American Toddlers in Spain

The boys are now officially two. I'm pretty sure that I hadn't mentioned that, but they did have their birthday and they are now two. And I mean, they are really, really two. For instance, in the last couple of weeks both boys have decided that, though they have a pretty impressive little vocabulary and can string words together into sentences now, they should communicate by screaming. Not a yell, or a shout, but a screeching, wailing scream. Like two little screaming banshees. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if the origin of that legend was not just a frustrated toddler screaming across the Irish moors. It is so possible. Any way, they scream when they are upset or trying to get our attention, or just bored. They've had a couple of screaming matches with each other. They think it is absolutely hilarious and the most fun thing ever. Ever.

They've also taken to saying "no" to just about anything and everything. Except chocolate, juice, Cars and the Wiggles. I'll say something like, "okay, it's time stop this" and they'll say, "No stop this!" It can be extremely frustrating.

But other than that, and the fact that we are still working on ways to get them to sleep at normal times without cribs, they are doing pretty well. We get stopped constantly by people here. Constantly. And every time I walk down the street people look at us. I know some of you may be thinking that I'm being paranoid or something, what with my aversion to certain shades of lime-light, but I'm not. People are actually stopping and pointing at us. And saying "gemelos." That's twins in Spanish and I've definitely learned that word by now. Though not much else. I should clarify that everyone is very friendly. We are just an oddity. Especially when you throw in the Bob stroller, which is bigger than some cars around here. Seriously. But people will stop us and ask us questions and try to make the boys laugh and wave and tickle them. People really love kids here, which is nice and refreshing.

Oh, and while I am discussing the stroller, I should update and say that, we can get around pretty well. Platja d'Aro is newer, so there are more sidewalk ramps and the like. But, we've been blocked several times by cars parking in front of them, and people piling boxes on the sidewalk, and all the tables and chairs in front of restaurants. But that's only occasionally. It's usually pretty easy and, as I've said, people have been very helpful. Our biggest problem is grocery stores. Most are miniscule, which is impacted even more by the floor displays and boxes left in the aisles. And all of them, every single one I have been to, have these one way gates that you go through when you come in and can't get back out of. Instead, you have to go through the checkout. Now, if you didn't have a wide stroller, you can just slip through an unused checkout or something, but I usually have to go around and manually open it from the entry and slide the boys through. It's a little crazy. Actually, the last couple times we've gotten groceries we've gone to a place that has wider aisles and a gate I can just push the boys through, even though some of their stuff is a little more expensive. Could I be any more American? Paying more for something just because it is more convenient. It's really awful.

But the stroller proves effective once again here, because we have to walk to the store and back, so we load all our groceries onto it. It's pretty sweet, actually. Of course, we are probably destroying the shocks, but I don't really know anything about that and ignorance is bliss.