Happy Thanksgiving and New Year!

I love the fact that Thanksgiving often falls on the weekend of the first Sunday in Advent, making the holiday a very appropriate way to end the year. Coincidence? I don't think so. However, because Mario had to work on Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday with friends of ours in Saltillo. In a nutshell, here are some of the things I find myself grateful for over the course of this past year:

• My wonderful husband who, on a daily basis, reminds me of how blessed I am to be with him (not verbally--he's rather humble). But, in particular, how he went above and beyond the call of duty in the month of February when Clara was teeny-tiny and I was still a bit under the weather. One of my favorite moments of having a baby was watching him be an excellent father.
  

• My daughter, for just being absolutely delightful and changing my life in a number of positive ways.

• My parents who, like Mario, been fascinating to watch as they assumed the role of grandparents. They're very good at it!
  

• My brother, sister-in-law, and niece--it was wonderful to be around when they officially formed themselves as a family, and am in awe of their strength as they front various challenges.
  

• Mario's family and all our other friends who are scattered hither and yon . . . knowing that y'all were out there helped so much in getting through this lonely year of being new in town!

• Facebook, Blogspot, and our internet connection that normally works well, for which I am better able to keep in touch with everyone mentioned above (and I met my new friend in Saltillo through Blogspot, with whom we shared Thanksgiving)!
  

• The opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom--I know so many of my friends (including my husband) who would love to have this opportunity but can't for one reason or another, so I don't take a minute of it for granted.
  

• The inside of our house--while all of you were enjoying turkey on Thursday, Clara and I were locked outside on our patio for 3 hours. In the end, I had to climb onto the roof, haul the ladder up with me, and let it down onto our driveway in order to walk in through my front door and open up the back door. Clearly, this was a terrifying experience for me, as I'm afraid of heights, but it was nice to know that, when called upon, I can rise to the challenge and be a Super Mom.

• New friends: Sheila, Herme and Katya; my Bible study ladies, especially Panchita, Rosario, and Dona Antonia; plus Gloria and Rosario. God does provide!

It's been a wonderful year, which provided so many more reasons to be thankful. May you all have a blessed 2010!

Can She Crawl Yet?

The short answer to that question: no. Not by a long shot. Of course, she is my daughter (I never really crawled and didn't walk until I was 21 months old) and Mario's daughter (also never crawled and didn't walk until he was 18 months old), so this is the one area of her development where we hold no great expectations for her. In fact, we hold no expectations at all. And, having taken all the pressure off, we're able to notice that she is making some initial attempts to move herself around on her own, among other interesting developments.

• She doesn't cry anymore when she realizes that she's fallen over onto her belly, as long as her leg isn't trapped uncomfortably underneath her. She's also getting better at freeing that leg, too (although I often have to help her).
  

• Her arms get into the right crawling position, but her legs do not. Therefore, she tends to push herself backwards. And if the whole reason she laid on her belly was in to go for a toy in front of her, it frustrates her to no end that she scoots herself farther away from it.
  

• She's back to having a monster appetite! Favorite foods: oatmeal, any kind of fruit, crackers, ham, olives. Despises: pureed chicken, avocados, black beans (although she's learning how to tolerate this one).

• Her "vocabulary" has expanded dramatically. At three months, she was quite an expressive chatterbox and used nearly every vowel sound. At four months, she decided that she was just really good at "ah", and that was all she said for the following four months. Now she's combining most vowel sounds with some consonants. My favorite, of course, is "mamamamamama". She hasn't figured out "papa" yet, but "babababa" comes close enough. Except when you consider that "baba" in Spanish means "drool". Hmm . . .
  

• Her new favorite games are 1) putting anything in a box and taking it out again. And putting it in again, and taking it out again. And maybe putting the lid on. 2) Giving me a toy (or piece of cracker), then asking for it back. And then giving it to me again. And waiting until I give it back to her. And maybe she'll give it back to me.
  

• My parents were determined to teach her how to crawl in the two weeks they were here. It wasn't long before they realized they were fighting a losing battle, so my dad settled for teaching Clara how to roll over. [Note: she did this once before, at 7 months, just to prove she could. She had no interest in repeating the feat.] He'd roll on the bed with her and then flip her over once more on her own. Then she rolled from her belly to her back towards him. Now, whenever she's tired of being on her belly, at least she's able to get herself onto her back.
  

• She waves "bye-bye". Granted, she doesn't usually get the wave out until we're two rooms away from the intended recipient, but she'll wave nonetheless.
  

• Far and away the most important accomplishment to date (although I hesitate to publish it here for fear of jinxing her) SHE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT! At the age of nine months, Clara is finally sleeping through the night. She has done this before, as early as two weeks old. However, it was just for a night or two, and then she'd be up at all hours again. But for nearly the last two weeks, she's slept solidly in an 11-hour stretch, from 7pm to 6am. And the best part is that after I feed her at 6am, she'll go back to sleep for another two hours. But that's just bragging. So I'll stop now.
  

Happy Revolution!

Today, the 20th of November 2009, marks the 99th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Being that this date commemorates 10 years of constant bloodshed and civil war, it seems in my mind a strange day to celebrate. Nevertheless, throughout the country, the day is held sacred on the civil calendar. City dwellers spent the morning watching military reviews, and yesterday schoolchildren paraded patriotically around their neighborhoods or school patios, bugles blaring. The 20th of November is much more important than Cinco de Mayo.

The Mexican Revolution gets complicated to explain, but I'll take a stab at it anyway (no pun intended). Like most Latin American countries, Mexico has been ruled by a slew of dictators, broken up now and again by a democratic government (or, simply under the guise of a democratic government). Sometime in the 1870s up until 1910, Mexico was ruled by a dictator named Porfirio Diaz. Not having to deal with the democratic process, dictators do have the advantage of being able to get things done. And, during Diaz's reign, Mexico did modernize considerably. However, quite a few citizens preferred modernization along with a democratic government. The first phase of the Mexican Revolution involved those who rallied behind Francisco I. Madero, a presidential hopeful for the 1910 elections.

The second phase involved poor farmers in the southren part of the country. Since colonial times, Mexican agriculture had been centred around haciendas, or plantations. The majority of Mexico's productive land was controlled by only a handful of fabulously wealthy landowners. Those fieldhands who actually worked the land had no rights, no land, and very few means for supporting themselves and their families. After centuries of oppresion, these campesinos rose up, famously rallying around Emiliano Zapata, to take control of the land. Politically, these peasants, representing the majority of Mexicans at the time, were in favor of drastic land reform.

The third phase I'm not very knowledgable about, but revolves around the legendary Pancho Villa. Unlike Zapata, he was from the north (Chihuahua), but I believe he and his followers were also in favor of agrarian reform. Both Zapata and Villa fought their armies towards Mexico City and joined up there, but I believe that there were some serious differences of opinion between these two factions.

To make a long war short, Madero was elected president and Diaz was forced to give up power and flee to Europe in exile. Villa's and Zapata's armies "liberated" countless haciendas over the 10 years of the revolution, and eventually a government that was a bit more centrist came to power, and did indeed inact land reforms (although not necessarily the kind of reforms that Zapata's followers were hoping for). This government (or political party) that emerged after the revolution eventually began to call itself the Instutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and ruled Mexico for 70 years until 2000.

Did the revolution achieve its aims? Yes and no. I'm sure lots of people wanted more drastic changes--the majority of the country's wealth is still concentrated in the hands of a small minority. However, I believe that a stronger middle class exists than existed 100 years ago. Furthermore, political power is shared by 3 main political parties. While they all love buracracy, it can't be denied that the system is democratic.

So while the dream of equality got a bit thwarted along the way, it still remains a dream--one that didn't get squashed. Therefore, there must have been enough successes to keep that dream of equality going. Perhaps this is the difference of pre-Revolution Mexico and post-Revolution Mexico--like in feudal Europe, people years ago were born in a certain caste and died in that same caste. Perhaps the aftermath of the Revolution made it sightly more possible for people to rise above poverty and join the middle class. If this really is the case, it's clear to see why Revolution Day is so celebrated.

The Flop

I have a friend.

OK, I realize that you, reading this right now, are saying to yourself, "well, darn skippy you do . . . I'm your friend!" And I appreciate you more than I can express. But this friend I'm referring to lives in Saltillo--the same town as me! It's been going on years since I had a friend who lived in the same town as me. So this is a big deal.

Such a big deal, that when she invited us over for dinner, I, pretending to be Betty Crocker incarnate, mentioned that I love to make desserts--could I bring one? I decided to make a flan. I've made flan before. I had all the eggs, milk, and sugar on hand. It's not very labor intensive, and easily whipped up a day or two before it could be served. Simple, right?

No--it's never that simple! Two hours after I put it in the oven, this flan is only slightly more solid than when I put it in. Will I be bringing a box of packaged cookies to my friend's house? Will I have to sell my hair to pay for this month's gas bill? And, if it never thickens, what does one do with a pan of egg soup?

I find myself doing this over and over--jumping into projects only to find out that I've gotten in way over my head. In this occasion, it's clearly not a big deal. No one but me will mind eating boxed cookies. I was just so set to eat a lovely, golden flan. I love having high expectations. When these expectations seem so easily achievable, but the result is complete disaster, the disappointment is almost crushing. In my imagination, I'm curled up on the couch with a bowl of ice cream. But, let's face it, in real life that doesn't really help.

It's time to pick myself up, brush myself off, and come up with a new plan. One that doesn't include my unreliable oven.

Rice pudding, perhaps?

Visitors!

My parents were here visiting these last two weeks, hence the lack of posts. Due to balancing Clara's nap and meal schedules, visiting our house can be a bit tedious (some may say boring). However, my parents were on cloud nine for most of the two weeks they were here. That's the beauty of being grandparents.

I'll do my best to get captions with the photos, but Blogger is often not very helpful, caption-wise.

As I already alluded, we spent most of the two weeks in the house, playing with Clara on the floor or the bed. My parents were bound and determined to teach Clara how to crawl while they were here. They failed miserably. However, my dad did play a game with her that got her to voluntarily roll over from her belly to her back, something she hadn't yet done. (Note: prior to this, she has only rolled over once in her life, from her back to her belly at the age of 7 months, just to prove she could. Until now, she's had no interest in repeating that feat.)

One Saturday Mario had to work, so Mom, Dad, Clara and I took a trolley tour around Saltillo. We learned a few new facts about the town (like who Francisco Coss was), found out where the spring of water that Saltillo is named for still bubbles out of the ground, and spied on the town from an impressive overlook that I didn't know existed.

We toured the downtown area again, including the Alameda, Serape Museum, and a cultural center focusing on the Day of the Dead. This past weekend, we spent a day in Parras, on a quest for the best beef in town. I couldn't go home without a trip to Casa Madero.

It's been a wonderful two weeks, and although we just put my parents on the airplane today, I can tell Clara already misses her grandparents. I do, too!