Le Ragazze

La Famigliola Cresce

Sofia has made the transition to having some "solid" food in addition to her standard milk. I guess I never gave much thought to what comprises babyfood outside of the U.S., so I was pleasantly surprised* to see the elaborate feeding instructions from our Roman pediatrician. Her diet now includes extra virgin olive oil (there are special brands of Italian oil just for babies), veal, pasta (very small pasta), formaggino and something called biscottino biberon, which appears to be powdered biscotti, and goes into her bottle to make her milk taste wonderful. She's enjoying the new menu so much that she's already getting sturdy after just one week.

*Well I guess I wasn't too surprised after having seen the bizarre babyfood at the grocery store a few months ago. But still...

Sofia meets a friend

Quattro generazioni...

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.

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.

And Another Milestone....

...from the city that made them famous.

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.

Sofia among the nuns

Concerned that Sofia might be feeling under-appreciated, we took her to visit Maria's colleagues at work. She seemed as curious about them as they were about her.

As soon as she turns 16, I'm getting her one of these outfits to wear outside of the house.

Spoleto

On a very cold and wet New Year's Day, or as it is more poetically known locally, Capodanno, Spoleto is still beautiful and evocative - even if it seems to be suffering from a hangover.

Norcia, Umbria

Simone and Marzia took us to Norcia, in Umbria, for New Year's Eve. This lovely, sleepy town is famous for two reasons; it's the birthplace of Sts. Benedict and Scholastica (the brother and sister duo), and it has really fantastic, hearty food. Saint Benedict's statue, below, seemed to be posing with a very bright Venus and crescent moon on New Year's Eve.

In a nearby village

We stayed in an old farmhouse near Norcia, with Simone and Marzia. The house was part of an ancient village which is now mostly deserted; in fact only a religious hermit and one couple live close by. About half of the dozen or so structures in the village are now completely abondoned. Some are crumbling to ruins. In Simone's family's place - where we stayed - the lowest floor of three, which used to be a place for the animals, is now the kitchen and living room. We feasted there until the early hours of the New Year on the beautiful local food. We cooked just about everything in the fireplace, even the pasta. . . It was freezing outside and only a little warmer inside, thus Fede's wardrobe. She was wearing nine layers on top.