The Victory Tour

Ever since Nilda was pregnant, we had planned to take a trip to Florida so that Charlie could meet all his relatives in Miami.  Nilda and Charlie went down to Florida on Saturday and I went down the following Friday night of Labor Day weekend.  We had a suite at the Hilton on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale with a full kitchen, bedroom, living room and wrap-around balcony with views of the ocean and downtown  Ft. Lauderdale.  It was great: 

• If you're Cuban, you have family in Miami and you spend time visiting them every summer.  It's the law.
• Nilda and Charlie got to Ft. Lauderdale just as tropical storm Issac hit.  Great timing!  Nilda's mom, Stella, who had already been in Miami visiting family, and cousin Jonathan, stayed with them at the hotel and it sounds like they weathered the storm without issue.   
• Charlie was a huge hit at the hotel.  Everyone who worked there loved him.  It goes without saying that Stella knew everyone as well. 
• Having Nilda and Charlie gone and the apartment to myself for an entire week is both as bad and as awesome as you think it would be.
• I did all the things that Nilda can't stand, including keeping the light under the cabinets on high, not on low.  I didn't even care that the glasses above it got hot.  Don't try to stop me, I'll take you down with me.
• Hell yeah, I made cornflake chicken!!!
• Since my experience going through airport security was so terrible, I can only imagine how bad it was for Nilda going through by herself with Charlie, a stroller, car seat and diaper bag.  
• The kid was totally different after just one week.  He went from barely crawling to moving like crazy, standing up by himself and cruising, which is walking while holding on to furniture.  It was amazing. Like Skynet, he became self-aware.
• Charlie's favorite activity was climbing under the side table, getting stuck and then crying until someone rescued him, so he can do it again.
• At one point, Stella gave Charlie a ziploc bag full of her medication to play with. Great thinking, Abuela!
• Charlie met a ton of his cousins and they're all named "Primo."  (Hint: "primo" means cousin in Spanish). 
• I met a bunch of cousins for the first time, too.  FYI, Hispanics kiss total strangers when they meet.
• My first full day there, we had a bunch of cousins over and went through a ton of food and booze.  It felt like college.  
• Hispanics love paper plates.  It's not a stereotype if it's true.  
• Publix is amazing.  Best supermarket ever.  Ask Stella, she'll tell you.
• MVP of the trip = the $8 cooler Nilda bought at Target.  It fits plenty of iced beer cans for the pool (no glass allowed), and it looks like you're carrying baby food. 
• We have learned that the cupholder on the stroller perfectly fits a plastic cup filled with booze.
• Having Stella around was having a built in babysitter.  Though, come on, the kid goes to sleep by 7:30 pm and sleeps like a rock. 
• Charlie loves the water, whether at the beach or the pool, though he wasn't such a big fan of sitting on the beach and having the waves hit his legs. I suppose the surfing scholarship is out.  
• Charlie is the whitest baby to ever go in the water.   His natural shade is called "slathered in sunscreen." 
• Charlie got real into Daddy on this trip.  I'm now more than just a faster way to get to Mommy.  
• Charlie knows he owns me, which he proves by pushing my face and giving me a look that says, "If I want to push your face, you're going to let me do it and you're gonna like it.  And there better be explosion sounds!"
• Charlie's also got teeth coming in.  Two of them!  Thank god for baby Tylenol.  
• Nilda and I are convinced that Charlie had his first word.  He looked right at Nilda and distinctly said "Mama" several times, instead of just babbling on.  Yes, he then said "mama" to both Stella and the refrigerator, but he clearly called Nilda "Mama" and has continued to do so.
• Charlie was wide awake on the flight home, and let us know it, right up until he passed out.
• Charlie was VERY excited to see his room when we got home!  The next morning, however, he looked at me and said, "Where's the fucking pool??"
• Given Charlie's new-found mobility, we've had to change things around in the apartment.  Like moving, baby-proofing forces you to reconsider your material possessions and the role they play in your lives. 

 

Finally, I'd like to introduce you all to Charlie's "I'm-crying-because-I'm-not-getting-what-I-want" face, which, unfortunately, is quite often successful.