Mumsnet Little Italy 4

[Rosa]

Ciao - Everybody Welcome.

Oh, dear i am no fat fascist either. I was talking about these fat kids you see in the south of Italy, the place these days is full of fat kids, eating merendine rubbish. When I was growing up you had the odd overwheight child, now they are everywhere, I think beside the diet is the lack of exercise, sitting on their bum watching crap telly. Or the English kids at ds' school, practically obese, I want to slap their mums. I never thought of Italy as being full of thin women, maybe up in Milan/Rome. In the South they are on the large size, lots of teenage girls that are clearly overweight. To be honest a 40 year old mum on the plump side who eats reasonably healthily is not soo bad. Today I gave in to the strangest craving for greasy food, and lovely it was. And yesterday had a coca cola which had the most amazing taste, it literally blew my mind. Funnly enough feel disgusted by ohter sweet things, so no cakes for the last 3 weeks, very weird. I think have put on about 3 kilos already, don't think that much from the food as in from the lack of exercise....

couldn't eat sweet things either first trimester...weird.

I was planning on doing the pics thing anyway as hammock to big to be put up now, was annoyed with shop for being so useless and making me stay at home all day. hormones under control now!

dd bad sleping habit have returned, I wonder what we do wrong.

That's exactly what I meant Hhell. You put it so much better than me.

BTW, there are plenty of fat kids up here too, although admittedly they more often than not seem to be from Southern families. I think there is more of a culture of feeding up and using large quantities of food to show you're comfortably off. Or at least that's how DP explains it, tbh don't know if it's true, though I do remember the mother of my calabrese flatmate trying to fatten me up with piatti ricchi.

I have never noticed a fat Italian hardly in 12 years of being here!! Where are they?? I want to move there. Ocasionally see a chunky child but every Italian girl friend I have ever had (plus all the ones I see on the street) seem impossibly skinny and glam at all times.
Whenever I go back to UK I really really notice how many obese, especially young people there seem to be. I am an obese fascist I admit, it's one thing to like your food a little bit too much but to get to obese proportions signifies psycological issues, how can you want to punish your body that much!

what times do your dc's go to sleep? Mine is 15 mths, admittedly has improved on the midnight it once was but it took til 10.30 to get him off tonight - am knackered!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes if am lucky he'll be asleep by 8.30
Today he played, giggled and cried in his cot for 2 HOURS, everything but sleeping.
at anyone who's dcs do 7-7

Mine does 8/8.30-7/7.30 now at 2.6. At 10-14mo she went to bed at around the same time but got up earlier, like around 5.30/6. She also used to have 2 naps a day then, which went down to one when I put her in nursery at 15mo, at which point she started going a bit longer in the mornings.

I've been lucky though, DD's always been a good sleeper. In the early months I used to plonk her in the bath as it had an immediate soporific effect. Sadly, that doesn't work any longer (which is why she rarely gets a bath these days).

oh gio you are touching a raw nerve here... dd used to be such a great sleeper (albeit not a long one) now it's a nightmare to put down. she got into a habit of gettting out of bed. yesterday was 2 hours. I am sure dh and I do not tackle it right so it makes it worse. she does not have day naps anymore except occasionally but she can still be up till midnight if you let her.

had a fight with dh about it yesterday... and it's his birthday today and I cannot be bothered much now.

My dd does 8.00- 7.oo and has a nap after lunch for 1 + hrs depending on what she does in the morning . On hols she slept 2 hrs in the day. She started going through at 10 mths and has always had same routine dinner bath / bed. On non bath nights we make a big thing of clearing up toys ( they are going nanna) , pjmas
on , then sit on sofa wathing in the night garden or anything not bouncy !!Story and bed.
Interestingly SIL now feeds her dc at 7pm and they are in bed by 8 - 8.30 after me being poo pooed at me feeding dd at 6.30 / 7.00. Hers went to bed 9 ish and later and they were always cranky after school and when her dd started falling asleep at 6pm for 2 hrs she started to change things. Nonna has stopped saying poverino when we say dd is in bed at 8 pm!!!
what I like about being big in the Uk is that I can buy clothes all shapes and sizes and get what I think flatters me rather than buying because it goes on ! I have to get something for a wedding in May and I am going to have to risk the net as I refuse to go to Marina Rinaldi and spend soooo much dosh .

Perhaps its the meal times not helping ds actually. i am a bit scatty re routines and he gets fed anytime between 6.45 and 8.15 depending on how long the passeggiata has been and how much I've spent browsing in Coin looking at everything I can't afford - what a selfish mother! So poor kid doesnt know where he is I guess re sleeping. SO in addition to giving up biscuits for lent (decide on this after polished off WHOLE PACK OF HOBNOBS) I will also give up having no routine and try and get him fed by 7 and down by 8.30 at the latest.
Well that's the intention.
rosa I love going back to the UK for shopping for same reason- Next and M&S in Manchester doesnt know what's hit it! Am a bit happier now there is an H&M in Rome now, cheaper clothes in not just tiny sizes and no "helpful" assistants eyeing you up and down when you enter the shop with a "nothing to fit you here love" expression!

Yes, it doesn't help that shops are open till 7.30, does it?

I was very unroutiney when DD was tiny, but had to sort one out when nearing going back to work time. With being at nursery in the week she has quite a strict routine, which frequently goes to pot at the weekends because we're out, and more so now she's older. We have even been known to stop for an aperitivo so that DD could "dine" on the buffet you get with your drinks, thus removing the need for me to cook when we get back home. We always choose a bar with a nice healthy array of snacks, though (ie not just crisps and pistachios).

We had a routine almost from when she started solids as as bf was a bit erratic with formula supplements. I was determined not to have her up at 10.30 / 11 as many of my friends did as I wanted me time !! Esp as dh was working all hours. So it went from there really . I find she knows where she is . Brang when your dd goes to bed later does she wake later as dd doesn't and then is grumpy in the morning until she has a pm sleep ?
We have a H&M in Mestre and I tend only to get childrens clothers when there as it is normally the last shop in my 'free time'. I found Monsoon sale this Jan so rather happy . M&s gets a fair bashing but Next I tend to get annoyed with at times ..they stick clothes up too high so you cant see the sizes but I love kids next.

Oh it's Russian roulette with her waking times. Sometimes she'll wake later but a lot of times she'll wake even earlier than normal then get whiney at midday before she's even had any lunch. I got a lot of comments from Italian mums about how did I manage to get her in bed so early, yet if I told people in the UK she went to bed at 8 they'd gasp and ask why so late? Lol, you can never win.

I know we have a few problems when in Uk as I put her to bed at 7.30 there . She has dinner at about 6.30 her friends eat dinner earlier and go to bed earlier so if we go round she is not hungry when they have dinner and starving when they go to bed to it takes some juggling. This summer it will be interesting as if we go to the beach for a day she will not get an afternoon nap so she might go to bed earlier ...We will see. Yes I am planning our next break!

ciao!!!
still no effing internet...
we are at inlaws today and are going skying tomorrow (well dh and ds, I will look after dd whoi says she doesn't want to try and btw is too young, imho).
welcome back rosa!!!!
hh, put your foot down re the cvs.
last year I signed a petition to downing street for strep b, got an answer last week (was obviously impressed, can you imagine the secretary of italian pm answering you? lol lol lol). the answer obviously is no, no routine screening for strep b in the UK, which is probably the onlòy european country where it's not done
I miss my MN time a lot girls, I hope we'll be sorted in 10 days...
fuck have just been ringed by fastweb on the mobile but e' caduta la linea. ma sono pazzzzzzi!

the saga continues - spoke to midwife at local hospital, basically can have a cvs if after the nuchal fold/c ombined test I get less than 1 in 300 chance of having a down syndrome baby. If it is slightly more than 1 in 300 i have to pay for a cvs myself - 500 quid. Bollocks! I just do not understand why i cannot rely on the latest scientific tests to find out if my baby is healthy, it also means that richer people of course can find out cause 500 is nothing to them. And a disabled child would cost the nhs more than 500 quid anyway.
WOW, franca you are living the life, skiing......eating nice food, basically a permanent holiday.

By the way with children the rule of thumb is the earlier they go to bed the longer and better they sleep. The idea is that if a child falls asleep late, he will be exhausted and wake up early with a start. That's why it never works the thinking that we have of putting the kids to bed late so they sleep more. You have to put them early 7/7.30, all the time and chances are within a week they will sleep 11.30/12 hours.
The idea of broken nights with a baby horrifies me....

Hot I am disgusted to be honest . BUt I think that over here its free if you are over 35 but am sure it is less than that if you want it . I paid to have mine done as I was nervous as hell and wanted the doc who I knew to do it it cost round that figure but he had part above the table and part under. Plus I had insurance then as was employed !
How about coming to Italy / enquiring about having it here and have a holiday for 10 days ??
Franca glad you are still round was getting concerned.
Right about those bed times dd is late tonight as we went out so will go and rush along teeth brushing....

went to stay with friends in Umbria this weekend so bedtime was a disaster! DS ran round like a pazzo all evening, loving the fact they dont live in a 65 metre hole of an apartment. I have serious house jealousy. DP quite reasonably pointed out that they don't live in in the centre of Rome, but in a village which is dead after 8 but not the point, I want their house in the centre of Rome obviously! Unreasonable? Nah! It was so nice geting out of the city for a change though. Went to an agriturismo to eat, had antipasti, 2 primi, 2 secondi, dolce, cafe e limoncello, loads of wine for 20 euros!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Diet starts today obviously
Am now dreaming of having enough money for a weekend house. Or just to move out of rented accomodation and have a lovely new kitchen like they have instead of the 1970s hell of most Roman rental apartments!

Gio, if it makes you feel any better, I used to live in 40mq (commerciali, so actually much less) in the centre of Milan. I also had a nightmare kitchen, if you cooked and used more than one pan you had nowhere to put a plate. DD didn't start crawling until we moved here and I'm convinced it was my fault as there was never enough floor space to crawl in the old flat. We now live in nearly 100mq in the semi-centre of Monza but I so miss the area we lived in Milan.

Did you eat 2 primi and 2 secondi all by yourself?

Hhell, I'm so shocked that they won't do you a CVS. Can you not get a second opinion? I mean, this nuchal scan + bloods only tests for one chromosomal abnormality AFAIK (Downs), not all. Surely if you say someone in you family had Edwards or one of the rarer ones you should be seen? I am , here it's free for all over 35s. I got mine done on the SSN in a big teaching hospital in Milan by the guy who brought CVS to Italy and it was very all very professional and efficient. I have no idea what a CVS costs privately here, DP's ex paid 3 milioni 13 years ago for an amnio.

3 milioni 13 years ago for an amnio !!!!! Bloody Hell!!!! again!

where in umbria did you go gio? [homesick emoticon] especially at the agriturismo's food!

I must say I always was one for living in the centre etc but since we moved here the extra space in the house has done wonders to dd.

Pippi -friends live in Acquasparta and then we went to Todi for the day, gorgeous!
Brange I probably ate 3/4 of everything put in front of me which was probably double what my Italian friend ate which is why she is skinny and I am not . One of those fab places where you eat what they eat, no menu etc, big open fire mmmm
Brange what do you miss most about living in the city? My DP has the theory that even if we don't do much, he needs to know that if we wanted to it's all there on the doorstep. I must admit I love being able to walk into the centro storico here with ds, I feel he is so privileged to be bought up here (I was bought up in Luton and Manchester which just makes me appreciate it all the more on his behalf!!)

I agree with your DP. I used to live in an area with a lot of bars, restaurants and nightlife. At first I went out a lot but after a while I sgot out of the habit because of working a lot. Then I started not bothering because I was becoming a couch potato, but it was important to me to know that it was there "just in case". I had 3 parks on my doorstep, every shop imaginable and a brilliant market practically sotto casa (though of course I never went because it was "there"). Then when I was on mat leave I discovered a side to the area that I hadn't noticed before because of being at work all day, and started to re-appreciate living there.

.....Then I moved here where nowhere is "a portata di mano", the facilities for children in particular are few and far between and the people are strange and very provincial . But then I could never have afforded to buy any more than a box where we lived before and like Pippi's DD mine is flourishing in all the space. DP and I are also less at each other's throats because we have more room to put things away (although my cabina armadio is already full and I still have clothes in the cellar) and it's lovely not having to zig zag around furniture to get from the kitchen to the loo. It's also marvellous not having to be a contortionist to get into the shower. I don't know how I did it when I had a huge bump! And DP had to sit awkwardly on the bidet because his leg was too chunky to get down the side. I could go on......

I'd love living in the centre centre. My dream was to buy a town house in Bloomsbury (I did say DREAM). I'd have had the parks and the city under my doorstep, the bookshops, the rest, cafes and theatres and had this vision of the kids being real cosmopolital london kids ifswim.

well, in bloomsbury we could have afforded a one bed flat probably. Impossible. Here's okay as only 30min train to west end but very close to other urban areas where you can forget you have kids plus parks and good schools. I do wonder smtimes how I ended up here - the same area 6 years ago I found boring - but I also do wonder how I ended up with a dh and (almost) two dd discussing meal plans and tiles and floor .

For someone who grew up in a provincial town this is okay. I still feel I am in london but I also got a bit of villagey feeling which is nice with kids at times. I couldn;t (yet) move to the country as I do want things 'there' like the ethiopian rest we went on fri for dh's bthday and going to see Kevin Spacey at the old vic in march (yes I am bragging but I haven't been out in ages so pls excuse me )

Oh guys this is a topic so close to my heart . I hate living in Venice mainly as we are in a flat 2nd floor . IT is not ours and we cant find anything to buy . So it is partially furnished old stuff by owner and part ours ( Ikea stuff !!)As a result we have boxes and stuff everywhere Like wedding presents under the ancient space taking up sideboard . I cant seem to get anything tidy and I am frustrated that I live in a tip. I am not talking about dd mess that comes with the child but being able to have somewhere to put things. We dont have a magazzino or soffitta which I think is part of teh problem. 2 pushchairs, 1 box, girello, etc just taking up space. DD room looks like a store room and I just want to make it into her room ! Agree I am at dh throat more as a result of this. I want space for dd- parks ( without dog shi*t and poor equipment)or even a garden ha ha . Moving to the mainland is not an option as the crime rate is so high we would have to live in fort knox . Prices of houses are going down but not here they are still going up . I am hoping for the colpo di fortuna !!! Well thats my whinge for the day .
Gio do you have parks and things nearby ? Are there activities for your ds maybe when he gets a bit older?
..Oh I miss Franca hope she gets fastweb sorted soon .
Off to inscrivere DD in piscina again !

Oh Rosa, I feel your pain! We never had a cantina or soffitta either and now we have one about the size of half our old flat and I can't imagine living without. No stuff like boxes hanging around, just bung it in the cellar. Bliss! And I so identify with not having anywhere to put things. I look at photos of our old place and there's always this little pile of stuff on the end of the settee, the table is never clear etc. etc. I'm a great advocate for not buying loads of the useless crap they sell for babies as I had to do without - DD was changed on a towel on the bed, washed in a tiny washing up bowl, weaned on a corner of the settee with a cushion in front of her. I'm sure if I'd had a drawer big enough I'd have made her sleep in there like you see in old films.