our forms together, got our fingerprints taken and went through the interviews at the same time. But, for some strange reason, we received our invitation to take the oath of allegiance on different days. Today Alegna became an American citizen while I have to wait until probably September.

We woke up this morning and debated on whether Lucas should attend the ceremony or not. Luckily we decided against it and dropped him off at daycare on our way to Worcester, where today's ceremony was scheduled to happen. We got there at 10:30 AM and Alegna went through all the process while I was sitting in the guest section with Matias. It was a long ceremony that consisted of mostly waiting for everyone to come into the room. Lucas would have lost it. It finally started at 12 and it lasted about an hour. During this whole time I was sitting with Matias on a very crowded theater with not much wiggle room, but he was great as always. He didn't cry once. He kind of complained a little bit when it was time to eat, but once I fed him his bottle he was OK again.

The ceremony was very nice. They did their oath, then recited the pledge of allegiance and listened to the national anthem. There were some nice moments like when they started calling country names and anyone originally born there would stand up. It was a very festive environment designed to make the new citizens feel welcome. The oath of allegiance is interesting in that you are renouncing allegiance to your own country. I think it is kind of a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand you are becoming a citizen of the most important country in the world, in my opinion as significant as being a citizen of Rome during the Roman Empire. But on the other hand you are renouncing the country that made you who you are. These bittersweet taste quickly went away with some very wise and moving words from the judge presiding the ceremony. "You are renouncing allegiance to you government, not to your country or culture". That's when it hit me, I have already renounced to the Venezuelan government, probably about 17 years ago, renouncing to my "Venezuelaness" is probably impossible because it is part of who I am. I am always going to enjoy an Arepa and celebrate goals by the Vinotinto. But, I'm sure going to be proud to also become an American. The country where both my sons were born, where I had the opportunity to get a job, buy a house and live in peace. I most certainly will enjoy my rights to live, be free and be happy.

What did I Watch?
Kong: Skull Island: The best word I could come up to describe this movie is "Blah". Apparently they are setting up this whole "Monsterverse" where they will have Kong fighting Godzilla, Mothra, etc. in future movies.

The Da Vinci Sleep

The closest you will unintentionally get to polyphasic sleep is when you have to feed a baby and in my opinion it will convince you that it does not really work. The hardest part of taking care of a baby is dealing with the sleep deprivation. Easy tasks like changing a diaper or preparing a bottle suddenly become super complicated. I have been very lucky with Matias. He is a very good sleeper that on his worst nights he might wake only twice. Last night for the first time in his life he slept through the whole night.

I fed him yesterday at 11 PM and put him to sleep. After that I spent some time writing yesterday's post and then loading the dishwasher and went to sleep too about an hour later. I vaguely remember hearing him complain at what I think was 3 or 4 AM, I reached for his pacifier and found his mouth to try to calm him down so I could get a few more minutes of sleep. Next thing I know it is 7 AM and he is still sleeping. I freak out a little bit and confirm that yes he is still breathing. At 7:30 I decide to wake him up, it has been 8 hours since he last ate. He wakes up happy and then proceeds to eat all day like a troglodyte. He cluster fed all day today 6 ounces every 3 hours, that is a lot for a 3 month old, but it gives me hope that he is just catching up and preparing for another full night of sleep.

The rest of the day was uneventful, I did the grocery shopping and laundry work that I had decide not to do yesterday. And in the evening we all went for a pizza dinner to celebrate Matias's first of many full night sleeps.

What did I Watch?
A Guy Named Joe: It's supposed to be Steven Spielberg's favorite movie, so much that he actually remade it. Unfortunately, it was too corny for my taste. It happens a lot watching some of these old movies, some do not age well because they look too innocent for us that have grown accustomed to a more cynical world.

The Couch

Today was a rainy day. The kind of rainy day that makes you not want to do anything at all. We woke up early but I was in no rush. I saw through my window all that heavy rain and decided to wait until it got a little better so the trip to the daycare wouldn't be that bad. I let Lucas play with his toys after breakfast and joined him for a while while Matias was napping. At around 9:30 I saw the rain getting a little lighter so I got the kids dressed and left for daycare. My plan for today was to go to the grocery store, but the weather is not really motivating me so I decide to go home.

Alegna calls me, she has been getting sicker over the weekend and now she is in bad shape. She's coming back early from work. Matias and I have done absolutely nothing today but sit on the couch. It's been a lazy rainy day and we are taking full advantage of it. I believe he is starting to teeth because he keeps sucking at his hands and his pacifier. He has also been a little restless and wants to be on my arms more than usual. But when I'm holding him he is all smiles. It has been a very unproductive day but we have taken complete advantage of it to make it a good day, just the two of us hanging out on the couch

Tomorrow I will have to pick up everything I left undone on this off-day. I need to do some laundry and go to the supermarket. Let's hope the weather is more motivating than today's.

What did I watch?
The Revenge of Frankenstein: I think I like the Universal monster movies more than the Hammer ones, but this one was a completely new take on the Frankenstein story, starting with that there is no Frankenstein monster in it. From my experience Universal had great monster movies like Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, but the sequels kept getting worse until something as bad as House of Frankenstein came out. The Hammer movies are a little bit more consistent, they are all of equal quality, but none are really great.

The Paradine Case: It is a Hitchcock movie, you realize this in the first few minutes, even before his cameo. It's not one of his best though, but I can see why he was attracted to this story. I was more interested in the story arc of the lawyer ruining his career and marriage on account of his infatuation with his client rather than with the trial and discovering who was the murderer.

The Wait Out

Matias behaves all day like an angel. He will get hungry when it is expected and maybe cry a little but I am usually prepared with a bottle and as soon as he starts eating he will calm down. If he is sleepy he will usually just go to sleep. .He does not suffer from colic and burping him is a walk on the park. Except at 7 PM in the evening. Alegna calls it "Aleli" time, I have seen it mentioned online as "The Witching Hour" but I like to call it the "Wait Out". He has been waiting patiently all day to spend some time with mommy and now he is demanding her attention.

It is very surprising that it comes like clockwork, every day around 7 PM. It does not matter if he just woke up, if he just ate or anything that has happened the rest of the day. This is the only time when he seems to be inconsolable but I think I am getting to the bottom of it. I have noticed that the cry is very similar to his cry when he is hungry. At first, I was incredulous because at 7 he has usually just eaten so he shouldn't be hungry. But by reading online I have found out that there are some babies that cluster feed in the evenings so they can sleep through the night. Thinking about it, it fits his pattern of behavior. He has been getting better and better in sleeping longer hours at night. So the past couple of nights we have tried just feeding him a bottle when he gets this way and it seems to be working. Hopefully this will lead to even better nights, who knows if soon I will be sleeping the whole night for a change?

What did I see?
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Esther Williams in a Busby Berkeley musical about baseball. I am a big baseball fan and I had really enjoyed On the Town with Sinatra and Kelly. But this one was kind of disappointing, nothing really memorable about it.

A Touch of Zen: The winner of this week's poll and it was a gem. Although it was 3 and a half hours it did not feel that long. You can see how this movie influenced the newer artistic martial arts movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. The monk character is really cool, he is so bad-ass that he bleeds gold. It has one of the best endings I have seen on any movie. Beautiful movie!

The Seven

Sometimes raising a baby unconsciously becomes a race to the next milestone. Does he hold his head up? Does he follow your face? Then comes turning over, sitting down, crawling, walking, talking, etc. These are all important milestones in their development and of course you want to help them achieve them. I try to do some tummy time every day with Matias so he can gain some muscle strength for his next milestones. But I have another set of milestones that I find more interesting and amusing that I observed on Lucas and I am curious to see how Matias develops them. I will call them the Seven Vinciguerra Milestones.

1. Holding their own bottle: My least favorite part of taking care of  a baby is feeding it. You are pretty much trapped and you can't do anything else except just sit there. When you can finally free your hands while he is feeding feels like a great advancement.
2. Understanding the concept of blowing their nose: There is nothing worse than hearing your baby breathe through some nasal congestion. I have become an expert in using the suction nasal aspirators but it is a relief when you can just put a tissue on his nose and say blow and he knows what the hell you are talking about.
3. Understanding the concept of pointing: The moment when a toddler finally understands that when you point at something he should be looking in the direction of your finger instead of at your finger feels like a great advancement in abstract thinking.
4. First fart joke: This might be a boys only milestone, but I can't deny I was very proud the first time Lucas imitated a fart sound and had that grin that said to me "See what I did there?". I find the whole process of developing of a sense of humor very interesting.
5. Jumping with both feet at the same time: Apparently this is one of the most complex motor skills a human can do. Try asking your toddler to jump at different ages and you will see how hard it is for them.
6. Kicking a ball: I love soccer so it's obvious why this is important for me.
7. Sitting through an entire movie in the theater: As you can probably tell from the blog movies are important for me and being able to share that with my kids is important for me. I tried having Lucas watch a Star Wars movie for the first time in a theater but it didn't work, he was too young and Rogue One was darker than your average Star Wars movie. Disappointingly, his actual first movie was Despicable Me 3. I hope I have better luck with Matias on this one.

For the other parents that read the blog feel free to comment on what other non-traditional milestones you enjoyed watching on your kids.

What did I watch?

The Misfits: It was good, not very special or memorable. Clark Gable's performance is pretty good but the movie felt too long.

Please remember to vote before noon tomorrow on the Friday poll.

The Truth

Having a three year old means that you have to be answering questions all the time. Lucas is a very curious kid, as as most kids his age he'll start asking question after question. I find this interesting because I can see how he is starting to grasp most of the concepts that we take for granted as adults but it is also exhausting. This morning he was sort of in turbo mode. Since we got in the car at home until we parked a the daycare he asked questions non-stop from "What Pokemon is bigger Charmeleon or Charizard?" to "Why is my hand shaped like a rectangle?" I have also made it more difficult to myself because of two choices I made.

The first one is that I want to answer every one of his questions as accurately as possible. We have taught Lucas to not accept an easy answer. If he asks you a question and your answer is "Just because" his immediate reply is "That is not a valid answer". I'm sometimes half paying attention at what he is asking and a "just because" will slip and he will always catch me. This is how I have sometimes found myself talking about the states of matter, atoms and the properties of light to explain why the sky is blue or talking about the nervous system to explain why his finger hurts. It is very rewarding when I'm in the middle of one of these explanations and he will ask a follow up question related to what I am actually saying. I know that he is not grasping absolutely everything I say but sometimes he will surprise me. His teacher the other day congratulated me because he knew what gravity was. What amazes me is that I explained gravity to him in Spanish, how he translated it and explained it to his teacher in English just baffles me.

The second difficulty is that I am not a very religious person so I lose the what I think would be a very useful cop out "Because God made it that way!". But I have also learned that he understands that sometimes I don't know all the answers, so he will sometimes accept an "I don't know". When this happens I make it a point to actually make my research so I can find an explanation for him. So his questions actually help me learn about stuff too.

Friday Movie
It is that time of the week again and here are the choices for the poll. Please vote on the top right corner under Jerry Seinfeld's head:

• A Touch of Zen: This has been called the best Kung-Fu movie ever, not just because of the visuals but also because of the artistic quality and story.
• The Paradine Case: I have seen every Alfred Hitchcock movie from 1938 until 1976 except for this one.
• Chimes at Midnight: Falstaff is a Shakespeare character in three different plays. In this movie Orson Welles creates a sort of biopic of the character across those three plays.
• Shall We Dance: A Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie. It would be the fourth most popular pairing of the two after the three I have already seen: Top Hat, Swing Time and Gay Divorcee
• The Revenge of Frankenstein: The second installment of the Hammer Frankenstein series starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

What did I See?

Birdman of Alcatraz: You can see how some more recent prison movies like Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile were inspired by this movie's tone. From what I read of the real Robert Stroud the movie was very kind to him by omitting most of his worst traits.

The Hand-Model

I know that this is not a Seinfeld episode title, but it is still a Seinfeld reference so I don't think I'm cheating. Today I wanted to talk about something different. As you have read in previous posts I sometimes let Lucas watch some Youtube videos on my phone so I can either get some more sleep or solve some pressing issue with Matias. At first, he would watch different children songs like the ABC song or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. But lately he has discovered some interesting videos that I'm surprised they even exist.

Apparently, There is a whole niche of Youtube videos that show some person opening and playing with toys and the number of views are incredible. Of these, the most successful is Miss Hands. Miss Hands is the host of the Fizzy Toy Show, she is charismatic and funny, and all you can really see are her hands while she is playing with some toys. When I first saw Lucas watching one of these I was surprised about the number of views of the video, it was in the millions. I did some research and found this incredible article where it states that she makes a comfortable living out of this. I don't have a problem with Lucas watching the Fizzy Toy Show but there is a lot of crap in Youtube that is supposedly directed to kids so I usually keep an eye on what he's watching.

It made me think about a game I usually play with Lucas. We call it "Tournament". It is our own March Madness bracket style game. We pick a multiple of two action figures, dolls, toys, etc. (usually something between 16 and 64) and have them face each other in a bracket until only one is left standing. There are some great matchups like Spiderman vs Lightining McQueen or Bowser vs Simba. It is a lot of fun and it is not predictable at all, like the time Elmo beat Batman on the first round or the time Darth Vader beat each of the Ninja Turtles to be the only villain to date to have won the tournament.  After the final match we will always sing "We are the Champions" while holding the winning action figure. I think it would make for great Youtube content. What do you guys think?

What did I watch?
Head: Psychedelic movies are usually a hit or miss with me and this was a definitive miss. The message was easy to understand during the first five minutes. Yes we know you are real people and not the sitcom characters you are trying to distance yourself from. But they kept repeating it in different "profound" ways for the next hour and a half.

Get Out: Pretty good, I wanted to see what the hype was all about and it delivers as a nice entertaining movie with a not so subtle message. I kind of wish it had a different ending and they had gotten rid of the TSA character.

The Vinciguerra Boys

Lucas had been sick all weekend and today at 5:50 AM he woke up with a really bad cough. I knew Matias was about to wake up for his feeding so I managed to convince him that his cough would go away if he slept a little more and that he would not be going to daycare today. That made him happy and slept while I was patting him on the back every time he coughed. I managed to feed Matias quickly and we all went back to sleep. I knew I had to get my rest because it was going to be the first time I would spend the whole day with the Vinciguerra boys.

We woke up again at 8:30, I gave Lucas some breakfast and while I am preparing Matias's bottle for his next feeding I realize we are out of formula, this is the last bottle I'm going to be able to make today unless we go to the supermarket. Lucas has no fever and the cough seems to be gone so I get them ready and we are off to the Stop and Shop. Before leaving I have a serious talk with Lucas. I'm going to need you to be a responsible big brother today, I can only fit Matias's car seat on the shopping cart so I will need you to walk beside me and listen to everything I say. He puts a very solemn face and assures me he will be a good boy. And he was great! We were able to do all the shopping for the week. I ask for his help or opinion every once in a while so he stays entertained, but the challenge of showing that he is a big boy to his dad seems to be enough to keep him focused and happy. He gets a couple of treats for it: some PAW patrol mozzarella sticks and Sesame Street cookies.

We get back home and together store all the groceries. Lucas really enjoyed figuring out where everything we bought goes. Finally we go to the basement and have a Pokemon marathon. Lucas has been so good I decide to spoil him a little bit and let him have his lunch while watching TV. Matias has been a little restless, maybe he is used to having all my attention these days and is getting jealous. Nap time comes and Lucas picks his books that he wants read before sleeping. He does not cry or complain he needs to take a nap, he has been keeping his promise all day. But Matias will have none of that, he decides to have a complete meltdown, so again I need to talk to Lucas. I explain to him that I will not be able to read his books today, that maybe since he is a big boy he can read them by himself. He says ok and starts going through them. I leave the room to try to get Matias to calm down. I can hear Lucas going through the books' pages and reciting everything he knows about them from memory. He's making me so proud today. Matias finally goes to sleep and I get to Lucas's room but he is also asleep. I can finally relax for a couple of hours and I fall asleep too.

What did I watch?
A lot of Pokemon.

The Fatigues

If you recall Thursday’s post Armando had to call reinforcements to help him with Matias due to a stomach bug. That day I came home to a defeated man. He was lying in the couch and I came with some Imodium and Gatorade to help him with his ailments. He said Matias was an angel because every time he cried he would go to his crib and there he was with the biggest smile even though Armando was trying not to hold him or touch him.

Friday afternoon I got to daycare to pick Lucas up and noticed he was a bit warm. I asked the teacher if she had noticed anything and she said he had been acting fine all day long. I got home, took his temperature and that confirmed what I already knew: he is running a fever.

Both Armando and I had a rough night. Lucas sweated out the fever and woke up crying. His hair was wet, his pj’s were wet, and his bed was wet. We were too tired to change his sheets and put him down in ours. In the morning he was doing better and while he was in soccer practice Matias was taking his bottle and suddenly started throwing up. I changed him, changed the bed sheets, changed my clothes and Lucas came home. He did not have a big appetite, but is drinking fluids and I am fine with that. Then Matias has a lose bowel movement and Lucas starts running a fever again.

The 1^st time Lucas got sick after I got back to work I was so tired I had to call out. I thought of all the times me or my brother got sick while we were growing up and I never remember my mom staying home with us. She would take care of us at night, wake up in the morning, drop whoever was feeling fine at school and the sick one at my grandma’s and then went work. Having kids makes you realize and appreciate all the things our parents did for us that go unnoticed because we don’t remember.

This weekend went down between soiled diapers, fevers and puke. I need a weekend to recover from this weekend, but to be honest I would not change it for the world. 

The Pledge Drive

I have made a conscious decision to try to avoid politics in this blog. Mostly because it is what us Venezuelans usually talk about so I wanted to have a space that was free of that. But Sunday's plebiscite or popular consult or whatever you want to call it is too important to ignore. I ask you if you are reading this and you are Venezuelan please access the following links to find out where you can participate:

If you are in Venezuela: https://crdvenezuela.com/index.php/puntos/
If you live outside of Venezuela: http://www.unidadvenezuela.org/2017/07/conozca-los-puntos-la-consulta-soberana-del-16j-habilitados-exterior/

If you are not Venezuelan maybe you can help by spreading the word or if you have some free time go and encourage the people in these places. It means a lot to us to feel that we are not fighting alone against this curse that has been upon us for the past 18 years. The short summary of what is happening Sunday is that the current president is trying to change our constitution to support some sort of soviet style commune state. The only legal way to change the constitution is via elections, but that has been denied by the servile courts. Polls say that about 80% of the population reject this, so the civil society has decided to organize these elections themselves to pressure the government to listen. Massive support and participation is needed so every bit counts.

After that public service announcement I get back to this blog's real topic. The day was pretty quiet, much better than yesterday. The highlight came this morning from Lucas. I had to go change my shirt after a Matias spit-up and I asked Lucas to watch him while I quickly ran to my bedroom. His response was: "I am always going to take care of him. I promise!" Lucas is going to be a great big brother.

What did I watch?
Stazione Termini: Every movie directed by Vittorio De Sica that I had seen until now I had loved, unfortunately this was the exception. A very boring tragic love story with two unlikable characters. The only redeeming quality of the film, I think, was the setting. It all happens at the Termini Station in Rome which is home to some interesting sights and sounds, I wish they had exploited it a little more.

High Society: The final result of the Friday poll was a tie between this movie and the Emigrants. I didn't really feel like watching a 3 hour Swedish movie so I went with this one. Nothing really special, as the most notorious commenter of this blog, Russ, mentioned a better version of this story can be seen in The Philadelphia Story.

The Chinese Restaurant

The post I have gotten most positive feedback from was the one where things did not actually work out for me (The Serenity Now). So fate decided to give people what they wanted. I'm going to be honest this one physically hurt.

I had been hanging in the house for the last couple of days, just leaving to take Lucas to daycare, so to avoid getting a bad case of cabin fever we decided to go walk on the mall for a while. We had fun watching some Legos at the Lego Store and we spent some time on the playground. When it was time for dinner all restaurants were crowded and we did not want to wait so we walked to the food court. I walked past a stand where they were selling Philly Cheesesteaks and they give me a sample to try, it was pretty good so I decide that is what I'm eating. But why is the post called "The Chinese Restaurant"? Well if you haven't noticed yet all of the titles of my posts are also Seinfeld episode titles so I don't have much room to choose. But, most importantly, all of the employees on the "Philly Cheesesteak" stand where Chinese. I devour my sandwich and it was delicious, but when I got home something was feeling weird already.

My night was terrible with constant running to the bathroom with food poisoning symptoms. I was able to feed Matias at about 2 AM, but could not get any sleep after that. I saw Alegna leave at 5:30 and I was tempted to ask her to stay, but I decided to be strong and take it like a man. Matias woke up a little later and then Lucas and I was suddenly looking at a long day of work. I fed Matias before serving Lucas breakfast (I learned my lesson) and put him down to sleep. Lucas wants some cereal so I serve a bowl, but nature calls once again and I decide to trust him with his breakfast. Big mistake, I came back to what he called a "Cereal Tower", meaning all the cereal that was on the box was now on his bowl. I give him points for creativity.

I go to the daycare and as soon as I get there I realize I completely forgot Lucas's lunchbox. I have to negotiate with the teacher so they can figure out some lunch for him. I don't want to be away from my toilet longer than I have to so coming back with his lunchbox is out of the question. I get home and after the third trip to the bathroom I give up. I call Alegna and ask her to come home. I'm throwing the towel.

I still have not eaten anything but a bowl of rice at about noon and half a bottle of Gatorade. At least I'm not running to the bathroom anymore, but I still feel some pain in my stomach. I hope I'm better for tomorrow.

What did I watch?
Absolutely nothing!

Please remember to vote on the poll. There is a four way tie at the moment.

The Handicap Spot

This one is going to be a rant. I come from a country where no one respects the rules. I like order and things done right so this made me extremely unhappy. In Venezuela I was a grouch. When I moved to the USA all my grouchiness suddenly disappeared. Here rules are enforced and though sometimes some people try to get a away with breaking them, most of the time they get caught and punished. But every once in a while there is an idiot that reminds me of the third world.

Today's idiot is a parent from Lucas's daycare. In the parking lot there are 4 handicapped spaces that no one really uses, they are always empty. But this guy, he always parks in them. I have checked many times he does not have the handicap tags and he looks perfectly alright. I saw him again this morning and I am probably over-reacting but it really bugs me. He is not really hurting any one, those parking spaces are unused and he gets back to his car in probably 10 minutes after he drops off his kids. But in principle it is wrong. I'm struggling to carry Matias in his car seat and Lucas on my hand, crossing the parking lot carefully. But Mr. Big Shot just parks wherever he wants.

What should I do? I want to confront him next time I see him. Should I just let the center director know? Just let it be? He's not really hurting anyone, except probably his kids that observe that some rules might not need to be obeyed.

Friday Movie
I decided to move the poll to Wednesday's post so everyone has time to vote during Thursday and Friday morning. Here are my selections for this week:

• The Misfits: A western starring Marylin Monroe and Clark Gable and it was the last movie both ever made as Gable died before it was released and Monroe a year later.
• Birdman of Alcatraz: The true story of Robert Stroud a very violent prisoner that ended up in solitary confinement and became a prominent ornithologist.
• Head: A psychedelic 60s movie starring The Monkees written by Jack Nicholson.
• High Society: A musical with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly. It also has many famous jazz musicians contributing to the soundtrack.
• The Emigrants: A swedish film about the struggles of a group emigrating to the United States.

Please vote, the poll is located on the top right corner right below Jerry Seinfeld's face.

What did I watch?

Have Rocket, Will Travel: A 3 stooges movie that I thought would make me laugh but it just made me cringe. I don't know if it is because I have outgrown them or if the movie is actually that terrible. 

The Serenity Now

So it finally happened, I had a tough day. I know everyone has been expecting it. I kept getting questions of "This can't be that easy?". But it is still worth it. I would not trade this bonding leave experience for anything.

It started early in the morning, I felt I had just gone back to sleep after the 3 AM feeding but I heard cries from my two sons. I look at the clock and it is 6 AM, Alegna has already left and Lucas is asking if it is morning yet. I yell no you need to go back to sleep and I place a pacifier in Matias's mouth to see if that will calm him down. None of it works and they are both demanding my instant attention at the same time. I think quickly and tell Lucas to go pee in the bathroom and then he can come back and watch some videos so I can handle Matias. I go prepare his bottle with the pressure of his full blown hunger melt down, he's yelling at the top of his lungs. I start feeding him but now Lucas is hungry too. I do some juggling with Matias and the bottle in one hand and free up my other hand to quickly get him a yogurt and a spoon. Lucas decides that his teddy bear wants to eat yogurt too, so he stuffs the bears face into the yogurt pot, I try to stop him but I'm still feeding Matias so I can't do much. All I do is scare him so now the yogurt is all over the floor, chair and Lucas. He starts crying. I calm him down but I still can't do much for him because Matias is still eating and getting upset whenever I try to do something else. I'm overwhelmed and it is only 6:30 in the morning. Serenity now!

I managed to get everyone ready and now we are about to leave for daycare. It's raining hard and not the kind of rain that is nice, this one just mixes with the high temperature and everything just feels very humid. I struggle to get the two kids in the car under the pouring rain and get Lucas to daycare. I also need to do some shopping so I decide it's best to just go straight to the supermarket. It is a struggle again to get out of the car with Matias and the rain but I get it done. I get home exhausted, luckily Matias has fallen asleep in the car. I finish storing the groceries and collapse in bed. Matias starts to cry, he wants to feed again. Serenity now!

The rest of the day is a haze of tiredness, I do get a few breaks which I use to watch a movie. Alegna gets home and I do what I promised I would never do. I dump the kids on her and ask her for about 30 minutes off. She looks at me with my battle wounds of spit-ups and baby poo and agrees. I go to the yard, that now looks like a jungle, and decide to mow the lawn for the first time in a couple of weeks. I put on some headphones and listen to the Talking Heads at full volume. It is relaxing and I am myself again. Same as it ever was.

I'm ok. This was the toughest day since I started the blog but I survived and I am stronger for it. Matias and Lucas bring it on! I can take it!

What did I watch?
Fort Apache: Another one of the poll losers. John Wayne and Henry Fonda are great, there is also a surprising appearance by an adult Shirley Temple. As every John Ford western the scenery is breathtaking, even if it is in black and white. It's good but I liked She Wore a Yellow Ribbon better.

The Cartoon

Watching cartoons with Lucas is one of the best bonding experiences I can share with him. I can divide these experiences in three kinds:

The first one consists of cartoons that I enjoyed as a kid and have managed to get him interested in them. He is a big fan of the Thundercats, Voltron, Pokemon, Animaniacs and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This is the best experience for me because I get to share the things that influenced me in my childhood and I can answer all his questions since I'm pretty knowledgeable in everything that is happening. Unfortunately this is not always a successful strategy, although I have gotten him hooked on some of my favorite cartoons, others he just does not care about. He gets bored really easily when we try to watch some Looney Tunes or any of the old Disney shorts for example.

The second one consists of the new cartoons that he likes but that I just can't seem to stand. The biggest example of this is PJ Masks, but I can also think of Animal Mechanicals and Chuggington. Others are so bad I don't even  make the effort of knowing their names. I just sit next to him, stare at my phone and pretend to be paying attention.

But then there is a third category, this category consists of cartoons that come from him and he has somehow hooked me into watching them. Among this, the biggest by far is PAW Patrol. It is the only show with which I share my DVR with him. We have a constant supply of PAW patrol episodes taped so we can watch them together once or twice a week. By now, I have seen every episode about 4 times, so when a new episode comes out it is a big event in our house. Sometimes, we are even luckier and one of these episodes introduces something new and special into the PAW Patrol lore. We have been following the cartoon so long that we have seen many of these. The introduction of two new pups: Everest and Tracker (his favorite because he speaks Spanish like him) and some new gadgets like the air vehicles and the spy gear. About a month ago we started seeing commercials for the next big thing: The Seapatroller! A big ship where the pups could make their rescues at sea, with new water vehicles for each of them. Since then Lucas has been asking me every day if the Seapatroller episode is out. When I saw the episode taped in our DVR  todayI could not wait for him to get home. The first thing I told him when he got home from daycare was: "Guess what's finally out? The Seapatroller!" His response was so satisfying: "Wow, you said we had to wait many days and now finally the many days are over!" We were finally able to watch it and it was glorious! Not really, but his excitement was.We saw it twice in a row.

The rest of the day was meaningless, just a long wait until Lucas would come so we could watch some cartoons together. I did manage to cook some chicken and finish the laundry.

What else did I watch?
The Set-Up: Very good movie which lost Friday's poll but I did want to see anyway. The whole movie happens in real time and the biggest highlight is the actual boxing fight.

The Story of Mankind: This is a movie famous for being bad and boy is it bad! The premise consists of a trial in outer space where they have to decide the fate of mankind after inventing the H-Bomb. On one side is the devil played by the masterful Vincent Price (the only positive thing I have to say about the movie) and on the other side the Human's Spirit (whatever that means?) played by Ronald Colman. They try to go through different periods of history where humanity was at its best and worst to try to make a decision. It is filled with cameos from stars like the Marx brothers, Hedy Lamarr, Dennis Hopper, Peter Lorre, Charles Coburn, etc.

The Wife

The alarm went off, I sat on the edge of the bed and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, took a deep breath and said to myself: you can do this! And so began the Summer of Armando and ended the Spring of Alegna.

Going back to work was different this time around. With Lucas I was able to stay home for 8 months. Back then I was a Per-Diem interpreter and our lives were different. Now, I have a full time position and was only able to take 12 weeks off.

I was ready to leave and went to Lucas’s room and kissed him. It is hard to put him to bed, I think he suffers from constant fear of missing out (FOMO), however, once he falls asleep nothing wakes him up so mom’s kisses probably become part of his sweet dreams. Matias, on the other hand, has a lighter sleep and I guess the scent of mom close to him tells him that it is time to wake. I tried to soothe him back to sleep, but I was not able and Armando had to wake up.

I must confess that I enjoyed going back to work, but it was hard nonetheless. I had more than 1000 emails to go through, a ceiling tile had fallen on my desk while I was gone and people were excited to see pictures of Matias. I think I called and texted Armando too many times. Is he up yet? Did he drink his bottle? How was Lucas’s morning routine? Did you put Matias in his crib for his nap? These were some of the questions running through my mind and that I asked every single time I called and texted.

In the morning I was able to talk to Lucas on the phone on his way to daycare. In perfect Spanish he asked me: Mamá why weren’t you at home this morning? I said sweetie because I had to go back to work and after a short pause he asked but why? Well my love, mommy has a job.

Trying to be the perfect mom and having a successful career are hard things to accomplish. With certain pride in my voice I informed people that my husband was staying home for 8 weeks. Of course a part of me wants him to fail so I can gloat that I am perfect.

However, Armando did a great job during his first week (more like 3 days but who is keeping tabs?). I came home to an empty dishwasher, clean bottles and rice.

So Far I give him a B+

About the Poll

I also voted for Equus. I did not enjoy the thought of having to watch a movie about a horse serial killer. However, at night I ended up watching the end of it. The movie was a bit weird and after reading the Wikipedia article I realized the title rang a bell because Daniel Radcliffe was in the play in London.

The Pony Remark

Honestly I wasn't sure I actually wanted to see Equus, I was rooting that the poll results would favor Fort Apache. But the people spoke and I listened, so soon after the polls closed at noon I started watching the movie. It wasn't what I described at all in "The Contest" post. This is not about a serial horse killer. It's funny that I think some of you even understood that it was about horse serial killers (which might have been hilarious, terrifying or both). It was actually about a very disturbed kid that because of many psychological complexes ends up blinding some horses in a stable he works at. The story is told in flashbacks through a conversation with a psychologist. It was pretty good, not a masterpiece or a movie I would watch again but I think it raised some interesting points.

Today it rained the whole day and it made my day very uneventful. Nothing interesting really happened. The highlight of my day was when Matias actually pooped. He had been in an unusual mood all day and as soon as he pooped he was the normal smiley Matias again. As a friend recently remarked, it is very interesting how someone else's bowel movements somehow become important when you are a parent.

So anyway, I wanted to get back to the movie because one of the characters, the kid's mom, actually clicked with me on how I feel about parenting and I think it might be relevant for this blog. She is a very unlikable character, very religious and strict, and I think the movie tries to persuade you that all of this situation might have been her fault. But she defends herself with a very interesting monologue where she says the following:

"... You come to us and say, who forbids television?  Who does what behind whose back? – as if we’re criminals.  /  Let me tell you something.  We’re not criminals.  We’ve done nothing wrong.  We loved Alan.  We gave him the best love we could.  /  All right, we quarrel sometimes – all parents quarrel – we always make it up.  /  My husband is a good man.  He’s an upright man, religion or no religion.  He cares for his home, for the world, and for his boy.  Alan had love and care and treats, and as much fun as any boy in the world.  /  I know about loveless homes:  I was a teacher.  Our home wasn’t loveless.  I know about privacy too – not invading a child’s privacy.  /  All right, Frank may be at fault there – he digs into him too much – but nothing in excess.  He’s not a bully. . . /  No, doctor.  Whatever’s happened has happened because of Alan.  Alan is himself.  Every soul is itself.  If you added up everything we ever did to him, from his first day on earth to this, you wouldn’t find why he did this terrible thing – because that’s him; not just all of our things added up.  /  Do you understand what I’m saying?  I want you to understand, because I lie awake and awake thinking it out, and I want you to know that I deny it absolutely what he’s doing now, staring at me, attacking me for what he’s done, for what he is! ...  "

As much as my parenting methods differ greatly from that woman I completely empathize with her. I think most of what we provide our children is in our genes and those genes determine most of what they are going to be like. I think we live in a culture that just places too much emphasis on parenting. There are thousands of books claiming to have the best method and just pressuring parents into doing things that might not come naturally to them and make them feel like failures. You see helicopter parents trying so hard it is painful, because they might fail through no fault of their own. They try to be the perfect parent that books or the internet or their friends or parents tell them to be. And if they fail they will blame themselves, society will blame them too. I think we shouldn't. Every person is their own person and the best you can do as a parent is just try to be the best person you can be and hope it rubs off on your kids. Lead by example. If someone turns out to be a criminal, a drug addict or a loser they should completely assume their own responsibility and stop blaming parents. They most certainly tried their best.

So that rant ends week number 1. I expect to publish my next post on Monday. But during the weekend Alegna will be a guest writer on the blog and give you her perspective on how I'm really doing.

See you next week!

The Good Samaritan

What a day! If every day is like today this is going to be a breeze. I got ambitious today, yesterday I trod cautiously into the unknown but today I went all in. The day started with a 3 AM feeding, these seem to be quick and easy, Matias is half asleep but he drinks his bottle pretty quickly. Then I'm able to get some sleep until 7:30 when both Matias and Lucas get up. Lucas's request for breakfast is more traditional today: toast with butter and jam, some cereal to snack on and a superman yogurt. I open the fridge and realize we are running out of groceries so I decide I'm going to risk it and go to the supermarket after dropping Lucas at daycare. I feed Matias while Lucas finishes his breakfast, we all get dressed and leave.

After dropping Lucas off I get to the Stop and Shop that is nearby. Here I run into my first challenge, where do I set Matias? He is too small for the shopping cart seat and there is no way I can push the cart and a stroller at the same time. I decide to set him in his car seat inside the shopping cart, there is not a lot of space for groceries now but I can work around it. I glance at the shopping list I requested from Alegna on my phone, memorize it and get to work. I get everything I need, pay up and go back to my parked car. I put all the groceries on the trunk and set Matias's car seat in the back. One of my biggest pet peeves in a supermarket parking lot is people not returning their carts on the designated areas. So I run to the area with my cart while Matias is locked in the car for about 30 seconds, but when I get back I see this woman walking by my car looking at the inside of it with a judgmental look. I get all paranoid thinking she's going to go full "Good Samaritan" on me and call the cops accusing me of locking my child in the heat while I was shopping. I quickly realize that I have a good alibi, the cashier saw me with Matias at the store and she commented on how cute he was, she surely must remember him and clarify I did nothing wrong. Luckily the woman keeps walking and gets on her car to leave. I leave too with some relief.

But now I'm brave. I successfully managed a trip to the supermarket! So what else do I do? After I feed Matias again I decide to be efficient with my time, so I cook some rice while I fill out the dishwasher. Another two chores done! I go eat while watching a movie for my deserved break. Finally, I get greedy and do some laundry. I go through two loads of washer and dryer. I'm so proud that I still have some time left with Matias for his daily exercises and tummy time.

Alegna and Lucas get here and now I can show off. My wife says "Big Deal!" you are just doing what you are supposed to be doing. Still I think this was a good day. I even had time to post twice for the first time!

What did I watch?
Il Sorpasso: Great movie! Vittorio Gassman plays one of the best comedy characters I have seen in my life, everything that came out of his mouth made me laugh out loud. This is one of the biggest representatives of a film movement in the 60s and 70s in Italy called commedia all'italiana. The ending is pretty tragic though.

Make sure you vote on the poll located to the right (Below Jerry Seinfeld's head) before tomorrow at noon. With this new feature you get to decide what movie I'm going to watch tomorrow afternoon.

The Contest

So a friend had a great idea to make this a little more interactive. I will introduce a new feature where readers can decide what movie I should watch next. If you look to your right (below Jerry Seinfeld's head) you will see a poll with 5 options. Vote for your favorite and I will watch it tomorrow. Below is a short description of each movie and the reason why I would like to see it:

I tried to have some variety in genres: Western, Film-Noir, Horror, Musical and a Foreign movie.

1. Fort Apache: John Ford might have been the greatest western director ever and he teamed up with the greatest western star of the time, John Wayne, to make the now very famous cavalry trilogy. This is the first of the three, and I have only seen She Wore a Yellow Ribbon which I loved.
2. The Set Up: A very famous film-noir, specially for the fact that it was the first movie to try to recreate the passage of time as if it was happening live by using the gimmick of showing clocks in key scenes to create tension.
3. Equus: A film about a horse serial killer? Sounds too weird and interesting to pass up.
4. Take Me Out to the Ball Game: A musical starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly about baseball. Also I have never seen a film with Esther Williams on it, she was a swimming star that always had these theatrical pool scenes.
5. A Story From Chikamatsu: Kenji Mizoguchi is a great Japanese director. I have seen a couple of his movies (Ugetsu and Sansho the Bailiff) and really enjoyed them.

So please vote you have until noon on Friday!

The Venezuelan Day Parade

Today was the Venezuelan independence day. Every year they commemorate this day with the president watching over a military parade pretending that we have some sort of military might when in reality we probably are more similar to Seinfeld's version of the Puerto Rican day parade. I spent some time of the day fantasizing about some sort of Anwar Sadat episode that would free us from one of the worst presidents in our history but Matias quickly snapped me back to reality.

My day started at 2 AM this morning. I was afraid that on my first day I would not hear him cry as I sometimes do and Alegna would have to wake me up, but I heard him! So far, so good: pick him up, calm him down, prepare a bottle and feed him. BAM! Done in 30 minutes, back to sleep!

Alegna wakes up at 5 AM, gets ready for her first day of work in 3 months, so she obviously does what every loving mother would want to do every morning, she kisses Lucas and Matias goodbye. Lucas does not notice but Matias definitively does. She gives me an "it wasn't me" face and leaves. Now I'm stuck with a crying baby at 5:30 AM. After many iterations of feeding, burping and changing diapers he finally goes back to sleep at 7, Lucas's usual waking up time. I'm exhausted so I just collapse on my bed waiting for the dreaded "Daddy! Is it morning yet?" that comes every day like clockwork. But not today, today Lucas was a real pal and he gets up at 8. I yell from my room that yes it is morning and that he can get off his bed. He goes to the bathroom, pees, flushes and washes his hands all by himself like a champ and comes into my room. He asks for mom and starts to cry when he realizes she's back to work, but I bribe him with my phone and the offer of some youtube videos. I pass out again and wake up an hour later. He's still watching videos so I convince him to go have breakfast. Pancakes and popcorn is his request and I decide that it is not as unreasonable as usual so I abide and he devours it. Matias wakes up, he's happy so we all get dressed and we are off to daycare.

In the car Lucas asks why Matias is coming, I usually drive him by myself but today that is not an option. He is concerned: Matias is too little for school and they might hit him. I tell him that older brothers should defend their little brothers, he replies "Yes I will get really really mad if someone hits him!". Drop off at daycare is fine and I get home just in time for Matias's feeding. The rest of the day goes without a hitch, he eats his food, I get to watch some TV and walk around the neighborhood as I planned. There is no mess on the kitchen, everything is in the dishwasher and all the bottles he used are clean. I was supposed to buy some baby formula with some coupon from Target that Alegna left me but I don't think saving $5 off is worth risking my successful day so I stay home. I pass out on the sofa until Alegna and Lucas get here and I can officially say I survived my first day!

What did I watch?
Zabriskie Point a Michelangelo Antonioni film with terrible unlikable characters and an implausible story but that is surprisingly still watchable. It focuses on some one dimensional revolutionary counterculture hippies in their fight against a caricature of a greedy businesman. It does have one of the weirdest sex scenes I have ever seen though.

The Road to Hong Kong the last one of the Road to... series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, it is basically the same movie with the same types of gags as the other 6 (of which I have seen 4 already) but it works for light entertainment. I found the scene at the 7:36 mark of this video particularly funny.

So that's it! I survived my first day. One down, 60 more days to go. I think I'm going to be fine.

The Summer of Armando

My name is Armando, a Venezuelan living in Massachusetts and I work for a company that offers a few great benefits. One of them is what they call "bonding leave". The policy consists of giving a new parent eight weeks, fully paid, to spend with a new born or newly adopted child the first year of his/her life. So basically for a man it works as paternity leave and for a woman eight extra weeks added to the maternity leave. The US is not characterized by their great child bonding policies so it is probably close to the best you can get. In my opinion it is actually better than what my wife got. Even though she had to go through the whole child birth effort all she got was a fully paid week of vacation, four weeks of 75% pay and another 4 unpaid weeks. All I did was stand there next to her saying breathe a couple of times and I get fully paid 8 weeks??

So my wife, Alegna, is getting back to work tomorrow, after three months of great childcare, and leaving all the baby responsibilities for the next two months to me. These past three months since Matias was born I have been mostly a tourist. I helped with some diapers and bottles but most of the work was done by my wife. It has been tough on her and she has taken it like a champion. Now, it is my turn to keep my end of the bargain. Two months off work with the responsibility of all house chores, late night feedings, cooking and all that my wife has accomplished until now. I have been practicing the past couple of nights to get used to the schedule. It's going to be tough! But my plan is to make the most of it: the Summer of Armando!

My plan is to have short daily posts with some interesting details of what might have happened on that day. Is it going to be interesting? I have no idea. I'll try to mix it up a little, I'm a big movie buff with a DVR full of TCM movies that I expect to watch. I'll be taking walks around the neighborhood to see if I can catch some Pokémon in Pokémon GO. Go into the twitter black hole every once in a while trying to filter real news from fake news coming from the Venezuelan protests. But mostly, I'll try to survive doing something I have a little experience doing (I also have a 3 year old named Lucas) and try to enjoy it as much as I can.

Please feel free to comment on my posts to give me real feedback like: "This sucks!" or "You suck!" And if you are really curious you can even sign up to receive email notifications whenever I post something new by adding your email on the right where it says "Follow By Email".

Well that's it for today, wish me luck, for tomorrow begins the Summer of Armando!