June 22nd: In the USA!

Hanging out with my very own great grandmother. She has the coolest measuring spoon ever. Here I am giving them a chew.

With my super-cool Aunt Molly. I think in a year or two I'm going to be able to lift her.

And my awesome Uncle Andrew. He really likes hanging out with me and my toys. Here he is trying to steal one of them.

With "Uncle" Forest (really a first cousin once removed, or something like that). He came to visit me all the way from Chicago and sent me the following three photos. I think I look quite adorable, if I do say so myself....

With my papa...in the "potato sack" position. Notice my svelte thighs. Oops, my underwear is showing!

With my mama.

It has been a whirlwind 3 weeks since we arrived in the States. Giovanni has been getting to know Great-Grandmother Day, Aunt Molly, many cousins and DC friends. He was reunited with Grandmother and Grandfather Zurn and, of course, his beloved Uncle Andrew. We traveled to Erie, PA, for his baptism June 14th. Our days in Washington are spent visiting Great-Grandmother and other friends. We go up to the Zoo every morning with the jogging stroller though so far Gio has missed the pandas as he falls asleep each time we approach their habitat. If only I could run faster to get him there while he is still awake! Nancy & Dave Roll have been incredibly generous to allow us to stay at their amazing P Street house while they are up in Michigan. Giovanni sleeps so well high up in his 3rd floor room. While he naps I tend to Nancy's garden and cook baby food. It is such fun to feed Gio these days as each new vegetable and fruit is a wonderful discovery for him. He has not met a taste he does not savor. Today I tried a papaya-banana-avocado mash on him- he lapped it right up!

Paolo's 17-year-old niece Cristina is visiting us and is giving me a lot of help with Giovanni. She takes English classes in the morning and then the 3 of us spend the remainder of the day shopping, strolling and swimming. We will all go up to New York City this weekend. Paolo and Cristina will fly to Germany together on Friday, July 3rd. From there she will go on to Italy and Paolo on to Delhi. Though I will be so sad to see them leave it will be such a relief to know Topher will finally be reunited with Paolo. On July 18th Paolo, Giovanni and I will meet up again in Italy for 3 weeks in the mountains.

Our big news, which many of you already know, is that we will be leaving New Delhi for good in early November. Paolo will begin a new position at the Bank working in Eastern Europe. We will live in DC for one year and then relocate to Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine. What an exciting beginning of life our sweet Giovanni will have (though he will not likely remember all of these places)! More details later on this big move. Now I need to think of a new name for this blog....

Happy 4th to all of you! Love and hugs, Clara