Kid's Play

I keep wanting to write a post for you to wake up and read, but the truth is, it's hard to write about the day to day.  This week we're just doing what I came here to do.  LIVIN'

So, what to write about when I'm living the life of an au pair?  I'll give you my basic schedule and then show you a little of what the kids and I have been up to.

Morning: Wake up, exercise a little, shower, come upstairs to drink some coffee, eat some breakfast, answer some emails and usually write the blog.  Like this morning!

Afternoon:  See to the shopping with Silvia and the kids, help prepare lunch, get food prepped for dinner, see to the kid's lessons (one at a time for an hour a piece, a day), go for walks, run errands, play outside, etc.

Evening:  Help make dinner, chat with Silvia and Gian, set plans for the next day, watch some TV, get to bed...

That's pretty much it on the regular.  Of course we have days that are completely out of the normal where we take a day trip to the sea, or we head to the pool with friends, or we go to a swim meet in Verona and on those days it's extremely easy to post. But, during the week, when we get into our routine there's not much more to show you than what we're working on here.  So, today's post will be about what the kids have been up to.  Don't worry!!  There will still be plenty of posts to come with new places and faces and adventures.  Silvia, Gianluca and I are planning a trip to the mountains without kids soon, I believe, and I still think that towards the end of the trip we're going to the cote d'azur for holiday if Gian can get away from work!!  For today, however, you get the daily grind!

Peace, Love and Travel,
Reba (the au pair)

Andrea's depiction of me.  He enjoys my polka dot pants.

Laura's depiction of me using words.  I'd say that pretty much sums it up!

A gift I found on my bed one night from Laura.  I think we're ghosts.

Okay, here's what Andrea and I are working on in his lessons.  Andrea is an incredibly creative kid.  He loves fantasy and reading.  So, we're creating our own book.  He's drawing the pictures and I'm writing the words based on what he can explain, in english, about his drawings.  Vocabulary is our main focus.  When he doesn't know a word we act it out together with sound effects and a very descriptive type of charades until we can come up with the right word.  This is page one of the Mario's Mechanics Garage saga.

Laura has much better english so my lessons with her focus on me asking written questions, her responding in writing, then me correcting the grammatical errors and us talking through her answers together to understand the rules.  Today we'll begin a session where she asks me questions and then writes the answers I give her in the third person.  She's terrified to speak still but I think, by the end of the trip, she'll be a pretty darn good little english speaker.