Rohan in the blanket...

..goes "purr purr purr"

Firt time EVER

Yesterday my little owl fell asleep listening to a story. Just to give you an idea of how sick and generally subdued he has been. He woke up almost right away, but I still want it to be noted, for posterity, that the book was "Picnic con gli amici", a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse book just arrived in nonna's suitcase.

Here we are, feverish in Paris

Actually only Appu for the moment, but it is only a matter of time before we are all coughing and sniffing and looking like boiled potatoes.

In spite of this, we are still going to the Louvre tonight. I promised we will be well covered and it is indoors anyway, so it seems harmless.

My mom has arrived yesterday night and Appu was quite happy. Now she has gone to the Musee d'Orsay and I am here in a dark apartment trying not to breath so the kids don't wake up. I need to get out!

For now, this is me and Rohan on a walk to the mall nearby in Place d'Italie - two evenings ago.

Tour Eiffel

For our first days in Paris we are keeping the evening for sightseeing, after S comes back from working with his collaborator Jan.

Yesterday we all went to meet Jan in the morning and then I left with the little ones to spend some time at a playground. Have I ever mentioned how much I love gated playgrounds, where you don't have to worry about the kids wondering off to the road? Ok, I am mentioning it now: go parcs parisiens!

After playing near a fountain for a while and leaning on the edge to retrieve some leaves from the water, Appu looked like he had been to war. He was also very tired, so we decided to head back to meet dad and we went towards the gate. There I attracted Appu's attention towards a "nice puppy" who immediately jumped on Appu and hit his hand with a paw. "Ouch" said Appu, looking very sad, and then we were on our way.

I am mentioning this incident because when we met dad Appu immediately said: "Cani, ouch" ("cani" is "dog"). It's the first time that he tells a story, he never before discussed something happened in the past like this. Mommy is very very impressed.

We had lunch with a few people at the institute and then Appu, Rohan and I went back to the flat where the kids enacted their personal version of "mom's hell". My ears are still whistling from two hours of screams and have I mentioned that I think Rohan is teething?

But. Dad came back around 5:30 and we went out. And it was cold and damp, but that's ok.



Note: this picture was only taken because Appu was falling asleep in the darkness of the Champ de Mars and I wanted to wake him up with the flash :)


Appu sinnging "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" looking up at the tower while we were in line for the tickets was the cutest thing!


Appu and Kunju, in their respective carriers, on our way up in the "choo choo" elevator (you have to see it understand why).


Appu wandering around on the Second Level. Is it just me or the slanted cap gives him a very French look?


Crepes on the go on the way home.

In Paris

Eccoci a Parigi! Un po' di foto prima e dopo il viaggio, con uno scorcio della via dove abiteremo per le prossime due settimane. Nella prossima puntata, la Tour Eiffel.

In case anybody was worried, here we are safe in Paris!

And here, as it is now tradition, are a couple of pictures of Appu helping us pack before the trip.




We are staying at a flat not far from the Ecole Normale, where S is visiting a collaborator and friend. These are our current whereabouts and as you can see the weather is a little unfavorable.





I won't show you the inside of the flat for now, I will leave it to your imagination. But no matter what you are thinking, nothing could prepare you for the huge purple couch supported by springs (!!) and the wall covered by mirror tiles :~

Fridge art

One of the joys of daycare: knowing that your son can express himself with paint, glue and what not, and he is not doing it on your walls. :)

Amazing Appu (aka Rampant Rajiv)

Warning Warning -- Heavy bragging alert --

Time to talk about my favorite toddler!



He knows the whole alphabet and recognizes printed letters and numbers. Sometimes he mistakes an A for an H and stuff like that, but mostly he gets it right. He likes it when I write things for him, like his name, and he can distinguish MAMMA from APPU, because one has the M and the other has the P. He likes to read the number plates of the cars parked downstairs and he enjoys counting along with the display in the elevator as we go up and down. He doesn't quite get the counting backward thing when we go down, but thanks to the elevator he now knows that zero is a very important number, because that's where you go out to play :)

He likes to sing and in the last few months he has added quite a few tunes to his repertoire. My favorite though, is still the first song he learned before he was even two. This is his version of the lyrics of "row row row your boat":

ROW ROW ROW ROW ROW (this can keep going forever unless you stop him)... BOAT!
... STREAM!
MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY
.... DREAM!

Other great interpretations include the alphabet song, "twinkle twinkle", "C is for Cookie", "giro giro tondo" and "CONNI" (aka "Unicorni"), the two latter in Italian and complete with accompanying dancing and signing.



He is speaking better and better. He can say things like "It's broken" (no comment), "I don't want taia!" (which means "I don't want mettiamo via", which means "I don't want to put this toy away"), "E' pronto" (which literary means "It is ready", but it is more used like subtle way to say "Why haven't you started making dinner yet?"). I think he understands that there are at least two languages in his life and he somehow also understands that weirdo who is his mom is somehow connected with one of them. He is very willing to switch from one language to the other when asked, and when nothing else works he just screams :)

He can say "Rohan is sweeping" (sleeping) and "Rohan is crying" in both English and Italian. With this he has his brother's range of activities more or less covered, but he is quite pleasantly surprised when Rohan deviates a little from his routine and plays with his cute little screams. I can't wait for Rohan to start crawling, then it's going to be wild around here! ;(



We no longer have major problems putting him to bed - with some exceptions of course, just to keep us on our toes - a long as "latto" (mamma's milk) is available. If I say "Rohan is crying" normally he lets go right away though, which makes his mom very proud of him. He is beginning to be a little confused about what other people call milk, like something in a carton, but he seemed fine with the explanation that that is cow's milk, as opposed to mamma's milk, and he found it hilarious.

When he is not asking again and again for the same cartoons on tv, he likes to do puzzles. He is getting so good at it, he can do 12 pieces puzzles almost by himself and we do together some 24 pieces puzzles, where he places most of the pieces himself with a bit of help (like "can you see the eyes of the cat, where do they go?"). I am so glad he is able to sit down and work on something for a little while, it kind of compensates for his usual tornado approach to life. It also shows once again that one shouldn't be too quick in placing labels on kids: the same child can be wildly adventurous and impulsive and calm and attentive too.

He is also learning to play with other children. He knows that is he takes something he should give it back and if someone gives him a ball he throws it towards someone instead of running away with it like he would have done a couple of months ago.

Unfortunately he sends a lot of time away from me, otherwise I would have many more things to tell, surely. Sometimes when I read the reports from daycare I can't help thinking that they are even more deluded than I am (he said "we'll see"?? please...), but maybe that is why I love them so much. I couldn't leave my little guy with anyone who didn't think he is an Indescribable Wonder!!

(quoting from "Chrysanthemum", a recent favorite: you have to watch the version read by Meryl Streep)