What’s New: Exploring Italia

I flew out at 6am the morning after I published my last post and we’re still on a bit of a funky schedule, hence my complete silence in the blog world. It has been lovely to give myself a bit of a break from it all, but boy do I miss this space! I’m unable to ponder deep issues at the moment, but don’t want to miss another week of What’s New, Babe? so I have a very photo heavy post for you, complete with the photos I have taken for the Mamatography challenge during our trip.

I can’t say enough how grateful I am for the incredible flight attendants who took care of us on our long journey. Annabelle did amazingly well, and we were both quite comfortable the whole way since we had three seats to ourselves on all three flights. Having purchased only one, this was quite a luxury. Our longest flight lasted twelve and a half hours, and the passengers on either side of us moved so that we could have our three seats in the bulkhead row, one for me, and two with a movable armrest so that Annabelle could lay across them and nap. When the fasten seatbelts sign was off, she was able to play in front of our seats, thanks to the extra legroom. I can’t imagine how it could have been better.

Most everything I brought along was a hit, and I didn’t end up needing to use the changes of clothes I had on hand for either one of us. In the second photo above, we were nearing the end of our longest flight and I had saved Annabelle a bit of dinner. She woke just before landing, so I quickly set her up to eat. She fell asleep again before I had finished, and stayed asleep, waking only to eat in Paris, until we got to Venice. I was in awe of her ability to go with the events of the very long day, to stick with and communicate her needs to me, and to enjoy the people and things around us.

A huge thanks goes to Amy, who pointed out the fact that many airports have children’s areas. I looked beforehand, and learned that all of the airports we would be visiting do. Our longest layover was at Osaka Kansai, and the children’s play area nearest us happened to be right next to a little coffee shop. It was perfect for both of us!

On our first day, we got bundled up and ventured into the city center for the local market and stopped so that the children could play in the park. Annabelle was delighted to find that there are swings in Italy, too! We’re so grateful to our friends N and P who loaned us some adorable and functional winter gear to keep us warm. How adorable is that jacket?

With the extreme cold, it has been relatively quiet besides, save for a day long excursion to Venice. We have enjoyed the small city in which our friends live, and on the weekend were treated to a delicious vegan meal by the Italian in-laws of my dear friend. The cold wind that made things rather difficult before seems to have passed, however, and the weather is due to warm up even more tomorrow, so we have many adventures ahead of us.

I have loved this opportunity to watch Annabelle thrive in a new setting. I expected no less, but it’s neat to see just how easily she occupies herself outside the specially prepared environment we’ve set up in our home. It just goes to show how little children truly need to be happy and healthy, and how perfectly stimulating life itself is.

She has been the most perfect traveling companion, always eager to do whatever is on the agenda for the day. I have never seen her so excited to go to the store. We visited Aviano Air Base to pick up a few things and she beamed as we walked in, saying, “Italy BX!” She has had her moments, of course, when she is cold, tired, hungry, or just plain wanting to do something her way, but as long as her nap times are respected and other basic needs met, she’s ready to greet most any new experience.

One of the books I bought for her prior to the trip is a lovely story about a girl who lives in Venice, called Gabriella’s Song. Annabelle loves the book, and has listened to it at least a hundred times. It was really neat to see her make connections between that and the actual city of Venice. Several times, she repeated lines from the book when she saw things that reminded her of it, and until she got too cold to care, didn’t cease asking to see the Piazza San Marco.

I would love to see how quickly she could become fluent in Italian if we were to stay here. On a few occasions, she has picked a word out of someone’s conversation and walked around jubilantly repeating it. Her favorite is piano, and when she’s not feeling too shy, she’ll aptly use the words “ciao” and “grazie.” With our trip little more than a third of the way through, I’m interested to see what more she’ll pick up.

It has been fascinating to see which strangers she greets with a smile, and which receive the wary stone-face. The former seems to be reserved exclusively for handsome young men, and people who are giving her things she wants. A lovely older woman in a shop today was saying what I can only imagine was something glowing about Annabelle, and all she got in return was a blank, almost frightened stare. I’m quite comfortable with the fact that she’s not too quick to go with anyone who attracts her attention, and love to see her interactions when she does warm up to someone.

She has been napping like a dream, but sleep time is near its end, so I’ll leave you with the rest of my mamatography photos for now.

If you have an update post, a developmental post, a week in photos, or anything related to what’s new with your children and/or family, I hope you’ll link it up! I love reading the latest with all of you. Ciao!