Does toddler travel terrify you? Well, it shouldn’t and you definitely should not let it stop you from seeing the world, even if you have young children. Not buying it? Challenge accepted. In the spring of 2016, M (then 2.5 years old) and I traveled to Florence and Assisi in central Italy. We live in southern Italy, […]
Professional Baby Name Consultants? Just Say No.
I’m normally good about keeping an open mind, “you do you,” and all that crap. Really, I swear. But then I read an article about professional baby name consultants, and well . . . the WTF is strong with this one, folks. As reported by Polly Mosendz for Bloomberg, business is booming in the United […]
PAW Patrol, I’ve Got a Bone to Pick with You
It’s not often I feel the need to take to the Interwebs to rant about an injustice I’ve seen on television,* but a recent experience with one of Marisa’s favorite cartoons has left me no choice. I’m talking PAW Patrol here, folks, and things are about to get serious. For the uninitiated, a brief summary: […]
Conversations with a Toddler: The Bedtime Horror Picture Show
Tonight as the Darling Wee Lass was winding down to go to sleep (read: hopping about the bed like those five little monkeys we’re always singing about), she crawled up on top of me so that we were tummy to tummy, her precious dollbaby face just inches from mine. She proceeded to poke at the […]
My Morning Routine
My friend and fellow expat in Italy Sara Rosso was recently featured on the site My Morning Routine. I loved reading her answers and composing snarky answers of my own in my head, so I thought I’d share my morning routine here. My sympathies to those who can identify. What is your morning routine? My morning […]
The Five People You Meet on a Transatlantic Flight with an 11-month-old: Part II
When we last left off, I was about to introduce you to the five people you meet on a transatlantic flight with an eleven-month-old (or at least the ones we met). Now that the scene has been set in Part I and so much time has passed from the first post that we have actually made *another* transatlantic […]
The Five People You Meet on a Transatlantic Flight with an 11-month-old: Part I
In October, Baby M and I went to the United States, just the two of us (“we can make it if we try!”). The first flight was at the crack of bum from our small airport in Calabria (Lamezia Terme, airport code SUF for the curious among you) to Rome (FCO) on RyanAir. Despite being […]
Babywearing in Southern Italy
From M’s very earliest days, she has known the comfort of being snuggled close to La Mommy in a baby carrier. Babywearer and proud right here! Holla! This, of course, has caused much ado in my rural southern Italian village, where babywearing is not the norm, to put it mildly. M was in the Moby […]
Marisa’s Law aka Murphy’s Law for Babies
As every parent learns rather quickly, there is most certainly a baby equivalent to the famed Murphy’s Law, whereby if anything can go wrong, it will. I’ve been compiling what I refer to as Marisa’s Law–and this list will surely be added to as the years go on. By no means, incidentally, do I think my […]
Mommy’s Hairy Coffee Legs
Most mornings I take M up to the piazza and then for a long walk along the winding, country road that leads out of the village into the mountains. Either before or after the walk (depending on M’s mood/level of sleepiness), I have a cappuccino at the bar in the square. When I’m by myself, […]