This year we visited Torrevieja again with the family. A vacation marked by hanging around the pool, or squeezing our towels in on a small piece of beach populated by a massive crowd. Keeping in mind we need to apply sunblock every couple of hours because the sun here is merciless.
Overall the most important thing is that the kids enjoy themselves, and this is very easy here. At times even we get some profound relaxation done then the kids doze off, or when they are playing with they friends.
Alan has visited the doctor for his shots. They also gave him a quick review and everything was okay.
He is big for his age, but his weight is perfect, his size is perfect and basically everything is how its supposed to be. He is a smart little guy, eating very well, moving a lot and very very stimulated (by his big brother Alex).
Today we enjoyed another concert by Alex. It took place in the “club Nautico” of Las Palmas. The song that was performed was called “Las Abejas” (the bees), and it went very well.
All the kids in Alex’ school have a spinner, except for Alex, and that situation needed to be corrected. Buying a spinner would have been the easiest, but making our own spinning toy was much more fun.
The result was something that made us both very happy. The steps to make a spinner are easy. First you need four bearings, some glue and a piece of shoelace.
First you need to take one bearing and take of the metal coverings and clean it with some soap to remove all the grease. This make the bearing spin faster. Step two is gluing the other three bearings and glue the shoelace around the entire spinner to make it a bit stronger.
In the middle we put a piece of wood, so you can also spin the spinner on the table. The easiest way is spinning it in your hands, but Alex’ hands are still a bit to small. The only issue is that after some use the glue does not always hold and the spinner needs some repairs.
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Sometimes I find myself with a dilemma. Do I grab a movie, or is it better to shoot some pictures. A difficult choice at times and in Leeds I made the wrong choice. I made lots of pictures, and only a short movie of a wonderful micro-concert by our own Alex.
Alan is getting bigger and bigger. He is already one year and that called for a celebration with cake, presents and lots of attention for little Alan.
His first year passed fast. He is already almost walking and is crawling through the house at record speeds. He has learned to point at things he wants and he laughs when he acts as if he want to give you something and when you try to take it he will quickly take it away for your grasp.
The difference between our two kids are physically not so big. They look very similar but the difference in character could not be bigger. Alan is stubborn, does only what he wants to do, and convincing him to do something takes a lot of effort. With Alex this was a lot easier. Alex never put his finger in a wall-socket, but Alan went straight for the wall-socket at the moment he could crawl just to put his finger in.
A class photo is a very nice way to remember your class for when you are a bit older. It is nice to see your classmates and even nice if you are still in contact with some of them. A picture makes it easy to remember, but it seems that pictures are not a very reliable way to remember anymore.
Alex just got his class photo of his class with 5 year-old. A nice picture but with something strange. Just look yourself: 
At first glance there is nothing wrong with the picture. A typical picture with a lot of kids that remarkably all look more or less at the camera. We only noticed Alex who seemed to have his eyes a bit closed, but hey, they are kids after all, so this is to be expected.
Then I noticed something else. The boy on the bottom right seems to be floating. A better look makes it clear somethings up here. The boy looks at the camera perfectly, has a clean black uniform, and his colors are more crisp. This boy has been added to the class photo using a photo made in a studio.
The teacher and the two most right boys were cut from the rest and moved a little to the right. The new kid was added and moved to the background, blurred a little, and then the teacher and two most right boys were moved a little in front of the new boy. Just like he was there. But in reality he wasn’t there. Should we want him in the picture even if he was part of the class? If we are going to edit the class photo anyway, why not just all studio pictures of all kids, smiling, clean and looking at the camera, and paste them all in a class composition.
While Alex is developing his musical talents his little brother Alan is developing very fast. Alan already crawls to any place in the house at a record speed. Walking is still a little bit to risky, but it won’t take long. Alan is getting up on his feet more and more. When we take Alan for a walk to the park it is not enough anymore to just look around. Alex demands to be taken out of the stroller and be placed in the swing.