Happy birthday -- Tillykke med fødselsdagen

Happy birthday Magnus! One year ago today Magnus was born and we became parents. We celebrated his birthday this morning with a simple birthday breakfast here in Tlaquepaque. Unfortunately, we couldn't celebrate with all of our loved ones, but we do appreciate the birthday greetings and gifts sent from everyone.
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Tillykke med fødselsdagen Magnus! For et års tid siden blev du født og vi blev forældre. Vi fejrede hans fødselsdag imorges med morgenmad her i Tlaquepaque. Vi kunne desværre ikke fejre den med alle vores kære, men vi værdsætter alle fødselsdags gaverne og hilsner istedet.

That said, we did have the opportunity to throw Magnus an early birthday party (6 days early) in San Juan while his Aunt Cheryl and Great Grandma Corinne were visiting. We've provided some pictures and a video from the party to share with everyone.

Vi havde dog en mulighed for at holde en tidlig (6 dage tidlig) fødselsdags fest i Viejo San Juan da hans moster Cheryl (Matts moster) og oldemor Corinne var på besøg. Nedenfor er der billeder og en video fra festen som vi vil dele med jer alle.

A view of the birthday area before the storm. As you'll see we did a bang up job on the decorations with a lot of help from Aunt Cheryl who has a special gift for these types of things. Grandma Corinne supplied the birthday cake and steady updates on the latest news from the Clinton-Obama race for the Democratic Nomination.

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Et billed af fest lokalet før de store begivenheder. Som i kan se så gjorde vi et stort stykke arbejde med alle dekorationerne med en stor hjælp fra Cheryl som har talenter inden for disse ting. Oldemor Corinne gav kagen og en løbende opdatering af Clinton-Obama racet for den demokratiske normenering.

Thanks to Grandma Corinne for supplying the birthday cake. Aunt Cheryl undertook the difficult task of writing "Happy Birthday", which was just one more special touch that she added to the event.
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Tak til Oldemor Corinne for fødselsdagskagen. Moster Cheryl havde fornøjelsen af at dekorerer kagen hvilket kun var en af de mange ekstra ting hun tilføjede til festen.

The birthday boy sporting a new outfit (a gift from Grandma Corinne) and his little birthday hat.
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Fødselsdagsdrengen med sit nye set tøj fra Oldemor og hans lille fødselsdags hat.


And here's us, the proud parents, helping him to open his birthday gift. Like most children, Magnus was as interested in the wrapping paper as the actual gifts themselves. He has, however, come to cherish all of his birthday presents, bestowing upon them the special layer of slobber that coats all of his other favorite toys.
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Og her et af os, de stolte forældre, hvor vi hjælper med at åbne hans fødselsdagsgaver. Som de fleste børn var Magnus mere interesseret i indpakningspapiret en selve gaven. Han har siden værdsat og sat sit præ på alle gaverne ved at smøre dem ind i et tykt lag savl ligesom alt hans andet legetøj.


Magnus' first time eating cake. He seemed to like it a lot and we we're particularly fortunate in that we somehow avoided a post-sugar high meltdown. You can see us singing happy birthday to him below. Apologies to the Danes as it is just the English-language version, but we Americans would have massacred the Danish version.
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Magnus spiser kage for første gang. Det lod til at han godt kunne li den og vi var heldige at vi, af en eller anden grund, undgik eftereffekten af alt sukkeret. I kan se vi synger "Happy Birthday" til ham i videoen nedenunder. En undskyldning til danskerne, da den kun er i den engelske version, men amerikanerne ville have ødelagt den danske sang.

Magnus loved the balloons, which we blew up only halfway in order for them to be more resistent to popping. Nonetheless, he quickly tested their resilience through a campaign of clawing, biting and sqaushing (by sitting), all of which proved to be effective methods in popping the balloons.

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Magnus elskede alle ballonerne som kun blev blæst halvvejs op for at undgå for mange eksplosioner. Alligevel testede Magnus deres hårdførhed ved at hive, bide og presse (ved at sidde på) dem, hvilket alle viste sig at være gode måder at spænge balloner på.

Below is a picture of Magnus from roughly one year ago today. We thought we would end the birthday blog entry sharing just a few of the important development milestones Magnus has hit over the past year (unfortunately we only have the diary from this year hence the milestones mainly being from 2008).

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.Nedenfor er der et billed af Magnus taget for ca et år siden. Vi syntes vi vil slutte denne blog med at dele nogle af de mere vigtige (og sjove) milesten som Magnus har nået over det sidste år. (Uheldigvis har vi kun vores kalender med fra i år så milestenene er hovedsaglig fra 2008).

Crawling/ kravler - November 2007

First tooth/ Første tand - Jan 2008

Waving/ Vinkede - 5 March 2008

Drinking from cup by himself/ Drikker selv fra en kop - 6 March 2008

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Walking/ Går - 1 April 2008

Dances/ Danser - 3 April 2008

Stacking toys/ Stabler legetøj - 14 April 2008

First word "Det"/ Første ord "Det" - 30 April 2008

Baby signs "Fan"/ Børnetegn "Mølle" - 3 May 2008

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Talking in his sleep/ Snakker i søvne - 4 May 2008

While these are important milestones, they say nothing about Magnus as a little person. He has a playful character, sometimes a little cheeky, but with a good sense of humor. He's curious, always insisting on investigating new people and things introduced into his environment. But at times, he's also a bit shy; though he can be a shameless flirt when he wants attention. He likes to get cuddles from his parents and daily gives them to his teddy bears. All in all we have had a very exciting year with Magnus and are looking forward to watching him grow more over the years.

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Selvom disse milesten er vigtige, så siger de ikke noget om, hvordan Magnus er som en lille person. Han elsker at lege, er nogle gange lidt fræk men med god humor. Han er nysgerrig, vil altid udforske nye mennesker og ting i hans omgivelser. Nogle gange kan han være genert og til andre tider en værrer chamør, når han vil have opmærksomhed. Han elsker at få kram fra sine forældre og giver selv sine bamser mange kram dagligt. Alt i alt har vi haft et spændende år sammen med Magnus og vi glæder os til at se ham vokse og udvikler sig mere over de næste mange år.

Adios Puerto Rico

We took the opportunity in Puerto Rico to spend time with friends and family. We had a great time and will miss our beautiful residence in Viejo San Juan and the other places we visited on the rest of the Island. Next stop is Tlaquepaque in Mexico.

Da vi var i Puerto Rico fik vi besøg af familie og venner. Vi hyggede os og vil savne vores flotte udsigt i Viejo San Juan og alle de andre steder vi besøgte på øen. Næste stop er Tlaquepaque i Mexico.

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Lots of fun -- Masser af sjov

Grandma Corinne and aunt Cheryl -- Oldemor Corinne og moster Cheryl

I den sidste uge har vi haft Matts mormor og moster på besøg. Magnus har nydt at have nogle nye "legekammerater" på besøg. Vi tog alle afsted til Rincon og nød at slappe af i de skønne omgivelser. Magnus fik badet og genset de omgivelser hvor han lærte at gå.

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During the last week we have had Matt's grandma and aunt visiting. Magnus has enjoyed having people to play with. We all spend time in Rincon where we relaxed in the beautiful surroundings. Magnus went swimming and revisited the place where he learned to walk.

Book worm -- Bog orm

Magnus has started to love reading books. The book on the picture is a "pointing" book which fits in with his love for pointing at everything. We are trying to teach him books are for reading and not for chewing which has so far been with a mixed result. This week we have Matt's aunt Cheryl visiting. She always brings very good books for Magnus and has brought some favorites for him.

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Magnus er begyndt at læse bøger. Bogen på billedet er en bog hvor man skal pege. Bogen passer godt sammen med hans nye ynglings leg hvor han peger på alt. Vi prøver at lære ham at bøger er til at læse og ikke at tygge på. Vi er dog ikke nået så langt med denne nye indlæring så bøgerne har en del tandmærker. I denne uge har vi Matts moster Cheryl på besøg. Hun giver altid Magnus en masse gode bøger og har også denne gang medbragt nogle favoritter.

Flere billeder af Joe og Magnus -- More pictures of Joe and Magnus

Magnus og Joe på Condado strand

Magnus and Joe on Condado Beach

Joseph Durell Baird III

Last week we had our good friend Joe visiting us here in Puerto Rico. From the picture you can see that Magnus and Joe got on like a house on fire. We went to the beach, relaxed and played lots. It was great spending time with him but we missed Shellie who had to stay behind in New York to work. It was not all bad - Shellie got a new job as an art curator. She has worked hard for this so congratulations many times Shellie. We are very proud of you.

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I sidste uge havde vi besøg af vores ven Joe. På billedet kan i se at Magnus og Joe var bedste venner. Vi tog på stranden, slappede af og legede en masse. Det var hyggeligt at bruge tid sammen med ham. Vi savnede Shellie, som blev nød til at blive i New York for at arbejde. Shellie har få et nyt arbejde som kurator - et arbejde hun har arbejdet for i lang tid. Tillykke mange gange med dit nye arbejde.

Cuba V -- Cuban abuela

During our time in Cuba many of the people we met appointed themselves as Magnus' grandma. At the last count we got to four abuelas (grandma in Spanish) and Magnus liked them all. Having said that he really seemed to be getting on with Juana (see above pictures). we got to know her through Matt's studying.

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Mens vi var i Cuba mødte vi en del mennesker der kaldte sig selv Magnus bedstemor. Sidste gang vi talte var der fire abuelaer (spansk for bedstemor) og magnus kunne li dem alle. Han havde dog en favorit. Det er Juana som der er billeder af på bloggen. Vi lærte hende at kende gennem Matts skole.

Juana, Guillermo (Juana's husband) and Magnus.

Mormor og Jan

As mentioned earlier we have had Mormor and Jan staying with us for almost three weeks. We had a great time visiting the rainforest and staying in Rincon, a small surgfer town by the coast. Magnus enjoyed being with his grandparents and was missing them when they left. He spent the first day looking for them in the flat and probably missed having someone to play with all the time. They also seemed to enjoy it and taught him how to walk without getting distracted by leaves on the ground. They also spent a lot of time swimming and overall having a good time together.

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Mormor og Jan har været på besøg i ca. tre uger. Vi havde det rigtig godt sammen og besøgte bland andet regnskoven og Rincon; en lille surfer by ved vandet. Magnus nød at have sine bedsteforældre på besøg og savnede dem da de tog afsted. Han brugte den første dag på at lede efter dem da de var taget afsted og savnede sikkert nogen at lege med. De lod også til at nyde tiden sammen og lærte ham blandt andet at gå uden at blive distraheret af blade på vejen. De brugte også meget tid på at svømme og lege sammen.

Første ord -- First word

Magnus har pludret i et langt stykke tid og har siden vi har været i Puerto Rico lavet smaske lyde. Lydene har siden udviklet sig mere til kysse lyde. Til at begynde med gjorde han det mest mens han spiste, men en gang imellem hører vi lydene, når han leger for sig selv. I denne uge har han brugt sit første ord - "det". Det bliver brugt når han peger på ting, hvilket er mange gange i løbet af dagen.
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Magnus has made baby sounds for a long while and since we arrived in Puerto Rico has also made smacking sounds. These sounds have developed into sounding more like a kissing sound. In the beginning he mainly made them when eating but now we hear him making them when he is playing on his own. This week he has also said his first word - "det" (a danish word meaning "it" but is used more like "what is it"). He is using it when pointing at things which happens many times a day.

The day Magnus (almost) caught a lizard -- Dagen da Magnus (næsten) fangede et firben.

I de sidste tre uger har vi haft Mormor og Jan på besøg. Udover at hygge har vi også rejst rundt sammen. Et af vores stop var i El Yunque, en regnskov. Da vi ankom regnede det i tykke stråler og vi var fristet til at tage tilbage til San Juan. Heldigvis holdt renvejret op og vi fik gået os en tur i regnskoven. Det var lige noget for Magnus der er vild med alle slags blade. Dagen efter fik vi også set nogle gamle indgraveringer fra de Taino'er der oprindeligt boede på øen. Overskriften hentyder til at Magnus dagen efter dette billed blev taget var mere tæt på at fange et firben end hans far havde været i lang tid. Vi har dog ikke et billed der passede til bloggen så vi brugte dette der måske kunne ligne Magnus ifærd med at jagte firben.

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During the last three weeks we have had Mormor and Jan visiting and during their time here we managed to do some travelling. One of our visits were at El Yunque which is a rain forrest. When we arrived it was raining a lot and we were tempted to return to San Juan. Luckily the rain stopped and we had a great time walking around the forrest. Magnus liked it alot especially because he really likes all types of leaves. The day after we also managed to find some old wall carvings from the Tainos who originally inhabited the island. The headline is hinting at the fact that Magnus the day after this photo was taken was closer to catching a lizard than his dad had been in a long time. We did not have a picture that fitted the blog so thought we would use one which could look like Magnus in the middle of his hunt for lizards.