Francesca as a 21 and 22-month old

After months of hydrophobia, Francesca has discovered the pleasure of the bath and the beach. The top photos are of Francesca in the bath at home and at a local beach in Alameda with her papa and her nonna Karen, who visited during the Father's Day week. The photos in the stripey dress were taken in Tilden Park (Berkeley) on Father's Day.

The beach photos in the middle were taken in Carmel where we all spent five days in July with Francesca's "buddy" Marcos (in the matching pjs) and his mama, Eileen, both for vacation and for our close friends' wedding. The biggest hit of the week was the Monterey Aquarium - Francesca is still talking about the "je-lly-fish!" Actually, the biggest hit was tearing around our huge rental home with Marcos and jumping on beds with him while yelling "heinies!"

Francesca has also begun to discover the artist within - the piece aka scribble in the photos was one of her first multi-color crayon experiments. However, getting paint on her hands can be cause for high drama over the displeasure of having her hands "dir-ty!"

Less messy and just as much fun is singing. Francesca is now often caught singing to herself, sometimes working on her ABCs in English and Italian and sometimes just making up a tune. She asks for others to sing favorites such as Itsy Bitsy Spider, Robbie Rollie, and Old MacDonald. Old MacDonald is usually performed with a parent singing everything except for the name of the animal and animal sound. Francesca has taken to inserting "Cesca!" as one of the animals and has decided that "Go! Go! Go!" is her signature sound.

In anticipation of soon turning two, Francesca has been asking to hear Happy Birthday to You. Also in preparation for the big event, Francesca now tops three feet, has begun wearing jewelry (Mardi Gras beads and bangle bracelets from India being the current favorites), and is working hard on a positive self image. Jumps off of various surfaces are accompanied by a cheer of "good leap!," reaching an object that's a bit of a stretch gets a "good grab!," and innumerable acts are followed by "brava! brava!" Such talents displayed by others are also rewarded with congratulations and tasty treats are received with an "mmm ... de-li-cious!"

As those of you who know her can attest, no one can accuse Francesca of lack of enthusiasm and intensity. Let the betting on whether age two will be terrible or terrific begin!

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