Italian Capers

Then there's the small fry. Rather than crash into the "terrible twos," she is still doling out the naughtiness in small, yet creative, ways. Let this post serve as a little get to know you again post. She's a firecracker : ) These pictures were by her request. The instructions were quite specific. "Take these pictures of me in the tub and then send them to Mimi." Okay, easy enough. I think she looks like she's in clear jello. She is a crack up!

So, it's been a while....but we're still here (!) and still experiencing some capers. As happens with children, ours have grown! Our eldest daughter has started Tae Kwon Do- I just googled it and the definition of TKD read "A particularly aggressive form of karate....." sounds like a disease. Perhaps I should have looked that up first! They do have the children make a Tiger promise not to use their TKD to cause trouble.... She is in a group called Tiger Cubs- brand newbies. She recently tested for her first belt- from white to yellow stripe. I was surprised when she told me why she was so happy to have a colored belt- you see, she felt kind of left out without some color on her belt! It's a great energy-burner/exercise program and she loves it. Her confidence has really blossomed. This is when she got a black stripe on her belt which meant she was qualified to test for her first color stripe. Here she is with her teacher. This is after her belt ceremony. ...

(Gotta bump that!) Most of the houses here have some sort of fence around them. Usually the fence is a cement base with metal fencing on top. The Italians love their cement as much, if not more, than they love their tile. If you are lucky, there's a little clicker to open the gate when you are about to pull into your driveway. The gate then closes automatically after you pass through. I didn't grow up with a fence around our house, and neither did My Man. Most houses on our street did not have a fence, either. So, I am intrigued by the mental shift we have about our gate. We feel obliged to keep it closed. I tell you, you start to feel strange if you discover, in the morning, that it was open all night- even just a foot to allow you to pass in and out to walk the dog. The feeling is stronger than if you discover you unwittingly left a light on...but not as strong as if you discover the refrigerator door is ajar. It's more akin to leaving your garage door open- although the ...

Their dresses came with matching doll dresses. H put her mini dress on a doll, and I put Bitty in the other. Z still loves that old cat. He's tattered and torn, smelly and worn. We are going to the States this week. We'll be flying stand-by, so there is an extra element of suspense. I think we're up for the fun. Anyway, because Nanny-o's luggage was "lost" on her way here, H was very concerned that Bitty might be lost and then Z would be crazy upset. Z doesn't think about it, maybe because it's just too hard to face? I told her Bitty will be in our carry on safe and sound the whole time...she's not sure that's good enough : ) By the way, Nanny-o's luggage was never really "lost." It just had it's own itinerary and left Cleveland much later with a stop off in Rome. I think it had a pleasant journey and got here before Christmas. We'll see you soon!

Last year, neither one of them would get very close to the jolly old elf, which was fine with me. This year at a Christmas gathering in a hangar, they told me they didn't want to chat with him. An hour or so later, they changed their minds. After their visit H said, "Mama, Santa is really nice. And he was warm." (Because we had waited so long, we were almost the last ones to visit him and the poor bloke was probably burning up!) Puzzled, Santa tried to whisper in my ear..."I think one wants a baby who takes a binky and the other wants a baby who doesn't take a binky." Yep, that's right. Neither one of them played with either one of them very long. Oh well.

and in our kitchen..... Can you say Cabin Fever? It's a good thing we've got the fever as our heat keeps going out! Of course, this always occurs on the weekend. I call the landlord who comes right over to tell me there is nothing he can do and we have to wait to get in touch with "Technico."