From "Miano"'s Camera

Un po' di foto scattate da Emiliano nel corso dell sua visita.


Our friend Emiliano has left yesterday and we already miss him a lot. Here are a few pictures of Appu taken by him during his visit.

The first ones were taken on the sidewalk in front of the house. We have been all trying to teach Appu to pedal, but he doesn't reach the pedals very easily, so he prefers to propel himself with his feet or be pushed - "push!" is one of his new words.

Sul marciapiede davanti a casa. Appena esce Appu si lancia verso il triciclo, ma non ha ancora imparato a pedalare, nonostante gli sforzi congiunti di Miano e dei genitori.




Appu with Papi on the couch is a classic, but always nice.



This one instead is from our day trip to Toronto. Mommy drove the car on a scary highway for the first time and we spent the day with Emiliano's friend Gaetano and his family. In the picture we have little Clara and Rajiv very seriously examining their books.

Questa e' una foto della gita a Toronto di lunedi' scorso. Abbiamo passato la giornata con un amico e la sua famiglia. Qui vedete la piccola Clara con il piccolo Rajiv, molto seri e concentrati sulla lettura.



Here we are back in Waterloo, at the children section of the local library. It is a great place for kids and there are lots of toys and activities, with cozy cushions to "read" and relax (as if a two year old knew what that means...).

Questa invece e' la biblioteca di Waterloo, nell'area dedicata ai bimbi.




In the next picture it is Papi again, and someone is ready for bed...



... but not tired enough that he can't produce a smile for the camera...



The last two pictures are from dinner a couple of evenings ago. Rajiv and his dad disappeared from the restaurant for a few minutes and came back with a new friend. We called him "Pingu", but Appu seems to prefer the name "Picu". It was love at first sight. Unfortuntely Appu had a bad cold last week and Pingu seems to have got the worst of it, but thankfully he claims to be machine washable, so he might go for a swim one of these days. It is the first toy that Appu has picked himself, by the way, and mommy is so proud of her big (but sssmalll, if you know what I mean) kid!

Nelle ultime foto fa la sua prima apparizione pubblica un nuovo amico, il pinguino "Pingu" (o "Picu", come dice Appu). Rajiv lo ha scelto personalmente e lo porta quasi dappertutto.

Tough life

Il piccolo principe si era appena svegliato dal suo riposino pomeridiano, un po' di cattivo umore e probabilmente affamato (non sia mai!). Con prontezza abbiamo messo in atto le misure di emergenza: comoda postazione sul divano con coperta a portata di mano, video preferito con la mucca, orsacchiotti giganti (entrambi soprannominati PA-PI per qualche strana ragione), pasta col pesto avanzata e riscaldata ma non troppo (qui trovare l'equilibrio giusto e' un'arte). Aggiungiamo poi un servizio fotografico completo e la possibilita' di fare varie smorfie e rivederle sullo schermo. Vita dura eh, piccolo Appu?

Our little prince had just woken up from his afternoon nap and he was dangerously cranky and hungry from having almost skipped his lunch. Emergency measures were immediately taken: comfortable seat on the couch with blanket at hand, favorite farm-themed video (COW!), giant teddy bears (PA-PI!), left-over pasta with pesto (PAS!) reheated but not too much (otherwise it's OT and then one has to spit it out, right?) . Add mom taking pictures, giving the chance to try different poses and grins. Tough life, don't you think?

Conversations before bed

Appu- NEEN!
Dad- Well Appu, for someone who spent the first year of his life saying GU, you could say GREEN, or at least GEEN.
Appu (happy)- NEEN!!
Dad- No no, Appu. GEEN.
Appu (still happy)- NEEN! NEEEN!!
Dad- G-G-G-G... GEEN!
Appu (very happy)- G-G-G-G-G!!
Dad- GA-GU-GU-GA-GU... GEEN!
Appu (ecstatic)- GA-GA-G-G-GU-GA-GU... NEEN!

The Great Canadian Spring

This however, should be the last big snowstorm of the season. Soon Appu should be able to start riding his "carrrrr" more regularly.

La primavera ha fatto una breve apparizione e poi ci ha lasciati sotto la neve. Presto comunque non ci saranno piu' ostacoli tra Appu e la sua macchinina rossa!





Note: These pictures were taken today morning. Since then many more centimeters of snow have accumulated and we don't seem to see the end of it. But as I said, this is the last one, so cheer up!

Oh no....

...I cut Appu's hair!! :)



Primo taglio di capelli casalingo ad opera della mamma. Non un gran che'...

Art time

In questa puntata, il nostro Appu disegna con i pastelli. Non si sa bene quando sia successo, ma improvvisamente il piccolo Rajiv sembra essere capace di stare seduto per un po' di tempo a fare cose tipo giocare con le costruzioni, sfogliare dei libri e farseli leggere, o disegnare. Ovviamente assaggia anche i pastelli, ma molto meno di una volta, e soprattutto... non gli piacciono! Li sputa! Evviva!

Today we had fun with crayons. As some of you know we have been more or less confined at home for a few days because I had tendinitis and we have had to come up with ways to pass the time. Fortunately this coincides with a new phase of my little one's life in which he suddenly seems to have a decent attention span - he even lets me read to him... So today we sat down and made pictures for more than an hour (!!!).



I put on the floor the top of an ex Ikea coffee table and we used that as art station. He sat on it for the whole time, it was amazing. In fact he sat right on his "canvas" for the whole time, I think it might be the beginning of a new art wave.












As I said, he likes to sit on his work, hence only half gets colored, but the result is quite attractive (says the mom...).



The happy artist!

Morning madness

These photos were taken today morning before daycare. We were chatting with S. on Skype (notice the laptop on the table) and Appu was demonstrating his screaming and climbing skills to the dad - you might observe that the climbing performance was not documented by the photographer, but the screaming one was.





A casual observe might think that this is just a chaotic kitchen, but everything in fact serves a purpose. Please notice the rice-cooker box on the floor, strategically located so that little Rajiv can step on it and look at his dad on the screen - and scratch it if that's what he feels like doing. The box is also absolutely necessary to climb on the little booster seat on the chair, and from there the sky is the limit.

Why is the packet of instant noodles on the floor? Well, there would be a beatiful answer to that too, but unfortunately the time at my disposal is too short to write it.




What would you do if somebody were taking pictures of you? You would try to assault the photographer and run away with the camera, no doubt. Appu feels just the same.



More exploration of our kitchen. Please note Appu's personal pot on the floor, he likes to put in the cabinet and then take it out again. You might also wonder if that blue object is in fact a baseball bat. It is. Appu uses it sometimes to play his little piano.



After a last almost successful attempt of the subject to get at the camera, the photographer retires for the day.

We are thankful to Emiliano, but especially to Ilaria I suspect, for Rajiv's outfit.

Celebrating 18

Il piccolo Rajiv compie un anno e mezzo! Per festeggiarlo abbiamo raccolto un po' di fotografie scattate nell'ultimo mese o poco piu' in momenti tipici della vita quotidiana di un kunjappu.

Our little one is one year and a half now! This gives me the perfect excuse to unload here a bunch of pictures that I was keeping aside for posts that I will never have time to write. They were all taken in the past month or so and they do capture a lot of appuness, I think, if pictures ever can...

First words

Little Rajiv is beginning to form his first real words and it is a fascinating process.
It is a bit difficult to keep track of his vocabulary, because sometimes he will use one word one day and then never again. For example he said his name - "Appu" - a few times, with a strong American accent by the way, but just when we were getting all excited about it he dropped it. Sometimes he makes vague "m" sounds that could be interpreted as mommy requests, and occasionally he will say "mamma", but now he hasn't said it for a while.

The one word we are sure he understands and speaks himself is "ball" ("palla" in Italian). He has a toddler sized soccer ball and if I ask him for the "palla" he goes around and looks for it. He also looks for it immediately if he sees a picture of the ball in a book or on his alphabet blocks. For a while he was saying "ba" or "pa" for it, but now he seems to have settled for "bai" or occasionally "pai". If he sees the picture of the ball he screams "bai!" and then we go to find it.

He probably thinks there are many other things he says, in his cute tonal babbling, but unfortunately his his parents don't get it. Sorry Appu, please don't give up on us... :)

Back to Canada

We had a good trip back, we slept a lot last night - with the exception of a certain somebody who tried to get up around 5... but we made him see reason :) - and now we are about to drop our little one at his new daycare for a few hours. A few pictures of our trip will be posted later.

Haircut!

Ieri Rajiv ha ricevuto il suo primo taglio di capelli. La prima foto e' stata scattata in uficio poche ore prima dell'ora X e i riccioli sono ancora visibili. Il salone dove siamo andati e' specializzato in bambini e Appu si e' divertito un sacco: per il taglio e' stato seduto in una sedia-macchinina con un bel volante da far girare e davanti a lui c'era uno schermo con dei cartoni animati.

E' andato tutto liscio quasi fino all'ultimo, quando Appu ha cominciato a voler scendere dalla sedia. Ma ormai era quasi fatta ed e' bastato un po' di intrattenimento da parte dei genitori per permettere alla parrucchiera di completare l'opera! Alla fine Appu ha anche ricevuto un palloncino blu, del quale si e' completamente innamorato. Verso il fondo potete vedere il risultato finale, la sera a casa. Niente piu' riccioli... :( ...per un po'!

L'ultima foto non c'entra ma non potevo resistere al piccolo Appu nella scatola di plastica...




Appu with mom, already mourning the upcoming loss of the beloved curls...



We went to a place called "Cookie Cutters". They have chairs shaped like various vehicles - Appu got a green car - and they show videos while cutting the hair. It was much smoother than we had anticipated.


At the end Appu also got a blue balloon, that has been his joy ever since!


Here you can admire the final result, but no fear, the curls will be back! (mommy hopes...)



And for added cuteness, little Rajiv decided to sit in a plastic box. How could we not take this picture? :)

Appu's Wonderland

Family time at the park at the end of the day.

Niente di meglio di un'oretta al parco per concludere la giornata!