Evacuate? In Our Moment Of Triumph?

Another lovely few days in Bucharest. After some delays, we finally had the post-baptism bath. Like many celebrations in Romania, what I was at first led to believe was not a big deal turned out to be a fairly major deal.

We had godparents Cati and Ovi and their daughter Anna, plus great-grandma Gomoiu came over in her Sunday best. There were ritual candles, ritual towels, and the bathwater has to include a bunch of specific items: a feather, a linden flower, something silver, something gold, the parents' wedding rings, something sweet, religious icons, rice, plus anything else meaningful to the family (in our case, Gabriel's rubber ducks).

After that, the godmother gives the new baby his first bath as a saved soul. Gabriel did not seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation and screamed his head off the whole time. Which is weird, because usually he likes baths. Maybe it was the feather.

You'd think he was Paris Hilton stealing a necklace from Lindsay Lohan

after posting a picture of his junk on Twitter

After the bath was over he got dressed in yet another ritually gifted set of clothing from the godparents (another super-cute sailor suit) and we all had cake and little sweet pastries.

We gathered up all the stuff from the bath and then I just about gave Tania a heart attack by trying to dump out the bathwater. Apparently this is very bad luck. The water has to be used to nourish an existing tree.

Gagi said he wanted to crack open our motorized swing to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it. I was like, "Sure, go ahead," knowing that it was useless but figuring it would make him feel good to at least try, since he's an electrical engineering type. I started to get concerned when I noticed Gagi adding bits of scrap wire to the innards of the chair, but when he was done, it turned out that he had actually fixed it. Holy smokes! Thanks Gagi!

King Gabriel is pleased as well, and bestows upon thee a knighthood.

Arise, Sir Gagi, the Gadgetfixer!

That has turned out to be a major bonus, because the swing tends to put Gabe to sleep when he is fussy and tired but won't fall asleep just lying in bed. My God, sir, thank you.

Yesterday we had a big adventure: Io and I went out for an entire afternoon and early evening downtown, taking Gabe along in his carrying pouch. This was our first time really using this thing for any extended length of time, and I have to say that while it looks a little bit unwieldy, it's actually a lot unwieldy. Io tried it on the way back and had an easier time of it since she was pregnant once, but I spent the whole time picturing myself falling down a staircase with Gabe strapped helpless to my chest.

I have to admit, though, that's it's pretty convenient to be able to cart Gabriel around without having to hold onto him, keeping your hands free to rattle rattles, shade Gabe's eyes, wipe his face, hold his hands, you know what I'm not really sure how much we're gaining here. He did sleep through about half of our trip, so during those times I had use of my hands.

We took the subway downtown and walked around quite a bit, mostly picking up souvenirs for people since I'm heading back to LA shortly. If you're reading this blog and don't get a souvenir, don't feel bad. It just means I don't value our friendship.

We also stopped for an ice cream sundae and then had lunch out at what is becoming one of my favorite Bucharest restaurants, The Beer Wagon. We even tried to catch a movie, but there was nothing playing that we wanted to see. It probably would have been crazy anyway.

Our travels took us to a bookstore, because we wanted to get a Romanian cookbook for my chef-in-training brother Greg. I was glad to hit a bookstore, because once I leave Io's Kindle behind I'm going to be pretty much out of books for the flight back. As I was browsing the shelves I came across this prominently displayed historical book about Hitler meeting aliens. As you can see, it's written by a doctor. Unfortunately, my Romanian isn't advanced enough for such a technical work.

After an exciting day and early evening wandering around, we eventually got on the subway back home. Today we went to the doctor for a three-month checkup, and got a clean bill of health. He's gaining weight slower than the chart in the doctor's office indicates, but the doctor said that's fine because the chart is just an average "and anyway, it's French."

Freaking French.

Gabriel's passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad arrived by courier this week. I've been feeling really bad about going back to LA. It's like, I have to leave now? Just when Gabriel is getting bigger and more interactive and non-colicky? Things are just getting great!

But these documents gave me some perspective. When they arrived I took a quick look at them and then put them away, glad to be able to cross at least one hassle off my list of things I have to keep track of. Tania looked at them when she got home from work and started crying, because to her these represent the fact that Gabe is leaving forever, in a year at most. She's glad he's leaving, and Ioana too for that matter; like all Romanians I've met, she feels like this country is no place to live. But it's still going to be very hard on her.

I try to always remember: as much as this sucks, there are many people in this world -- people who have lost children or spouses, people who want to have kids but can't -- who would change places with me and Io in a second.

Moment of Zen: