Pues este fin de semana fue un fin de semana lleno de emociones fuertes. Por lo menos una de ellas. Resulta que el viernes le dí a Daniel palomitas (segunda vez en su vida que las come), y le encantan. Asi es de que comió muchas. Todo iba bien, pero a las 9:30pm se levantó a toser, empezó a vomitar un poco en su cama y Hakan lo sacó rápidamente. El seguía tosiendo pero, yo noté que su tos era muy diferente a un vómito normal. No veía mucho vómito, sin embargo cada vez sentía que se tardaba mas en respirar, prendí la luz y lo ví muy rojo. Cuando me dí cuenta de que mas bien no respiraba, ya empezaba a tener los labios morados, en ese mismo instante por obra y gracia del señor reaccionó y empezó una vez a respirar poco a poco. Aún con dificultad pero por lo menos entraba aire. Lloró mucho del susto, pero todo estaba mejor.

Despues del incidente no pude sino ponerme a llorar, porque me di cuenta que no reaccioné como debí haberlo hecho. No escuché mi instinto, sabía que se estaba ahogando y no lo podía creer, y no supe como ayudarlo. Yo estoy acostumbrada a reaccionar mejor bajor presión y en momentos difíciles lo hago muy bien, pero esta vez…. NO SUPE QUE HACER? Daniel se volvió a dormir y yo no me quise acercar pues estaba muy nerviosa y no quise contagiarlo de mis nervios. Pero despues le pedí a Hakan que hablara a preguntar que se debería hacer en esos casos con un niño chiquito como Daniel. Pues nos dieron las instrucciones.

Colocar el pecho del niño sobre una pierna e inclinar la cabeza del niño un poco, de tal forma que quede ligeramente mas abajo su cabeza, su pecho en una pierna. Darle unos golpes suaves en su espalda, entre los homóplatos y ya…..

Pues una hora despues de este incidente empezó otra vez a toser. Pero esta vez Hakan estuvo listo e hizo lo que le dijeron por teléfono. Nunca había visto a Daniel tan asustado, pero gracias a dios esta segunda vez no duro tanto y parecía que se sentía mejor. De todas formas decidimos llevar a Daniel al hospital para que lo checaran, pues en realidad yo no ví que expulsara nada.

Una vez que llegamos a la sala de emergencias, notamos que su cara estaba llena de puntos rojos, como si fuera una alergia. Lo atendieron rápidamente y nos explicaron que era normal que despues de hacer mucho esfuerzo con la cara, los vasos sanguíneos se rompen en la cara. Yo nunca me imaginé que eso pudiera suceder. Pero Daniel estaba muy bien, de muy buen humor y con ganas de jugar, aunque su voz estaba muy ronca, tambien de la irritación en su garganta, pero estaba bien. Lo revisaron dos veces y todo parecía estar normal, pero de todas formas le mandaron unos rayos X para asegurarse de que no tuviera algo atorado todavía en su garganta o su estómago o algún otro lugar. Gracias a dios no había nada fuera de lo normal, pero el susto fue terrible!!

Nos mandaron a casa a la 1am y Daniel tenía muchas ganas de salir del hospital. Pero no lloró ni se puso insoportable. Una vez en casa dormimos los tres como angelitos hasta las 9am del siguiente día.

So we went to Grönalund this weekend, which is a very well known park with rides in Stockholm.  Even though Daniel is a bit too small for it, we gave it a try.  There were only a couple of rides that he could do, but we did those a hundred times.  We did a couple of scary ones too, which I think they went ok, he didn't cry at least….

Hakan took him on his first Roller Coaster ride, yes I know… this is usually my department cause my husband doesn't like these things. But since I'm a bit fat, I don't think it's a good idea for me to go on one of those. He seemed to have a lot of fun and we had a good day all together.

We got to see Bob the builder, who seems to be very well known around here. All the kids were all over him. I actually think that is a good character to follow. I've seen one of his DVD'S  and I think its one of the few good cartoons for small kids.

I went with Daniel in the Veteran's Car, which an old car that he feels like he's driving.  Of course it's funny that the whole time I was talking to him, here is bla, bla bla… and all the pictures Håkan took are useless cause my mouth is always moving.  And when it's not moving.. guess what I'm doing? yes, fixing Daniel's hat or his jacket or something… can't a just shut up and let my son enjoy the ride?????jajaja, I guess I can't stop being a MOM!! 

Sorry for not writting too much lately but I guess it all has to do with two things. Number 1 I've been feeling so good lately that I've tried to be as active as possible. I've been working out and swimming. Also I've tried to keep Daniel one day a week at home. So I plan a long nice day with him, I've taken him to the Zoo, or to a different part of town to a new park etc.. I've been so excited about this weather, that I always think that if its a nice day I will try to keep Daniel with me at home. And this is what brings me to Number 2……The weather has been GREAT… SUMMER IS HERE!!! IN SWEDEN IN EARLY MAY!!! Hard to believe for an early May summer…. but yes, it's been beautiful everyday. So I've had no excuse to pick Daniel up late from daycare or not taking him to different places.

I've made a couple of really good friends around where we live, and we usually meet after daycare so that the kids can play. Here is Madeleine and her two daughters, Lizabella and Geraldine. She is from Panama, and is one of our very good friends. We have taken them to different parks so that they don't get too bored. Anyway, I must say that having friends is a blessing. And the best part is that even the husbands are getting along very good as well. They are scandinavian and they are married to latin american girls, so needless to say there is a lot in common among them. Even though us girls are personally very different. I guess that's what makes it interesting. We are getting to be a big family. I predict a wonderful summer, full of fun activities.

Last year we spent summer here and it seemed like we were left alone in Stockholm. All Swedes leave Stockholm during the summer, they all go to their summer houses or away somewhere. We normally take our vacations during the winter so summer we are left alone here. but now that we met two other families in the same spot as we are, well its great to know that we won't be the only ones.

Like I said already we are doing lots of stuff with the kids. Here is Camilla and Daniel on the bus, we are on our way to a fun park. They are obviously having fun even before we get there. Camilla is a year older than Daniel but they can still get along very well, she's almost like his big sister.

Lo celebramos con un mes de adelanto, porque simplemente no teníamos otra fecha para celebrarlo en la Ciudad de México. El clima como siempre en Enero, un poco fresco, pero no frío. Tuvimos un pastel de chocolate y una piñata de Barney. La familia de mi mamá, todos fueron, y mis amigos en realidad faltaron pocos. Estuvo divertido y la pasamos muy bien. Aunque yo no pude hacer mucho pues estaba en esos días delicada. Pero todo lo demás estuvo bien. Daniel la pasó super bien, le pegó a la piñata mil veces y le encantó cuando su papá finalmente fue a romperla jajaja…..

Sus primos también asistieron y estuvieron listos para ayudar a Daniel a apagar las velas del pastel. Es increíble todavía pensar que sin ponernos de acuerdo todos tengamos bebés de la misma edad. Es muy divertido reunirnos.

Ayer nevo todo el día, asi es de que tuve la brillante idea de ir por Daniel en el trineo.  Daniel goza mucho en el trineo y para mí no significa mucho trabajo. La pasó riendo todo el camino, y el problema fue, como siempre, bajarlo del trineo.  Lo único que sale de su boca es "MA.. MA.." lo cual significa "MAS!!!!". (Entendible pues es muy divertido).  Pero como los lunes tenemos canto en la iglesia, pues no le toco de otra que dejar su trineo un ratito.  

Tenemos mucha suerte de que ya haya caído nieve y de que se halla quedado tanto tiempo, toda la semana la tuvimos y aunque oscurece muy temprano, no importa porque se ve muy bonito.   Lo único malo es que en la tarde ya no se ven tantos niños jugando en los parques, asi es de que me toca andar sola jalando a Daniel en el trineo. Pero tambien tiene la ventaja de que me puedo divertir mucho con él.   Tenemos varias bajaditas perfectas para el trineo y un par que estan muy empinadas, en las cuales necesita la asistencia de su mamá.  Osea que Super Mamá sale al rescate…. frenando con los pies cambiando el peso del cuerpo de un lado al otro evitando el inevitable choque.  Obviamente esta es la real razón por la que salimos a cada ratito en el trineo, porque mamá se divierte tanto como Daniel.  Yo nunca tuve estos lujos de chica, con trabajos vi la nieve una vez. Y ahora sé que lo que ví, era hielo no realmente nieve….

Yesterday it was my turn to take Daniel to his second swimming class in this course.  This is the second course he takes, the first one was ok, and toward the end of it he was very comfortable, but then it took about 5 months before we started on this one.  During that brake, while we were staying at a friends house in NY, he fell in the pool.  It must have been a lot more traumatic than we thought or I don’t really know what it is, but as soon as we start parking in the swimming place he starts getting very nervous.  Hakan told me that last week he cried nearly half the class, and the second half he was very happy.  He’s now almost 20 months, and the first swimming class he took was when he was a year old.  Apparently I was a bit late in introducing him to the water, because they start to become aware of what they are doing and they don’t just go with the flow…. anyway…

 I was getting scared myself, I don’t want to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to, but I also know that it is important that he learns to swim.  This courses are basically about playing with some toys in the pool, getting comfortable with the water, holding your breath and so on.   So I gave him my motherly speech.  I assured him that if he didn’t want to go in, then we were going back home.  But I was going to be with him the whole time, and that he could trust me.  There was no change….. His whole body was tense, he didn’t want to take off his coat or anything else……Then I went on about how it’s normal to be scared of the unknown, that we grown ups also get  very scared when we do something new. But the only way to loose this fear is by facing it and learning about the new thing that scares us.  Then we could decide if we liked it or not, and we could choose to do it again or not.  Well, thank god I was the only spanish speaking in the locker room, otherwise I would have felt silly saying all this things at loud.  In the back of my mind I was thinking…. what the fuck am I doing talking about this to poor Daniel, who can bearly say some words and he is clearly terrified about the whole thing. He was almost having difficulty breathing.  I’ve never seen him like that!!!  But somewhere in the middle of my speech his shoulders went down and his breathing became normal.  So when I finished I asked him if he wanted me to change him into his bathing suit, and he just lifted his right leg, so that I would take his shoe off. Well, I almost cried in that moment, I know it’s silly, but I was so proud of him.  I thought he was so brave!!! such a small child, and already making big decisions in his life.  It most have been very hard for him, but he did it… He put on his swim suit, and went in the water.  Sure enough the first 15 minutes he was on my neck, but then he relaxed and he was even laughing.  He was my big hero.