Matt and I got our grandparent practice in the other day!  We brought Cedar to an Italian chess club in Vomero on a Sunday morning, and Adam came along too (Matt’s coworker and Cedar’s chess buddy)…. with his kids. Adam was fully prepared to tear himself away from chess due to his little kids not being able to sit around waiting for him for three hours, but we told him we would take them walking around Vomero with us.  It was a very different experience!!  A lot more work for us to keep them entertained and their batteries charged, but we did a good job.

We fed them only doughnuts and gelato, as any proper grandparent should. We did things we don’t usually do, like went to the park and looked at turtles, stopped to check out the live octopi at the fish stand, and danced to the street music.  The most amazing thing was how the Italians around us had a kind of super-hero baby “sense.”  We have heard they love babies, but due to our kids being teens, haven’t been able to experience it.  This time, we got ALL the smiles, the eye contact, and watched the kids get their hair ruffled more times than I can count.  The waves of people magically parted for our stroller in a way they NEVER do for us.  It was magical.