Il Picolino

'Bella baby!', one lady says to us as she pinches Isabel's cheek. 'Bellisimo!'. 'Que Bella' they shout at us. We are on holiday in Italy and the Italians love Isabel. She has her own paparazzi.

She toddles through the museums with her backpack (aka harness), all blonde hair and big blue eyes, so different to all the dark-haired italian bambinos. That, and the fact that she insists on walking practically everywhere, just like us. She reminds me of that play 'Annie get your gun', where they sing 'anything you can do, I can do better!'. If we're walking, then she wants to walk too (she has walked several baby marathons to date, I am sure). If we're having coffee, she wants one too (no, of course we don't let her drink coffee). 'Watch out for 'Il Picolino'!' one father shouts at his son as she attempts to climb on a moving roundabout with the big kids. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what he said as he did some mad Italian gesturing at Isabel and the roundabout and his son. Some things transcend language barriers.

Where did her babyhood go? Sigh.

Dear people who read mummy's blog,

Things are all a bit weird lately. First, these big boxes arrived at our house and some men took all our stuff. I mean, like, everything. Even my books. Then, everyone kept saying 'bye' to me over and over (as if I didn't hear them the first time?!). And mum kept wandering around our house with water in her eyes, even though she hadn't been peeling onions.

Then, we arrived somewhere called Italy. But none of my friends are here like Mateo, Maia, or Ariya. And every time I ask Mum about them, she shakes her head at me and says 'bye bye'. But luckily, Mum and Dad brought lots of paper and pens. Though a few days ago, I drew all over my shoes, and they got really mad. So, now I say 'oh no' every time I put my shoes on but they just roll their eyes at me.

Anyways, here are the best things about this new place so far -

1 – The boats. Kind of like the tube in London with lots of people. But on water. Awesome.

2 – The stairs at the Peggy Gugga-whatzit-heim museum. Lots of people pointing at pictures with splashes of paint. Really, I could do that. The stairs are WAY more interesting.

3 – The bridges in Venice. I shout 'up' and mum and dad fly me over in my pram, like a spaceship. Then we go down. Then 50 metres on, there is another one. Way cool.

4 – The ramp with the stairs near this big statue of david thing. I mean, it's a giant man. But who's seen a ramp AND stairs together before. Way, way cool.

Ciao

Isabel xx

PS – Nearly forgot to mention the puddles. They are EVERYWHERE and mum let's me walk through them with my gumboots on.