Sunday, March 29, 2009

Raising a Babe Overseas

Sure it's hard raising Maximo away from both of our families. Really hard. It's hard that he doesn't recognize his grandmas or hasn't really been able to form bonds with them. The same goes for his aunts, uncles and cousins. It's difficult that he doesn't get to experience what we got to experience as kids - exploring in the backyard, going on the merry-go-round in Watch Hill, RI or getting the day off of school and experiencing a happy and green St. Patrick's Day parade in Savannah, GA.

But...

It's also amazing what he does get to experience. He's has two passports. He's bilingual (as lingual as a toddler can be). He has been on more planes and traveled to more countries than either John and I did combined in our first twenty years of life. And the food he has tried and eats regularly... again some things I never ate until I started traveling... falafel, mango, curry, tofu...

Like this morning. I watched him eat Cheerios, banana bread and a grenadilla (a form of passion fruit) and thought Wow... Even his breakfast reflects his mix of cultures and as we move to other countries he'll add more languages, cultures and foods to his repertoire.

And I love how we go to the park and his friends are named: Hania, Francesco, Vasco, Santiago, Malina, Javier and Fernanda. I can only wonder what the names of his friends next year will be...

1 comment:

K. Welbes said...

Don't worry about his lack of interest in other family members. As soon as Tess turned two, she was much more interested in skype, and now she knows everyone's names and can identify them by their photo (or occassionally their voice). Riley is obsessed with her Auntie and Tony, her boyfriend, right now. I think have skype has made a big difference.