Emily was not happy going to sleep in her own bed tonight. And by “not happy”, I mean screaming her head off. So Jan generously offered to let her fall asleep in our bed. We had just started watching the last episode of season 2 of Slings and Arrows so there was a safe window of an hour for her to fall soundly asleep before a sneaky transfer back to her own bed.

So Jan carries Emily into our room and lies her down on her pillow. Emily immediately protests, “No no no!”, scampers over to my side of the bed, lies her head on my pillow and, with her hands behind her head, explains, “Daddy sleep on couch.”

Cheeky little bugger.

In preparation for Emily’s upcoming birthday, I have started a new photo album on my Facebook page where I will be uploading two delightful photos from each month of Emily’s joyous life, covering three months everyday for the next week+. If my calculations are correct (and they rarely are), I should catch up to the present two year marker just a couple of days before her actual birthday on the 6th.

I have been very reluctant to upload photos to Facebook, mostly out of stubbornness and laziness. I already upload all of my quality photos to Flickr with lo-res versions here on the blog, but I can’t help but feel that many people don’t actually know that this site exists. Plus there’s the fact that I have only recently been reunited with many ghosts from my past and I’d like to catch them up. Rest assured that there will never be any Facebook-exclusive photos. Faithful readers of this blog will continue to receive the latest and greatest photos from the entire Barcelona chapter of the Zamrycki family just as you’ve enjoyed up till now.

One month ago I could do 13 consecutive push ups. I started training and, after two weeks, was able to perform 21. Today marked the end of Week 4 and I dutifully knocked out 33 push ups before collapsing to the floor in a trembling mess. 33, Basia helpfully points out, was Jesus’s age when he died. Not bad! According to my calculations, I should be able to make it to 100 in another two weeks with no problems:

OK, maybe not. Butt I’ll be stoked if I can get there in 8 or 9 weeks. Or at all!

During daylight hours, our TV is never on unless there’s a cartoon or muppet prancing around on it (which is not all that often). This all changed during Wimbledon when Jan decided to watch Spain kick some ass. Emily wasn’t very impressed. She started by grabbing the remote control and pleading to us, “Elmo? Elmo! More Elmo!!!” Jan was undeterred.

Now, whenever Jan attempts to watch anything on TV not intended for rugrats (it could be the weather report), Emily stands there with her hands on her hips and, making it abundantly clear that she’s not amused by the situation, disdainfully asks, “Tennis?!”

But she’s gotten past that now.

Emily was actually sitting on the couch watching the Olympic track and field events on her own the other day. Jan and I were in the kitchen preparing dinner. After attentively watching the long jump competition, Emily decided to recreate the event in our living room so we just left her to it. But then, from the other room, we heard her start to repeat the same sentence over and over again. “No running. Walking. No running. Walking. No running. Walking now. No running! Walking!” After a couple of minutes of this, we had to find out what in blue blazes was going on. Sure enough, she was watching the racewalking competition. Jan and I were ROTFLMAO. Then the broadcast switched over to the sprints in the stadium and Emily shot off like a bullet around the house with every starter pistol. “I running! I running!”

I just realized how long it’s been since I last posted photos here. Sorry about that. I’d better do something about it.

Last month, GG cashed in her birthday present from the family and came to visit us here in Barcelona with Aunt Amy as her chaperon. They stayed with us for a week and we had a wonderful time.

We pass this horse on the way to Parc de les Aiguas just up the road. Emily has to ride it every time. She doesn’t know that it would actually move and play music if we dropped some money into it. Please don’t tell her.

Hi Ho Silver

Emily and Amy had many quality conversations over the course of the week. From world politics and potty training to the effect of bottled water on the environment, no topic was left untouched.

Curb Sitting

Here we see Emily teaching GG how to download from BitTorrent sites and rip Sesame Street DVDs.

Surfing The Net

And here are Emily and GG sharing an intimate cup of tea.

Bath Tea With GG

And then there was the time when I was in the kitchen and Emily came up to me with a concerned look on her face and emphatically said something that blew my mind but, in the end, wasn’t what she was actually saying at all. It turns out she was saying, “Oh, sit! Fork!”

Hi. I just wanted to let you all know that we are currently relaxing in the picturesque Italian mountain village of Borgo Val di Taro. We arrived on Monday and are spending a week with friends Chris and Federico and their son Samuele. What a beautiful life they have here.

Having done the tourist thing in Italy before, this was to be a relaxing, down-home visit with friends, spending quality time with people and not running ourselves ragged between trains, cheap hotels, and crowded tourist attractions. You really have to make an effort to see the nearest neighbors down/up the hill here. I’m listening to the wind tickle the trees while Jan and Emily take their afternoon nap. Our hosts are at the grandparents’ house this afternoon so I’m “home alone” with the cats and the dog while I write this from the swing chair in the secluded backyard. The short rainfall this morning was a refreshing change from the sunny week we’ve enjoyed so far.

Chris and Fede seem very happy here having finally moved out of the “big city” of Parma. The last two times we came to Italy to visit them were first at Chris’ rustic home near Brescia and then for their wedding in the heart of Parma. Very different visits, all three, but equally wonderful.

Our days have been filled with tree houses, swimming pools, castle tours, homemade ropes courses, tiny village summer festivals (with the obligatory food, wine, and dancing to accordion music), picnics, visits to the local market, impromptu Italian lessons, grappa sampling, and of course wonderful food. Emily can usually be found either following Sammy or one of the four cats (Pancho, Violet, and the twins Carlos and Carlito). Wide-eyed and barefoot, she’s climbing everything she finds and is learning a whole new set of words to add to her ever-increasing vocabulary. It’s so nice not having to follow her around while she explores the new world of the great outdoors. The worst thing that can happen to her is that she falls down a hill. I’m sure we’d hear her cry if that happened.

By the way, 547. That’s the number of times that Emily has said the word “cat” since we arrived. And every time with the same unbridled enthusiasm and surprise. Now I try to avert her eyes when they enter the room. For everyone’s sake. I don’t know how many times she has meowed.

I actually fooled myself into thinking I could make the switch and move into the country after being here for just a few days. The same amount of money that would buy you a cramped three-bedroom flat in Barcelona would net you TWO (if not three!) giant HOUSES with acres and acres of land here. I’m certainly not ready to give up what we have back home and the thought of all the bugs confirms my decision. I don’t like bugs. The ants I could handle. And the flying ants. And maybe the spiders. But not the tiger mosquitoes. And certainly not the scorpions. That’s where I draw the line.

I’ll do my best to upload/post some of the photos and videos we’ve taken while we’ve been here in Italy. And from when Amy and Nana came to visit last month. And from our trip to England to see Jan’s family. I guess I’ve got some catching up to do.

I was listening to my muscles atrophying a few weeks ago while in the process of wasting my life away in front of the computer when I stumbled upon this interesting web site called one hundred push ups and I found myself instantly motivated. It had been a very long time since I partook in anything remotely resembling an exercise routine and that made me sad. I had found a new challenge.

After a few days of mentally preparing myself, I started with the initial test of seeing how many push ups I could do in a row. I maxed out at 13 and crumbled into a sweaty mess on the floor. Not bad.

I’m currently finishing up week 3 of the 6-week program (which I estimate should take me about 8 weeks to complete), but am already seeing a marked improvement in my strength. After week 2, there is another exhaustion test and I managed to reach 21 before crying. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to knock out 100 push ups in a row by mid September. OK, I just read that last sentence and am now back down on Earth again. I guess I’ll be happy if I ever get to 50.

Three years of wedded bliss. That’s leather, ladies and gentlemen.

Yes, Jan and I celebrated our third anniversary last week. Celebrated… well, we spent the day on an airplane flying to England to while away a week with her parents. Very little leather was involved.

The week was great. Jan’s mom happily spent the early mornings with our little monster (I mean that in the nicest sense of the word) while Jan and I did our best to catch up on sleep, good food, and generally recharge our batteries. A good time was had by all. Stories, photos, and videos to follow.

I’d like to thank all of you who wrote or called or even just sent a quick email to wish us merry on our special day. It meant a lot to both of us 🙂