Compliments of Nonna

There were so many things that happened when the Nonni were here I forgot to tell all of them.  I just remembered one:  The Nonna feels some sort of comradeship with me and that's great.  But, to convey this to me, she gives me BackHanded Compliments. (You know, like: You don't sweat much for a fat girl.  She didn't actually say that one to me, but might as well).
The first one she gave was for my cooking (altho I'm sure she didn't eat any of it), she said I'm a good mom, I made a good lunch-too bad I'm so small/short. (BTW she is about my same height-and yes, we did stifle our giggles on that one).
The second BHC was for the fact that my children speak English.  But....the compliment went like this: one time Alessandro (Max's older brother) brought some friends to San Giacomo (their house in the mountains).  This friend was from Italy but lives in England now, but she forgot his name.
Me: Yes, we know him- Ermano.
Nonna: No, no, that's not it...Enrico, no that's not it
Me: Ermano.
Nonna: mmmm...Davide?
Me: Ermano.
(etc., etc.)
Nonna: Beppe (the Nonno), what's the name of Alessandro's friend, the one who lives in England?
Nonno:  What she said, Ermano. Remember we've all gone out before, they know him?
Nonna:  Oh, it's not that I can't hear, I thought you said Germano (which isn't even a name in Italian).
Nonna: The friends of this friend were also from England and they told Alessandro 'Are you Italian, you speak English like a mother tongue' or something to that effect. (Ale does speak a good English, but not MT good. which is not a rip, but it's very hard to pick up exact intonations of another language -unless you live there while young or have a MT parent).  Ale got so many great grades in English when he was young.  He went to live in the States and goes to visit his friend in England.  (All the while I'm sort of getting pissed because Max speaks English very well (even better than Ale), especially not having studied it as much as his brother and Nonna, has not mentioned this once)).  (BTW,  Max won't admit exactly admit it, but I know he learned English to pick up on chicks back when he was a  young teeny bopper ;o)  Anyhoo, the first compliment went to herself: she is a great mom becuase she gave these opportunities to Ale to succeed in English. She went on about the greatness of her other son and then came my compliment:  with Max she had him marry an MT foreigner and therefore she will be passing this gift of speaking English speaking as well as Alessandro to her grandchildren. Muahahahahahaha-if I don't laugh, I will cry!  Thanks Nonna, we couldn't have done it without you!

During their stay, the story (even the Ermano part) was repeated a few more times.  Most of the time I was cordial, but the last time I got pissed-c'mon 5 days with no sleep, I started to lose my patience!  I wasn't too bad, I just told her that Alessandro and the girls didn't learn English because they were more 'portati' (born with natural talents/abilities), but because all (including Max) had/have a lot exposure/opportunities-and that was what I had just spent the week studying! And then I became religious and thanked God/Buddah/Zeus/whoever that there were only 24 more hours left in which I might have to hear the story one more time!