2010: New Beginnings

This letter is also available in Portuguese. As you know, our year has acquired a rhythm by now, and this one has follow a similar pattern: Christmas with family in Oklahoma, followed by a Christmas-after-Christmas celebration at home in mid January and my department's ski trip to Jasper at the end of January where I celebrated my birthday with a nice dinner at Andy's (a nice restaurant in Jasper).

In January we went to the animal shelter and adopted a new member for our family, Berry II, a five-year old cat that certainly belonged to another family with kids and that demonstrated very quickly that he new how to train his human servants. For instance, within a few hours of being home he "told" me that he drinks water from a running tap in the bathtub. He is also very particular about the cleanliness of his litter box and will say, in no uncertain terms, when it is time for it to be changed. He was very affectionate to Daniel at the shelter, but then after establishing himself at home, he merely tolerates Daniel, but slips away as soon as he has a chance, which is a good thing given that a blood test revealed that Daniel is actually allergic to cats.

Daniel continues to like to help with selected projects around the house. Sometimes he can get very involved in cooking. He is eager to volunteer to help power wash the deck and house in the Spring time, and to help Daddy to dig in the garden. Not as much when it comes to picking toys or clothes around the house.

In February Daniel and I went to see a hockey game in the Oilers arena with Bjorn and Sander (a friend of Daniel and his father). We saw the Oiler Kings play against the Lethbridge team, they lost. But it was a nice experience for Daniel because Bjorn had got us to go to one of the sky boxes and Daniel thought that it was very cool.

In February, and then again in December, we had so much snow accumulated in our backyard that we could build a small hill for Daniel to sled down on a cardboard box. We have spent many hours building snow structures, and simply enjoying role playing in the snow in the backyard.

In March I went on my now regular trip to Europe for a conference. This time it was in Paphos, in Cyprus. I made a stop in Prague on both ways to make the long haul flights more bearable.

In May we went on a family vacation to Playa Del Carmen. We rented a house. My sister Salete came from Brazil, Scott's parents went down from Oklahoma and we flew in from Edmonton with a overnight stop in Toronto. We also could use the pool in a resort next door and Daniel enjoyed many days of sun and pool. The rented house came with a maid and cook, which made the stay much more relaxing. We visited Tulum as a group, but Daniel was more interested on the beach/pool, thus on other days Scott took some of them to see other sights while I stayed with Daniel at the beach.

In May Daniel and myself drove to Calgary to visit his two birth-sisters and his birth-mom --- Scott could not go because he had to work. It was a short visit, but we had a great time. This time Daniel was very nervous about meeting his Mom. It seemed like this was the first time that he was fully aware of his relationship with her. He was very happy that the visit went very well.

Also in May, Daniel had his second choral concert. He had been rehearsing with a group called Cantillon for the whole year. During the concert he lost his second tooth. Since then he has lost several more and new ones are growing.

In July Daniel got very much into the World Cup. His favorite teams were Brazil and Germany, but he would not be shy about switching allegiances based on who was winning each game as he always wanted to be rooting for the winning team. I watched the final games of the World cup in Berlin. I spent about 10 days between Berlin and Vienna in July to present papers at two conferences. I was disappointed that Germany did not make it to the finals because it would have been cool to see a final with Germany from Berlin.

While I was in Europe Scott and Daniel went to Oklahoma to Gaga's house. Gaga made this into a very special time for Daniel. She invited many of Daniel's cousins of similar age to come and stay too. They had a great time at the pool, the large backyard, and fishing in Grandpa's large fish pond at the back.

Once the Summer travels were done, I took some days off to paint the outside of our house a new color, it is a deep red called "new brick". I was done just in time for Gaga' and Grandpa's visit for the two large parties to celebrate Daniel's birthday. The kids party was on a Wednesday evening at a large park in the River Valley in Edmonton and the team of the party was "Soaring kites", the kids had a blast. Then on that weekend we had a large "almost no-kid" party for Daniel at home where we served home-made gourmet hamburgers for our friends.

Daniel is very much into playing "pretend soccer" and "pretend hockey" with Daddy and Papai. These are games that follow "Daniel's rules" which means that scores by Daddy or Papai most of the time "doesn't count." While the weather was nice we benefited a lot from the very nice artificial turf that the University has across the street from our house. During the cold weather we play floor hockey in the large room that I built in our basement.

Once more we participated in the "Turkey Trot" fund raising for United Way with folks from our department in early October. Late in October I did a whirlwind trip to Petropolis in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and then went for a day-and-a-half visit to my Mom, step-father and sister in Maceio, in the Northeast of Brazil where they were on vacation. While there we had a wonderful restaurant called "Wanchaco" which is regarded by some as one of the top 10 restaurants in Brazil. I finish my trip with two very long working days in Toronto.

While I was away, Gaga and Grandpa came to spend Halloween with Daniel and Daddy. This year Daniel was a policeman for Halloween. They had a great time participating on pumpkin parades in school, dressing up, going to parties and, of course, trick or treating.

This Summer Scott decided that he would put behind him all the sorrow over not getting tenure at the University and decided to look for something new to do. He realized that what he really likes is academic research. Thus he start inquires about research positions. Soon he was offered a research position by a friend of ours that is a professor in the Faculty of Medicine. Thus he has been working since September on mathematical models of the system of patients suffering from chronic fatigue. He works from home, and he is enjoying being involved in academic research again.

Daniel started first-grade in September. He has decided to be the class clown and is more interested on doing "funny stuff" than on the academic aspects of the educational system. If you ask him what he likes the most about school he will not hesitate: "recess!" The second thing that he likes the most: "lunch!" As a matter of fact, he was having so much fun at lunch time that now we take him to eat his lunch at home most of the days. The issue is that what is "funny stuff" for him and his friends is often seem as "immature behavior" by discipline-oriented teaching staff. We have been working on strategies with the school to try to get him on a successful path. We are fortunate that he is in a very good public school and the principal and teachers are willing to work with us to help him.

Talking about "funny stuff," five minutes within a visit by Emily (Daniel's half sister) and her parents to our house in November, Daniel flushed a rubber ball down the downstairs toilet. The ball was just the right size to get so stuck that even after removing the toilet I could not dislodge it. Thus we end up with a single bathroom for their visit and I had to call Brian, a friend who is a plumber, to help dislodge the ball with the proper equipment. After the toilet was stuck, Daniel and Emily were very diligent about making a very good sign to alert people that the toilet was broken.

We are now on our way to Vovo's beach house in Xangrila' in the South of Brazil where we will spend Christmas and New years with my whole family and friends. We plan to enjoy the beach and also to go up to the touristic hill area in the North of Rio Grande do Sul.

We hope you have great holidays with your family.