It’s true. Though they are getting longer: it’s getting dark by nine now. Though when it’s light, it’s very very light. (Or “wewwy, wewwy light, as Neve might have said not so long ago.) Neve has done one of those growing-up spurts while here. I remember we noted the same in Lola before–there’s a lot of context change, a lot of new data to crunch. She’s doing a great job of trying out Italian and is always repeating and using phrases she hears.
Neve’s got over her timidity around i zii now — she’s quite happy to play with Claudio and Renzo. In fact, she greets everyone with great delight and excitement. She really is an incredible little girl, so like her own caricature with the great big brown eyes and that amazing grin. She continues to love to chat and tell stories and talk about what she’s going to do with her friends. While we’ve been here in Italy she keeps saying, “when we get back to our house I’m going to go with Otis to the swimming park”.
She’s been getting really into the two Barbie dolls which are here–she gets up in the morning and the first thing she wants is her Barbies. I say “her”, but that is, of course, the root of some litigation as Lola wants to share and expends a lot of effort trying to get them away from Neve and to be “fair” about sharing them. Fairness is currently the cause of quite some parental exasperation…
She still often runs to Isa or me for a big cuddle and a spontaneous, “I love you sooo much!”. Which is as lovely as ever.