Visitors!

Last week was full of visitors. First we saw Ron, Frances, and Alexei. (Which means we also got to see Howard, who even though he works about a mile from where I work and lives about a mile from where Alessandro works, could live where Ron and Frances live and we would probably see him just as often. Well, at least we have this to tide us over.)

We didn't get to see nearly as much of the Hirai-Clarks as we would have liked, but that is because we had a second set of visitors! Grandpa, Grammy, and Uncle Ben came to visit for a few days. Marco had a great time with this trio. Ben introduced him to the wonders of the ipod. He loved holding the earbuds up to his ear and listening to the music. Anytime the music would stop he would sign more over and over again. He couldn't get enough of Ben and his ipod.

Grandpa brought him a very special present. A Pleo. Pleo is a robotic baby dinosaur. It can hear, see, sense touch, and detect objects. It goes through three different life-stages. I think he is still a hatchling right now, but not really sure. It's pretty cute. He purrs if you pet him. Marco was a little unsure about Pleo the first day they met, but by the next day he was all for him. Saturday morning, he brought Pleo to me, I turned him on and Marco started giving him kiss after kiss. Marco is a little rough with the dino though, so at this point Pleo will only be brought out when we can keep a close watch. The other day he kept trying to shove Pleo's leaf in his mouth (sound familiar?) and was getting frustrated because Pleo wouldn't open his mouth. Piper is a little wary of Pleo, but isn't too concerned since he doesn't smell like an animal. Alessandro is enchanted. He thinks it is the best pet ever. It doesn't eat, poop, or shed, and I can turn him off? He tried to claim it is better than Piper, but no way. Piper is so warm and cuddly, she could never be replaced by plastic!

Saturday, Grandpa and Grammy took Marco to Occidental to pick up Ben and I am told he is a chick-magnet. The four of them hit the town for a bit and Alessandro and I lazed around our empty house remembering the good old days.