Capgrossos

In the first days after Emerson arrived, I pretty much spent all my time staring at him. I mean, it is really really hard to believe that this little person has somehow miraculously been growing inside of your body and then suddenly, they are out. And you can look at them. And they have very small heads.

There was more than one moment that first week when, having looked at Emerson for several hours straight, I would turn to look at Eric or my mother and discover that their heads were huge. Way too big, really.

This photo may help explain what I mean:

Oddly, I have actually had a similar experience once before. I was minding my own business sitting in Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona when suddenly I noticed that some people walking by me had heads that were, how you say, unexpectedly large. And also made of papier mache. They turned out to be "capgrossos" which literally means "large heads" in Catalan, and which are featured, according to Catalan tradition, along with "gegants" ("giants," and also large papier-mache figures) in many festivals and parades.

My conclusion: Catalans are weird and clearly spent too much time staring at babies during critical periods shaping their culture.