02/52

A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.  Linking up with Jodi and her 52 project.

Bode:  after months of growing his hair out, decided that he wanted his hair "short like Daddy's."

Gianna:  contemplating how a princess would smile

Nico:  took another hard fall on Saturday; a face plant that caused his gums to bleed (but they look okay here)

Walking and the Wall

First of all, Mia Gianna is walking.  Okay, not full-time "officially" or anything but she is almost there. She is still wobbly, and only takes a few steps at a time before crashing to her knees.  She took more steps today than ever. This past Sunday, we were walking around the neighborhood, trying to locate a restaurant that was not Italian (per my request) for dinner.  Gianna would walk using my hands as a guide.  It made our walk twice as long, and painfully slow at times, but it was worth it to see her smile proudly as she strolled along. 

Bode says funny things, like, "I want to learn to walk, too!"

We found a restaurant that was not officially Italian, but we ordered lasagna!  Because I am all about the food, I will tell you about our meal. They had a special pumpkin soup, which I immediately ordered as soon as the lady came by our table. It was fabulous. It was creamy and had roasted pumpkin seeds in it.  Then we ordered pumpkin lasagna and a fish dish.  The pumpkin lasagna had a tomato sauce and mozzarella. That sounds gross with pumpkin, right?  It wasn't. It was perfect.  The fish was a big white fish (something "zander"), wrapped in cabbage, with a stew of French lentils and crispy sweet potato chips on the side. Everything was delicious, and I can't wait to go back there.  Nothing makes me happier than finding good food.  

Bode enjoying the bread.

While we waited for our meal, Gianna practiced walking around the courtyard. We sat outside because the interior was small and quiet, and we have loud, boisterous American children.  It was chilly, but the outdoor area was lovely with vines and plants all around us.  Gianna had a great time moving around.  In fact, she didn't want to stop walking for dinner, and I had to coax her with the pumpkin soup.

Tempting the new walker with food.

Doesn't my hair look fabulous?!!  I can only say, I am so glad that I don't know anyone here, because my hair is on vacation, too.  Oh, let's get real:  my entire self is on "hiatus" right now.

At one point on our walk, Bode stopped in front of Gianna, grabbed her in a big hug and said, "I love you, Gianna."  PING! went my heart strings. I nearly cried.  Bob was walking up ahead and I warbled, "Did you hear that? He said, I love you, Gianna. Get a picture!"  Bob whipped out his iPhone. Yes, I had to capture Bode's first "I love you, Gianna" on film. But by the time Bob got the camera ready, things were leaning back toward brother-sister feistiness. Bode continued to hold Gianna (perhaps a little too tightly),  and Gianna wanted to walk, so she began to squirm out of his reach. Bode started laughing at the "control" aspect of his hold. I was trying to keep Gianna from crawling on the ground...and things spiraled out from there. Emotional scene over, irritated controlling Mommy back on board.

Now he thinks it's funny.

Gianna is losing it and Bode is giggling like a loon. He is wearing Gianna's hat, too.

But enough about dinner.  And enough about Miss Wobbly Pants. We saw the Berlin Wall.  A fragment of the wall, about 1400 yards (I think). It is called the Eastside Gallery, and the grey wall has been painted by artists from around the world.  On the other side, graffiti from other "artists" around the city, I guess. Graffiti is all over this city. I find it disturbing and ugly.  But I guess the graffiti is a mark of what this city has been through.  I was young when the wall came down. I vaguely remember watching it on t.v.  Hey! High five for an "I was young when..." !!! Woot!
But seriously, I can not communicate intelligently about the Berlin Wall.  All I can say is, it was emotional being there, and it is hard for me to wrap my head around the whole thing. I just can't imagine living through that, and coming out...or coming over, to the other side.  Amazing.  

The other side of the wall. 

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. I'm not sure what that means for us three.  Hopefully I can come up with something to do, besides sitting in a bakery and watching the rain fall!

xo

She walked, I cried

This week, this past month, has been absolutely crazy with planning and packing and buying for this trip to Berlin (oh, and our move to New York, too).  This week, Bob has been on a business trip.  It has been raining.  I've been inside purging, cleaning, organizing, and packing.  I feel like I've been ignoring the babies. The babies have been good but not good enough (ha!) (just kidding!).  Bode is getting under my skin, and I know it's just because I'm trying to get.things.done. and he's un-doing all that I've done. I know he's going a little stir-crazy inside.  This afternoon, we had someone in to view the house.  Because that is what I need right now, on top of everything else, is to have to clean this place for a potential tenant.  What other things can be added to my list?  Bring it.

So, because we were "kicked out" of the house, and it was raining, and because I love to gamble, I thought I'd take the babies to Gymboree.  And yes, because I love gambling so much, I figured that I'd just roll the dice on sickness, too. I thought, "If I take them to Gymboree on Wednesday, right before an international flight on Sunday, they are absolutely guaranteed to get sick by Saturday night."  The odds are so good.

Seriously, they needed an outlet. Bode was getting a little wild, and I know it is because he has not had any physical activity.  So we went to Gymboree.  They had a blast.  They both ran around like monkeys.  And because it was raining, there were about 100 other germ-carrying monkeys running around with them.  Gianna is so fearless. It is so funny to watch her, because she just goes and does it all.  And I have to be there to stop her, to say, "No, you're not jumping off that. No, not yet..." She gets so mad! I know I shouldn't compare, but Bode was so different at her age. He would have been  in my lap, clinging to me, content to  just watch everyone else run around.  Not Gianna.  Gianna walks in and owns the place.  Gianna says, "Everybody line up and follow me."  Gianna says, "What is the tallest structure in here for me to climb?"  Gianna says, "Bring it."

I was rolling Bode in a giant tube and he was laughing like a loon.  I just happened to look up for my "Gianna check," to make sure that she wasn't dangling off a light fixture. She was standing, about 5 feet away.  And then she took a step.  And then another. It happened in slow motion. Or it seemed to happen in slow motion, because inside my head, I heard myself screaming as if in a horror movie, "nooo! nooo! nooo!!!!"  She took about 6 steps, and then she fell to her knees and continued "walking" that way again.  (About 10 minutes before this event, a nanny was watching Gianna walk around on her knees and remarked how she has been a nanny for 20 years, and has never seen a baby walk around like that.)

I couldn't believe it.  She walked.  I gave her a big hug, and tried to just hold her in that moment. But we were in the middle of Gymboree, and she had things to do and see. She extracted herself from my arms and quickly moved on.  I started crying.  I didn't know what to do.  It seemed pointless to run and grab the camera.  If I called Bob, he probably wouldn't answer (and probably wouldn't want to hear me warbling about how our baby just walked, and then hear me get angry, because our baby walked in the middle of a freaking Gymboree madhouse, without any fanfare or parental encouragement, no loving parental arms to fall into, dammit.).  I sat there, amid the chaos of 100 flailing, crying, screaming, laughing kids (and their mothers/nannies) and felt very sad.  I stood up and felt unsure of what to do. I had no one to share this with. I told Bode, but his response was only, "Yes. Push me in this now." How to mark the occasion? I went for my phone, but didn't feel like trying to reach Bob (and I knew that his not answering would annoy me).  I grabbed my camera and went to snap my baby, the soon-to-be-walking-all-the-time Gianna.

When we were talking about flying to Berlin last month, I had a thought about her walking.  I (sarcastically) thought, "This is perfect timing for Gianna to start walking."  Because of course she'll want to walk and walk and walk and walk on the plane. No sitting for her! Fun times!
But really?  I am so sad about this chapter closing. Sad! Yes, yes, the next chapter will be fun, too, blah blah blah and all that. But my baby. Oh, my baby!  She is growing up too fast.
xo