My 1st Birthday

After having some technical issues, I am finnaly able to report on a very special event that took place a couple of days ago... yes, last Saturday was my 1st birthday. Can't believe how time flies ! Looks like yesterday that I was in Mount Kisco, surrounded by snow and enjoying my first days in the world... and now.... look at me ! Already a grown up boy and living in Shanghai :-) isn't that cool?

So, to celebrate, my parents had a nice surprise party for me. A colorful "Happy Birthday" banner hanging from the door... a yummy carrot cake (watch it, first time I was allowed to try sugar !)... birthday cards... a nicely wrapped present and, best of all, a live connection with my abuelos and Grosseltern, complement of Skype ! after all... it is not every day that you turn 1 !!!

I really had a great time. There is nothing better than smashing a cake with your hands (believe me though, don't try putting the candels out with your fingers,... ouch!) and also had a lot of fun unwrapping my present (lovely walking shoes that I am going to use like a champ -- more to come about that in future posts :-)

By the end of the day I was totally exhausted but... I still had one more suprise waiting for me... bathing time with el tio Iñaki and tia Susi ! I am really starting to be very fond of that Skype.

What a nice day... can only say that I am looking forward to more birthdays.... actually, why don't we have birthdays more often? I think they are a lot of fun.

Ah ! btw, quiero aprovechar para mandarle un tiron de orejas bien fuerte a la tia Vero porque compartimos cumple. Tia, a ver si un año de estos lo celebramos juntos :-) Un beso.

My potty and I, perfect together

Yesterday I achieved another milestone in my short but very successful career as a baby. Well... not such a baby anymore because... guess who managed to hit the target just after two attempts :-)

Talking to other baby-buddies I always thought that going diaper-free was kind of mission impossible but, yesterday, I discovered that potty training has no secrets for me. Not that I am planning to fully get rid of my nappies (specially now that it is so cold they come rather handy) but I have to say that I am kind of enjoying my new potty.

And, best of all, are all the kisses and cuddles I got from mom & dad when they saw I had scored. I am definitively planning to repeat that !

Querida madrina y querido tio Ricardo

Este mensaje va dedicado a vosotros... para que veais lo bien que me lo paso en mi trona.

Y... sobre todo... para que veais lo mayor que estoy ! porque ayer fue un dia importante y por primera vez la utilice sin el kit de bebes ! Ahora ya soy un chico grande asi que solo llevo las cintas. Que os parece?


Ademas, tambien estoy aprendiendo a comer solito. Bueno, ya se comer con los dedos y es muy divertido aunque mama dice que lo pongo todo perdido. Pero tambien estoy empezando a utilizar la cuchara y, aunque no siempre acierto, me gusta ver que mi lado de la mesa se parece al de mama y papa: tengo mi silla, mi plato, mi cuchara y mi vaso... ahora solo me falta el filete con patatas !

Muchos besitos a los dos... bueno.... a los tres :-) Tengo muchas ganas de volver a veros y os echo mucho de menos. Aqui os pongo un video para veais como papa me esta ensenando a comer. Disciplina ante todo ! je je je

1st day of the year... in Macau !

The trip already started strong with a ride on the Turbojet Ferry. And no wonder the call it TURBOJET ! after 50 minutes riding waves we made it to Macau and it really felt like we were veeeeery faaaaar away.


An old Portuguese colony till 1999 it still keeps all the European flare and you can find everywhere beatiful houses painted in funny colours, names of streets in Portuguese, the traditional pasteis de nata and, of course, plenty of igrejas.

I still can't believe that mom and dad bought 12 pasteis de nata and didn't let me try any!... but that's a different story :-)


The main square "Largo do Senado" is a really nice place and was full of Christmas decoration and tourists.

Again, I found myself becoming the center of attraction and suddenly I was surrounded by 4 nice ladies who wanted to take a picture with me and said that I was really cute :-) I think I am going to start asking for a $ every time somebody takes a picture of me.... cute as I am I think that by the time I am 18 years old I will have plenty of bucks to buy my own car !


We spent a great day in Macau but by the end of the day I was really tired so my parents strolled me up to the Ruinas de San Pablo, a very pretty facade of an old cathedral and then we headed back to the ferry. Let me just say that this cathedral place was really really crowded. Not sure how things are seen when you are a bit taller but when you are just sitting down... it is a bit intimidating.

However, the way back to Hong Kong was real fun ! we had a very rough sea and the Turbojet was more Turbojet than ever and we were literally jumping over the waves. I really enjoyed the trip a lot but I have the feeling that my parents didn't like it that much because the looked a bit green. What a couple of Sissys ! I think if I ever go to Disneyland I will take my oma with me so that we can ride the roller coaster together :-)

Victoria Peak

With all the excitement of the New Year's Eve celebration I had forgotten to tell you about yesterday morning's trip to Victoria Peak.

Located in the highest point of the Hong Kong island there are breathtaking views of all the skyscrapers and the sea so off we went with our friend Willy, a colleague of mom who took us there with his car. Just the way up there was totally worth it because it felt like we were in a big Scalectrix !

When we finally made it to the top we were quite surprised because... we couldn;t see anything ! the weather was really bad and the peak is so high that we were totally surrounded by fog.

So, if you can't enjoy the view.... what can you do??? go and eat dumplings !!! is a local delicatessen here in Hong Kong so we took the chance and tried many nice and tasting ones. Even I tried the ones that were not too spicy :-)

By the time we had finished eating the weather had already cleared quite a lot so, funnily enough, when we went to the same view point... the city was just waiting in front of us ! here you can see two pictures that we took aexactly at the same point with just one hour difference.