happy birthday Greta!!
dearest Greta Kathleen,
today you are five. i sort of can't believe it ... but at the same time, i watch you play elaborate games of make-believe with Cecilia, or zoom around the seminary parking lot on your scooter, or bring up some obscure conversation we had months ago, and i know you're really, truly growing up.
this year has been full of changes for you, some good, some sad. our beloved Kaiser died on the evening of your birthday last year, and you still mention that you miss how it tickled when he would lick your hand. you often ask if you can have or do certain things when "we go back to Pixburgh" (such as making strawberry pancakes or riding your bike). i know you miss your friends back home, and your daycare, and our house with all your toys (living without 90% of our stuff has been freeing for me, but you don't see it the same way). that being said, you love playing in the hose on our terrace, and giving (quite forceful!) high fives to the seminarians, and riding your scooter. you love playing with our new family friends, and you love talking to the sisters here (who are so kind and invariably make you laugh).
the biggest change for you in the last month is that you started preschool here. you're in a class with 3- to 5-year-olds. your friends Polly and Louise speak English as well as Italian, and every morning when i drop you off, they run over and ask you to play with them. (absolutely melts my heart. take that, mean girls!) but apart from your bilingual besties, the other kids and your teacher all speak Italian. you were adamant the first few days that you weren't going to learn any Italian (you said emphatically, "i'm just going to speak English!! plus i can teach them some Spanish numbers!"). protests notwithstanding, when you play school with Cecilia now, your conversation is peppered with "bellissima!" "ciao, ragazzi!" "sedutti!" "brava! brava, Margareta!" back in Pittsburgh, you would often "act out" what happened at daycare by pretending to be the teacher, and i loved getting an accurate (and reassuring!) glimpse of your day. now i'm getting the same insider information, but occasionally i have to resort to Google Translate to decipher it!
you love to do makeup (both your own and your sister's), to draw and color, to help me make scrambled eggs, and to watch PJ Masks, Magic Schoolbus, and Peppa Pig. you also would watch Shopkins and My Little Pony ad nauseum if allowed, but i just can't take the inanity. you often prance around with a mesh laundry bag over your head pretending to be Rapunzel.
your sleep schedule has been out of whack since we moved. prior to coming here, we would start the bedtime process around 8:15 PM, read you a story and say prayers in our room, then quietly go into the room you shared with Cecilia and snuggle you for ten minutes or so before going downstairs. occasionally you'd call down to us and ask for more snuggles, but most of the time you just went to sleep. now, you often don't want to fall asleep until 9:30 or 10 pm or even later some nights. it's been a little better since starting school, since i think you're more tired by the end of the day (not least because now we have to be up and out the door in the morning, instead of me letting you sleep in ... which just perpetuated the problem). rarely, you'll fall asleep in our bed right after we say prayers. most of the time, we snuggle you for a little bit and then come out to the kitchen/living area and you just stay up, usually playing some imaginative game, until you conk out. once you finally fall asleep, we transfer you into your bed in Cecilia's room. you're still getting ten hours of sleep a night (out of the 10-13 hours per night recommended for your age), but i wish we could get our previous bedtime groove back!
you are starting to read a little -- Grammie sent you two sets of the Bob Books and you've read through the first set. we don't do any formal reading lessons at this point. you'll read through five of the books in a day, and then not pick them up again for weeks. i'll never forget the look of delighted comprehension on your face when you pointed to the white words painted on the side of the road and asked, "Mommy, does that say 'BUS'?!?!?" (and it did!) i'm enjoying reading some bona fide chapter books aloud to you. this year we've read Pippi Longstocking and The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh. i started to read The Borrowers to you, and you thought the concept was hysterical, but lost interest in the paragraphs of descriptions. and we're about halfway through The Little House in the Big Woods. usually for your bedtime story, though, you request a picture book (usually the same one for weeks on end until you switch. we read the Usborne Creepy Crawlies book for a solid month after we got here, and you were thrilled when you spotted a funnel web spider in one of your other books!).
you love to drink milk and eat whole raw carrots and frozen green beans out of the bag. you never stray from your favourite vanilla or strawberry (fragola) gelato. you don't like mushrooms, spicy food, or spinach. you like kiwis, peaches, and spaghetti with meatballs.
this year, your faith has grown, especially as we have visited so many churches and religious sites. you are particularly drawn to Mary, and you love lighting a candle and saying a prayer for someone back home (on our recent trip to Florence, you lit a candle for Nana on one day and one for Pappy on the next). you went through a period of fascination with the idea of the devil as a serpent, and you love the image of Mary Victrix (Mary crushing the serpent's head) that we often see in paintings or sculptures here. you desperately want to be old enough to receive Communion. i'm sure that day will come in a flash!
for your birthday today, you got to open one present in the morning before school. you were thrilled with your Hello Kitty umbrella (you've been asking me for your own umbrella for weeks). i had actually bought this particular umbrella for your Easter basket this year, and stashed it someplace so clever that i completely forgot about it by the time Easter rolled around. upon discovering it while we were packing to come to Rome, i figured it would still make a great gift. and from your reaction, i'd say it was worth the wait!
since today is Tuesday, you stayed at school all day, from 9 AM to 5 PM, participating in your gymnastics class in the last hour. this was only your second time in the gymnastics class, and you love it. while you were there, i made your cake (the same recipe i used for your sister - white cake with chocolate sprinkles, with a different frosting recipe - buttercream with a bit of cream cheese mixed in.)
Cecilia and i walked down the hill to pick you up at 5, and then you opened your presents: Frozen slippers, stick-on earrings, a play makeup set, a shirt, new headphones (so you and Cece can both be entertained on our loooong flights over the Christmas holiday!), and a set of My Little Pony horses that you had requested. you and Cece also opened the box that Nana sent, including Elsa and Anna dolls, a puzzle, a workbook, markers and colored pencils, and new outfits.
after you opened all your presents, you confided in me that you had really wanted dolls of the people from a spinoff show of My Little Ponies -- not the ponies themselves. then you said, "but it's okay, Mommy. you could get them for my six-year-old birthday." and you gave me a big hug! oh, kiddo, sometimes we butt heads, and that makes these sweet moments all the more precious.
you requested cheese pizza for dinner (i made half plain cheese, half capicola/baby spinach/red pepper flakes for Daddy and me), and then it was time for cake! you arranged the candles yourself and directed us to keep Cecilia back so she wouldn't blow out your candles (a necessary measure!).
now you're sleeping, surrounded by your presents which you insisted on bringing into the bedroom with you. happy birthday, Sweetpea. we love you more than words can say!
today you are five. i sort of can't believe it ... but at the same time, i watch you play elaborate games of make-believe with Cecilia, or zoom around the seminary parking lot on your scooter, or bring up some obscure conversation we had months ago, and i know you're really, truly growing up.
 |
| wearing your dirndl to Thanksgiving dinner |
this year has been full of changes for you, some good, some sad. our beloved Kaiser died on the evening of your birthday last year, and you still mention that you miss how it tickled when he would lick your hand. you often ask if you can have or do certain things when "we go back to Pixburgh" (such as making strawberry pancakes or riding your bike). i know you miss your friends back home, and your daycare, and our house with all your toys (living without 90% of our stuff has been freeing for me, but you don't see it the same way). that being said, you love playing in the hose on our terrace, and giving (quite forceful!) high fives to the seminarians, and riding your scooter. you love playing with our new family friends, and you love talking to the sisters here (who are so kind and invariably make you laugh).
 |
| posing with an aqueduct at Villa Pamphili park |
the biggest change for you in the last month is that you started preschool here. you're in a class with 3- to 5-year-olds. your friends Polly and Louise speak English as well as Italian, and every morning when i drop you off, they run over and ask you to play with them. (absolutely melts my heart. take that, mean girls!) but apart from your bilingual besties, the other kids and your teacher all speak Italian. you were adamant the first few days that you weren't going to learn any Italian (you said emphatically, "i'm just going to speak English!! plus i can teach them some Spanish numbers!"). protests notwithstanding, when you play school with Cecilia now, your conversation is peppered with "bellissima!" "ciao, ragazzi!" "sedutti!" "brava! brava, Margareta!" back in Pittsburgh, you would often "act out" what happened at daycare by pretending to be the teacher, and i loved getting an accurate (and reassuring!) glimpse of your day. now i'm getting the same insider information, but occasionally i have to resort to Google Translate to decipher it!
you love to do makeup (both your own and your sister's), to draw and color, to help me make scrambled eggs, and to watch PJ Masks, Magic Schoolbus, and Peppa Pig. you also would watch Shopkins and My Little Pony ad nauseum if allowed, but i just can't take the inanity. you often prance around with a mesh laundry bag over your head pretending to be Rapunzel.
your sleep schedule has been out of whack since we moved. prior to coming here, we would start the bedtime process around 8:15 PM, read you a story and say prayers in our room, then quietly go into the room you shared with Cecilia and snuggle you for ten minutes or so before going downstairs. occasionally you'd call down to us and ask for more snuggles, but most of the time you just went to sleep. now, you often don't want to fall asleep until 9:30 or 10 pm or even later some nights. it's been a little better since starting school, since i think you're more tired by the end of the day (not least because now we have to be up and out the door in the morning, instead of me letting you sleep in ... which just perpetuated the problem). rarely, you'll fall asleep in our bed right after we say prayers. most of the time, we snuggle you for a little bit and then come out to the kitchen/living area and you just stay up, usually playing some imaginative game, until you conk out. once you finally fall asleep, we transfer you into your bed in Cecilia's room. you're still getting ten hours of sleep a night (out of the 10-13 hours per night recommended for your age), but i wish we could get our previous bedtime groove back!
 |
| sleeping in our bed at the farmhouse in Slovenia where we stayed on our trip with Father Aron & the Pongracs |
you are starting to read a little -- Grammie sent you two sets of the Bob Books and you've read through the first set. we don't do any formal reading lessons at this point. you'll read through five of the books in a day, and then not pick them up again for weeks. i'll never forget the look of delighted comprehension on your face when you pointed to the white words painted on the side of the road and asked, "Mommy, does that say 'BUS'?!?!?" (and it did!) i'm enjoying reading some bona fide chapter books aloud to you. this year we've read Pippi Longstocking and The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh. i started to read The Borrowers to you, and you thought the concept was hysterical, but lost interest in the paragraphs of descriptions. and we're about halfway through The Little House in the Big Woods. usually for your bedtime story, though, you request a picture book (usually the same one for weeks on end until you switch. we read the Usborne Creepy Crawlies book for a solid month after we got here, and you were thrilled when you spotted a funnel web spider in one of your other books!).
 |
| pretending to drive an old Trabant car at Memento Park in Budapest |
you love to drink milk and eat whole raw carrots and frozen green beans out of the bag. you never stray from your favourite vanilla or strawberry (fragola) gelato. you don't like mushrooms, spicy food, or spinach. you like kiwis, peaches, and spaghetti with meatballs.
 |
| so weird ... but at least you're eating veggies! |
this year, your faith has grown, especially as we have visited so many churches and religious sites. you are particularly drawn to Mary, and you love lighting a candle and saying a prayer for someone back home (on our recent trip to Florence, you lit a candle for Nana on one day and one for Pappy on the next). you went through a period of fascination with the idea of the devil as a serpent, and you love the image of Mary Victrix (Mary crushing the serpent's head) that we often see in paintings or sculptures here. you desperately want to be old enough to receive Communion. i'm sure that day will come in a flash!
 |
| watching Daddy direct the choir for the Diaconate Ordination at St. Peter's this fall |
 |
| enrapt by this painting of the Assumption of Mary at the Duomo museum in Orvieto |
 |
| lighting a candle for Pappy at the Basilica of San Croce in Florence |
for your birthday today, you got to open one present in the morning before school. you were thrilled with your Hello Kitty umbrella (you've been asking me for your own umbrella for weeks). i had actually bought this particular umbrella for your Easter basket this year, and stashed it someplace so clever that i completely forgot about it by the time Easter rolled around. upon discovering it while we were packing to come to Rome, i figured it would still make a great gift. and from your reaction, i'd say it was worth the wait!
since today is Tuesday, you stayed at school all day, from 9 AM to 5 PM, participating in your gymnastics class in the last hour. this was only your second time in the gymnastics class, and you love it. while you were there, i made your cake (the same recipe i used for your sister - white cake with chocolate sprinkles, with a different frosting recipe - buttercream with a bit of cream cheese mixed in.)
Cecilia and i walked down the hill to pick you up at 5, and then you opened your presents: Frozen slippers, stick-on earrings, a play makeup set, a shirt, new headphones (so you and Cece can both be entertained on our loooong flights over the Christmas holiday!), and a set of My Little Pony horses that you had requested. you and Cece also opened the box that Nana sent, including Elsa and Anna dolls, a puzzle, a workbook, markers and colored pencils, and new outfits.
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| they were moving too fast for me to get a clear shot: lots of excitement for the box from Nana! |
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| thank you, Nana!! |
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| "hooray!" you said as you opened each present. |
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| your very own makeup kit |
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| your sister is a very willing model |
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| of course, you had to do your own makeup too, and try on your new stick-on earrings |
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| you got Daddy glammed up too |
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| you had been asking for My Little Pony dolls for weeks |
after you opened all your presents, you confided in me that you had really wanted dolls of the people from a spinoff show of My Little Ponies -- not the ponies themselves. then you said, "but it's okay, Mommy. you could get them for my six-year-old birthday." and you gave me a big hug! oh, kiddo, sometimes we butt heads, and that makes these sweet moments all the more precious.
 |
| opening presents is hard work |
you requested cheese pizza for dinner (i made half plain cheese, half capicola/baby spinach/red pepper flakes for Daddy and me), and then it was time for cake! you arranged the candles yourself and directed us to keep Cecilia back so she wouldn't blow out your candles (a necessary measure!).
 |
| after i cut the cake, you wanted to light a candle in each piece again. |
now you're sleeping, surrounded by your presents which you insisted on bringing into the bedroom with you. happy birthday, Sweetpea. we love you more than words can say!
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| yesterday, collecting leaves on our walk to our friends' house |
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