When they told me “Behold, time flies!” they were right. Lavinia is already 18 months old, and I don’t feel like I have much time to invest in blogging about her. I prefer spending my time with her.
All the changes
There’s no dull moment here. Lavinia learns something new every day, shows something interesting, discovers something wonderful that perhaps it’s so obvious for the grownups. It’s a delight seeing her blooming. Some days are more challenging than others, but all in all things are getting so much better as she grows up.
Our communication has improved as she’s more able to express herself, and we can better understand her too. Less misunderstandings means less frustration time. I think this is the most important milestone that made our life with her more pleasant and funny. The miserable days are only sporadic: if she throws a tantrum or she’s upset, we can work it out now, as opposed to suffer that without knowing what caused her upsetting.
Speaking wise, she still talks A LOT, but doesn’t say much; she expresses herself with sounds that resemble words – both in Italian and English. It takes a bit of effort from our end to understand what she means, and we don’t mind it at all. It’s actually fun to try understanding her, and teach her new words every day.
At daycare, she’s loved by all the other children. They like spending time with Lavinia as she is a nice team player. Our childminder told us she sometimes bosses folks around, but always graciously.
Moving to our new home
In early March we moved to the new house we bought, which is just around the corner from the flat we’ve been living since we moved in Reading.
Lavinia wanted to do her part in the moving, trying to help around 🙂
We brought her to the new home several times before moving in, even though it was empty and dirt, to familiarise with the rooms and the new environment.
Once we moved in, she didn’t touch her toys for two days. She looked a bit confused initially, but as soon as she was allowed to run freely in the garden she forgot about any worries.
Pandemic life
Another Easter has passed in lockdown; while we still need to wait a long time to be vaccinated, life is very slowly resembling what we can call “the normality” after this pandemic. I can’t wait to bring Lavinia to see the sea, museum, shops and restaurants. According to her love for food, I suspect restaurants will be her favourite activity.
She grows too fast
Lavinia is becoming a caring, sweet little girl: she loves taking care of her plush toys (putting eye-drops on them, checking their temperature, putting a blanket on them, etc) and mostly she loves helping out at home.
It’s an absolute pleasure spending time with her. She can be a pain in the neck sometimes, but she’s just being a toddler. I feel lucky, privileged and proud to call her my daughter.
She never misses a chance to assist me whilst loading the washing machine, vacuuming around (she follows me with her own Dyson!), hanging the laundry, clearing the table, etc. The other day she accidentally spilt some water on the living room floor, then she went in the kitchen, grabbed the rug in front of the sink, and then wiped the water she poured. I am amazed by her enterprising spirit and independence.
She also likes sharing whatever she is playing with or eating: I’m sure that at some point she will have her jealousy-phase, but that’s not there yet.
I have to admit I still rock and hold her tight at bedtime before putting her down: I used to unlike this part of the day when she was little because I was so tired that I couldn’t wait to have some time for myself.
I still need way more me-time (which I missed so much), however I can’t stop thinking how fast the time is passing. Every evening I want to hold her one more minute. She won’t be that little for too long anymore, and at some point I won’t be able to rock or hold her – no matter how many bicep curls I can do at the gym.
These moments are too precious to worry about whether that’s not good for Lavinia’s sleeping habit. She’s always been a great sleeper anyway. A dear friend of mine told me to never feeling guilty for loving my child in whatever way that is. No one ever had issues because they were hugged too much or got to fall asleep with mama every night. I am actually making her strong by giving her that at foundation of love and support.
And as she learns by example, I hope I’m raising a girl who can love and be loved, and confident enough to always shows her feeling to the others.
I am Lavinia Olympia 
Carissimi Steffi e Franz, How we LOVED Steffi’s blog and videos about growing up with Lavinia! She is absolutely precious and adorable, and Dick and I miss you all so much! We are living for the time when we can get back to London, when we can finally take you all in our arms for some gygantic hugs! You are both such great parents, and we’re so proud to know you and to have had the privilege of having you with us albeit for a short time. But time enough to realize what special people you are! So until we can be together again, lots of love from us both!
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Ciao belli, che piacere sentirvi! I’m glad that with my blogging I can share a bit of Vinnie with you all. We miss you as well and look forward to having you in the UK again 🙂
We have so much to catch up with, we definitely need to book a whole week only for that! I am sure Vinnie will love you at first sight as I did when I first meet you. Love and hugs coming back at ya!
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