Autobus Success

It has been quite another long, interesting, and even-filled week that I have not blogged.  Mainly, we've all been a little under the weather around here.  I had the great joy of experiencing my first migraine, Ava had tummy troubles for a day, and our host was in the hospital all last Saturday!  But we've still been trying to have fun, do new things and go new places.  Since my last post, we have gone to the park 3 more times.  One day we made the mistake of bringing Ava's Buzz Lightyear toy...even with broken arms and legs, Ava was surrounded very quickly by 4 little Italian boys to snatched it out of her hands and proceeded to run Buzz around the park for 15 minutes.  I was a little affronted by such action, as if any toys at the park meant they belonged to anyone!  But the parents just watched, and would occassionally ask if it was Ava's toy.  I would say Si and attempted to take back the toy with the little Italian I could speak with the kids.  Finally I just had to grab it back from a snotty nosed boy when Ava was practically crying "Mom, just take it back from them!!"  I guess we won't do that again till I know how exactly to yell at the little boys to leave my daughter and her cool, broken toy alone! 

Anyways, that was one adventure on Sunday.  The day before we had our big family lunch per usual, and as Francesco went to the hospital, I was left as the hostess of the house with the rest of his family.  Thankfully I'm used to the routine of the lunch by now, so I knew when to clear the table, bring out the coffee, and wash the dishes.  The family loves so much to play with Ava, and she has a blast being the center of attention!   This pic is of Ava with her two favorite playmates, Zia Anna and her 'cousin' Martina.  The three of them play together for hours it seems and they are always happy to give me a break from Ava.  On Tuesday Anna picked us up and we attempted to install Ava's carseat into Anna's car for the first time.  It's an older kind of carseat, with an installation diagram that is half rubbed off.  I think it took us about 5 tries before we were confident Ava wouldn't tip over in the backseat!  But we must really try to make it more secure next time.  Anyways, we all got in the car and Ava played with Anna at her house for 3 hours so I could go around in the city and have some 'me' time.  Ahhh that was nice!  I did a little shopping and walked around the city I love.  There is just such a big difference between being in the city alone, and being in the city with Ava.  Not that one way is better than the other, but it's just different.

So today was a big step for me.  I finally worked up the nerve to try taking the bus into the city with Ava...alone...with only a faint idea of what I was doing.  Thankfully the bus stop near our house is the end of the line, so there was only one way to go!  I don't know what I was so afraid of, since I knew the stop we needed to get off of, and which bus to take back home.  But I guess I was terrified we would get on a bus that would take us far, far away from anyplace familiar, and we would be stranded in who knows where without knowing enough Italian to find our way back!  Nothing like that happened, though.  Ava loved riding the bumpy bus (as you can see from the blurry pic) and we proceeded to have a lovely 3 hours in the center of Firenze!

First we walked near the Duomo and Ava was more interested in the pigeons and horses everywhere, rather than the wonderfully constructed church, or the fascinating structure of the cuppola by Brunelleschi, or the bronze doors by Ghibertti.  So I admired those things for the both of us, and Ava stayed strapped in her stroller, afraid of all the masses of tourists all around. 

We then proceeded to Piazza Republica where she instantly spotted the old fashioned merry-go-round.  Of course we had to ride that!  Tears were shed when the ride was over, but I'm thinking this will be a good way to start initiating chorse and an allowance at home.  When she helps with chores around the house, she can use her little euros for rides on this merry-go-round, or at the 99cent store, or for her own little gelato treats!  Well, it's an idea.  So, after we walked around and saw Piazza Signorina and the replica of Michelangelo's 'David' we were both hungry.  We went to one of my favorite little restaurants near San Lorenzo market called Il Porcospino (the porcupine).  The same guys work there from when I was here 4 years ago, and they all loved to see Ava acting like a little lady as we sat on the sidewalk, watched the tourists walk by, and had our pizza! 

 

With tummies full, I figured this would be a good time to get back on the bus and try to find our way back home.  At least if we got lost, we wouldn't we hungry for a while!  At the crazy Piazza San Marco we waited a total of 2 minutes before our bus showed up and before you knew it, we were back at our bus stop and then back in our house!  Yay!  I feel much better now that I at least know how to get to the center of the city so we can walk around and find interesting things to do.  I have heard there is a free place for kids to play near the center, so maybe that will be our next adventure!