Happy Holidays!
This year has really flown by. It just seems like yesterday when we were all watching the clock waiting for all the computers to crash. I even took a semester of Beginner’s Italian, at the beginning of this year, and can hardly remember how to speak it now. I guess time flies when you are having fun or is it the kid? Most likely it is the kid.
Antonio, I call him Tonio for short, has continued with cutting several teeth at the same time. He has had two months where he cut four teeth in a month. The only recorded "first" this year was when Tonio said "Mah-ny" (Mommy). That was on July 24th. Now he is starting to use two and three word sentences but he likes the word "no" the best. "No, No, No … don’t want, Noooo." I have kept Tonio busy this year. On Mondays it was our weekly swim classes at the Y. We played simple games and sing songs. Of course, the songs were all water related. But don’t worry; his head never goes below the water unwillingly. On Thursday we are off to playgroup with 4 other mothers and babies that we met in Gymboree class last year. They all run around saying "Mine, Mine, Mine…" They really do play good together. It is truly amazing to watch these 5 children grow on a weekly basis. On Fridays, we are off to the "alterative" playgroup. In August, I found I was not alone in the Philly area in using cloth diapers. It was so funny the first time I met them because I found my parenting style was not "strange" and all of us connected on a sisters/very close friends level. These gals are wonderful.
I started a new project this year. One of the online auction houses, LittleDeals.com, (like eBay) wanted "power sellers" and offered payment incentives. A power seller is someone who will post at least fifty items a month. I signed on and bought several lots of clothes from yard sales to sell online. I have found out that selling lots of items is much harder than the casual listing. Pictures have to be taken, detail descriptions need to be written, and then it needs to be organized and posted online. With a little bit of help I get it done every month. Unfortunately, I have also discovered just how frustrating deadbeat bidders can be. At least I am making some money and the post office people know me by name.
Tonio and I got to take a vacation this year but unfortunately Steve was unable to join us. We went to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina with Grandma and Grandpa Vitarelli (Steve’s parents) and stayed for a week. It was great all the things that we did. We went to Fort Macon and watched the birds and visited the fort and now have a picture of Tonio "behind bars." We went to the aquarium and it was fun. Tonio learned the word "fishies". His favorite thing of all was to stomp on the shells that had washed up on the beach. Also, once I got him in the water I couldn’t get him out.
Steve’s company did not send anyone to England as we had hoped. But one good thing did come out of this. We got a passport for Tonio and we used it. One of Steve’s close friends got married this summer in Canada. So the whole family went. We all had a great time. I had customs stamp his passport in and out of the country. This makes Tonio a real world travel. He has flow to Florida and Detroit and out of the country all before the age of 2.
Let me get back to were I was with Steve. The British company did not buy most of Global Financial Press they only bought the New York office, and then only after Global filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Fortunately they did not start to close the Philadelphia office until the beginning of October. Steve, being the good guy that he is, did not run out and find another job although he did begin looking. Sadly, they finished closing the Philly office on November 30th and released Steve. Now he is on the unemployment line. But, one good thing does come out of this. There are a lot of jobs around the house that are now getting done. Tonio just loves having his Daddy around all the time. But fret not; I am sure Steve will have another job soon.
Best wishes and have a happy New Year.
Steve, Sonya, Antonio and Fuzz