Happy Birthday Nonna!

I am starting to realize that there is so much more to write about than there is when we are at home. We are in a different country living in a completely different home and Parker, my wife and I are all having our own different experiences here.

As I said before, Parker enjoys having so many things to interact with at his own height. Parker's newest interest is the telephone. For the past two days he has been going to the side table by the bed, which is his height, and taking the phone off the hook. This would not be so bad, but he is fascinated with the buttons on the phone. Furthermore, he pushes the buttons that are designed to call the front desk, operator and emergency. So, every time I see him go into the bedroom and turn right, I have to run in there after him.

Secondly, Parker has learned to understand what the word stroller means. We had said that whenever he gets a chance he runs over to the stroller in hopes that he gets to go in for a walk. As a result, we figured that this would be an opportune time to teach him the meaning of the word stroller. So, now whenever we mention the word, he gets all excited, stops whatever he is doing and heads right over to his stroller.

It has definitely been colder the past couple days so we have had to put his gloves and hat on him in addition to pulling down his shield to block any wind. We did walk for some time today, over two hours, but Parker stayed warm the whole time. Us, on the other hand were forced to wear a jacket and use our walking to keep warm.

Tomorrow, my wife is supposed to go to the mall with Bruna. She is an older woman which we met and happen to see almost every day while we walk near Unes. She is meeting her under the bridge (where the road is) close to Unes. Of course, we feel extremely safe with my wife going but I will give her the cell phone to take with her. I canceled our phones before we left, but they will work until the 22nd.

We did not have to go to the hospital today, nor will we have to go tomorrow. Parker has his injection on Thursday, so we will go then.

I have to say that we (not Parker) are having a difficult time sleeping while in Italy. We have not adjusted to the beds here, as they are much more firm then we are used to. I would compare it to sleeping on the floor with a pillow. Last night, we got about five to six hours of interrupted sleep as Parker decided to wake up every few hours. Regardless, we did decide to take a nap today while Parker was sleeping. It did help us a bit.

One of the other things I have noticed that are different here is the television. We get about 24 channels here for free and all of them are in Italian except three (2 German, 1 English (CNN)). To give you an idea of what we have watched on television I have taken some images. Currently, Big Brother Italian is near the end of its season, the finally of the German version American Idol was on yesterday, but what we see most of the time are television shows like "Chips". Yes, "Chips". I have not seen that show since I was six. The only difference is that it is dubbed in Italian. Hey Auntie Kate, Parker watched Sailor Moon in Italian yesterday. If yo can figure out the Italian language, this is definitely the place if you want a voice over job. Lastly, Parker has been watching a television show in the mornings here about some bubble bees. It is quite funny actually. If you can understand from the images great, if not, here was the plot. There are the two little bees that are playing and one of them gets caught by a preying mantis. "Mio Aiuto!", he yells. His little friend tries to find someone to help them, and all of a sudden a large scary looking bee comes out of the bushes to help and scares the preying mantis away. The only thing is is that the scary bee is actually a wimpy little bee that is trying to look all tough by wearing a mask with fangs. I don't think the images do it justice. It was definitely much funnier than the dubbed over smurfs we watched the day before.

Today, on our walk, we stopped by a couple of stores for our food. One, sold fresh vegetables, so we picked up some wonderful little tomatoes for our salad and some ridiccio for the pasta we purchased at the next store. Here they sold all kinds of fresh pasta, pizza and buns. First we purchased some cheese and ridiccio ravioli, and a few freshly baked buns and later we came back so that my wife could get some pizza for her and Parker for lunch. The pizza here reminds me of my Nonna and Nonno's pizza. Not only because of the way it tastes and looks but also because they cut the pizza here with scissors. The only other people I have ever seen do that was my Nonna and Nonno. This pizza has not thin crest like the night before at the Chinese Pizzaria but thicker crust. Much like foccacia. I have been kind enough to include some images of the store and the pizza. Apparently, my wife thinks it is very funny that I have used the words "kind enough", have you ever tried to write a blog each day with someone looking over your shoulder pointing out mistakes you made three paragraphs earlier?

My wife has told me that I have written enough for today, so I do apologise that you will have to come back tomorrow to read more about Parker's journey in Italy. Things are definitely a little easier at the moment as Parker will not have to go through any hardships for another week.

Everyone wish Parker's Nonna a Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday Nonna, from Parker. And to my mother and my Nonna, you were right. Meat and cheese on fresh bread tastes much better without mustard or butter.

A Domani!