Video Time!

Peter is now four months old and quite a ham.  This is a little video of Peter's first time in the high chair.  He's not eating yet, but he sure loves to be up by the action and "talking".

Dominic and Cate dancing with their best friends, Margaret and Edith.

The first minute captures Peter rolling and cooing.

Inside, now Outside

Besides the hose, this is the kids' favorite thing about the new house.  It's a bit rickety, but they love it and it has already provided hours of entertainment.

Dominic is learning all sorts of new things! (this is part of our front lawn--which reminds me, anyone know how to get rid of moles?  We're getting nasty mounds of dirt and tunnels.  Or how to keep deer from eating hostas?

Then, our next big project.  Getting the hole/crater/marsh filled.  You can see a little more than half of it in the picture below.  But we've got some nice old pine trees! :)

Videos: February

In lieu of something witty, interesting, or insightful to read...rot your brains with some more videos.

Videos: Christmas Cuteness and Veggie Tales

I know, Christmas was almost 6 weeks ago... But I just went through my pictures and videos and found this precious one of Dominic and Cate dancing.  They're the best of friends.

And here's a promised video of the kids trying to sing the Veggie Tales theme song: 

Photos!

We attempted to get a family Christmas photo.  It ended up like all our attempts...a little too candid.

And then I took 45 pictures trying to get a cute brother-sister picture.  This was at least amusing.

And then we tried once with Michael Gaetano, our godson.  This child is an angel.

Cate sporting her favorite present, her pink tricycle from MaMa and PaPa.

Dominic sharing his new Toy Story sleeping bag with Cate.

A great picture of the Gaetano siblings: Matt, Stephen, and Marialana.

I bambini (The kids)

Why do their hugs so often look more like attempts to strangle?

"You getting money, Daddy?"  I'm ready to spend it.  In fact, I'm researching my new toys right now! (see previous post)

Cheerios and Salt

What's that proverb?

 A little sleep, a little slumber,
       a little folding of the hands to rest-
 and poverty will come on you like a bandit,
       and scarcity like an armed man. 

Yes, indeed. 

A little sleep cost us a box of cheerios.  And a shaker of salt.  A lot of aggravation. And thirty minutes of cleaning.

So what happened?  Dominic slipped out of the room without our notice.  We were slumbering peacefully away until we were jostled from happy-land by an unusual scream from Cate, who had, I gather, finally gotten tired of having Dominic in her pack n' play.  I'm not sure how long he had been there before she had had enough.  All I know is that it was long enough for Dominic to get breakfast for the two of them.  He had taken the two boxes of honey nut cheerios off the counter and threw them into Cate's bed, then climbed over the rail into bed with Cate and the cheerios.  Together they were smashing in cheerios, dumping them out into the pack n' play.  For easier access?  For play?  I'm not sure.   I guess they thought the cheerios were getting a little boring tasting, though, because Dominic then took the salt shaker off the table and began pouring it's contents on top of the cheerios. 

During the cross-examination of incomprehension at this travesty, I kept asking Dominic, "Why? WHY  Why did you do it?"  He was at a loss and just stared at me, not getting it.  He shrugged and added, "I pour 'em, for Catie.  See, I sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle," he told me as he demonstrated just how to shake a salt shaker. 

Sigh.  Well, at least one bag of cheerios was still sealed...

 Proverbs 24:33-4

As I took this picture, Dominic said, "Mommy are you taking a picture of my cheerios?  Do you want to take a picture of my doggies too?"

Movie Time

In lieu of anything witty or inspiring, I offer you some video entertainment:

Take the Key and Lock Her Up


Chrstmas Lights!



Amy spikes a good one



Hot Cross Buns

Our Son, the Heretic

While saying Dominic's prayers with him last night, I discovered that he is in grave theological error. We said the usual "Our Father" and then I reminded him to think about what Jesus did for us: remember, he was born as a baby at Christmas, he grew up and did miracles, he died on the cross, and then he rose again. With his typical enthusiasm, he stood up and shouted, "He died!" But then he perplexed me. He laid down on the ground and began rolling back and forth. My perplexity was soon relieved, as he shouted, "And he rolled again!"

A Picnic

I'm wrapping sandwiches in aluminum foil when Dominic comes into the kitchen. He sees me and I prepare myself for his never-ending question: "Watcha doin' Mommy?"

Instead, he asks, "You making sandwiches, Mommy?"

"Yes, Dominic."

"For a picnic?"

"Yes, Dominic."

As I was wondering how he remembered what a picnic was, he also added "I love picnics."

"Really, why?"

"We go someplace. And we eat food. Outside."

That's how he swings

Brainwashing at Breakfast

Still flush with excitement over the recent discovery of "water"--it is apparently neither liquid, gas, nor frozen--on the Moon, Matt tries to brainwash our son at breakfast.

"So, Dominic, do you want to build a space ship?"
"Yeah," staring at his granola.
"Are you going to be an aeronautical engineer or astrophysicist when you grow up?"
"Yeah," he doesn't bat an eye.
"Dominic, do you want to fly to the moon with Daddy? It'll be awesome. It's the moon...in the sky!" Daddy clearly displays far more enthusiasm than his son.
"Okay!" After sixty seconds of convincing, he's finally sold. "We gotta get to work." Mr. Boss takes charge.
Adding my two cents, I chime in, "But you'll be far from Mommy."

Then the next day.
"So, you still ready to go to the moon?" Daddy prompts to see if his brainwashing has worked.
"Yeah. We'll go far to Mommy."

Four Star Alarm!!!

Alert: We have lost a ragged pink doggy and an even more ragged blue doggy. These are precious items and a reward will be offered for finding them.

I don't know where, I don't know how. But it's a problem, that I know.

I can no longer put the kids to bed at the same time for naps or bedtime! I must resort to waiting until one falls sufficiently asleep, clutching the sole remaining doggy (blue) or cushioning their head with its shapeless comfort, before I sneak in and pluck it out of their arms so that I can give it to the other child so that they can fall asleep with the precious--and indispensable--doggy.

We tried buying Cate a replacement stuffed animal. It's a plucky yellow ducky that is quite squishy. She likes it okay and will even sleep with it if she's in a happy mood, but if it's been a rough day and she really needs comfort, she goes right for Dominic's doggy. It's hard to defend it as Dominic's personal property when Cate lost her identical (though pink) doggy. What am I to do?

(It's Baby Gund "Spunky" #58377 if anyone ever sees one...)

Dominic Funnies

I've been collecting some of the funny things that Dominic has said lately. Here's a little recap of them.

Apparently, he's been assimilating the word "awesome" into his vocabulary:

• He is about to climb a rock in front of the Colosseum and tells me, "It'll be awesome, Mommy."
• Same day: "Are you awesome, Mommy?"
• Then curious if he'll respond, I ask him, "Dominic, are you awesome?"
• "Yeah...I'm awesome."
• Same day: "Grandpa, are you awesome?" Grandpa, "Not so much, no. Only God is awesome."

"Can you 'finger out' the tv?"

While smooshing a pillow with all the intensity he can muster, he tells us through gritted teeth, "I wanna break it".

"Mi scusi," he casually says to me, as he tries to open a cupboard.

In an extremely adult way, he says to Daddy, "Let's see what's on here(tv)."

Peering into his pull-up he declares, "There's a lot of money in there!" (I gather that this is because I had explained that they were expensive and cost a lot of money...so he should use the potty...).

"Daddy, you gotta shave."

His most famous declaration of two-year-old will: "I want to not!".

"I gotta catch a bus" - when we were waiting for Matt so we could get on a bus.

"I give it for Catey. She loves me." - Dominic took cookies off the counter. He took one for himself and one for her.

Cate folded her hands at dinner, during the prayer. Dominic looks at her and announces, "Cate prayed a little bit. Yay!" And then he claps for her.

Dominic sneezed a hearty sneeze, leaving little droplets on the floor. He tells me, "There's God-bless-yous there on the floor."

In the middle of the night he somewhat anxiously said, "I gotta find grandma. I gotta find her."

I told Dominic he couldn't have any more juice. A few hours later he's playing with the broken phone in our apartment and starts talking into it. "Grandma," he says, "Can you bring me some juice?...And kalua (granola)?" Then he put in another call to Uncle Stephen. "Unco? Can you bring me some juice?"

When we were talking about my parents coming to Italy, I told Dominic that Grandpa was coming on the airplane in a few days. Dominic says, excitedly, "Grandpa is coming. He's bringing his mower to me."

1st Birthday

A few days before Cate's birthday. I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture from Dominic on his first birthday. They definitely did not get the same gene package. :) I wish we could have had a big bash for Cate's birthday, too. We miss you all.

Oops

We were out to dinner with some friends, who made a detour to our humble abode in Padova during their grand tour of Europe, and Matt decides to try a more complicated Italian sentence involving the formal conditional and the infinitive, with an attached direct object--perhaps he wanted to impress them, I'm not sure. Anyway, we needed a little plate "piattino" for Dominic. He gets the waiter's attention, interrupts him from his very, very busy pace, and politely (and proudly) asks him, "Potrebbe portarlo un piattino, per favore?" (Basically, this means (or should have meant), "would it be possible for you (in the formal) to bring him a little plate?") Matt was then quite miffed when the waiter responded rather callously in English, "you want a plate?" Yes. That's what I said, didn't I? I guess he was just too busy to properly appreciate my use of the formal conditional with an infinitive attached to the direct object. Or is it really that obvious that we're not Italian? Maybe it's our pronunciation? Sigh.

A week later, in Italian class, Matt mentions this little anecdote to his teacher, telling him what he asked the waiter. The teacher, well, the teacher just howled with laughter. Apparently Matt had mixed up the direct object with the indirect object and had asked (using the conditional properly), "Would it be possible for you to bring him on a little plate?" Oops.

It should be "Potrebbe portargli (not portarlo) un piattino," if you're curious.

Burner Lesson

I wake up to Matt yelling, "Amyy!! Did you leave the burner on? You've gotta come see this! Now!"

"No, I didn't leave the burner on! Coming!" as I leap out of bed and rush to the kitchen, expecting fire, smoke, and charred skin. Anything with a burner and a two-year-old is bad. Very bad.

The burner is on and very hot. Fortunately, there isn't any smoke, or fire, and Dominic is fine. What I do see, however, is see coffee grounds and pools of murky brown water everywhere. On the floor, in the pan, in the sink, in a coffee cup, and on a spoon. Coffee grounds? They were in the fridge! Apparently, Dominic was trying to make some coffee. Whether it was for himself or for Mommy, he wouldn't say. Somewhat amused, but thoroughly upset that he could have been seriously hurt, I give him a long "talking to" about the dangers of the stove and doing things without Mommy or Daddy.

His innocent face and lack of true comprehension made me feel that my lecture was a bit futile. It reminded me of a story my mother told me. One of my older brothers, Josiah, was notoriously rambunctious and curious. My mother was trying to impress upon him the importance of safety, especially when playing outside near the street. With all seriousness and concern, feeling the need to make a strong indent on his soul, such that he'll never try this himself, she tells him, "Josiah, your best friend was almost hit by a car this morning..."

Eight-year-old Josiah responds, 'That's okay. I have lots of other friends."

That's about how futile my attempts at stove-safety felt today.

Cate Update

Our little Cate has taken her first steps! Yesterday she took 5 or 6 in a row. So here she is, at 10 months, holding her own. I wanted to capture these on video for all to see before she really takes off and becomes a little girl, toddling after her big brother.

What Will He Be?

As parents, "what will he be" is one of our pet musings. Anytime Dominic exhibits a knack for something, whether it be identifying crumbs and dirt, obsessively turning pretend screws, wiping his sister's mouth, attentively watching YouTube videos, or running around like a maniac, we are sure to be caught saying, "Maybe he'll be x when he grows up." Yes. Maybe.

Maybe he will be a janitor. Dominic is second to none for his uncanny ability to notice undesirable specks on the floor. After brilliantly identifying them for us as "dirt" or "crumb" or "gaw-bidge," he then masterfully instructs us what needs to be done, "sweep" or "vacuum" or simply "away." Previously we thought he had potential to be a janitor because he desired to sweep and vacuum himself. However, now that he has gotten wiser, he insistently tells us what needs to be done. As a result, we no longer think this is a career for him.

Instead, maybe he'll be a mechanic, engineer, or some sort of contractor. After all, the wooden toolbox set he got for Christmas was a huge success. He's clearly genius since he figured out how to operate the play screws, twisting several "nuts" onto the "bolt." He constantly tries to "fix" things with them and has also used his toy screwdrivers and play knife to try to jimmy open a lock. I guess he saw me do this once. So, not only does he clearly have aptitude with screwdrivers, but he can hammer! You should listen to him, boy can he really hammer. We need a mechanic. I think I'd like that. He can be just like Popper.

So while that's still a live possibility, I also entertain the notion that he'll be a caregiver of some sort. Really, for a rambunctious two-year-old, he has been unbelievably sweet to Cate. He is gentle, kind, and surprisingly helpful. The moment, though, that I thought he might have it in him to be a doctor or something, was when he wiped up her spit up, unprompted. We were all sitting at the table after supper, and Dominic was playing with his toys while Cate jumped in the doorway. Cate had spit up in her tray and, although we had noticed, we were still sitting there, enjoying the fullness of supper. But while we sat, Dominic, without any prompting, took the burp cloth out of the basket, walked over to her, wiped up the mess, turned it over, gently dabbed her mouth, and then tried to figure out where to put it, now that it was dirty. So, will he just be a great big brother? Or a doctor, like his Papa?

But if that doesn't pan out, maybe he'll be a cellist. He shows real potential. We've been manipulating his young mind by showing him YouTube videos of different instruments. We showed him the cello, violin, trumpet, and french horn so far. After the cello he said, "more, more" when he ended. But after violin, trumpet, and french horn, he said, "Cello, more." While this alone was convincing to us young parents, for you skeptics, more solid proof of his future career came when we were reviewing letters at breakfast one morning. The game is, I show him a letter, and he tells me its name. Recently, I've started saying a word that starts with that particular letter after he identifies it. "R," he says, "R says Red," I say. Then we get to "Y". "Y" he says. I say, "Y says yo-yo." Our smarty Dominic protests, "No," and he shakes his head. "YoYo Ma," he insists. Thinking this was just a fluke. I question him, "And what does YoYo Ma play?" When he correctly answered, "cello" without any hesitation, I secretly gloated and rejoiced that he may be a cellist yet. It's a secret dream of mine. Ah, the power of suggestion; his little desires seem to be falling in line with our plan rather nicely.

So what'll it be? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Help! The Hose is Broken

My little "helper" was out with me again. This time, I had promised him that he could help me wash the car. It was a beautiful day, and our van was filthy from winter's salt. After chasing him around and clothing his enthusiasm in a bathing suit, we scamper outside. Then I hook up the hose and cross my fingers that the outside water is turned on because I have no idea where the lever is.

After an hour and a half of Dominic watering the driveway, dirt beds, and an occasional plant, I finish rubbing compound into the last scratch on my now sparkling silver bullet. Our Odyssey is ready to journey in style now. So as to not be the bad guy, I sneak over to the spiget while Dominic is making a big mud puddle and shut off the water, dashing to the van, away from the scene of the crime, before he can catch me.

To my relief, my plan works. He is distraught that the water has stopped, but doesn't suspect me. Through unalloyed sadness and tears, with the cutest pout you've ever seen, he holds the hose up to eye level and stares down the barrel of it. "Stuuckk!" he wails. "Broookenn, " he sniffs very loudly. Then, while still staring into it, he tries to fix it. With both of his chubby hands on the hose he determinedly announces, "Squeeeeze." When that fails, however, he holds the hose rather disinterestedly in one hand and says, rather conclusively, "battery." That is, quite obviously, it needs a new battery. After all, it's broken.

NB: According to Dominic, burnt out light bulbs are "broken" and need "battery".