Dear Nadia,You are now 15 months old. There has been a tornado of change in your life since your first birthday so I thought it would be a good time to try and get some of it down on paper. Of course we must start with our move. After you recovered from pneumonia and your dad and I recovered from some sort of crazy African sand flu, we were busy getting our stuff ready to be shipped and getting the house ready to vacate. You spent a lot of time at Signora B's during this period and she and her husband very quickly became surrogate grandparents to you. The day we said goodbye to them was a very sad day indeed. Signora B said that she hoped one day there would be a ring at her gate and she would come out and see a woman she recognized instantly because of her "belle occhi azzuro." (Beautiful blue eyes.) Needless to say my eyes were not dry that day.At 13 months, the time of our trans-Atlantic move, you were cutting your molars. They came in one corner at a time but you did surprisingly well. There were only a couple of screaming matches on the plane but they were both due to severe fatigue and you were quickly calmed with, you guessed it, sleep. My in-laws made the mistake of greeting us at the airport with a giant yellow bird and balloons, both of which made you very very afraid. I think their feelings were hurt when you rejected their gifts, but hey, you're 1 and jet-lagged, you're allowed to be sensitive. Upon arrival at your dad's best friends' house, you took to them, and their house, immediately, going so far as to walk around like you owned the place. The only other house you've warmed to so quickly is my friend Jim's. Maybe you can sense where your dad and I feel most at ease. I don't know. You also quickly became frenemies with their dog, Jackson. I say frenemies because you point to him non stop and refer to him (by imitating his sniff) all the time when he's not around, but the minute he comes within 5 feet, you cower, any closer, you cry. Ah, one day.Over the past few months you've added quite a few words to your vocabulary, here are a few versions of words you say (some of them aren't exactly how a big person would pronounce them;): dada, mama (yup, it's finally specific!- but mostly when I'm not around or when new people come over- you point to me as if to tell them, "oh, by the way, this is my mama), rambo (rara), g.g. (my dad), nana (both for my mom, your own name, and bananas - how confusing!), backpack, -flowers, glasses, viola- all of which are "yaya"- again, how confusing-you used to say light but have since stopped, puffs, moo, that, shoes, bath, and cheese. You know, all the important stuff. Speaking of viola, whenever you see my case you point to it and say "yaya", but if I ask you if you want me to play, or start to unzip it, you vehemently shake your head, no! You love music, but you don't love me not paying attention to you which is essentially what happens when I practice. Sorry. You have had a number of playdates with our new friend Elijah, and an old/new friend, W. Both boys have made you cry, sometimes legitimately, sometimes not. Hmmm, boys making you cry, chronicle of a life foretold? Nah, I won't spoil the surprise. Anyway, it seems you are very sensitive and may even have a memory as good as your mother's, the human elephant. The first time you hung out with W he whapped you on the head a few times and since then you whimper and want to be picked up if he so much as looks at you. But his mother and I soldier on and will keep putting you in the same room for the rest of the summer. Again, sorry.
Around adults, however, you are a social butterfly. You are constantly trying to get some love out of my fellow stoic Canadians when we're out in public. Initiating games of peekaboo, scrunching up your face in a "look at me" smile, pointing to their glasses and backpacks, and then finally, in desperation, pointing to them and shrilly repeating "that that that that" until they either look at you or I distract you with something shiny or edible. If we are so lucky as to be with one of my friends you take my hand, then his/her hand, and walk us around, much like you did with me and your dad when he was home. You are the ringmaster, we are the monkeys.
You are in your best/silliest mood after dinner, especially since that is when Nana and Rambo are home. I barely exist during those hours between eating and bedtime. You run back and forth, laughing, squealing, and making up silly games for them to play with you. When you hear the door crack at 5 o'clock you go through the list of who it could be , "nana? rara? dada?" Last week you were constantly asking if it was dada, something you hadn't yet done, and something I was dreading. It had been three weeks since you saw him and I guess you were finally to the point of saying, ok, enough is enough, it's not funny anymore, where is my freaking dada? My response? -He's at work on a boat.- I wonder what you think of all this?
You are obsessed with airplanes and birds, so, pretty much anything in the sky. Sometimes we'll be in the house and you'll start putting your hand in the air, saying, "shoooooo", and I'll be like, what? airplane? There's no airplane in the house, silly! And then I'll shut up and listen and sho' nuff, there's an airplane flying in the distance, so far away one can barely hear the engines. I swear, you have the ears of a dog and the eyes of a hawk. It's pretty much impossible to pull one over on you!
You are very interested in imitating and trying to do big people things yourself. You love to take off your shoes and socks and try to put them back on, you can now take off your sweater, you feed your baby and moo, you read books to them (you've already memorized "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?") and you know what cows, horses, elephants, dogs and birds say/and or do. When you don't know how to say something you do the Nadia fake-out "cacakkkcaattcakkkkk." Like, if I say enough consonants maybe I'll get it sort of right and she'll stop bugging me. The other day you pointed to a billboard of a Brownie Blizzard when we walked past Dairy Queen and said, "mmmmm" and I was like, "you've never had chocolate, or even ice cream for that matter, how do you know that's mmmmm?" But you seem to know a lot of stuff, and understand more than I expect sometimes. When I tell you to put something away you take it immediately to exactly where it goes. When I threaten you with things like going to sleep by yourself in your crib as opposed to rocking you, you know precisely what that means and shake your head, no. (Fortunately you have become a dream when it comes to putting you down for a nap or the night - though your nap is still only 25-60 minutes, at least you're sleeping 12-13 hours at night now that we're settled- so the threats are rare.) It's not that you don't know how to go to sleep on your own- you do it from time to time without so much as a fuss- it's that you don't want to. Fair enough, I actually cherish one of the few moments in the day you sit still in my arms. If, in 18 years, I'm making nightly visits to your college dorm to pat your back as you fall asleep, we may have to have a talk, but until then, you're 1. And I'm your mama.
GG is always commenting that you look so funny because your face looks old and big (you kind of have a big nogggin like your mama), and it's on such a little body, but you're actually tall for your age, tall and light, and you tower over W.
All things considered, you have adapted to all of this change extremely well. I guess it helps that you're still young. My heart breaks for you and your dada, missing each other so, but he'll come back and all will be well again. Until then, it's just you and me kiddo, with our special guests, nana, gg, and rambo. We all think you're hilarious and amazing.
Love,
M.
We spent a delightful morning at the downtown outdoor market which turns out to be so much more enjoyable than the, what I find to be, pretentious indoor market across the river. Maybe it's because it was freezing a** cold outside (hence the toque and raincoat), the annoying people were too afraid to venture out, or, at least, across the bridge. N got many a compliment on her rad coat, many people asking where we got it. Well, if you're ever in Italy (and probably the rest of Europe too), check out any store that carries the children's label, "Grain de ble." Totally awesome cool. I went a bit nuts before her birthday, buying a few things for the future. Should have bought more. 
Not that I took pictures at the market. We were with a friend and I was busy buying homemade barrettes and dresses and kolbasz, oh my!
Our newest pastime. Nadia no longer vehemently shakes her head no when I open the viola case, maybe because she knows she will get a few minutes of "cello" time. We play Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, you know, the classics. She's actually pretty good with the bow just needing me to keep it straight more than anything. Though since we got here it has been suggested that she may one day be a kicka** brass player. When asked what sound a horse makes, she imitates trumpet embouchure to a tee. My dad is constantly floored and he would know, he used to teach band.
