The delicate balancing act of mothering

Inspiration and time seem to have made their return at the same time.  Convenient, isn't it?  So, if I'm reading the stars correctly, this means my blog might just have some new posts on it this month!

Have you ever experienced utter amusement simultaneous with very sincere embarrassment? It was very unique, and even somewhat exhilarating, I must say.

The scene: a nice grill-out (with many people I didn't know) in a lovely park full of similar grill-outs.

I was getting something for Cate and had my back turned for about one minute from where Dominic was wandering around watching Italian children.  Suddenly I got the sense that everyone was looking in that direction.  I turn around to make sure it wasn't Dominic.  What do I see?  Dominic's bare bottom with pants around his knees, standing in front of a tree taking care of business no more than ten feet from our picnic.  To make matters even funnier, he was facing another group of picnickers. Again, no more than ten feet away.

For some reason, though, this struck me as utterly amusing. And yet, everyone was looking, waiting to see who the mother was that had such an indecent son.  So, while trying to hold my laughter in, and yet, feeling embarrassment in the center of my being, I went to retrieve retrieve my son and instruct him in the proper way to pee on a tree.  Thankfully, the people with the frontal view were amused. But really, how funny.  He had followed the right instructions.  He found a tree in a park.  I guess I had forgotten to instruct him to find a tree away from people. 

Photos from Florence, Siena, Pisa!

I uploaded over one hundred images and videos to our Picasa web album.  So, if you're interested in taking a look at them (I didn't embed it directly because I was afraid my blog would start uploading, as my dad would say, slower than molasses in January) just click on that blue link.  There are also pictures in there of a funny photo shoot of the kids dressed up... (Grandma and Grandpa brought them adorable Easter outfits, so we put them on early so they could see them).  We had a great time with Momma and Poppa Gaetano.  They rented an apartment in Florence for a week, and then we made day trips to Pisa and Siena.  The weather was crummy for all but one day (Pisa), but it didn't matter.  Just being together again made all of us very, very happy. So between our joy and frequent cups of cafe, we had a marvelous time.  Blog posts to begin again soon...

Tutto Okay

Another long blog absence...We were struck down by chest colds (Matt and Amy), fever (Cate and Amy), flu or perhaps food poisoning (Dominic and Amy), and an eye infection (Cate).  After 5 days, I think we're definitely on the mend now.  I'll spare the details, but there is one funny story that came out of this that is too good to pass up, which highlights Dominic's cheery personality and perfectionism all at once.


After Dominic threw up all over the bed, we gave him a bucket and instructed him on what to do.  He nodded and lay down to try to sleep.  A few minutes later we heard the dreaded sound and came in to see how he was.  But before we get there, we here this cheery little voice announce, "I'm not very good at this."  Apparently, he had partially missed the bucket.  Sweet Dominic.  Even in his sickness, is thinking about his performance...

Italian Fashion

"To be out of fashion is more criminal than to be seen in a state of nature, to which the Parisians are not averse." (Abigail Adams, becoming acquainted to French custom)

The Italians might agree...

These puffy, shiny jackets are all the rage.  Note also the man scarf on this stylishly-grayed husband. Knee-high boots (thigh-highs are also popular) and skinny jeans. Also notice their one child and his fur collar, who is sitting in their posh, very expensive stroller.  Gotta love the classic Italian style.  I'll try to periodically post some pictures of Italian fashion for your inspiration or amusement. 

The Art of Persuasion, Lesson 1

So, Daddy was instructing Dominic in the art of persuasion.  It was his turn to do the bedtime routine with the kids, and Dominic was putting up a huge fuss.  For some reason, he wanted Mommy to read his stories.  He threw himself on the ground, yelling I WANT MOMMY.  And he was getting nowhere.  Zero sympathy from me.

A tired Daddy, hoping to get out of reading Uncle Willy (Richard Scary's Bedtime Stories) again, whispered to Dominic that he needs to say, "Mommy, you're soo beautiful.  Mommy you're soo wonderful.  Would you read me a bedtime story?  Just tonight.  As a special, special treat."  So, Dominic came over and was trying to say it all just right to me.  But he got stuck after "Will you read me a bedtime story?" So he looked at Matt and said, "What next?" Matt, of course, fed him the rest of the lines.  Dominic carefully repeated them very sweetly to me.  But when he said, "As a special, special treat."  He paused and looked up very excitedly: "Can I eat it?"

I did end up giving in and reading him his bedtime story, so I guess Daddy's lesson in the art of persuasion was successful after all.

The Answer Is

All right...the answer is... 

CATERPILLARS!  

Why?  We have no idea.  In fact, I'm not really even sure how he knows about caterpillars.  I don't think he's ever seen a real one, we don't even have Eric Carlyle's book, The Hungry Caterpillar.  The only thing I've ever done is make little play-doh balls and stick them together, adding eyes to the front one, and tell Dominic it was a caterpillar.  And then another day he lined up a bunch of coins and proudly told me he made a caterpillar.  But scary?  And going to eat him? I have no idea...he's a weird little boy.

Scared!

So, Dominic woke up crying in the middle of the night.  Mommy to the rescue.

--Dominic, Dominic, what's wrong?

--I'm scared.

--What are you scared of?

--They're going to eat me!

Okay, guessing time, what is Dominic scared of?