Happy Halloween

Last year Emilia was only a couple of months old for Halloween and we didn't do too much. You may remember, however, that we dressed her up as a little lady-bug and walked all around our area to take some pictures. London was sunny and warm that day. Today, instead, it was all rainy and grey.

In the morning, we took some pictures with the pumpkins that we have in the flat and played with them for a little. The weather wasn't very good and also we were waiting for uncle Rich and aunt Donna to arrive all the way from Baltimore. So, we stayed home.

 

 

Uncle Rich and aunt Donna not only had lots pf sweet gifts for Emilia but they also brought the Halloween costume that we had bought from Pottery Barn. This year, we opted for a giraffe costume, how cute is it??! Look at this picture below from their website.

Sadly, Emilia didn't like it. In fact, she only kept the hat on for about five seconds and kept pulling the top off. Not sure why but she hated it. What a shame. Rob and I really loved it. So much that we may try again in a couple of months for Carnevale. We will see...

 

 

 

In this last picture she is literally screaming: GET THIS THING OFF MEEE! NOOOOWWWW!!!

For the rest of you

My dad is in town. He arrived last Monday and will be staying until the 30th. The official reason for his visit is that Rob is in New York for work and he didn't want us to be alone, so he is keeping us company and is helping me out with Emilia. It is so much easier to have another set of hands and eyes around! Emilia needs so much attention these days and it can be exhausting to take care of her, the house, work, as well as myself all alone. So, thanks very much, dad, we appreciate your help! 

And Emilia is loving having her nonno around. In fact, I think her favourite word of the moment is nonno. She keeps saying it and smiles every time she does it. She is too cute and of course my dad melts every time he hears that magic word. At the same time, my dad is aware of how lucky he is to be spending some quality time with his beloved granddaughter. So, he has been taking pictures and videos for the rest of you, to give you a glimpse of how he is spending his days with baby Emilia. 

And when I say baby, I really should say toddler. She is such a big girl now and she knows she is getting bigger and bigger and wants to try new things on a daily basis. One of her favourite new adventures is to sit on the high stools in the kitchen. She loves it and you must remember not to try to help her out, she can do it on her on!

It's small things like these that make all of us happy and excited to be around her. Daily activities with Emilia become part of the things to look forward to in a day. On Tuesday, for example, my dad and I bathed Emilia and we all had a lot of fun. She is adorable while she plays in her inflatable duck and is too cute when she tries to dry and brush her hair. 

 

 

And in general, we have so much fun playing with her, just listening to her attempting to say new words and that smile, oh, I could look at her smiling every second. 

 

 

Certainly, the highlight of the week was the classical concert we attended on Wednesday. As usual, I found it emotional to share such beautiful moments with my little one. The church was full of babies and toddlers and they all enjoyed the sound of the piano and the cello. Some babies were just a few days old!

 

 

 

While the classical music was very relaxing, it's the last part of the concert that really got the kids singing and dancing. All the classic baby rhymes were played and we all sang along. Join us here in Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

Sing and Sign

This morning we took Emilia to her Sing and Sign class again. This time I tried to focus a bit less on the singing and dancing and a bit more on taking pictures and videos. I still found it challenging and the moment I took my phone out I had an invasion of babies all around me. It was reassuring to see that all babies, not just Emilia, are obsessed with mobile phones though! So, even if they are not great, these pictures and the short video should give you an idea of how we spend our Saturday  mornings. Fun, right?

The class overran a little and interfered with Emilia's lunch time. Thankfully we had Ponkey and lots of biscuits to keep Emilia happy on the walk home! 

Progress

It seems that Emilia has grown so much in the last few weeks. A lot of things are happening at once and every day brings something new. She is so eager to learn and  has absolutely no fear to try new things. As I mentioned before, she is getting more and more mobile. She can walk all around the bed and goes from the bed to the bedside table, and from here to the chair, from the chair to the chest of drawers and from here to the wardrobe, and so on. She is not very balanced yet but we think it is a matter of time before she will be able to stand and walk on her own. 

She is also more and more talkative and interactive. She loves listening to us and can really understand what we are saying, whether it's in English or Italian, it doesn't matter, she knows what we are saying. It's impressive how easy it is for a baby to absorb everything that goes on around her. I wish I could learn new things that fast. New entries include *baby* and *latte *(=milk). And speaking of milk, she is a bit off milk these days. She still drinks it but doesn't seem to love it anymore and never finishes it. On the other hand, she has been enjoying more types of juice and literally downs camomile tea. 

 

Emilia loves being independent. So anything that she can eat/drink by herself is a big hit. On the other hand, she doesn't love being fed anymore and is constantly trying to grab the spoon to eat by herself. In a way, this is good but sometimes you just would like to get on with lunch and avoid unnecessary mess. Tonight, for example, she had her pasta with tomato sauce, which she tried to eat by herself, one little *stellina* at the time, and then we gave her a plate full of pear, one of her favourite things. She is usually pretty good but tonight the juice of the pear was all over the place, especially in Emilia's hair! 

And I leave you with a couple of pictures of Emilia sporting her new yellow jacket. Isn't it cute? The weather was quite nice today so we decided to take a stroll, eat out and do some shopping. Thankfully, Emilia behaved! You never know with kids...

 

 

Baby Walker

Rob and I have finally given Emilia her first birthday present. Yes, more than a month later, you read it right. In preparation for her birthday we looked widely for the perfect gift but we didn't seem to find anything special. Of course, the birthday party was a big enough gift but what kind of parents would we be if we didn't give our lovely little girl a present for her first birthday? Well, as we couldn't agreed on anything, we settled on a Peppa Pig book (you can never go wrong with Peppa and books!) and gave it to Emilia on the actual day of her birthday. Emilia, of course, never really realised that she had turned one and perhaps never really understood what the big deal was and why so many people had gathered on that warm September afternoon in the garden of her grandparents. However, one day she will be old enough to understand and I am sure she will love to look at the pictures of her memorable first birthday party. 

So, once back home in London I started looking into options again and Rob and I finally agreed on what we wanted to buy: a baby walker! At 13 months Emilia can stand on her own and kind of walk with some help. As I mentioned before, she hangs on anything that she can find on the way. Therefore, we thought that a baby walker was exactly what she needs: something functional, practical and fun. Of course, it wasn't easy to agree on "the one". There are many options available on the market, with prices ranging from ca. 20 to 100£. After a couple of days of browsing the Internet, we eventually found the winner: The Little White Company Wooden Toy Pram. Isn't it beautiful?

To me it was essential that it was a wooden baby walker, you know how much I hate plastic toys! And I absolutely love this design, it's a perfect mix of modern and tradition. So, we ordered it and three days later this beauty made its appearance in the house. Emilia was sleeping when we assembled it but the morning after, this morning in fact, she had a big smile when she saw it and immediately went to play with it. Funny bit: she doesn't love to have dolls or stuffed animals in the pram; I put her teddy bear in it and she kept grabbing it and literally threw it out of the pram. Also, she didn't want the pillows to be in it either, I wonder if she remembers that when she was little and was in a pram herself we didn't put any pillow in it for security reasons. Perhaps she is just being cautious :) - ha ha!

 

So, our little bundle of joy is on the move! However, as much as she is trying, walking is still a bit tricky and challenging for her. So, if she wants to get somewhere quickly, crawling is still the answer. I don't know for how long she will be crawling so this morning I took a short video of her crawling from the bedroom to the living room. One day, she will love to see this. And I know you are big fans of videos of Emilia. So, here it is. Enjoy!

Evening Performance

Since Emilia was born one of most recurrent words that I have found mentioned in baby books and that I have heard from other mums, midwives, health visitors, pediatricians, family, and friends is: ROUTINE. The morning routine, the afternoon routine and the evening routine. Everyone gives you advice on what to do and especially what not to do. And one of the most common NO NO things for the evening is to engage in activities that would stimulate and excite the baby too much and "distract" her from going to bed and falling asleep. Well, we are either super lucky with Emilia or all these rules are nonsense. 

As we don't get to spend a lot of time with Emilia during the day because of work engagements, the two hours before she goes to bed are our family time and therefore they are usually filled with play sessions, singing and dancing. And I must say, Emilia loves it and we all have a lot of fun together. 

Here you can see her in her pajamas just a few minutes before going to bed. Certainly all that dancing, singing, stretching her arms up, and talking didn't distract her from a good night's sleep. Enjoy!

Latest News

Hi everyone. I know it's been a while since I last posted news of us. These days I am finding it harder and harder to find some time and energy to sit down and blog and I apologise since I know that some of you check this blog every day. So, here is a little update on us, mostly Emilia.

1. Emilia is crawling

We didn't think it would ever happen and even the pediatrician told us that she would most probably skip that phase. But here she is, 13 months old and crawling. It's apparently very common for babies to skip the crawling phase and go straight to walking. This is what happened to me, for example. My parents told me that I never crawled and that I started walking a few days after I turned one. Emilia is a bit slower than her mummy but she is definitely on the move. Now that she is crawling, things are a bit more hectic in the house and we need to clean the floors more often! Crawling puts her in an easier position to pull herself up and stand on her own while holding on anything close by (e.g. bed, coffee table, bedside table, mummy's legs, you name it). As she is capable of sitting up and pulling herself up, we had to lower the crib to the lowest level. She is literally almost touching the floor now!

2. Emilia can talk

She loves repeating whatever she hears, whether they are sounds or words. Her vocabulary is improving day by day and so far it seems to be 50% Italian and 50% English, with a touch of French. It's interesting to see the choices she makes in selecting which language to adopt for a particular context (e.g. acqua vs water). Italian is the language of food and family, English covers the rest. It makes sense. Her favourite words are: mamma, nonna, acqua, bye bye, wow, et voila', and Google. Random selection, I know.

3. Emilia has a fringe

Many people have commented on the length of Emilia's hair and in all fairness the poor girl could no longer see properly. So a few days ago I braved it and cut her fringe. Considering that she moved every second while I was cutting her hair and that I am not a hairstylist, I didn't do too bad, I think.

4. Emilia started *Sing and Sign* classes

On Saturday morning we take Emilia to her Sing and Sign classes. She has attended two so far. Highly recommended by a local friend and her baby, I decided to give it a try and I have to say we all love it. Rob was out of town for the first lesson so I ventured to the ARC nursery by myself. When I got there it was mostly dads with their children. I felt a bit out of place and quickly realised that the class was mostly for those dads who don't get to spend a lot of time with their kids during the week because of their work engagements and use this Saturday morning class to spend some time with their lovely ones. How cute. Anyway, apart from the initial embarrassment of being the only woman apart from the teacher, the one hour class went by very quickly and Emilia and I had lots of fun singing, signing, and dancing. As I was too busy having fun, I couldn't take any picture of Emilia. I thought I would have the chance to take pictures the following week knowing that Rob would be with me. But yet again, Rob and I were too busy singing and doing all the things that you would do at a music class to entertain your daughter. So, the only pic I have for you is this one of a corner of the nursery with its cute giant cloud and colourful rain drops. Maybe I'll be able to take some shots next time.

Otherwise, apart from these updates, the days are going by fast with the usual routine. Rob and I work, Emilia enjoys her time with her new babysitter and we all try to spend some quality time together as a family in the evenings and at weekends.  Today we all went to the post office together to pick up a package from the Walters (thank you guys!) and while waiting in the queue, I snapped this pic of Emilia. Isn't it cute? She looks like a package ready to be shipped :) Who wants her??! And then, once home, it was the usual dancing, singing, and checking the latest videos on youtube for some inspirational moves :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Love from us all.