Archive | Lena

her favorite thing

March 23, 2012 at 4:12 pm

When I was little, my family and I lived in Melbourne, Australia, for 4.5 years. In our kitchen there was a shallow cabinet with lots of narrow shelves: a spice cabinet. My mom lined all her spices on the shelves… and my little sisters made it their mission in life to open up the cabinet, take one chubby little hand, and sweep all the spices off onto the floor. We have some really cute pictures of Emily and Julia doing this with oregano and cinnamon all over the floor around them.

As soon as I saw the open cabinets in our house in Sicily, I knew Lena had hours of fun ahead of her. And I wasn’t far wrong, as she figured out the game on our first day in our house. Since then taking food off my shelves has become a daily activity, and recently she’s learned how to extract Triscuit crackers and Sun-Maid raisins from their respective boxes to get a snack in the middle of all her labors.

As I toss (literally) all the bags, boxes, cans, and plastic bottles of food back into place several times each day, I try to take a brief second to enjoy this moment, this memory, this beautiful stage of her little life.

Because pretty soon she’ll know how to open the bag of sugar, the box of cous cous, the bottle of olive oil… and then where will I be?!

3 :: in home sweet home, Lena, motherhood

pet sitting

March 19, 2012 at 4:13 pm

Elliott and I have toyed around with the idea of offering in-home pet sitting for awhile. I don’t work here in Sicily and have a baby who needs to nap twice a day, and these two things keep me rather close to home. People travel all the time here (Spain! Rome! Norway! Paris!) and need a place to keep their pets. Why not offer to board people’s cats and dogs (and maybe bunnies and hamsters and fish)?

This week we have our first customer, a friend’s Beagle. You couldn’t have a better dog for a trial run. She’s the sweetest thing, completely oblivious to Lena’s alternating fear and curiosity, friendly and calm and submissive and content. We love having her and I’m already dreading Thursday when we’ll hug her goodbye.

1. Lena isn’t sure what to think when she wakes up and finds a new friend in the house

2. shaking hands, saying hello

3. and 4. puzzles on the porch together

5. Lena helps me doing cloth diaper laundry while our doggie friend snuggles in onto said laundry for some love

6. Lena discovered clothespin heaven… and got stuck

7. doing her exercises during a walk in the valley

8. getting some love in the warm spring sunshine!

3 :: in family, home sweet home, Lena

pet sitting

March 19, 2012 at 3:13 pm

1. Lena isn’t sure what to think when she wakes up and finds a new friend in the house

2. shaking hands, saying hello

3. and 4. puzzles on the porch together

5. Lena helps me doing cloth diaper laundry while our doggie friend snuggles in onto said laundry for some love

6. Lena discovered clothespin heaven… and got stuck

7. doing her exercises during a walk in the valley

8. getting some love in the warm spring sunshine!

3 :: in family, home sweet home, Lena

toy store in Geneva

March 15, 2012 at 5:19 pm

We left our lovely chalet in France a week ago today. Together we drove back to Geneva and then finally parted ways. Goodbyes to family are always the worst!

Elliott, Lena, and I had a few hours before our flight left for Rome so we took off to do some exploring around the city. We saw a Versace model getting dressed and savored some quiet moments in a Starbucks. (No Starbucks in Sicily, so this caramel macchiato was a serious treat!)

Our favorite discovery in Geneva, though, was an magnificent toy shop. Four levels, all toys! Lena had been napping in her Ergo carrier and what wonders she woke up to!

I tried to get her excited about the amazing Haba toys from Germany, but she was more interested in the tags. Elliott was more interested in the tags, too, because when he saw the prices he said, “Not this time, honey.”

We loved this all-wooden toy set with beautifully painted people and animals. Elliott, in particular, was awed by the mountain goats. If we had a million dollars, we decided, we’d get this whole set for Lena. And for us.

We both grew up with a small stash of Playmobil, so we were irresistibly drawn to this brightly colored wall of boxes. When will Lena be old enough for her first Playmobil set? Can’t be soon enough for her parents! We have had our eyes on the veterinary clinic set ever since we spotted it in Solvang, California, this fall.

And last but not least, a picture for my siblings and grandparents. Do you remember the toy pig that Grampie gave us when we were kids that oinked and walked? They had one oinking and walking around the toy store! Elliott and Lena stared on in concerned wonder as I bent down in delight to pet the piggy and then took several pictures of it. Such a silly little toy… and yet what power it had to take me back to happy days of childhood!

6 :: in family, Lena, travel

toy store in Geneva

March 15, 2012 at 4:19 pm

We left our lovely chalet in France a week ago today. Together we drove back to Geneva and then finally parted ways. Goodbyes to family are always the worst!

Our favorite discovery in Geneva, though, was an magnificent toy shop. Four levels, all toys! Lena had been napping in her Ergo carrier and what wonders she woke up to!