Hasta el 40 de mayo...

Well, the weather has been getting a lot nicer lately, and that means that I enjoy going outside with Eric more than ever.  He seems to be much happier outside, and is entertained for much longer when doing the same things outside that he does inside.  Yesterday, for example, he was in his bouncer seat outside, and played by himself for quite a long time without complaining at all.  Doing the same thing inside only keeps him entertained for about 10-15 minutes at most!!

Eric loves to go around the garden, looking at each tree and playing with the leaves

It's nice that the arrival of the warmer weather comes at a time when we are pretty close to changing the size of clothes that Eric wears.  Now that he's 6 months, he can start to wear a lot of his 6-9 month clothes, and a lot of his 3-6 month clothes are starting to get a bit small (or, rather, short).  He still is on the tiny size weight-wise, so he usually outgrows his clothes length-wise (especially in the torso) before he grows out of them width-wise.  That means that we can get more use out of a lot of his tops, but not-so-much when it comes to onesies and pants. I'm considering converting some of my favorite onesies of his into shirts just so I can get more use out of them.
Of course with the change in wardrobe, I've also been bringing out some spring clothes.  Despite the fact that I always have a blanket and a jacket for him on hand, and that he's always wearing a onesie under his shirt,  and that we have had temperatures in the 70's (F) on certain days, I always get horrible looks when people see that I have put short sleeved shirts on Eric.  I'm usually in cropped pants, and short sleeves myself, and sweating, but two layers of short sleeves and sweatpants seems to be too little for a baby to wear according to everybody else.

Eric in short sleeves.  You can see spit up is still a bit of a problem.

I'm not surprised by this, nor will my American friends who have studied here be.  I get the same looks being in short sleeves myself.  So the saying goes, "hasta el 40 de mayo, no te quites el sayo..."
(Basically, keep dressing warm until mid June.)  But we aren't in Alaska nor are we even in northern Spain.  We are on the Spanish Riviera, and it is warm already.  So what do the natives of this area do??  They prefer to wear long sleeved sweaters still with their wool slacks, carry around their winter coats, and then complain how hot it is outside!! What?!?!?  It's not that hot outside yet.  Hot enough for short sleeves, but not hot enough to complain about the heat...especially if you're dressed to go live in an igloo.  Every year the same thing happens, though.  My friends here look at me in my short sleeves, roll their eyes, and say "Qué guiri eres!."  Of course, I roll my eyes at just how "Denian" they are.  I've noticed that it isn't necessarily a Spanish phenomenon, and that when people from other (colder) parts of Spain come here this time of year, they tend to be in short sleeves just like me!  The younger generation seems to also behave like the rest of us.  Enough said about that.

Vegetable garden with pallets ready to be made into a fence

With spring coming, I've also been working on planting my garden.  I didn't pay much attention to my vegetable garden last year while pregnant, and the area got overrun with weeds.  Knowing that I probably won't have a lot of free time with a baby, I looked for a way to keep the weeds under control without wasting a lot of time.  I'm not willing to compromise by using chemicals, though.  I've been keeping up an organic garden for several years now, and now, especially with a baby, I have no plans on changing that.

Experimental weed control system

After a bit of research online, I decided I would give newspaper weed control a try.  So, I put down 6 sheets of newspaper over the area where I planned on planting my vegetables, and then spread compost that I got from last years' weeds, leaves, grass and vegetable waste overtop.  I made little holes in the newspaper to plant my vegetables.
Another thing I decided to do this year was to leave myself paths between the rows of plants that would be kept weed free by a sheet of thin plastic.  To finish it all off, we set up a drip irrigation system.  Now, all we need to do is set up a fence around the garden to keep the dogs out.  Last year we had it fenced off with chicken wire, but Mauri didn't like that solution.  The truth is it was a bit of a pain, and didn't stay up well. He'll likely make a new fence out of recycled pallets.
So, Eric should be eating organic vegetables from his garden soon.

With the nice weather I'm also looking forward to getting our pool up.  For those of you who have been following the blog, you'll recall that being in the pool was one of my favorite things while pregnant.  Many people have been telling me lately how much babies love to be in the water, so I'm looking forward to seeing how Eric will react to swimming.  To make the experience even more fun, I just bought a baby swimming tube online.  It's supposed ot help babies learn how to swim.  Whether or not that is true, if I know my Eric well enough, I know he's going to love it!!  It's called a swintrainer, and here's a random youtube video of a baby using it.

It will be more fun when the video is of Eric using it this summer!!
I came across it while shopping for a new crib mattress for Eric online.  I bought one from a store that offered a lot of other toys and baby items (gugu.es).  I would have loved to spend a fortune there, but I behaved myself. I did have an excuse to buy the swimtrainer, though.  I needed to spend another 15 euros to get free shipping, otherwise I'd have to spend 10 euros on shipping the mattress.  So, it was worth it!!
I found some really interesting things there that I would have loved to have tried out if I had seen them when Eric was smaller.  This, for example, looked interesting for bathing a small baby.

I've always had Mauri bathe him because I was afraid to do it myself.  Eric wiggled around so much, I was always worried about dropping a soapy, slippery, wiggly baby!

niniwalker

 Something I was tempted to buy, and would have had it not been for the price, was the so-called niniwalker.  It's basically a pole with wheels at the end that allows the baby to practice walking, while the parent can help him or her do so without having to crouch on the floor or bend over.  It has a harnass to keep the baby from falling and hurting himself or herself.  I loved the idea, but thought 65 euros seemed a bit excessive for a pole with wheels on it!!  Ironically, in online stores in England, the niniwalker costs around 80 pounds!!  Maybe we'll have to try to make our own version of something similar to try out the idea.
Eric seems to like his new mattress, and I'm happy with my purchases.
So, what else is new these days?

By the day, Eric is getting stronger and stronger, and I can actually notice a big difference in his ability to keep himself sitting up by himself daily.  His balance is getting better, and he has more of an interest in doing it, especially if I put some of his toys in front of him to motivate him.  From a sitting position he can reach out for the toys, and gets into a crawling position.  He can't really crawl yet, but does like to roll over and over to move himself.

In the last week or so, he's become very ticklish.  I try not to do it that often because I hate getting tickled myself, but it is very cute to see him laugh hysterically when you rub his sides.  On the other hand, he's become so ticklish that sometimes when I'm only trying to change his diaper, only cleaning him with a baby wipe makes him laugh.
That's pretty much all there is to tell this week.  I think he might be starting to teeth, but I'll tell more about that next week once I have more time to monitor the symptoms.
For now, I'll conclude with the picture I promised in my last post.

This is Eric's American birth certificate.  It is really nice looking, and has a gold raised eagle at the top, and an interesting holographic strip of stars down the right side.  You can see that it states that he acquired his citizenship at birth, so I guess, in another 35 years, he can become president if he wants to.  ;)

Eric also got his Social Security card