Five Cool Things

1. Gianluca rolled over. Now that's he's figured out how to get from front to back, tummy time is over. Speaking of tummy time, I read an article about "container syndrome," which is caused by babies spending all their time in infant carriers, bouncers, swings, and strollers. Essentially, their muscles don't develop because they never get to use them, not to mention the emotional disconnect. Therapists recommend tummy time as a good way to exercise the little ones. I too have a suggestion: pick up your kid. Leave the damn infant carrier in the car and carry your baby. I promise you, babies are fun to hold.

2. I finished a New York Times crossword puzzle. I watched Wordplay recently, and it made me feverish to do some crosswords. If Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton getting all giddy over crosswords doesn't get you fired up, you are dead inside. Oh, and I work in ink.

3. Super Bowl Sunday. This really shouldn't be on the cool list. Roma lost 3-0 to Siena. Siena?? Damn it, Roma, you're in second place. How are you going to make a run for the scudetto if you don't win your 'gimme' games? What? Well, that was the big game on Sunday as far as I'm concerned. You didn't think I had anything to say about the Super Bowl, did you? Please. Although, our satellite provider screwed up the coverage and didn't broadcast the whole first half, so that was disappointing for some. Are there halves in football?

4. We rocked the vote on Super Tuesday. We turned it into a family outing, so I got to explain to Paolo what we were doing. He was less intrigued once I assured him we were going to vote, not going on a boat. I told him we intended to pick the nicest person to be our leader. He asked who the nicest person was, and I told him we thought Mr. Obama was, but that was just our idea. Other people have different ideas, and that's why we vote. How tolerant was that? Because I really wanted to say, "Other people have different ideas, but they are stupid and should be disenfranchised." Actually, I'd be happy with Obama or Clinton, so I feel like I can't lose. I can't wait to see what the final Democratic ticket will be.

5. Italy beat Portugal 3-1 in a friendly. Goals by Luca Toni (pictured here), Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Quagliarella. If you can pronounce that last name, you are a fan. The team is looking strong heading into the European championships. The best part of the game was the Scottish announcer. His accent is almost inpenetrable, but he loves the Azzurri, and it's so rare and refreshing to hear nice things said about my team. Thumbs down on the new V-necked jerseys. We're going to need to resolve that by summer.