Bruco's Potty Mouth

True story. Last night I caught Bruco eating one of Currier’s poopy diapers out of the trash can. I screamed, "Damn it Bruco! I can’t believe you. You're disgusting!" Bruco turned to me no lie and said, "Lady, where I come from shit is a delicacy."

Riverbanks Zoo & Garden

Today we went to the Riverbanks Zoo & Garden in Columbia. It was about a two hour drive for us and well worth it. Currier got to see many of the animals that we've been reading about in his bedtime books. His favorite was the elephants and even got to see one poop, which made a BIG impression on Currier. The rest of the day Currier would imitate the elephant's trumpeting sound and then say in a disgusted voice, "caca".

Parrucchiere Americano

Bina always cut Currier's hair so I never had to worry about taking him to a hairdresser for a haircut. It's been almost three months since we moved from Sicily and Currier's fluffy hair has become unruly so today I took him for his first American haircut. I anticipated having to pin him down but he just sat there in awe at this really cool children's hair boutique Bangs n' Bows. He actually cried when I told him we were all done and it was time to go.

Easter Sunday

Easter morning started off with Easter baskets crammed with yummy and fun goodies from the Easter bunny. Currier, Bruco and Paolo all seem pleased with their loot.

After breakfast and showers, we headed to the park across the street for a little Easter egg hunt.

Currier received the sacrament of the Reece's peanut butter cup.

Finally we dyed and painted Easter eggs until Currier knocked over the red dye onto the beige carpet. The rest of the day was spent frantically scrubbing and steam cleaning a big pink mess.

South Carolina Aquarium

On Saturday we took Currier to the Charleston aquarium. He was incredibly fascinated with all the "FISHIES! FISHIES! FISHIES!".

The best part of the aquarium was the touch tank where Currier got to touch sea urchins, hermit crabs and a horseshoe crab. We had so much fun we bought a membership and plan to go back often.

Am I Making Friends?

Hell yeah, I'm making friends! This is my best friend Holly. Holly makes me iced coffee every morning, serves it with a smile and calls me Honey. Being friends with Holly is effortless considering she doesn't know we're friends.

Just In Time For Easter

Check out the Easter egg on Currier's forehead from jumping off the air mattress into the coffee table.

Chad & Najah

We met Chad at a scuba diving certification class in Sicily. He was the guy that kept messing up and kept us laughing. One time he unwittingly put his snorkel in his mouth rather than his regulator and when he jumped off the boat into the ocean he took a deep breath expecting to inhale oxygen and gulped down a gallon of sea water instead. Another time he kept complaining that his new fins were killing his feet. He just couldn't understand why they were so uncomfortable and constricting. After the dive he anxiously removed the irritating fins to find that he had never removed the stiff plastic inserts!

Chad soon became one of our best friends. He came over for dinner often (hot wings are his favorite), he babysat our dogs whenever we needed him (one time he actually took professional portraits of the dogs to surprise me), and he was at the hospital the day Currier was born (with flowers and a little card that read "Welcome to the family"). But just like all of our military friends, Chad moved onto his next base (Virginia Beach) and we said goodbye, wished him luck and hoped to stay in touch.

On St. Patrick's Day, Chad married his longtime girlfriend Najah in Georgia and as they passed through South Carolina on their way home to Virginia they stopped by and spent the night with us. Can you imagine a more romantic honeymoon than staying on an air mattress in our living room? Throw in two ridiculously needy dogs and a very cranky toddler and you've got paradise! We still had some laughs and just like old times we drank cocktails and played poker until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. We wish Chad and Najah a long and happy marriage!

Aunt Carrie or KEY-YAH

Trent's sister Carrie, who Currier calls KEY-YAH, came and spent the weekend with us. Carrie arrived late Friday evening after her six hour drive from Knoxville. Since we'd been psyching Currier up all afternoon with KEY-YAH's visit, we let him stay up late to greet her. When Carrie knocked on the door around 10PM, we asked Currier, "Who's that? Who could that be?" Currier shouted, "PIZZA!" Carrie was like, "Um, do you guys order a lot of pizza?" Currier can't even speak in sentences yet and he's already tattling on us! On Saturday our real estate agent had several houses lined up for us to tour so Carrie came along to help entertain Currier (Thanks Carrie!) and also check out some of our potential homes. After a morning of house hunting we had lunch at TGIF where Currier barfed all over himself. It was lovely. That evening we ordered sandwiches from a local deli and watched a tornado head right towards Charleston on the weather channel. We were lucky the tornado missed our area. We were not so lucky with Saturday's Power Ball—we thought for sure we had the winning lottery numbers! Ugh, now we have to settle on buying something less than a multi million dollar home—how boring!

On Sunday we took Carrie to the marsh in the back of our apartment complex. If you go back there during the right time of the day, you will find thousands and thousands of little black crabs scurrying through the blades of sea grass and dipping in and out of mud holes. Unfortunately when we took Carrie back there the crabs were no where to be seen, but the sun was setting and the view was phenomenal. It was a nice visit with Aunt KEY-YAH and we look forward to many more visits with her.

All Dressed Up With No Place To Go

Tuxedo shirt + Camouflage pants + Flaming Converse sneakers = Slave to fashion.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In a study, scientists report that drinking beer can be good for the liver. I’m sorry, did I say “scientists”? I meant “Irish people.” ~Tina Fey SNL

Ninna Nanna

Currier carries around a pile of blankies that he has affectionately named "ninna nanna" which means lullaby in Italian. Bina used to sing him a special ninna nanna before his naptime so it’s only fitting that he would name his security blankets after something that comforted him so.

Crikey, That's A Beauty!

There are warning signs posted around our apartment complex

and today we learned that they're not fooling around!

When He's Older...

He's going to hate me for posting this on the Internet, but it's too funny to keep to myself.

Papa's 90th Birthday

My grandfather turned 90 on March 2nd. Papa has been slipping away for a while now and it’s very possible this momentous birthday will be his last so Currier and I popped up to Massachusetts to visit him for the weekend. We had a small celebration with cake and ice cream in his hospital room and Papa was awarded a citation from the city of Newburyport for his 44 years of service as a firefighter. I was glad we could be there with him when he received it.

It was difficult to see my grandfather so frail, especially since he's my hero. In my eyes he was always a big, strong man. He was a firefighter and there's no one tougher than a firefighter—but there he was lying in a nursing home bed unable to walk. He looked so sad; he reeked of humility. It was hard to see him with Currier because I know Currier will never get to experience his great-grandfather's wit (There is nothing funnier than being called a dingbat, dipshit, half-witted, moron). I was struck by a moment of clarity when Papa clutched Currier in his wobbly arms. I saw two men of the same bloodline—one's life just beginning and one's just ending. I am thankful that I could see the beauty in that and I am grateful that Currier and I could be with Papa on his 90th birthday.