The Marine Biologist

We went to the Miami Seaquarium today. I barely remember the last time I was there. I must have been 5 or 6. This was the first time Lucas would see some of these animals and I was excited to see how he would react to them. But Blackfish and The Cove permanently ruined these parks for me. It was bittersweet because I could remember the excitement that Lucas was probably experiencing watching the killer whales and the dolphins for the first time, doing exciting jumps and tricks, but in the back of my mind I had thoughts of how some of these animals probably got here.

We got there right about the time the sea lion show was starting, we rushed to the dome and found some seats. Lucas laughed and enjoyed the show. By the time the show was over Lucas and Matias got hungry so we decided to eat our sandwiches on some picnic tables. I realized the killer whale show was about to start so we sent Lucas with my mom to find some seats while Alegna and I picked everything up. When we got to the show we found them soaked. As soon as they walked into the stadium the killer whale jumped and splashed them. My mom said Lucas found it very funny, but from that moment he decided to keep his distance from the rest of the exhibits. He did say that his favorite part of the day was when the dolphins from another show did not get him wet.

The rest of the day was entertaining but the temperature was really warm and humid. We quickly walked through the shark, crocodile, manatee and penguin exhibits and decided to call it a success and leave. Matias behaved like an angel. I sometimes feel guilty that we take advantage of his personality. He never complains so we do things that we shouldn't probably do with a 4 month old. The rest of the day he was a little bit cranky, but we were extra patient with him. By the way, it is official, he does roll over. He kept doing it today and would smile after we cheered every time he did it. He was very proud of his first milestone.

The Barber

Matias had his first haircut today. I really don't like baby hair, specially when it starts to get all patchy, so I had been insisting for a while that we should just shave it off. When Lucas was 3 months old we did it for him. Today, the time finally came and Alegna buzzed off all of Matias hair. He looks really different but cute. His big eyes look way bigger now, but I think that is a good thing because they are his best attributes. He smiled through the whole haircut as you all probably predicted now that you have read my description of his character in my previous posts.

It also seems that Matias has started to roll over. Last night I found him facing down and a couple of minutes ago I found him this way again. It is very mysterious because he is in his swaddle, it probably takes a lot of effort to roll over all wrapped up like he is. It makes me laugh to imagine him going through the motions and effort to actually roll over like this. I can picture the sounds he probably makes while he does this.

On other news, Lucas hit Matias for the first time today. Lucas has a toy poke ball that he carries around in the house sometimes. Matias was crying because he was hungry, Alegna was preparing his bottle and I wasn't around either so Lucas just decided to throw the plastic poke ball right at Matias's head. Matias started crying really loud from the pain. All I heard was the plastic poke ball hitting something and then a loud wail. I came to find Lucas just staring at his brother with a concerned look. It was easy to figure out he had thrown the toy at his head. Alegna had a talk with him and asked him why had he done that, while I was feeding Matias his bottle. He said his reason was because Matias was crying. Alegna explained that he should have tried to calm him down with kisses and hugs instead of with a poke ball to the head. He came back looking really sad and asked Matias for forgiveness. Matias was feeding so he just smiled back at him.

Tonight we had the chance to go out just me and Alegna. We had dinner and a movie while my parents watched our kids. It was a nice night out.

What did I Watch?
Dunkirk: You can tell it's a Christopher Nolan film and not just because Tom Hardy was in it. I really liked it, we saw it in an IMAX theater so technically it was captivating. All World War II movies are eventually compared to the best of them all, but although this is not at the level of Saving Private Ryan, it is the movie that has come the closest to it.

The Trip (Part 2)

We are on vacation mode and it's been great. We had a great weekend at the beach and spending time with our family. We have gotten a lot of help with Lucas and Matias, so our hands are now a little more free to sleep a little later, have meals without having to rush, and enjoying some free time. We are back to the slow life, where you can actually take breaks.

Today we had a fun day. Just hanging around in my parent's home in the morning. It felt like a Sunday morning. Lucas has been wanting to see the Emoji Movie since he saw the trailer on TV. Last time he went to the movies it was with me and Alegna stayed home with Matias. I wanted Alegna to have that same experience and also that movie looked terrible, so they went to the see it together. While I was waiting for them I went Pokemon hunting with my cousins and raiding some gyms trying to catch a Legendary Pokemon. Lucas really liked the movie, Alegna not so much but I think she enjoyed the experience and the bonding.

Lucas had some popcorn, juice and chocolate while at the movies. He also had had a few glasses of chocolate milk in the morning. I guess it all came together in his bloodstream and by mid afternoon he was running all over the house tackling whoever was in front of him while screaming at the top of his lungs. We decided to take him to a water playground near my parents home so he would use up all that energy. He ran and played and by the time we came home he was ready to go to bed. It was a relief to finally get him to bed at a reasonable hour. The past couple of nights he's been going to bed pretty late. We had some time on our hands so we went to have dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant. We had some arepas, patacones, malta, chicha, papelon and a lot more. It was a Venezuelan food feast.

What did I watch?
The Space Between Us: These next couple of weeks I will not have access to my DVR so I will not have a wide selection of movies to choose from. Nothing special about this movie, if you get past the absurd premise and that it is probably targeted to teenage girls, it is a little entertaining movie to pass the time. Nothing more.

The Trip (Part 1)

We flew to Florida today. Lucas was very excited that he was going to visit his grandparents. He was up by 6 AM. My mission this week was to eat everything in the fridge that might go bad while we were out and I finished it yesterday so unfortunately we had nothing to eat for breakfast. Alegna and Lucas each ate a yogurt and I had some jello while we waited for a reasonable hour to go for some brunch.

We spent the morning preparing our bags and making sure we weren't forgetting anything. At around 10:30 we left and had some brunch on an IHOP. We had a feast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. I had some steak too, of course. Lucas would not stop asking questions, he was so excited that he was in hyper mode. I really hoped he wouldn't behave this way on the plane. Matias was his usual calm and happy self. We drove to the airport, checked all our luggage and went through security without a hitch in about 10 minutes. I love the Worcester airport.

After boarding the plane we found our seats. Lucas was going to travel on the window with me beside him. On the other side of the aisle was Alegna with Matias on her lap. Matias fell asleep almost immediately, while Lucas asked me about a thousand times "Are we flying yet?" and yelling "Blast off!" at the top of his lungs. I was worried that this was going to be a long flight. I looked through the JetBlue Magazine and saw that The Boss Baby would be playing on the TV. The movie saved our trip. Lucas was wearing his headphones watching the movie and laughing happily. Almost at the end of the movie he fell asleep and did not get up until we landed. Matias woke up and cried a little asking for food, but as soon as he ate he was back to normal.

We got to Ft. Lauderdale and my mom's house was full of family members. I got to see a lot of people that I had not seen in a while and I missed terribly. Of course, now Lucas and Matias get most of the attention but I was very happy to be here. It's 10 PM and Lucas is still refusing to sleep, but we're on vacation, we will worry about sleeping schedules when we get back. My only worry is that Alegna will be returning home a week before the kids and I. It's going to be tough to handle both of them on an airport by myself, but that will be material for an interesting future post.

What did I watch?
The Boss Baby: Perfect airplane movie, you don't really have to pay much attention. It had some funny moments that we could identify with. Lucas kept calling Matias Boss Baby.

The Maid

Every couple of weeks we have a person that comes and cleans our house. What this means is that the day before we have to preemptively clean so the house will not be as filthy and messy for her and we feel less embarrassed. I know it makes no sense, she's going to clean anyway. Lucas hates it. He knows that when we say "Tomorrow Jane (not her real name) is coming" it means that he needs to pick up all his toys. This morning there were still a few toys hanging around so we picked them up before going to daycare.

To get out of her way and not feel weird by just watching her clean our mess, I decided to go have lunch somewhere else. Also, Alegna forbids cooking the day she comes so the house will smell clean. After my last cooking debacle that made the house smell like steak all day I did not want to risk it. I've been meaning to visit this new burger joint that has opened recently but I had not been able to convince Alegna to come with me. Of course I couldn't, she does not eat meat. So I decided to go there for a burger and a shake.

Driving there my engine light came on. My car has been feeling weird lately and now I will have to take it to the shop to see what's wrong with it. That can wait for some other day, today it is all about my burger. I get there and with Matias in a stroller I come in and make my order: A double cheeseburger with cheddar, tomatoes, grilled onions and BBQ sauce and a vanilla shake. I find a table while I wait for my order and Matias is all smiles as always. He enchants a couple of ladies that approach us and start commenting about his beautiful his eyes.They are big and gray and everyone always comments on them. I finally get my order and it is very disappointing. The burger is as greasy as the one in the picture above. The shake was pretty good. I go home feeling fat and sad, but at least I have a cute kid.

What did I Watch?
Mothra: Interesting Japanese monster movie, I was expecting something really bad but it was actually watchable. The monster does not show up until an hour into the movie. I like that Mohra in this movie is actually the good guy just trying to save some kidnapped 1-foot princesses from its island. At the beginning it is just a caterpillar swimming and crawling causing destruction, but then it cocoons and it becomes a giant moth that causes hurricane winds with its wings.

The Little Kicks

This morning, while driving to daycare, we were listening to the radio as we usually do. Every once in a while a song will come up that catches Lucas's attention and we will talk about it. Sometimes it will become part of his repertoire of favorite songs and I will add it to his Spotify playlist I named Luquencio. This time it was really funny because he asked to turn up the volume on the "Kars 4 Kids" jingle. He thought it was interesting that at the end of the song the man and the kid were singing together. I told him: yes that is called harmonizing, do you want to hear the best harmony song ever? I played him The Sound of Silence. It did nothing to him. It's not the first time this has happened to me, I have failed with other songs as well.

It is very interesting how a song will just catch his ear the first time he listens to it. The first time it happened was with Bohemian Rhapsody, he loved that they would yell "Mamma Mia!" and would point at his mom. Other songs that caught his ear instantly were Yellow Submarine, Sugar Sugar and the Banana Boat Song. Another batch of songs are more meaningful to Alegna, like Beautiful Boy that he sings with her every day before bedtime and Cachito Mio that they will dance together singing the chorus out loud.

Matias obviously has not developed a musical taste yet. Right now all of our musical experience is based on another playlist I created with Rockabye Baby songs. It has baby sounding renditions of songs by bands like Sublime, Radiohead, Green Day, AC/DC and many more. We usually listen to it while we are playing or doing his strengthening exercises. He usually does this spastic kicks when music is playing that look like Elaine's dance moves. It sometimes makes me laugh and I will try to find a song that goes with his moves. Soon, I expect, he will also be developing his musical taste and I will create a playlist for him, I already have the name for it: Matute. Luquencio and Matute are two very geeky nicknames I have for my kids.

What did I watch?
Bound for Glory: A goody goody story about Woody Guthrie. They paint him like an idealistic saint that gives everything for the people. I don't really know much about him, but I would have preferred a more believable story with some imperfections. All humans have them. The most interesting thing about this movie is a very famous scene where the Steadicam was first used. He walks through a camp and a crowd with a camera following him in what was previously and impossible shot to make and that we now see on almost every movie.

The Fire

One of the things I have enjoyed the most during this summer is cooking. Most of the time I've only managed to cook some rice to act as a side of whatever leftover protein I had in my fridge. But every once in a while Matias will give me the chance to get creative. I've made some short ribs with a rub I invented (mostly paprika). I also made some chicken with a cashew butter based sauce. Yesterday, I made a delicious couscous with orange juice, cranberries and walnuts. Last time I went to the supermarket I bought a couple of filet-mignons and I decided that today I was going to make them.

I had just finished feeding Matias, so I set him up on his pack and play and started seasoning my filets with just some salt, pepper and olive oil. While I was doing this I turned the oven on at 400 degrees and put a cooking pan set on high on the stove. I placed the meat to sear it on the pan and the temperature was very high so suddenly there was a lot of smoke. I quickly turned the kitchen fan on and opened a couple of windows but it was too late, the smoke detectors started ringing. It got really loud with more trhan one activated by the smoke so I go check on Matias. His eyes are wide open but he sees me and smiles, he's ok. I finish searing the meat so it won't burn and place the filets in the oven so they will cook evenly. The alarms are still on so I'm waving some papers under the smoke detectors until finally they go quiet. I go back to Matias and he is relaxed, luckily he never freaked out with the noise.

After 10 minutes I take my steaks out of the oven and check them. A perfect medium rare. I serve it with some of yesterday's couscous and I have a delicious lunch. Those two minutes of loud stress were definitively worth it.

What did I watch?
The Country Girl: Nice little movie about an actor struggling with alcoholism. Interesting to see Bing Crosby on a serious role and Grace Kelly was really beautiful, even when she tried not to be.

F For Fake: Orson Welles's last movie is some sort of documentary about the life of two fakers, as he calls them, Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. There is a nice twist in the end of the movie that plays a little with your mind and makes you question if any of the "facts" that were presented to you during the whole film where actually real or  conveniently fabricated by Welles to fit his story.