June 9, 2010

I have been here in Barcelona for almost 3 weeks, and I've already experienced so much.

Here's what we do everyday...

Paul wakes up sometime in the 7am hour... usually wakes me up, and he if doesn't come banging on my door then I can hear him before I hear my alarm. He wants to eat right away and tries to get away with eating cookies... but usually he has a bowl of cereal, without milk, and leaves about half the bowl on the floor.

Then we watch TV... Teletubbies and other shows of that sort... get his clothes on, brush his teeth, and get him off to school. He's pretty calm in the mornings, except he puts up a fight when it's time to leave... like a normal 13 year old boy would.

He's at school from 830-450... but this week he comes home earlier, at 330. Our afternoon are full of adventures; going to the pool (his favorite), the park, La Illa (a mall with a park in the back for kids), La Rambla (where he gets McDonalds), Chiqui Park (like My 3 Sons), and other random things. I try to keep him out of the house until 7 or 8... and get him good and tired so he sleeps through the night!

Already I've had many different experiences with Paul... I've seen him very happy, and very upset. He loves playing with my hair and rubbing my neck on the bus... and when he's tired he lays across me and relaxes.... but he also has thrown 2 bad temper tantrums in bars (little restaurants) because he wants pizza.... screaming and whining... but no tears. All an act to try and get what he wants. He makes me laugh a lot... and gets me very frustrated. He's a normal kid...

Except he isn't a KID. He's 13 with the body of a 9 year old and mindset of a 4 year old and speech of a toddler. Paul has no words, aside from AGA, which means water... and MAMA and FAFA (Papa)... he calls me Feh and his sister Alexia is Yaya... KAKA and TATA can mean anything depending on the situation... KAKA means he has to go to the bathroom... or they mean potato chips or ice cream or pasta.... TATA can mean taxi.. or anything else he points to.

Despite not being able to talk.. Paul is very good at communicating. He has different signs and uses them all the time... his favorite are his signs for wanting to eat and for ice cream.... I get those all the time... and his other favorite is his sign for wanting to go to the pool.

Paul LOVES the pool... He's a fish. He dives and splashes and floats and bobs around... he just loves being in the water.

He also loves chocolate... lots and lots of chocolate! He would eat chocolate all day if I let him...

All in all.. he's very sweet.. and can be very naughty... but he's happy. He likes to snuggle and lay in bed... and he holds my hand and keeps contact with me when we walk...

Now that I finally have this blog setup I can keep everyone updated day to day!

And now that the rain has started... it's time to take a nap.