8 + 2

In July two new babies will join the group of kids in the neighborhood; at that time, we'll have a total of ten. In the recent week I've had more of chance to speak with some of the neighbors, mostly the women. They are genuine and interesting, and, most importantly, tolerant of my ugly Italian.

A question that we get over and over is whether Maddy will go the local asilo (preschool). We've decided (at least for now) to continue with the place we've been with for a couple of years now. These Italian kids all go to the local schools, and one of the neighborhood mom's works at the daycare center (with the little ones). We may send Maddy to the local elementary school in a couple of years -- in Italy, the kids attend the asilo through the kindergarten year and then transition for the 1st grade year. The school starting and ending times (even when before school care is considered) don't fit our schedule. We may have to opt for a school closer to where we work. We'll see -- it's a couple of years from now.

Until then, she'll have plenty of playmates in the blacktop play park -- umm. . . still working on the name.