What part of "COW" don't you understand?

Last week Abbie made me laugh really hard.

Every morning, when she wakes up, she loves getting on her window stool to look outside. She points at things and names them to me: "twee! (tree)", "kye!(sky)", "ca! (car)!", "sun!", "chichi! (kitty)", and so forth. Well, at one point she excitedly started saying "cow!!! cow!!! cow!!!" and pointing around randomly. So I said: "Abbie, WHERE is the cow? There is no cow there, honey... What cow? Where? Do you mean to say Cow or something else?".

Abbie turned to me, with this look in her eyes that said: "Boy, do you require some patience...! What is wrong with you!" and then, still tapping her index finger on the window, blurted out "MOOOOOOO!!!".

I mean, really. What part of COW did I not understand??

Abbie's first snow

Abigail had an extraordinary day, today. She experienced her very first snowfall! She was mesmerized when I first opened her window in the morning, and everything was covered by a soft white blanket. She grabbed her little stool, took it over by the window, climbed on it and just stared at the snowfall for the longest time.

Finally, I bundled her up, and off we went to play in the snow! She stepped outside the house, and immediately her whole face was filled with amazement and a million questions. I explained to her that was snow. And she kept saying "sno! sno!" while putting out her hands trying to catch the elusive snowflakes. She ran and ran and ran, laughing, happy as a clam! She sat down, patted the snow, and got up again to run some more. I had a hard time keeping up with her.

We were outside for a long while, and Abbie enjoyed every second of it, she did not want to go back home. I have rarely seen her this excited and simply radiant! She tried to eat a few flakes here and there, and never grew tired of playing, squealing, running, laughing and touching the white, cold snow.

What a day! I am hoping it will snow some more: I have rejoiced every minute of her experience.

History in the making

Dear Abbie: Today was a special day, one that will be remembered for a long, long time, as History in the Making.

President Obama has made a promise that, as your mother, I am hoping he will keep. He said: "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time."
"But know this, America - they will be met."

Moreover, my little one: "The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

For you, baby, I hope these words, so beautifully said, will be acted upon, and will realize themselves in all their promise of peace, love, and justice. For your future, I hope this world is on its way to recovery and redemption.

For the record: in the pivotal moment while President Obama was being sworn into duty, and the history of this country was irrevocably changed, you were sitting on your high chair, having lunch, throwing a little tantrum because you wanted "cackers". Life moves on. Apparently, some small, trivial things don't change in the face of the culmination of so much history and the germination of something new. Thank goodness the crucial ones do.


"America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations." -- President Barack Obama, January 20th, 2009.

Abbie iGeneration

I have always been a big fan of Skype: anything that gives me the possibility to call Italy for hours to no end on any given day gets two thumbs way up from me.

Yesterday I was setting up a Skype account on a laptop I am giving my mom, and then I started testing it, by calling her laptop from mine, checking the sound and video quality, and so forth. I left my laptop on the table for a minute while I adjusted something on my mom's computer, and when I got back, Abigail was sitting on my chair and checking things out for herself. She had climbed on the chair dragging Duck along with her for the ride.


What she noticed right away was a picture I took of her as my wallpaper. She got really excited, started giggling and saying "Abbi-gal, Abbi-gal"...


... and making her little Duck dance on the keyboard.


Then, WOW! All of the sudden, her daddy showed up on the screen!! He was calling my computer from his own Skype account knowing that she would get a kick out of it, and she sure did! She chatted with her dad online, and was totally stoked!





She excitedly chatted with him for several minutes, touched the screen where his face was, and was totally all over the fact that she could see and hear her daddy through a computer, even though he was just at arms length. So iGeneration.

Abbie's vocabulary, part II

Abigail has been improving her vocabulary in the last week, and new words have been added to her repertoire.
She now uses on a regular basis:

Abigae (for Abigail)
Agua (to indicate she wants her AquaDoodle)
Bubbe (bubble)
Beer (bear)
Ca (car)
cackes / crackes (crackers)
Cir-cle (circle)
chis (cheese)
down (to say "get down", I generally say that to Shelby)
feesh (fish)
Juice
Meet (meat)
Quare (for square)
Ova (oval)
Sheby (Shelby)
Tigu (tiger -- she has a little tiger in her drinking cup)

She's s funny: she comes up to you with the most serious look on her face, looks you square in the eye and starts talking, gesturing, saying incomprehensible words while trying to share her thoughts on whatever is going through her mind. When she's done unloading, she goes back to her toys.

Yesterday, while she was in my room, she lied down on the floor, on her stomach, and started reaching for something under our bookshelf. I asked her: "What are you doing, honey?", and Abbie, still flush against the floor, grunting in effort, and with her head under the bookshelf, answered: "shoosh acke toojee ang toott ball!!!", and out she came from under the bookshelf holding her small green ball. I guess she was just telling me she was trying to get to her ball.