American in Spain

Sugar High

August 29, 2010
Sugar High (freeze frame)

by erikrasmussen, on Flickr")Ever since migrating back north after her three week hiatus in southern Spain, there has been something very peculiar about Nora, besides being able to walk: it has been an absolute pleasure putting her to bed at night. Only the very tip top of her consciousness protests the day's end. She cries when we shut the door and turn out the light, but only as long as the air in her lungs from the previous breath lasts. She totally understands what being put in the crib means. Tonight I forgot to take off her shoes before putting her in the crib, and she was already lying down with her head on the pillow by the time I bent down to take them off her. It's really super-eerie for her parents, who remember her lasting up to and past the ninety minute mark of bedtime wailing. I suspect the phrase, "She never ceases to surprise me," will only become more and more true in the coming years. Her Spanish grandparents are visiting this weekend (they've gone a whole four days without her this month), and today, when we were having our after-lunch coffee, Nora figured out how to open the sugar bowl and discovered the dopamine rush from dipping a spoon in the bowl and licking it.

Afterwards, there was quite a bit of sugar on the table, so I used my wife's "new" iPhone to, um, straighten things out. Like an iPhone has never been used for that!