We took five months old William to meet his nonni in Italy for the first time. To meet his nonni, William had to travel for nine hours with a six hours stop in Munich. He was giggling on the plane flying to Turin and as soon after we landed, nearly all the passengers couldn't help saying hello to William before getting off the plane. Mommy had to fight for William's rights to get a bassinet and she proudly got one for both ways. In Turin it was not too cold. Spring temperature on Christmas day! Amazing. It was the first time John and I were not feeling like tourists in mommy's town. The other times we went there we were always busy going to see things. Not this time. William was keeping us busy.
William and nonno immediately connected, like old buddies. Every day there was a big smile on William's face followed by nonno's "e ciao!... e ciao!... e ciao!... ciao!... ciao!". Followed by "Occhioni! Nasino! Cucciolo! Bambolotto!" And by nonno's mesmerized expression of the face. After that, mom would place William on nonno's lap or next to him, most of the times in uncomfortable positions because nonno was not able to use his arms, having pulled few legaments here and there. And William? He would stay with nonno in that same uncomfortable position for as long as mom would let him stay there. The magic of nonno! - he did won a Gold medal of magic after all!
Grandma was thrilled to pick William up, although she was shocked of how heavy he was. She was holding him the same way I found myself holding the biggest suitcase when I moved to the US! She couldn't stop starring at him and saying "e ciao! ciao! ciao! brutto muso! (she used to say that to mom)" Then, she was making a silly "bloorrrroorrrrr" which surprised William the first one or two times she did it. On Christmas day, there were more presents for William under my parents' nativity than there were presents for all of us together. It was my mom the guilty subject. She must have spent the last three months before Christmas going to all the baby shops in Turin looking for baby stuff. I was horrified to see how much Italian moms spend on baby stuff. The shops there are not all next to eachother like in the US and they shut every day from 1 to 3 pm so grandma must have been driving in her little car a lot. And in Italy the sales only come after Christmas. John and I could only manage to reach two baby shops in the entire time we were in Turin: Bamby, the shop where my mom used to dress me from head to toes and baby Benetton, the place all Italian moms go to. Plus nonni's friends this year decided to give William a present instead of the usual present to me. So this year on Christmas day we did not have enough time to finish opening William's presents!
I was surprised to see how prepared I was on baby's matters compared to my mom. She kept wondering why we had to wash William's clothes so often and why we had to get William to go to sleep so early in the evening. Or maybe I was too much of a clinical American looking mom to her eyes...
William playing with mom's Trudi stuffed lamb - William mentre gioca con la pecora Trudi della mamma
It was with surprise that mommy, after opening one of William's Christmas gifts, the ones still located under the nonni's nativity two days after Christmas, saw her old dear lamb Trudi. That was the one mommy used to hug under the bed spread hoping to fall asleep after experiencing the joyful and "sorrowful" moments of her childhood. Will William be able to take comfort from mommy's little lamb more than he currently takes from listening to the music coming from his mobile? We'll see.
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