Assisi

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.