Holy Crap, What a Day!

Sophia, Desi, Sofia

 Last week Desi's mom asked if we wanted to go to Santa's Village at the park in Milan, of course Sophia jumped at the chance.  We were supposed to leave at around 10 and Sophia was extra excited, so you know she woke up at the crack of dawn.  She even got herself dressed and then went down to sweep the terrace of yesterday's snow.  I guess it was just one of those mornings and Desi was throwing tantrums, so they didn't end up coming over until after 11 and then Giusi ended up driving all the way instead of taking the metro - so we didn't even get to the place until about noon time.  We called Bea on the way and she and Sofia ended up meeting us at the park.  We got there just in time to see the end of the Xmas themed acrobatic show, but too late to see Santa, who was on his lunch break until 2.  So we ended going ice skating.  Desi really wanted to go, but Soph was a little worried because they didn't have the double bladed kid's skates like at the rink last time.

Guess who shredded on the ice?

 Despite her hesitation, she ended up being pretty good at skating and going around on her own.  The other girls had a little more trouble.  Since we arrived late, we ended up leaving late.  Luckily I packed a decent snack because we didn't even eat lunch.  I had to push the crowd along to go home b/c I had another commitment at 4. The ride home gave me a headache - Giusi insisted that we drop Bea off at their car at the metro station-a minute more or less wouldn't make that much of a difference, so I really didn't care. But ride ended up being the horrific-Desi and Sofi fight like cats and dogs-they shout and taunt each other and hit and scratch...and Sophia and I were seated in the middle!  It was right out of a cartoon - insults and punches and food flying right over Sophia's head/in front of my face (some of them hitting Soph) and the mom's were in oblivion.  I kept telling the girls to stop because the police were coming - and they would calm down for a second and then of course start up again.  After a while Sophia caught on and started doing the same thing.  I am going to give that girl props, she is the only one that behaved and didn't whine or fight!
My appt was in Cernusco at the English school.  Did I mention I have a job, it will just be for 4 hours a week (2 days), but that's good enough for me, I don't really want to do too much more than that for now.  I don't want to teach other people's kid's English at the expense of my own kid's learning it, so I think that the schedule is good.  The owner of the school asked me to come over for their Christmas gathering, so I could check things out-it was a meet and greet and pictures with Santa and then a magic show.  We didn't get home until after 3 and I couldn't remember exact what the email had said -if i had to be there exactly at 4 or what.  We ended up running in the house, Sophia and I each slammed down a PB & J, she took one for the road and we ran out the door.  Max and Viv were supposed to come, but Viv had just fallen asleep before we arrived and

Cipolla, Cipollino and Sonia

Sophia getting down with the Waka Waka

At Santa's Village, Soph had asked for a cotton candy, but since it we hadn't even eaten and it was as we were leaving the park I had to tell her no. When we left the party, there was a small festival/market in the down town and since they were selling cotton candy, I had to get her one, she earned it.  That thing was bigger than her head and of course she barely ate any of it.

What is the Purpose of the Noisy Illuminating Snow Flake??

It is darn cold here, this morning it was -4.  When it's goes under 0 degrees that little snow flake turns orange and an annoying little beeeep goes off.  When it goes under -4 the snow flake turns red and the little beep goes off again.  And when it flickers from 1°/0° degrees or -3°/-4° the damn light flickers off and on and the annoying alarm keeps beeping.  What is the purpose of this whole thing, I mean I know it's cold, I just got frost bite scraping the ice off the windows!  We've had the car for a few years and I'm just mentioning this now, but that's because this year that thing has been flickering and beeping in over time. I thought we were the only ones that had this problem, but I just talked to our friend Mike and he laughed and said his new car does the same thing-and they live in England, so it's not just an Italian thing (our car is American tho-well Ford, where are the European Fords made??)

Ice Skate, I Skate!

You know I complain how I HATE the fact that there are more than two season here! (You can take the girl out of the Bay Area, but you can't take the Bay Area out of the girl)! But, one of the saving graces about having an actually winter is that we have outdoor skating rinks.  This year they have popped up everywhere.  We met up with the Arates at the one near Idroscalo (the fake lake near the Linate).  It's actually quite nice and large.

Sophia has asked us since last year to take her ice skating, but we never had the chance-this year I said we are going to to it and I called some friends to see if they wanted to go too.  After I arranged a meeting, she decided that she was too scared and worked herself up about it.  In fact, She didn't sleep much last night and woke up all bugged about it.  I wanted to kill her- after all the whining and begging and then she made it seem like we were forcing her!  

After Arianna and Stefano decided that they were going to give it a try, she changed her mind.  For her size feet they had snap on skates (the ones that go over your shoes) and that have a double blade for each skate -so she was able to go around by herself right away.

It was also Max's first time skating.  He's quite sporty, so he got the hang of it quickly!  Good thing, cuz he was the only adult on the rink with the three kids!  Arianna got the hang of it soon after.

It took a little bit longer for Stefano, but he gave it the good ole college try! 

And of course hot chocolate is just the right thing to warm you up! 

oh i forgot about poor little vivienne, who was such a good sport and cheer leader:

I Am An Idiot!

The last time the Nonni came out, the Nonno worked on the stairs the whole time and didn't spend too much quality time with the girls.  So, we extended an open invitation for them to come out and not work, but see their grand kids.  In the meantime my little nephew Leonardo was born (I'm an Auntie :o).  I guess they were barred from going to see the little guy as he was exiting my sister in law's uterus (as they tried to do with me) and until the SIL gets settled in back home. In lieu of fact that they can't go see their new grandson,  they decided to take us up on that invite.  And of course, it went down like this: last Monday the Nonno called and asked why don't we come and visit them during the long weekend (besides the fact that it was already half over the kids were going back on Thursday), Max worked and I wasn't going to make the long drive in snowy conditions by myself out there, so whewwww we had an excuse to stay home.  So then, they said that they would come out instead...tuesday...(in other words-the next day).  So I responded with an uncomfortably long pause (because I for once was stunned and left without words) and said that I would check with Max to see what his schedule was like.  In the end they arrived Friday instead.  Now they came to see us, so logical thing is that they go down for Christmas to see their new grandson, right???? It's Max's brother and SIL's turn! We've done it every year for the past 5 years! Sadly, the SIL's father is bed ridden and so they don't want to be a bother to the SILs family.  Dunno why they can't just have lunch or dinner with their son and his wife and new grandson and not go over to the SILs family????  So, they told us they would spend Christmas by themselves and they were fine with that.  And Max was fine with that and I should have been too.  You know the in-laws bug the hell out of me!  Why didn't I just leave well enough alone???  Perhaps I have been living in a Catholic country for too long...their way at making you feel guilty and repenting for sins in life is having it's influence on me!  I felt guilty and we're atheists...we only celebrate the commercial Santa Clausy side of the holiday. But, I find it very sad that they have three grand children and not one of their children asked them to spend Christmas with them-and I told Max that I hated myself for doing this, but he needed to ask his parents to spend Christmas with us.  He said no, they were fine with passing it by themselves and if anyone should ask, it should be his brother.  One more opportunity  to leave well enough alone, but I just couldn't could I!?  And then I went on to convince him to ask them-  It was obvious my BIL was not going to do it, they even said so and gave excuses why they couldn't (not valid ones in my opinion though).  My biggest reason why we had to ask, is because I want to set a good example for our girls.  I don't want them to know what the right thing to do is, and I wouldn't want Sophia and Viv to treat us as my BIL treats them. And then Max said, the best part about my stupid decision, is that this weekend, the MIL and FIL would prove over and over to me, why we should spend Christmas without them...and they did.  And he pointed it out...like when I rushed home under the Friday traffic (after the speech therapist session) and snow to cook a scarefully planned dinner because they are picky eaters-carrot and potato soup, over cooked/boiled veggies (which I hate and none of us like to eat) and meatloaf/spinach (rolled into a spiral log) with mashed potatoes..and then they both only ate the soup (because I served it and shoved it in front of them before they could say no) because they don't like to eat too heavy for dinner and then go to bed.  Or when we left in the middle of Karol's baby shower to have dinner with them (we had accepted the invite long before Max's parents had decided to come over), and that the mom (who ate the least at dinner the night before)  ordered loads of heavy rich foods (we went to Volta Rossa) and didn't seem to have the problem with food then.  Or when the MIL constantly followed me around, constantly telling me play by play things of what Sophia or Vivienne were doing, despite the fact that I am sitting there and I can see with my own eyes and they are not new things to me because I see them everyday.  I know that Sophia can read and write-I taught her-I don't need somebody to point out every letter-like she is a self taught amazing genius.  I know that Vivienne has 6 teeth (with 4 more coming out), she nearly saws off my boobs every time she drinks milk-again, not a feat of genius-teeth come out on their own, talent has nothing to do with it! Or when they MIL comes bustling in to our bedroom despite the fact that the door is closed, only to lean over the bed and stick her face between mine and Vivienne's to coo and cuddle her, whilst I am struggling to get a diaper on or between mine OR the same thing with  Sophia, while I am trying to get her to sleep instead of stimulating her. Or when I put Vivienne down in her crib and the MIL went up stairs under the guise of getting something from their room, only to go in and check on the baby, there by making her start to cry and then using that as an excuse to yank her out of the bed, despite the fact that she was almost asleep already! Or how the FIL is never satisfied with the here and now, but always has to go on telling stories of how much better of a time he and Sophia  had doing something or will have doing something with just her and him-ie too bad she had to go to this party with us (at her friend's house) otherwise he would have taken her to the toy store and bought her anything she wanted, remember that time that they went to (fill the name of some toy store in here) and he bought her (fill in the name of some long forgotten or broken toy in here).  Or how they are treating my SIL with kid gloves and constantly tell me how delicate she is- which I would be okay with -because all mom's deserve to have their story of child birth told as if it were the most dramatic story on earth and should be pampered like a queen afterward- but they don't seem to remember that they didn't do those sort of those things for me and I don't have a mother/aunts/uncles/cousins that across the street, that will cook and clean and help me out if I need it-but are things that I do for the MIL and FIL when they come over 3 days after I have given birth. And yet I had to go and open my big trap... I AM AN IDIOT!

Pa Pe Pi Po Puuuuuuut!

Did I mention that Sophia is going to a speech therapist?  She has a problem trilling her r's and she doesn't distinguish certain sounds very well.  We've decided to nip this in the bud now, because next year it could create major problems for her in school. One of the biggest problems will be spelling.  In the States we to spell by memorization (even if you sound it out, you still have to memorize if the word uses ea, ee, e consante e sound etc) whereas in Italian it is all phonetic-the word is spelled exactly as it is pronounced (which is why there aren't spelling bees here).  So if you can't hear or pronounce the words correctly, you will have a hard time spelling them.

Today Sophia was with Maria Grazia, who happens to be her favorite teacher and she feels very comfortable with her, perhaps too comfortable...One of the problems Sophia has, is distinguishing the P and the B sounds, so they played a game where MG wrote a B or P plus a vowel and Soph had to say a word that began with that sound ie P+A= PA and she said papà (dad), P+E=PE and she said pecora (goat) and then of course she started getting silly: P+I=PI and she said pipi (pee pee), and she got sillier: P+O=PO she said popo (poop), and finally P+U=PU and she squeezed her too little booty cheeks together and went PUUUUUUUUUT and said puzzetta (fart)!  Che vergogna (how embarrassing)!

Day 5

Last week we went to Ikea and got a tree.  We started to plant it in a pot, but we put it in all crooked and wonky and wouldn't stay up right in the pot, so now it's still all crooked, leaning against the wall and the staircase to hold it up and hopefully we will fix that before Christmas comes.  In the meantime we are making decorations for our tree.

The salt dough decorations were all painted, but there was still lots of paint left...being the economical girl that she is, Sophia didn't want to let any of that go to waste and therefore painted the nearest canvas that she could find...her hands.

Flaker

Day 4 of the 5 Day Holiday...I swear around Christmas time, Italian schools use any excuse as a good excuse not to have the kids in school...today is the patron saint of Milan day (Sant'Ambroggio (or if you are Milanese-you pronounce it Sant'Ambrooooze) - since most of Milan is on holiday, Cologno Monzese usually tries to jump on the holiday train and the schools close down.  Today we are making snow flakes.

And so what's the best thing to do when there are snow flakes?? Try to catch  them on your tongue!

They are hard to see...but they came out pretty well.

To make some paper flakes you can go on enchanted learning or to make fancier flakes and if you want to make some flakes but not get make a mess.

Cena con Delitto

Francesca joined the Top 40 list and tonight we celebrated with one of the most original parties I've been to...it was a Murder Mystery Dinner and lots of fun.  We were separated into groups and the story of tonight's homicide was told by the Police Inspector and each group was handed a package of papers including the police report and the love letter found at the scene.

Each group discussed who they thought the guilty party might be

After we were through discussing, the suspects went into various rooms and told us their side of the story:

The uppity owner of the hotel.

The caretaker and gardener and drunk of the hotel.

The cook and jealous husband of the maid.

The floozy maid and suspected lover of the victim.

...but was it the butler who did it???

Happy Birthday Franci!

Franci e Fede cut the cake.

Paolo pops the cork!

The night the dinner was fun and the murder was exciting.  And ups to Greta who came and played Barbies with Sophia and Vivienne!

Burnt Crepes

 

This is why when I multi-task, Facebook can't be one of things I am doing.  Burnt crepes this morning...can't even find the image of some religious icon- the best case scenario is i might see an ape on the bottom right side -or a crape if you will. and even that's stretching it. 

First Day of Snow

When it snows, it's so much easier to wake up Sophia.  She pops out of bed and runs to the window.  Maybe I should shake my dandruff outside her window on warmer days.

Max says these Hipstamatic fotos, look freak and says it looks like there should be ghosts hidden somewhere.We still haven't unpacked all the boxes in garage, we've now gone downstairs twice to look for Sophia's winter jacket, can't find it anywhere.  Looks like she will be layering up with her rain coat on top until we do.  That's not the worse part, it will be hearing all the mamas and nonnas offer their free advice on why we don't put a proper winter coat/hat/gloves on our kid.  It drives me nuts.  I know it's a cultural difference, that's just how they do it here, but MYOB!

note: went to dig for the jacket one more time...finally found it buried beneath the boxes that Max had brought out.  And you know it had to be the bottom one, opened up the box and noticed that the label says for age 4....CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!  I'm sure it was my procrastinating attitude/passive lazy personality that made me think that the jacket was a size 6, good for at least another year or two! 

Hipstamatic Prints

Pumpkin Head.

After lickies stubble.

Spinach teeth.

I downloaded the Hipstamatic Camera app, it's pretty cool and fun.  I was thinking that I should blog using just hipstamatic prints, that way I could justify downloading ALL the lens and film options.

Patio Furniture

 Early Saturday morning the delivery guys rang to say that they were out front with our furniture.

A couple of weeks ago, there was some patio furniture on sale at Carrefour. Of course we jumped on it, the only way we would be able to afford anything is off season sales or piecing together odds and ends of discontinued sets.  It's that stuff that looks like wicker, but is actually made out of plastic.  Max has been wanting to put together this stuff since he got here, but it's been raining off and on ever since the box got delivered.  Sophia has been home from school for the last couple of days, Sunday she went to bed with a fever.  Last night she had a fever too, but today she seems to be better and is already driving me crazy!  Since today was a beautiful sunny day and Viv is down for what seems like a long nap, I decided I would try and start putting this stuff together.

 

 The box was small, but there were a lot of pieces inside.  It's pretty cool -there are pieces to make 4 sections and a table.  The pieces you can combine in various ways to make 4 chairs, a love seat and 2 chairs, a 3 seater couch and 1 chair, you get the idea.  I got 2 done before lunch.  After lunch we went back outside and finished up the rest, the girls were good and played while I put the things together.

 

Da Da Da Daaaaaah as Sophia says when we finish something.

I don't care what condition she is in, Sophia is going back to school tomorrow.  Besides the various tantrums of boredom she has 1) cut her hair. She says it was an accident, but I'm not so sure.  I was in the office, without my glasses shuffling stuff around and I realized I couldn't see anything so I went traipsing all around the house trying to find them.  I find them, go into the office again and eventually notice that there are bits of hair on the floor.  I bend down to take a better look and see that there is a good chunk shoved/hidden underneath the cabinets.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr!  So she knew what she did was wrong, didn't want to get in trouble and tried to hide it and I added to the damage spreading all the hair around the house when I didn't have my glasses on!  Great!  Fantastic!  Try not to explode.  I gave her the benefit of the doubt on this one, but explained that hiding something that was supposed to be the result of an accident only made her look guilty and she should tell one of us from the get go.  Hadn't she watched enough Law and Order or CSI while in my womb to have learned something????  I guess that stuff isn't actually learned by osmosis, I guess I probably could have saved my money on all that classical music too. And 2) through a big glass of freshly squeezed oj down the sink because she didn't want to drink it.  Again it wouldn't have been so bad, except she blew bubbles in it, sucked on the ice and spit it back into the glass, scraped the teaspoon of undissolved sugar and ate it, etc all of which makes me a) not want to drink it, so as not to waste it or b) save it for later, because with all the saliva inside, it would be half digested and on its way to becoming mead by the time we get to it later. And once again, she claimed it was an accident- this time I was pissed and tried to explain that difference between premeditated and accidental -it was very hard not to use murder as one of the examples.  She lost TV privileges because of it, but with that big tantrum out of her system she was a pretty good girl after that!  These three days at home have been long and I have been having to explain to myself many a time the difference between premeditated and accidental- and unfortunately, at this point anything I do would be the former, instead of the latter. Hmmmm I should have thought about that before blogging.

Happy Thanksgiving

This was supposed to be the year of of big Turkey Bash, being in the new house and all. Unfortunately the reality of the payments on remodeling and the fact that Xmas is around the corner, plus the lack of time to organize a big ordeal, has set in.  And on top of everything else, I still have the spooky curtains from Halloween up (yeah, we don't have real curtains yet either).  (So KA, we are one less household you have to worry about that has xmas decorations up BEFORE Thanksgiving, we haven't even bothered to take down the Halloween ones yet).   I was going to just make pizza tonight, but I was at the store today and saw a big turkey breast on sale (you have to go to the butcher's to get a whole turkey), I was saddened by the thought of not eating turkey on Thanksgiving and bought one. Apparently, if you brine an Italian turkey breast before throwing it in the oven, it tastes exactly like elementary school cafeteria lunches. ASince there it was just breast and there were no drippings, the gravy was made with Knorr's chicken bouillon and added to the authenticity of my 1970s nostalgia.  If only I had some cranberry sauce in the shape of a can!  So instead of warm memories of large family dinners back in the States, I gave myself childhood cafeteria flashbacks.  Well, at least if the kids ever go to school in the US, they might have flashbacks of this tossed together Thanksgiving dinner when they eat turkey in the cafeteria.

Soon after this was snapped, Sophia decided she didn't like turkey and was still ill and so by 8:30 she was already upstairs and ready for bed. So much for a family dinner together.

BTW even little Viv had her Thanksgiving dinner.

She was not convinced either about the flavor either.

Felt Crayon and Coloring Book Bags

This year's project is crayon bags. 

For boys: Green and Blue.

or Red and Orange.

And for girls: Fuchsia and Orange.

or Purple and Fuchsia.

 This picture won't upload the right direction, so hence why it's on its side. 

My mom had made one for Sophia a few years ago and people always ask me where I got it.  So I decided to rework the pattern and see if I could sell some for Christmas.  Too bad every weekend has been rainy here, it makes me a bit unwilling to attempt an outdoor Christmas market.  Anyhow,  so far I've sold a few thanks to friends-want one??

Another Trip to ER

I really needed to take a shower,  it's nearly impossible with Vivienne because she often sleeps for just 15 min intervals, so by the time I get my stuff ready to go into the shower, she is up and crying or if I shower with her in the bathroom she always manages to find something dangerous to shove in her mouth or cry the whole time with her face pressed up against the glass.  She had just finished eating and was strapped in chair all nice and calm, so I thought if I hurried, she'd stay there and I could shower before a major cry session or if I was extra lucky she might just fall asleep. How wrong was I??  The minute I turned on the shower, the tears started and then while I was shampooing my hair (the time when all bad things happen) she somehow managed to wiggle out of the straps and fall down.  The sound is distinct, you know, I'm sure your kid has fallen for some height at least one time or another.  So out of the shower I run, slipping and sliding in my own suds.  Vivienne is howling on the ground and I don't even know how bad the fall was since I didn't see anything.  I pick her up and press her to me and she is howling even louder, I don't know if I was hurting her more, if it's because besides a bump on the head, she is now soaking wet and I'm probably getting soap in her eyes and mouth (ah well the tears should have rinsed that away right?).  I assess the situation,   I know that crying is a good sign, she is not all cross eyed or passed out or anything.  It's hard to see anything, so - soapy wet, butt naked and cold I call Max (because I don't even know the number of emergency here). He jumps on his scooter and heads home. I hastily dry off and get dressed (wonder if I should dry the shower doors to stave off soap scum/lime, but decide against it) and cuddle Vivienne, who promptly falls asleep.   Now I'm wondering should I wake her-I once read on the internet (when Sophia had fallen) that the thing about going to sleep after falling was just an old wives tale, that' you need to look to see if the kid is acting strangely or has a fever or has his/her eyes rolling in the back of his/her head or something like that.  But I know what happened to Natasha Richardson and that girl that got punched in the face at the train station, they both died after serious head trauma!  In those few minutes it took for Max to get to the house, all possible paranoia  was going through my head.  We went to San Raffaele ER just in case.  The waiting room was full, luckily they took us in quickly.  Of course, Viv dropped one of her socks and as turned around to pick it up, she and Max disappeared into one of the rooms and I spent the next 5 minutes wandering around looking for them.  Luckily somebody asked me if I was looking for a baby and pointed to what room they went into, but by then the doctor was just about done with his exam. Anyhoo, the doctor was a neurosurgeon and he basically explained the same stuff that the internet said and we were to keep an eye on her for the next 6 hours or so.  Procedure was to do it at the hospital, but since she looked good and she would probably pick up some sort of cold/flu in the ER and end up not having anything serious at all, we had to wait for them to print what seemed like hundred pages of release forms and sign them and go home.  So we ran out of there, went to pick up Sophia for her first speech therapy session, Max dumped Viv and I off at home on the way.