Portugal

Airport: talked to red headed family about Lisbon. They recommended aquarium and Cascais for families. Alas, we were not planning to go to Cascais (beach). 

Arrived around 7am, but airbnb wouldn't let us check in until closer to 1p. Yikes, AB was pro-dad and let Baobao sleep in the carrier while I slept on the uncomfortable airport chairs.

Restaurant o Portas: grilled octopus (most tender and best octopus I've ever had), seafood rice (kind of salty but huge amount of seafood). Family restaurant, so delicious! 

I got asked if I was Japanese and AB got asked if he was Russian or Azerbaijan. 

Day 2:

Baobao woke up 6am, and I slept with him on the bed until 8:30a.

We went to see the Jeronimos Monastery, and it was gorgeous. So much detail, every column carving was different. 

We walked to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos monument that celebrates the Portuguese age of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries and commemorate the death of Henry the Navigator. It was definitely much bigger in person. It consists of a boat with sails and great figures of Portuguese history on either side including monarchs, cartographers, artists, explorers, scientists, and missionaries with Henry the Navigator at the front. There is an interesting map on the ground showing when the Portuguese reached different places in the world. 

We then walked to Belem tower while Baobao napped. The tower was where Portuguese explorers started and ended their trips and acted as a ceremonial entrance to Lisbon on the Tagus river. It was built in Manueline style during the Renaissance. It consists of a bastion with moorish bartizan turrets and a 4 story tower. Armillary spheres and twisted rope/knots represent nautical exploration during King Manuel's reign. Going up the tower required a going up a really narrow spiral staircase. We saw the king's room and also the chapel. 

 

For lunch Ab had fried cod (too salty), and I had octopus salad. Never had octopus salad before but it was so tender again! They really know how to cook their octopus. And so cheap ($11.50)! Later found the cod is so salty because even though cod is found everywhere here, it comes in salted and dried.

Day 3: Aquarium

Apparently largest indoor aquarium in Europe. It was pretty cool with 5 tanks showing the sealife from different parts of the world.

Baobao had a lot of fun looking at the fish and sharks

Wed night AB got gastro! So terrible. So change of plans and we decided to sleep in. I walked around a bit with Wes using the Rick Steves audio guide. 

Day 4: Praca de Comercio celebrates the commerce that made Portugal wealthy.

1755 earthquake and following 20ft tsunami destroyed most of Lisbon. The statue at Praca de Comercio is of King Jose and his prime minister Pombal who rebuilt Lisbon afterwards in the Pombal style: 5 story high, symmetric, rectangular windows, wrought-iron balconies, no-nonsense.

Arch with Lady Glory on top celebrating Portugal's glory days. Flanking statues of river Tagus god, river god Douro (source of port wine), Lusitanian, general who freed Portugal from other domination in 1400's, Vasco de Gama (first to India), Marquis de Pombal.

Rua de Comercio: now bustling street, fun shops. Entire street and many other streets are made of mosaic aka calcada from black basalt and white limestone. 

Church Saint Nicholas was built in the post earthquake era. Pombal didn't want building of churches to overshadow the needs of the people, so the churches are very no nonsense style and stark. 

Praca de Figueria: statue of King John the first who defeated the Spanish in 1385 at the battle of Batalha. His marriage to England's princess helped form a strong tie between them and he resigned during the Golden Age. His son was Henry the navigator.

Confeiteria national: sweet shop since 19th century. Portugal big on sweets because of cheap sugar from Brazil and eggs from convents.

Sweets from another shop. The Portuguese like their pastries. A must try is their egg custard which is similar to the Chinese kind, but more sweet. 

Went to Cod shop. Apparently Portugal has no cod in the nearby ocean, but now it's famous for salted cod. Saying goes Portuguese are fisherman, so when they heard newfoundland had boats stuck due to abundance of fish, they had to go there. And there they found cod, preserved with salt and drying to bring back. No wonder all the cod dishes here are so salty. No more cod for me!

Church of Sao Domingos shows signs of the earthquake and destructive fire of 1755.

The spherical monument in front is a reminder of the inquisitions. This area is also where slaves were traded. 

Fancy Theater

Fun Christmas Market at Rossio Square

We tried to visit the Jesus Chris statue, but didn't realize the connecting bus only comes once an hour on the half hour. So it was too late to wait for the bus because the sun was going to set :(

Dinner: tried a bifana (traditional Portuguese beef sandwich): it was ok... Kind of salty. 

Day 5

We woke up late so we went to the Cristo Rei (Jesus statue). We took the Metro to Cais do Sodre, a ferry to Calcihas, and then the 3001 bus (leaves on the half hour once an hour) to the statue. The monument is very tall, but the statue itself didn't seem THAT big, probably because we were on the bottom of the pedistal. The view was great toward the bridge and city. But we couldn't go up to the 80m viewing platform because it was 6 euro per person and they only took cash. No ATM anywhere nearby either! Oh well, the online guide says the pics from there are bad anyways because of the security bars. But it would've been nice to see exactly how big the statue it was! 

Came back for Baobao's nap. I ate some sea bass, but the fish was small and mostly bones. Also learned seabass (robalo) isn't even native to Portugal. Sighs. Apparently Portugal fish includes sea bream (dourado), mackerel (cavala), hake, tuna, sardine, squid, octopus, clam, barnacles (avoid oct-april when forbidden to capture them, also dangerous to obtain), oyster, cuttlefish (Choco).

Castilo de Jorge: 

Many people came up to the castle to see the sunset. So beautiful to see the city and its red roof tops:

Peacocks in the courtyard

The castle was so much fun to walk around. It was recently renovated, so you can walk around the wall. Would be so much fun to play hide and seek here. 

Uma: supposedly the place with best seafood rice (also only thing on the menu).

Evening: Baobao started vomiting every couple of hours. It was terrible. Sheets got dirty, clothing, and his lovey. And then we moved him to another bed and put towel on the bed in case he vomited again, and sure enough he did more times throughout the night. Ran out of towels and sheets. And he had to sleep with a stinky wet lovey (his peter rabbit bunny). Sighs...what a night.

Day 6: 

Despite a crazy evening, we slept in, and in the afternoon went to Sintra since it was our last chance to see Pena Palace. 

Pena Palace was built on a monastery that was built in the BC's. It was in ruins until King Ferdinand (of Spain) decided to fix it up. It's so strange because it's a mixture of different styles of architecture and it has very bold bright colors. 

Merman guards the door

Built around a central cloister with classic tiles

Super long line outside to get in, but thankfully with a baby we got to go to the front

Quinta de Regaliera:

Known as the Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire. There is a Romantic palace with an extensive park consisting of lakes, grottoes, wells, fountains, caves, secret passages. He wanted features related to alchemy, masonry, the Knights Templar, and the Rosicrucians.

Great wikipedia article on the park, symbolism, tunnels.

Castle-like structures at the entrance (East side)

The outside is the coolest here with wells, caves, secret tunnels.

Entering the Well of Initiation

Well connects to tunnels and waterfalls/lakes and ends at the grotto of oriente

Labyrinthine grotto was like a labyrinth

The palace itself has Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, and Manueline styles. 

Of note, only the 434 bus goes from Sintra train station to Pena palace (3 euro for one ride, 11 euro for unlimited rides on all the different Sintra buses). 435 bus (small bus) goes to the Quinta de Regaliera, but the way back is a long ride (45 min?) b/c it's a one way loop. 

Baobao 1 yr

8/27/22

Wow! Can't believe we finally made it to the 1 year mark! It felt like it went by so slowly day to day...yet the overall feel is so fast! Not sure if you know what I mean. 

We had a birthday celebration the day after his bday! It was hard scheduling between his naps and also coordinating with his friend who we were doing a joint bday party with..but overall it was fun to see the other pandemic babies born around same time and other friends. The theme was "ocean" so I made a lot of ocean themed food items. 

We also did this traditional 1st bday game of picking a future career. Guess what Baobao picked? These were the choices:

Spatula - cook

Stethoscope - medicine

Paintbrush - artist

Pen - writer

Masquerade Mask - actor

Mouse - programmer

Medal award - athlete

Mini bible - minister

Tape measure - engineer/architect

Screwdriver - mechanic

Flag - politician

Test tube-scientist

Planet ball- astronaut

Sheep - vet

Piano pedal- music

Calculator - finance

Haha who would have thought he picked the mouse. And the second time, the flag! We tried to pick items he hadn't seen before. But I think he may have seen someone use a mouse before..and on our nightly walks, I always point out the neighborhood flags (although the item in the game was a small Lesotho flag).

It was fun seeing Baobao walk around (most of the other babies were still crawling or immobile). Everyone was super impressed how much Baobao walked!  He was even trying to run away from his own party.  There was some grabbing/stealing of toys, but overall pretty well behaved! He's really grown so much over this past year! 

Montage at Palmetto Buff

 Staying at the Montage (for AB's conference) was so luxurious. It's probably one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at. 

We got to stay at a cottage the size of our house. Ok, not that big, but the bathroom was at least the size of ours. And the cottage was probably the size of our first floor not counting the master. 

Very nice things: 

*Bike with child burley attachment to go everywhere, or can call for golf cart to shuttle us around.

*Sauna in our giant bathroom shower stall 

*Yoga, pilates, exercise classes

*All kinds of amenities like insect repellent, slippers, housekeeping twice a day with people coming to "turn down the lights" in the evening. 

*Giant cottages with huge rooms and bathrooms right between the lagoon and bay, looking out onto the water.

*Clay tennis courts 

*Concierge will open doors and take our luggage for us.

*Free cookie and lemonade hour every day. Also s'mores at night 

*AC on full blast with fireplace on in the library.

*2 enormous tree houses

*Water front cabins

Not so nice things:

*Having to care for a 9 month old in a new place that's not childproof by myself.

*Deer flies who suck my blood. They are apparently attracted to dark clothing and movement. 

*Crying/tired baby on a bike trailer when I'm still 10 min from hotel - no way to hold him while biking!

Giant 5 story tree house

Baby 7mo to 1 year

3/28/22 7mo Baobao has gotten more mobile so we are preparing our house accordingly. He's usually very happy, and caretakers and strangers love to smile at him. The caretakers at church talk about how he never cries there. But I'm pretty sure he's going to start having stranger anxiety! This stage of life has been very pleasant for us, because of his frequent laughter and consistent sleep through the night. We also resumed several pre-baby activities recently, including sports, games, and yw's birthday BBQ celebration. These events are still a little tricky because one of us still needs to watch him at all times. Unless he's sleeping, but it's getting harder and harder for him to sleep outside.

Also last day of pumping! So relieved! Not sad at all!! So happy to be not tied and have to carry around so many things! I slowly weaned down for a month (pumping 4 times a day at 6mo, and then 3, 2, 1, after 36hr, stop). 

Now we've tried so many foods! But he's starting to eat less and less formula. Not just a little less but a lot less! 

3/30/30 shortly after turning 7 month, Baobao started crawling! Man, he learned quickly! He will crawl very fast to get his butt paste 🤣.

4/3/22 7.25mo: got his first tooth! Thought only a sliver, but I felt it when he tried to gnaw on my finger. Maybe that's why he hadn't been eating as well or having trouble going to sleep. 

4/7/22 Baobao has been shaking his head when he eats solids. And sometimes with formula. So strange. Does it mean he doesn't like it? 🤷

4/18/22 Every day he seems to do something new. He started taking a few steps while holding the fence. We were worried that he didn't talk very much for a few weeks. But it turned out he was focusing on his motor skills, and once he started crawling and pulling to stand, he started talking a lot! 

Solids have been very messy. Maybe I'm trying to increase the textures too early. He does like and eat the purees really quickly. He also seems to like toast.

Alan still can't hold him in the normal cradle hold. So strange. Yw: "I think it's because I tell you to do it, so you are rebelling."

Ab: my theory is correct that it would be easier for us when he starts crawling because he can entertain himself. We do have to watch him carefully because he tries to pull up to stand on things that are unstable.

4/26/22

Yw came back from trip to NY to visit friends while AB took care of Baobao for 4.5 days. YW was uncertain how things will go, while AB did a fantastic job. How did you do it? AB: I put baobao in the playpen so I could eat and go to the bathroom. Then we would play together for a while. I would feed him simple solid foods, then return him to the playpen while I cleaned up the mess. Last, we would walk outside or read to prepare for his nap. Fortunately, he was well behaved during these four days, and YW got food for me in advance. One time I was tired and just rested while BaoBao struggle to fall asleep. Eventually I did go up and feed him because he got hungry.  YW missed AB and BaoBao so much. 

Baobao 17.4lb. Getting closer to 25 percentile! Maybe 21? Height about 27" (10 percentile) tho...seems to be growing slower? 🤷

5/11/22 8.5 months 

Baobao is getting very good at standing without falling. He is climbing up the stairs. And he is back to talking more like "babamama." He can eat some textured foods and eats some finger foods. But he prefers the purees, which he is very well now.

5/5/22

He is crawling up stairs now! More fun at the playground because he can go up. 

5/25/22 9 months almost 

In addition to two bottom teeth, now he has top teeth (barely)!

Things that he finds funny include: 

"GameStop"

Making farting noises.

Throwing firewood on a fire. 

Sweeping off leaves from a play structure with my foot.

Saying "Amen" really enthusiastically in the "if you're happy and you know it say amen" song.

When AB makes the cicada sound 

Nice dog kisses 

When he's tired and you kiss him on the cheeks

We took him on a trip to HC and SC's wedding in Ohio and AB's conference in South Carolina. Boy was it hard! His sleep was all thrown off so he had a ton of trouble going and staying asleep in the hotel. He was also teething! Plus AB had to be in a conference from early morning to late at night, so I had to take care of him while he was having trouble sleeping 😵‍💫. Fortunately, he was still able to nap a bit during the day so I could catch up on sleep. And also AB's conference was at a super fancy hotel so we could put him in a semi difference section of the cottage and we didn't have to worry about him crying and waking everyone. Also I could use up endless amounts of towels. Also had to figure out how to go to the bathroom and shower myself while keeping him from getting into things.  Ended up putting him on my lap when I went to the bathroom and taking a shower with him in the shower while he poked his fingers in the shower drain holes.

6/7/22 9.25mo

Baobao got sick! We think rsv from visiting a friend who's kid was sick 😷. He has still been pretty active, but he has been getting sleepy earlier. His appetite has also dramatically decreased. Sometimes he would only drink one ounce, when in the past he would drink seven. Got some saline, Zarbees, benadryl, tylenol. But he does not like having things put into his mouth or nose.  Even though it's probably just a cold virus, it's still stressing me out! We hope he will get better soon! 

Baobao managed to climb all the way up the stairs. And he has wanted to do it more times despite being sick! Sometimes he requests us to walk him around (stands up grabbing our leg). 

He babbles sometimes, but recently mostly blowing a lot of raspberries. 

6/29-7/4 successfully went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. It was difficult going in and out of the car all the time and scheduling around his naps. Fortunately he can have one bad nap a day. 

7/22/22 11.75mo

Baobao can take a few steps by himself and successfully squat and then take a few more steps! So cute! He also likes to open all the cabinet doors and climb on things like stairs, fence, his high chair. He loves playing with the robot vacuum but when it starts vacuuming, he gets scared. He loves playing with water. He loves splash pads and loves stick his hand out to try to grab the water spraying up at Evelyn's park. 

Baobao is starting to have memory of places. Every time we go on the walk and we turn the corner, he knows to stick out his hand to signal that he wants to touch the bushes. Whenever we bring him to the closet, he knows where the little ant bait is and makes a beeline for it, even if he can't see it. 

8/23/22 almost 1 yr

Baobao is walking like a champ!

Few weeks ago, Baobao started throwing little tantrums when he gets a toy (or our stuff) taken away. He will sit on the ground and throw his head and body forward onto the ground and cry. It's actually quite funny to watch such a little bean do this. Can't believe he already throws tantrums. 

We visited Seattle a week ago and went to a retreat at Westport. It was fun but also didn't like the traffic that made the drive 4 hours instead of normal 2.5. Fortunately he slept for a portion of the ride, however there was a long period when he had trouble going to sleep and he was crying a lot. Also being a cabin and outdoors, it was difficult to keep him from chewing on his really dirty hands, since he still falls and puts his hands down on the ground (even if he didn't fall, he would still touch everything on the ground). He really enjoyed the beach and playing with the stand, but he definitely stuck his sandy fingers in his mouth a few times. He enjoyed the waves, but the water was too cold for him to swim in. Back in Seattle, he had fun in the water and the beach. We started giving him whatever food we ate, but cut up. He really loved the food because my mom is such a good cook. He ate so much and pooped so much (sometimes 3- 4 times a day!).

Baobao likes to click the washing machine buttons and watch it spin. But sometimes when it starts, it scares him. 

He is such a good climber! He does pull ups on the freezer bar, climbs the baby fence, and recently climbed up on top of our kitchen island via his high chair. 

Occasionally he would say "Mama" when he wants me to pick him up. And he'll say "baba" too. One time he said "duck duck" - but maybe it was just a random sound to him. He does seem to enjoy searching for his little rubber duckie when I move it around. His most common noise is "onhhhhh."

Funny quotes: 

Ab (speaking for Baobao): "How do you like it when I stick my finger in your nose?". Baobao sticks finger in mom's nose. 

(This is in regards to us always trying to clean out his nose because he has such big ugly boogers.)

While changing baobao's diaper: yw: "A piece of poop just flew away in the wind."

YW: I wonder what it feels like to have teeth on the bottom and no teeth on top.

YW: When he falls, it's almost comical.

YW: One smile, and it makes it all worthwhile.

*Baobao clicks tongue*

YW: Baobao, we don't speak a language that involves clicking!

Ab: Baobao uses his head as a drill.

Baobao got stuck under the bed. And in the chair.