Dog years?

It's been one week since my girls came back from visiting Grandma in Savannah, GA. Apparently our little Lucia is quite the world traveler and did very well during all the flights. She pretty much slept the entire time. I am a bit afraid she was just teasing and she will show her true colors when daddy flies with them in less than a month when we go to Mexico City.

You know how the term 'dog years' is used to reference something that happens too quick but that in a dog's life may seem like an eternity? We should replace that term with "baby's days". Every since we found out we were pregnant people kept telling us (and to this day the most recurrent comment we get is) "enjoy every moment because they grow really fast". This past week has been a true example of what this means. Lucia started grabbing things. Not by accident but truly focusing, reaching out and holding onto whatever seems interesting to her little eyes. I know, you may say I am a super-biased dad that thinks his kid is the most amazing thing in this world. And you would be correct. However, as normal as this may be for all infants, it is remarkable to see the evolution of how the switch seems to turn on almost overnight. Seriously, her hands took a life of their own on Wednesday. It was the best birthday present she could have given to me.

Yes, Wednesday was my birthday in case you are one of the facebook-less endangered species and didn't know. Facebook makes me nostalgic on my birthday. What happened to the birthday cards and the phone calls? I got a ton of "HBD" on my wall. C'mon, spell it out, please? Nevertheless I am still happy that friends took the time to punch those three keys plus the enter key on my wall. It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to.


Aaaanyway, going back to Lucia's amazing little achievements. I am in awe of how something that started as a little microscopic dot, that we saw for the first time when it measured less than 2 millimeters is now laughing and grabbing things. We would like to take credit for everything but to be honest sometimes Belinda and I wonder how resilient this little girl is that she has survived in spite of us. All we did, aside of the obvious, was feed her and change her diapers. We didn't teach her anything else. Yet she seems to be learning new things every single day. What an exciting life.

It makes me wonder why did my life had to get so boring. Why can't we continue learning new things every day and be amazed by it? I used to have a boss about 10 years ago who I ran into quite often at the elevator on my way home. He always asked me "what did you learn today?". Being the newest employee it always forced me to think during the day what would I tell Mr. Rose if I saw him in the elevator that evening? I was constantly on the look for something new I could learn and impress the boss. Silly? maybe, but it was a lot of fun.

As I finish writing I know I won't have to ask Lucia tomorrow what did she learn because she definitely will have discovered something new in her life. My new challenge will be to ask myself what did I learn at the end of each day. What made this day special and why am I a better person today than I was yesterday? We'll see how long this lasts.

Sorry about the rambling. It must be I turned 37 and I am getting closer to that middle-age crisis and Lucia seems to remind me how precious is our life and how much of it we take for granted every single day.

I promise to write more about her next week. For now I had to vent a little and take advantage that apparently there are a few you left who continue reading this blog. As of today there have been over 1,000 hits on it. I am humbled.

Good night.