While we were riding up the elevator to return to our apartment, Eddie started dancing in his stroller. He danced so vigorously that he shook the stroller, and the elevator car started rocking, too. I thought the whole thing would collapse!
Motivation for dancing: unknown.
This weekend we visited Assisi, where we met up with Luke, one of Eddie's buddies from Charlestown! Luke's parents came along, too. At first Eddie was a little shy around Luke--he'd been practicing saying "hi, Luke" but he wouldn't say it in person (though he'll say ciao to total strangers readily enough!) By the end of the day, though, Eddie was ready to give Luke a hug.
Assisi is really lovely. It's hilly, with lots of steep streets and stairs; it's not a stroller-friendly city. There's a surfeit of arches and underpassages and alleys consisting of winding stairwells, which I really like, all between medieval stone houses with lots of flowers. Eddie's getting really good at climbing and descending stairs. He took one bad tumble, though, falling down two tall steps to crack the top off his head on stone. He seems to be all right, though! He did scrape his face with the sticks he was carrying; he always has something in his hands, which makes it harder to climb and dangerous to hug other kids!
When we arrived in Assisi Friday afternoon, it was pouring rain. After Eddie took a nap, it was still drizzly, but we went exploring with Eddie sheltered in his stroller. That's when we discovered how hard it is to get around with a stroller. We visited a Roman temple to Minerva which has been made into a church, and the New Church built over the childhood home of St. Francis, and the church of St. Clare, and the Duomo, dedicated to St. Rufino, from the 1100s, where Francis and Clare were baptized. Eddie loves to dip his hand in the basins of holy water and cross himself (which consists of tapping himself randomly,) which I usually let him do once per church visit. After we leave he usually tries to run in again, shouting "Wawa! Wawa!" He also likes the echo in big churches, and the paintings and sculptures of babies.
In the morning he helped getting dressed:
"Eddie, let's put on your shoes!"
"Shioos?"
"Yes, can you find your shoes?"
"Shioos!"
Eddie looks at his feet, then under the bed, then finds his shoes on the table. He picks one up. "Shioos!" He toddles over and gives it to me.
"Thank you! Can you get the other shoe? The other shoe?"
"Shoos shoos!" Eddie gets the other shoe.
We met Luke in front of the basilica of St. Francis. After passing through the upper basilica, there's a close where they could run around without bothering anybody, and they got reacquainted. They had some competitive banging on walls and sitting on steps (whenever one got up to leave, the other would sit down, so the first would imitate that, forever.) Eventually we went through the lower basilica and the tomb of St. Francis.
During lunch, Luke stabbed himself in the face so he'd have a matching scrape with Eddie. After lunch, Eddie took a nap at the hotel with Nonno, while the rest of us wandered and Luke napped in his carrier. We were at a cafe when it started pouring again; we huddled under a table umbrella while water cascaded all around. Eventually we braved the streets and met up with the Santes. In front of the basilica, Luke showed Eddie his new trick of putting his head on the ground and one leg up in the air. Eddie imitated him but didn't get to the leg part. Then Eddie showed Luke how to go through the fence around a big enclosed yard there, where the adults couldn't follow. Nonno caught him before he ran off, but after that one or the other of them was trying to break in whenever our backs were turned.
We've been so remiss in our blogging, we haven't even reported our trips! The first weekend, we made two day trips, first to San Leo and then to San Marino. San Leo is a little town high up on a mountaintop, very pretty, with a big fortress perched right on the topmost crag. The guys went through the museum in the fort while Mom waited outside. We popped out on all the battlements and windows to wave at her. Eddie's favorite part was the papal chambers, which were a labyrinth of little rooms and twisting hallways with occasional windows between them. Eddie chased me around. We also visited the Duomo and an 8th century church.
San Marino is a separate country, about an hour's drive from Urbino. That makes six countries Eddie's been to. San Marino is also perched on top of a mountain, but it's a much bigger city. We hung out in a cool piazza with a great overlook and a fountain. Eddie loves fountains these days; he wants to splash in them and pick up gook from the puddles. His parents are less fond of that part. After a while a big wedding party showed up on the piazza, and a toddler about Eddie's size was with them. They chased each other around, and Eddie ran around the rest of the party, having a grand old time. The festive atmosphere made him happy. I heard some relative along the father of the other toddler who his playmate was. His answer was, I think, Italian for "I dunno, some wedding crasher!"
Yesterday was Nonno's birthday! We helped him feel young by calculating that he's 780 months old, whereas Eddie was 588 days old, so Nonno has lived more months than Eddie has days.
Eddie celebrated at the playground, where he had a good time. We met one of the Italian instructors, Davide, along with his wife Giovanna and 8-month-old daughter Elena. Pretty soon the place was really hopping, with kids of all ages. Eddie has developed his own approach to meeting people. First he walks up to them with an expression like he found something unexpected on the bottom of his shoe. After a while he decides they're human and just frowns at them for a minute (while face-to-face). Then he turns around and runs away with his arms in the air.
Nonetheless, he seems to enjoy playing with other kids. He watches them and then imitates what they did (usually after they've left.) I hope he learns to be more friendly, though! One little girl, just starting to walk, had a great big smile for him, but he just stared and kept walking and her smile faded.
He is such a giant. Italians tend to be shorter than Americans, so it's even more pronounced here: he seems like a 3-year-old.
