No big trips or amazing developments here this past week, only the mundane details of daily life. These little things, though, will probably what we will try to remember most about our time in Italy.
Ben has been very busy at work lately, so his days are filled with meetings, deadlines, and the very occassional cafe break. January is the main month for sales in Italy, so we took a trip into downtown Naples yesterday to look for a suit for Ben. He may need one occassionally in whatever new job lies ahead for him. Lots of looking and trying on but still too high-end for us even with the sales. We still can't figure out how average Italians dress as sharply as they do with the fashion prices so high. Maybe it's a lot of good knock-offs, but I still think they spend a large part of their income on clothes and shoes. Just an outsider's opinion, though.
Luke is determined to eat unassisted these days and has become quite choosy in his tastes. I'd like to think we are maybe just 'losing the battles but winning the war,' but I am beginning to doubt this. I need some new tricks for meal time or a double dose of patience and prayers!
I have been volunteering through the American Red Cross and am enjoying my placement with the Department of Occupational Health. I'm working on a research study right now and am glad to have a chance to keep my public health skills sharp with use. The work is on the epidemiology of work-related injuries, so it's a new subject area for me. I log most of my hours from home, but I go in one or two days a week for meetings in the clinic. This means Luke gets a break from me so he can play with his friends at "day camp," as Ben likes to call it. Luke's never there very long, but it always seems to be enough. Luke doesn't nap well away from home, so he's usually exhausted when we come to pick him up.
The other nice things about working with Occupational Health is that 1) the clinic is on Ben's base, so I can see him for breaks or lunch, and 2) I work with both Navy and Italian personnel. I work most closely with an Italian physician who has provided a lot of insight into the way the Italian social medicine system works. The Navy system interfaces with this Italian one when local Italian employees have a work-related injury or illness. Still much to learn, but it is proving to be a great education in health policy and politics, too.
Tomorrow starts another busy week here, just as it will for most of you back home. Hope it's a good one!
Life didn't end for us when we left Italy in September as this neglected blog might suggest. Instead, it's been happily busy as we readjust to being back in the States, visiting with family and friends, and searching for a new place to call home. We spent this past month at my family's home in NC, using it as a hub for his job interviews in the Southeast. It's been wonderful seeing Luke with all my relatives and watching him enjoy playing in the yard I, too, played in as a child. He went to his first Fall Festival at the John C. Campbell Folk School, as small rite of passage I had been so looking forward to. I myself had been morosely homesick for it every nearly every fall since I left for college; I couldn't even remember for certain when I last attended. It was everything I remembered and more: beautiful crafts and art, great food, first rate music and dancing, and a mountain backdrop you could not improve upon if you tried. The gorgeous fall weather in the mountains made me grateful we'll be near the area more often and should have little excuse to miss another festival in the coming years. 
Ben has enjoyed far less leisure time than I have with the job hunt always looming large on his agenda. He's mulling over a few offers now and will hopefully find the right fit very soon. We're very thankful he has a marketable and needed skill set in the difficult economic times we found when we returned to America. You can follow it on CNN from abroad, but it doesn't really hit you until you see the aftermath of the turndown in real life played on the streets of your town. Times are hard for many families, but we hope things for everyone are on the upswing and that we, too, find meaningful and gainful work in the coming weeks. 
Luke is adjusting very well to all the changes the move created for him. He has remained dutifully commited to feeding his "wooies" (AKA dogs) every morning and evening and still loves his bathtime with all his heart. I'm relieved to see so little in his general routine has changed and that he as embraced the elements that did. He loves spending time with my parents and sister, as I know we will with Ben's family when we are able to visit with them soon in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I'm excited to see Wisconsin for the first time and to revisit the farm in PA in the fall; it's a beautiful time of year to make good travel memories with Luke as he gets reacquainted with everyone. 
I still have yet to rename this blog, so forgive the misnomer a few more days. Maybe I'm nostalgic for the thought of living abroad, so for our friends still overseas, make the best of it and don't wish it away...even if you can't drink your water! And while we miss certain things, we're happy to be where we are right now: homeward bound and enjoying the journey.
Luke is the one we should really be focused on in this update. He’s blowing our minds nearly everyday with the new things he has learned to do. He’s a nearly fully independent eater now (if he has his way at least), preferring any food he can manage himself to the runny purees of former days. Today he figured out how to drink a fruit smoothie through a straw! He happily slurped down five different fruits with no protests. A success all around, especially when we discovered the straw was fun to bite and chew on as well. Still cutting his little choppers very slowly, but the top four are visible and with two on the bottom, he makes light work of some foods. His top choice right now, though, is definitely TOAST! This could mean actual toast, a waffle or pancake, even a cheese quesadilla. All can be made in the toaster, and he “oohs” with delight when he hears the toaster oven timer sound his dinner bell. It’s a touch Pavlovian, but at least we know he likes it!
Of course, it’s not all perfect little moments. He pulled a lamp off a table and tried to grab a pile of dog poop and eat a rock all in one day recently. But even these exploits have a certain charm….in retrospect naturally. Luke is a gift and a joy. I think the thing we are most excited about when we think of coming back home and is that we can so much more easily share him and his ever-expanding repertoire with our family and friends. We’re counting down the days! 
