Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sofia meets a friend

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Quattro generazioni...

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Rome

If you are walking along the sanpietrini, disoriented because the streets are like a maze, lost in thought - but not too much - or you will be killed by the maniacally fast-paced traffic, if you walk past one store selling prosciutti - then a bakery - then a shop for religious antiques - then one selling an anatomy book from 1560, if you see graffiti and motorini on every street, caribinieri nonchalantly smoking and standing guard with their machine guns at official buildings and synagogues, if you are cursing under your breathe in exasperation one moment and in the next moment you are utterly charmed - but not too much - or you will be run over by the the absurdly pedestrian hostile traffic - you're in Rome.

Canis Romanus

Part of travelling, for us anyway, is a bittersweet feeling towards these little guys. On the one hand they're adorable. On the other, we miss Argus a lot. This hardworking dachshund managed to keep his bar (and most of the street) completely cat-free. Not an easy task in Rome. This little bichon seemed to understood that we were missing Argus. While we were sitting in an outdoor cafe in a crowded piazza, "Giotto" comes running over - gives me a cursory sniff - jumps up onto my lap, and leans in for a hug. Ten minutes later his owner retrieved him, looking a little disgusted and offended.
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Sofia is an excellent dinner companion

She's funny, cute, rarely monopolizes the conversation, and enjoys going out for the evening. In short, she's just the kind of person you like to have sitting across the table at mealtime. If you study the pictures very closely, you can see that Maria thinks so too. No, seriously, I really want one of these things. It's not funny.

Sofia's First Outing

Now that Sofia is strong enought to hold her head up well, we took her out for the first time in her sitting stroller. We went to a beautiful nearby park, Villa Torlonia, which was where Mussolini had his residence in Rome. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the park restaurant and chatted with some really charming bilingual children who were having recess from a nearby British school. Sofia loves being able to see what's going on. She thinks rugby is pretty cool.
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And Another Milestone....

...from the city that made them famous.
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Baby X

At Fede's first ultrasound for Baby X, we saw and heard a very tiny heart beating. The expected due date just about the same as Sofia's, but it will be interesting to see when he or she actually arrives. There's a decent chance of us having Irish twins, either way our fingers are crossed for another healthy one.
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