Miss CapaTosta

Gianni and Vivi’s school has a “Bonnet Parade” each year, marking the first day of Spring.  It’s always fun to see what kind of hats can be crafted out of paper plates and glitter.  Gianni and Vivi’s teachers did a great job. 

Here was Gianni–in the red shirt, when he first recognized me in the crowd!  “Hiiii Mom!”

Here is a shot of his marching skills.  Somehow he got the idea that he was supposed to march–since it was a parade after all.  (P.S. None of his other classmates were marching.)

More unsolicited marching.

Here come the babies!

Vivi came to see me in her yellow and pink paper plate bonnet.  She wasn’t thrilled with the parade.  She had to be awoken from her nap to join the festivities.

Second time around, he decided not to march.  Love that kid.

This week Gianni learned about “life cycles” at school.  He drew pictures of butterflies and tadpoles, and then my favorite…he wrote/dictated a story.

Upon reading the story, I’m not sure he really learned much about the life cycle of a tadpole.  From my understanding a tadpole can neither run nor bite.  I mean, I could be way off here–I wasn’t a Life Sciences Major or anything.

Oh the imagination of a 3-year-old.

So here is the family portrait Gianni brought home the other day.  Apparently there is a core group of three people: Dad, Mom and Gianni.  Duh.  And then there is a tiny person, who barely made it onto the bottom of the page, who you can only see with a magnifying glass.  I guess that makes four.

Once a year we make it a point to hire a babysitter and see old friends.  We attended the West Point “Founders’ Day” Dinner tonight, which is celebrated across the country, to commemorate the 210th (this year) anniversary of the founding of my Alma Mater!  Go Army, Beat Navy!

P.S.  This is a $24.99 dress from Marshall’s, that I found less than 2 hrs before the dinner.  So proud.  Had to share.

I was mortified when I saw Gianni’s artwork the other day.  It’s taken me a few days to get the courage to post this.

Most days, he brings home innocent drawings of his family, imaginary dog (which you can read about here), race cars or robots.  Once the children complete their masterpieces, the teachers must go around the room and ask the child what they drew, so they can put a caption on it.  (You know, just in case we weren’t sure what the scribbles were supposed to be.)  Well when I pulled this picture out, I wasn’t as shocked with the drawing, as I was with his dictated caption.

Uh huh.  He told the teacher that he has a tattoo.  By no means do we encourage, flaunt or speak of tattoos in this house.  I am baffled by what this child has absorbed…that’s my 3.5 year old son for ya!

So embarrassed.

(But I do want him to see this in 20 or 30 years when he reads this album–when hopefully he still WON’T have any tattoos!)

This morning I lost a little “me” time.  Typically I roll out of bed right as Gianni and Gaetano are heading out the door.  I kiss my boys good-bye and then enjoy a quiet house for 20 minutes—before Vivi wakes up.  Usually I split my time between the Today Show and hair/makeup/wardrobe (that is what I call my morning routine).  This morning though I spent 5 minutes getting ready, and 15 minutes printing, cutting and gluing pictures.  Yes.  I am already working on school projects.  Surprisingly enough though, this wasn’t for Gianni’s 3 year old class—it was for Vivi’s 6 month old “young infants” class!

Apparently the good moms had already completed their homework.  Vivi was the only baby without pictures of her family plastered to the sides of her clear glass “evacuation” crib at school.  As of today, she is no longer the poor baby with the disengaged mother.

Sorry Viv.  I’m sure you won’t remember this, but I felt super guilty.  Ugh.  Don’t worry though.  Most babies only have three or four pictures.  You have seven full-color shots of your brother; you and your brother; you, your brother and your dad; you and me; you, your grandmother, your aunts and me; you, your brother, your dad and me; and finally, you by yourself.  I think I covered all the necessary relationships in this collage.  Surely you won’t be scarred for life.

Love, Your (guilt-ridden, often distracted, but very adoring) Mother

Or shall I say, “Happy Balance Time Day!” per Mister Gianni. 

What a difference 6 months makes!  It doesn’t look like G will be toting “little” V around the house any time soon.  He can barely fit his arms around her. 

We were still living in Italy when Gianni was five months old.  I needed to get his pictures taken, so I contact a fabulous American photographer living in Naples.  She came up with the idea to take his pictures in a bowl of pasta!  The pictures from that day are my all-time favorite baby pictures of Gianni.  I guarantee they will haunt him into his teenage years, but his wife will thank me for them later.

Not wanting to favor one baby over the other, I set my mind to taking a “knock-off” picture of Viviana.  It took awhile to scrounge up the necessary props but I pulled it off last weekend.  I borrowed the chef’s hat, borrowed the bowls, bought a piece of black felt for the “backdrop” and a yard of red gingham for the table cloth.  The pasta is real, as are the vegetables in the foreground.

Vivi wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of swimming in spaghetti, but she begrudgingly complied.  Here is a comparison of the original and my copycat version.  I think it’s safe to say that these babies are related.

Today my little princess Vivi turned six months old.  She is still the sweetest baby girl I’ve ever known.  (Granted my first child was a baby boy, so not much competition there.  And behaviorally, almost any baby would win against my first one, as he set the bar extremely low e.g. screaming non-stop until he was 8 months old.)  She is sleeping 11-12 straight hours at night now!  My sweet pea ate sweet potatoes for dinner tonight.  Love this girl!

She starts daycare on Monday!  Wish her luck.  I hope she makes friends fast.