Instant Family Part II

Once again the kids are asleep, tonight before bed Demetrio read them a book in English and then in Italian. It was one of my favorites (The Six Chinese Brothers); I bought a whole suitcase of books from the last “Friends of the Seattle Library” book sale, they sure came in handy. They enjoy reading and being read to even if the books are a bit too young for Giordano. We try to get him to read a few pages and then translate it into Italian. Although Demetrio is at work all day he’s been doing a great job of spending quality time with the kids when he gets home.

During dinner I served sautéed zucchini and both kids made faces. We gave them a few bits to try and again they made faces, Ginevra covered her plate and tried to avoid a helping. Deme gave her a bit and I told them that they had to try a bit, by this I meant they had to place a visible piece of zucchini into their mouths, chew it and swallow, all without making a face. Both kids cut their veggie up into almost microscopic pieces and ate them with forlorn looks. After the 3rd to 4th piece I said “Basta”. After dinner when Ginevra was busy beading then helping me with chocolate chip cookies, Deme was helping Giordano with some math problems. I heard the words “isosceles”, “parallelogram” and a few other terms in Italian. Thank goodness someone in this household knows a bit of math.

We’ve been to a few places around town and today I had Giordano put on my extra baseball glove for a bit of catch. He figured it out rather quickly and I hope to have him catching a few of my fastballs. Yes, I have fastballs and yes they aren’t very fast. I’ve clocked my maximum at about 50 or so miles and hour and that pretty bad for a man but okay for a woman.

The kids are learning English more quickly by talking to the dog than to me. I hear them repeating what I say to him: “Come ear”, “Keese” ,“Roll”, “Drop“ “Seat” and “Special Forces” are the most common doggie words. They adore the dog and he loves them even if they trap him on the balcony and steal his ball away. His tail wags the entire time. So far, so good.