OK Kevin Anderson, I will take you up on that tip

This is what happened...No diaper on Sophia, just underpants. I had her chair covered in plastic and towels. Towels around the room to soak up any accidents. I wouldn't let her sit on the couch. Had the TV on so that she would remain basically in one area. Got my jewelry stuff out so i could sit near her and keep an eye on her -especially for any poopin faces. I asked her every 10 minutes if she had to go pee pee (and of course she said no). And after a while she got curious and wanted to see what I was doing. I had a ring on the table and she wanted to wear it, but I told her to sit down...and of course as I'm saying it I can hear the trickling sound of pee...but it didnt sound like it was splashing down on the marble floor. no, of course not. it was more like the sound of a water fountaing, small little puddles dribbling down in to one big... WTF OMG NOOOOOOOO...she peed right into my open bag of beads and wire! It's just another manic mondayyy , woooahh woahh woah! And of course Max was at work until midnight, so when I told him all he did was laugh. Men just arent born with EMPATHY as we know from White Men can't Jump! Laugh in 24 hours, it will be funny then!
So according to Kevin Anderson, long time friend of my sister's - take the diaper off and let the kid run around naked will solve the pee pee problem ASAP. I was gonna wait on trying that, since we are in the middle of a cold fall...but 10 minutes after that little incident Sophia was running around in her bday suit! And she didnt on the floor again for the rest of the night! "Hold your water [Sophia], hold your water till the end of the song!"

School Strike

There is a teacher's strike at Sophia's preschool - there is always a strike of something here in Italy. I think it's the law, somewhere, some how, somebody needs to be on strike. Which would be fine (since I'm 'working' at home), but i was hoping to clean and pack because we are going to Cuneo today to see the Nonna. The morning didnt start out that great either, I got Sophia out of bed and onto the toilet (but her diaper was already wet, I think she had been up a while). She got all mad about something, and started doing raspberries and shouting, so it was it was straight from the toilet to timeout - ugh! Since it's raining, we can even go outside and play. Searched on the internet for Halloween activities. Had to go and buy stuff or yank out too many things from the closet boxes so I went with a playdough recipe - http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Play-Dough (Ups to wikiHow) and halloween cookie cutters.

School Strike

There is a teacher's strike at Sophia's preschool - there is always a strike of something here in Italy. I think it's the law, somewhere, some how, somebody needs to be on strike. Which would be fine (since I'm 'working' at home), but i was hoping to clean and pack because we are going to Cuneo today to see the Nonna. The morning didnt start out that great either, I got Sophia out of bed and onto the toilet (but her diaper was already wet, I think she had been up a while). She got all mad about something, and started doing raspberries and shouting, so it was it was straight from the toilet to timeout - ugh! Since it's raining, we can even go outside and play. Searched on the internet for Halloween activities. Had to go and buy stuff or yank out too many things from the closet boxes so I went with a playdough recipe - http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Play-Dough (Ups to wikiHow) and halloween cookie cutters.

bracelet 2

Project number 2, finished another bracelet, a pair of earrings and started on a ring. actually 2 because i'm having a hard time with the first one. loveee the internet though, you can find just about anything here, and then you just need to use your imagination to build on that http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/stepbystep/dec04.cfm shows a step by step process on how to make a simple ring.

Making Jewelry

I keep saying I'm going to start making some jewelry to sell, but this time I mean it. I've been listening to the Harry Potter books (yeah I already read them, but I like to hear them too) while on the internet searching techniques and I've been gettin down and dirty getting some practice in. Today I finally completed a bracelet, it took me a little more than a day, I'm so slow!

Lo Hicimos! We did it, da da da da da

Okay, it's actually SHE did it, but Dora the Explorer only teaches the Lo Hicimos, so I don't know how to translate into Spanish third person feminine, but you get the point. What the heck did she do? She POOPED in the toilet! Hooray! I've been asking her if she wants to sit on the toilet every time i see her squat, her face turn red and her eyeballs popping out of her head, but she always says "no!" But not today, I couldnt believe she said yes!

Sushi Magnets

Ebi and Maguro Maki

Did I mention that this year I think I'm going to steal from the American tradition and throw some parties where I can try and sell some of my wares to my friends and my friends friends. There are three things I'm thinking about: sushi magnets (they came out so cute for Sophia - and altho she didnt appreciate my efforts, maybe others will), jewelry and cookies mix in a jar. The jewelry's is something that everyone has seen - but who can use more jewelry. But as far as magnets and cookie mix go, they arent things that are done here - i think they are all things that could go over well. We'll see...

She did it!

Even though she already pooped in her diaper, Sophia said she had to go to the bathroom and she actually peed a little in the toilet! Hooray. So Willie you can stop making bets where if you lose you will have to change her diapers...

Emanuele's Baptism

Pryanthi and Paolo's second child had baptism today. Max is hating it because he had a tooth pulled on friday and the pain is kicking in and the meds are never strong enough, so it was a long ordeal for him. he and sophia left halfway thru the ceremony because neither could sit still, luckily it was a big church with a parocchia and so there was a playground nextdoor. Then there was a big party underneath the church with refreshments. Unfortunately I didnt get a pic of Emanuele - only the dads and the girls. On the way home there was the procession of saint someone or other and so the streets were all closed off and it took us FOREVER to get home, we had to drive in around in a big circle thru heavy traffic. Sophia wanted to walk around afterwards so we watched the procession, which was kind of cool cuz its like being back 50 or a hundred years ago...things still take place exactly the same - a long crowded group of slow walking people carrying a big ceramic statue of the madonna (sedan chair style) mosey down the main streets of Cologno while the priest swings the incense and chants prayers - only now its modern cuz the prayers are amplified with wireless megaphones from beginning to end of the procession.

The Return of Fajita-Boy

Tonight was Fajita Night. We owed Oliver (aka fajita boy, cuz he eats so many)a dinner since he took care of our plants for 3 weeks while we were in Cali. Used a new recipe off of foodnetwork.com - i think i like them better for find recipes than allrecipes because i agree with fn.c's ratings more than i do ar.c's. Used more than a kilo and a half of flour to make the tortillas...we ate almost all of them. And the n Ilaria and Criss played 20 questions. All in all it was a fun night - but late!

On Pot

The pacifier is gone...and now begins potty training. And the answer is, no she didnt poop, she's just sitting there reading a book.

Susheeeeze Louise!

Day 2 without pacifier - so far so good. She only asked for it at bedtime a little bit. Then we reminded her the Ciuccio Fairy came and brought her presents in place of it and she played with the toys a little then forgot about all about the pacifier.
Okay, so when we were in Hawaii we went to the children's discovery museum and there was a section with little mini 'countries' for the kids to play in. In 'Japan' there was a little Japanese building, with a small zen garden (and plastic water in the fountain with plastic coy) and a tatami room. In the tatami room there were small plates and sushi made of felt and yarn, with the little black and and red-orange miso soup bowls and matching plates and chop sticks etc. Sophia had such a good time imagining and playing, I thought 'WOW what a cute idea!' I'm gonna do that for her when we get back to Milan. When we were back in Union City at the grandparent's house, we went to Daiso (the 1,000yen/$1.50 store) and we bought the little plastic-lacquerware plates and bowls, Pam gave her the kid chopsticks,then I went to Michael's just to get the felt and the pompom maker. And we hauled it all back to Milan. When we got home, we rode bikes down to yarn store and looked thru hundreds of rolls of yarn until the lady let me buy the one I had originally asked for. I stayed up late figuring out exactly how to make the little maki sushi -how to use the pompom maker, how much yarn to use, how to get the colored felt(maguro) in the middle etc etc. I cut those stupid pompoms up and the yarn dust got in my lungs and made me cough and in my eyes and stuck to my contacts so my eyes hurt. And finally, I was so excited and happy I figured it all out. I got out the plates and chopsticks out and stuck the sushi on all nice and neat, like it was catered from Nobu. And of course, Sophia took one look, grabbed the chop sticks and shoved the plate away and said 'NO THANK YOU!'She wouldnt play and have fun with them, no matter how hard I tried! I made an ass out of myself - smiling and pretending to eat and have fun to no avail. Just classic....

Na Na Na Na Hey Heyyyy Good Bye

Addio Ciuccio, we said good-bye forever to you! Today was Sophia's first full day without a pacifier!! We've been telling her for the last couple of days that on Weds the we werent going to use the ciuccio any more. This morning at school we announced it to the teachers too. And after school we went for an ice cream to celebrate not having used the ciuccio all day. Today Criss stopped by for an impromptu visit and ended up staying for dinner too. After that we did a goodbye pacifier ceremony, we stuck it in a little bag and hung it in the tree for the Ciuccio Fairy to collect (yes, just like the tooth fairy..didnt you know there is a Ciuccio Fairy too? Too bad there wasn't a thumb fairy, I would have had a hard time playing video games, but at least I wouldnt have had buck teeth and braces!!). The Ciuccio fairy came by and took the pacifier away and in its place brought Sophia presents for being such a good girl!! Criss, her Daddy and Sophia played with the new grocery shopping basket and food until it was time to go to bed. So far she got out once, but Max put her back in and then sat by the door (noooooo eye contact!) for a few minutes and either she went to sleep or is just laying there quietly, but 15 minutes have passed and she still hasnt come out yet. Keep your fingers crossed!

PicasSophia

Today is a half day, but since the kids cant go back until 1pm and ive got to pick Soph up by 4, we just stayed home. Nasty cold, luckily Max took care of her in the morning, but he had to go to work by 10 and of course the dang Little Einsteins avi got blocked so as soon as he went out the door I had to get up and fix it. After a little tv (and coffee for me) we got dressed and got out the pencils and drew on the paintings we did yesterday. That was pretty fun, but didnt last too long. But it looked so nice, i was inspired to let Sophia acrylic paint and see what came out of it...un piéce di resistence (or however you spell it...you'd think after all those years of art in college, i'd know). I also learned a valuable lesson, dont use tuna cans to hold the paint, i was rinsing one out and i cut the heck out of my stupid finger, and it wouldnt stop bleeding. Better me than Soph, the cut's pretty deep so it would have cut her whole finger off......ewwww! Anyways, quite proud of my kid, too bad we dont have anywhere to hang it...maybe we can make some space over the book shelves. Too bad we didnt work in yellow and red and orange it would have matched the walls in the living room!

Fooled Nights Sleep

I can't believe it! Sophia actually slept the whole dang night...about 3am I woke up, (force of habit, nervously awaiting to see if she would wake up). She did a little cough, moved around a little bit and I held my breath in anticipation, but nope...she just stayed sleeping. Unfortunately about 3am Max woke up too, coughing and nose blowing. Poor guy's cold was just worse. But worse yet, poor me...I am doomed to never have a full nights sleep. What a friggin psych was that, he tossed and turned and made so much noise I got up and went on the couch and read. It wasnt even a good reading book (one of those parent help books, requires too much concentration). Don't know what time i finally fell asleep but I do know Soph rolled in around 6.30ish - 'Miiiiilk'.
Max was good and he took her school. Due to yesterdays over work I decided that today i would just hang around the house, watch some well deserved tv (that isnt the wonder pets or little einsteins) and veg. yeah i say that, but of course the cooking, cleaning and laundry still get done at random intervals...no im not sure how much hanging out i actually did do. took a nap, which was well needed, and luckily Max went to go and pick up Sophia from school. I guess she had a hard day and cried a lot and asked for us. Poor kid, she jumped right onto the bed and started pawing at my hair. And since it was the late shift for Max he was off to work.
I usually hate early morning shifts and late shifts, it makes my day all that much longer. But today went pretty well. We just hung out, Soph 'helped' me clean and put away laundry, and then she was shouting something that sounded like 'shark week' that I totally didnt get, and of course she was so insistent and kept shouting it over and over, I felt like the idiot for not understanding her, so I changed subjects and got out the painting kit that Pietro gave her for her b-day. I was trying to save it so that they could play it together but oh well. Its one of those imaginarium kits, the paints are already in the brushes, all you need to do is wet them and paint the posters that they give you, and there is even a little plastic mat included.
She was so into it she must have painted for an hour and a half. I kept getting out big ol' sheets from the Ikea roll to keep her going. That was cool, it gave me a little break and Marc and I just pinged for that time. And then it got late, it was getting dark and cool so we came inside and had a bath. She even sat on the toilet for a minute.
All was good and dandy until dinner time....I warmed up the chicken noodle soup from lunch and as per norm this week, she didnt want to sit down and eat dinner. First she spit at me - so a time out. And then she insisted that I open the mini twix or 2 cookies she got from school. Coercion, bribery, flat out threats made no difference - that girl was not even gonna sit in her chair and just taste to see if she liked the soup or not. So back into time out it was. No change, so back into time out. This time it actually worked and she sat down and tried some soup. I scooped the first spoonful, trying to just get noodles or chicken. But she shouted - se-woo-weee. I didnt get it at first, but apparently she wanted to eat the celery! where the heck did she learn that from, could it be? nooo...does something good actually come out of the wonder pets- lets celery-brate! yeahhh! thanks linnie, tuck and ming ming too! its the first time i didnt hate them! she ate a few spoonfuls, which was fine, and then i opened the twix as afore promised. And then I was going to offer up some tv, but she wanted to draw. so she drew, and then started drumming with the pencils. and then she started to take song requests (from herself)...gwen stefani - this mmms bananas b-a-ayananas, twinkle. and then she started demanding songs from me shake your bootie, bah bah black sheep. strange line up of karaoke but it was fun, and funny! but then she started singing wonder pets, which brought us back to tv again, so i let her watch for an hour and then it was off to bed...which btw was also really easy, i tucked her in, sang a song and lights out. she cried a little, but before msn msgr opened up, she was quiet.
got 5 pages of scrap booking this some of this summer's pix done. only about 80 more pages to go!!! so this is the goal, a couple of pages every night (yeah right) but thats 2-4 pix per page, so if i do keep it up, i could actually get a lot done! yeah we will see, this thing is dated right, i will come back and look at my progress, if i even remember that i set the goal.