Dictionary game

One of Oscar's favorite games these day is the dictionary game which goes like this:

Mamma segir hestur (mum says horse), pabbi segir cavallo (dad says horse),
mamma segir hàr, pabbi segir capelli
mamma segir kjöt, pabbi segir carne
mamma segir sofa, pabbi segir dormire
mamma segir leikskòli, pabbi segir asilo
mamma segir borða, pabbi segir mangiare
...and so the days pass...

origin of body-language

Sometimes when mum watches me and Oscar she she can't help but wonder where the way we move our body or body parts while playing or speaking, comes from. And she asks her self what the origin of our body-languagemay be ?

• Physical: When I'm tired I rub my eyes, and so does mum actually, and Oscar and dad. Nobody taught us to do it, we just do it, and when I do it, my parents know it's time to put me to bed. I'm sure the reason why we do this is physical, although I have no idea what exactly it is, maybe it's because we tend to fix our eyes when we get tired, so they become more dry, and so we have to rub them to get them moist again...or something. Another example is how we stick out our bump and lean forward the upper part of our body when we are about to pee or poop in our pants -a great signal for mum that she should bring Oscar to his potty in order to avoid a small accident.

• Imitation: When Oscar particularly likes his food he will point his index-finger to his cheek and pretend he is fixing a screw into it. In italian body-language this means: MMMmmmm very good food! There is nothing physical about this movement, and I have no idea what's the origin of it is, but for sure Oscar learnt this by imitation, from dad, from the other kids in kindergarten or somewhere else. A wonderful way to enrich the spoken language I would say!
  

• Natural: If mum ever wondered why we nod our head when we say yes and why we shake it when we say no -she can now stop wondering. The origin is so primitive and natural that it surprised even mum when she realized it! Have you ever tried to feed a baby that doesn't want to be fed? Try to feed me the last few spoons of my pappa when I've just had enough. I'm too young to say noooo (although I'm quite getting it) and therefore all I can do is avoiding to get another spoonful in my mouth. And how do I do that? If I bend forward (nod my head) the food will end up in my eyes (I've tried that and don't recommend it). But if I shake it to the sides at most it will leave a trail of food on my cheeks (just don't shake it so much that it will end in your ears that are difficult to clean).

• Invention: Gestures of all types come in very handy for those who don't yet master the speaking skill perfectly and much of them have to be invented along the way -sometimes in a desperate attempt to be understood. Many of those are used only once, but the more clever ones might find their way into common gestures. I guess that this is actually the real origin of most of the gestures we learn by imitation.
  

• Genetics: When Oscar has finished his food he will say FINISHED and then he will raise his arms (elbows bent) a little bit in the air and shake the hands around the wrist. Now where does that come from? I find it hard to believe that there is a physical reason for this (but if someone does I'd like to hear about it). No one around him does this, so it's unlikely to be imitation, and I don't think nature teaches us that this is the best way to signal that we've finished the food. Did he invent the gesture? We can't exclude it, but then it would be a strange coincidence! Mum was actually quite startled when Oscar did this for the first time, not because it seems such a ridiculous gesture to do, but because she had actually seen it before. Afi Lalli in Iceland does just the same thing. But had Oscar seen it? Maybe so, but he would have been very little, and although he does pay a lot of attention to things around him, it is unlikely that he'd picked up this unusual gesture when he was just 1 years old. So the only plausible explanation is genetics!! Not only has Oscar inherited much of granpa's look but also some of his gestures. Maybe somewhere on the long arm of chromosome 1 there is a gene encoding for this trait!!

Irene

When Irene first came home I didn't think much of her, she was just a crying-sleeping doll that took a lot of attention from me, and I wouldn't have minded that she'd gone back to where she'd come from! But the Irene of today is quite different and I've grown to love her very much. The turning point for me, when I started really liking her, was when she started smiling. Her smile is so warm and sincere and she smiles not only with her mouth but with her whole face and even her eyes can start laughing. She always has a smile ready for me: in the morning when I wake up, when she comes to pick me up at kindergarten (she actually jumps up and down in her kangaroo-bag (sic!) of joy when she sees me), even when I'm grumpy or crying she tries to cheer me up with her smile. She's also funny and laughes a lot, especially when I talk to her in her own language mamammabababadadada or when I tickle her or when I imitate her screams. Sometimes at dinnertime, when we are sitting at the opposite ends of the table, the devil goes loose in the two of us and we wind each other up in screaming and laughing. Mum just watches and smiles and her face tells me that she is living a moment of real happiness.
Since it is some time since we've updated you on Irene, here are some of the most important facts:

• After being a dark-haired Rockabilly girl for 8 months, with a curly fringe that took on crazy shapes after she'd taken a bath or when the wind had put it's touch on her hairstyle, Irene has now settled on a more simple and BLOND hairstyle! Mum finally decided to cut Irene's hair (which was so long that it had started to go in her eyes), and as she had conserved the first hair cut off my head, she had to do the same for Irene, and therefore she couldn't just cut away a couple of cm -and what do you know, under the dark curly fringe there was blond wool! We are still trying to adjust to her new look!
• Irene's gearbox has been fixed. For some times Irene has been able to move about, but for a long time she had no forward gear and would only go backwards or turn around. This made her very frustrated and she would scream when she tried to move towards e.g. a toy, but would go further away with every movement. About a week ago she got her gearbox fixed and started to scoot about on her stomach backwards, forward and turning around, much to her own delight. Then, a couple of days ago she started crawling. She's still a slow crawler, but she is perfectioning the technique, and I know that before long she will be racing around the house!
• More than a month ago, Irene stood up by herself for the first time. Combined with her newly acquired ability to move about and her endless curiosity, our flat has become an adventure park for her -and, in more practical terms, mum and dad have had to make the flat baby-proof -again! If Irene is not under constant surveillance she can be found chewing on mum's shoes, standing by the bathtub watching the water flow, or playing with my cars in my room! Read: DANGER!
• When I was little I started crawling and got the first tooth on the same day, a couple of days after I turned 7 months old. A few days later I stood up by myself for the first time. Irene stood up by herself for the first time when she was 7 months old, but she waited quite a while before starting to crawl -in line with the fact that she has (so far) been less interested than me in moving about (maybe because she was happy just sitting and watching me...!!!). But just like me she started crawling and got her first tooth on the same day, which gives rise to an hypothesis about the coinciding of the two events! Actually she added to the list of achievements in one day, by starting also to bat her hands together (she already did that weeks ago when holding two objects, but now she does it also with her hands only) -as if she realized that there was a good reason for applauding!
• Irene loves eating, and just like me she becomes very impatient when mum is preparing her pappa. She eats her food very quickly, and seldom leaves something (..but if she does I get to finish it, yummie!!). Lately she has started to show great interest also in what me and mum and dad are eating, and will scream and shout until mum gives her a piece to try -then her face becomes a big victorious smile, and she seems to love just about anything we let her try!,
  
• Irene is very expressive, and passes her day babbling. Her favourite sounds are mama-baba-dadadada, she also makes a clicking-noises with her tongue and says brrrrrrrrrr and much more! I don't understand a word of what she is saying, but she seems to understand everything. She starts looking for me when mum asks her where Oscar is, she gets happy and agitated when mum says that they are going to pick me up from kindergarten. She let's mum know when she wants to drink water during the meal, and understands when mum asks her if she wants water...and so on. Mum says she can't remember me understanding everything at such a young age, but then again, mum can't remember at all that I was that little once...
• Irene is a cuddling girl. She loves crawling into mum's arms and her favourite place is mum's neck (halsakot) where she buries her face and then hold around her so that she wont let her go for a while! No wonder I sometimes feel the urge to give her a BIG hug!
  
• Irene is just about to finish passing the separation anxiety phase. It was quite tense at it's peak: she wanted to be fed only by mum, only mum could hold her, or if she was fooled into staying with dad only she would start screaming as soon as she saw mum's shadow or heard her voice -only to calm down in mum's arms. She is now getting to terms with this phase, much to everyones relief, and loves to play hide and seek. She will pull her bib over her eyes making herself invisible and then laugh when she pulls it down again and becomes visible, and mum wil say CuCu!
• Irene is passing many other phases: e.g. the throw-everything-on-the-floor-phase, the destroying-towers-phase, the don't-stay-still-on-the-changing-board-phase, the love-to-put-my-hands-in-my-food-phase, love-to-play-with-the-swing-phase (see photo above) etc etc.

I'm probably forgetting something very important, but the conclusion is clear to everyone: Irene is simply wonderful and it's impossible to resist from loving her!

Open windows

One of the most underestimated skills that seem to be integrated in the Italian genome but had to be acquired sporadically by mum after she came to the boot, is the window-orchestring according to season!
Coming from Iceland, mum was used to small windows that would be kept open all through the year and through a mechanism of "settings" or the use of "storm-iron!!" they would be kept a bit less open in winter (except on december 23rd for obvious reasons), a bit more open in summer, and only closed during a really heavy storm (even then she would keep her windows just a little bit open, so that she could enjoy the sound of the wild storm trying to enter her house!).

In Italy this knowledge was immediately turned upside down. First of all, windows in Italy are huge and the opening mechanism is "all or nothing". Secondly, the concept of feeling the fresh air on your face while you're sleeping is alien to most italians. But despite the shortage of her preparations, it actually didn't take mum long (to be precise: just a single afternoon of almost coma-like feeling) to understand that keeping the windows open when it was >40° outside and the sun was boiling everything that dared facing it was pure madness, and soon mum was orchestrating her windows as a native: in summer the windows would only be opened when the temperature dropped outside (which during the summer 2003 hardly ever happened! and in general only happens late in the evening) to let the freshness in and then they would be promptly closed as soon as the quicksilver started to move upwards again -which goes far to explain why italian houses always look as if they have been abandoned during the summer, with windows closed and the blinds down! In winter, on the other hand, the windows are kept closed to keep the heat in (central heating DOES cost a fortune here) except for a brief moment in the morning or afternoon to let in some oxygen and drive out the foul carbondioxid-charged breath of the inhabitants. You might ask how the windows are kept in spring and autumn, and the answer is that most of the time we just jump from one extreme to the other and the in-between stage lasts more or less just the time for you to realize what is about to happen -so before you know it you are either on winter or summer schedule and therefore no real strategy can be followed.!
The temperature has jumped upwards in the past few days. Last week mum considered turning on the heating as the temperature in our flat fell below 16.5°C during the night, but only a few days later she was trying to creat current of air during the night so that we could breath with over 22°C in our flat. So as you can guess, we've been (0nce again) catapulted into the season where the windows are kept open during the night. And why am I going on about this? Well, as long as the windows are kept closed, it not only blocks the heat from leaving our flat and the cold from entering, but it also creates a sound barrier and we can imagine living in an isolated place far away from any other human being. But now that we have opened the windows the sounds from our neighbourhood filter in through the openings and enter into our subconsciousness. Before becoming our mum, mum would occasionally wake up to sounds from the neighbourhood. A dog barking, a train passing, an off-hour car-honking -well, or the cock announcing the imminent rising of the sun (in Pavia) -that sort of thing. But after mum became mum her antennas have been tuned into something different. She sleeps like a cat, one eye open and both ears alert and the sound that really gets her jumping from her bed is me and Irene crying. Sometimes she's even running towards our bed before we can finish the first uhuuuuuuuuuu! With the windows open it doesn't help for mum's good night sleep that me and Irene normally sleep very soundly and only occasionally wake up (I was e.g. fast asleep last night when mum woke up to "Panettone-panettone-panettone" -and started wondering what my dreams might be about) for mum also wakes up to the crying of the boy two floors down, the 8 months old boy next corridor that suffers from a skin disease and cries a lot, and the kids that live next street and probably just about any baby in our neighbourhood. Just as good that she doesn't automatically chase the sound and throw herself out of the open window to sooth the crying baby. The answer to the obvious question: is it better to wake up during the night because you suffer from the heat (windows closed) or when a baby (not yours) is crying (windows open) might just be: air-conditioning!
And if you are wondering what has happened to me and Irene in the past few weeks that mum has been busy remembering what molecular biology is all about and not been able to lend me her fingers, here are some keywords: blond, moving, singing, NO!