MN Little Italy 17

[Rosa]

Starting schools, North vs South and books ...ci siamo !

Notte!

Re pipi in public I am a yes person. Partly down to aforementioned state of public toilets. And partly because in the city of dog crap covering every metre of every street I have to walk down if anyone dared complain about a 2 year old pipi-ing on a tree I think I would explode. Would much rather that he used a toilet but until there are places that don't make me vomit on entering that's not going to happen! Also aside from dog poo, dogs wee everywhere and noone minds so don't really see cause for a big argument against my ds weeing.
Ok that's me off my soap box now.
Meeting went well yesterday. DS fine, doing well although not found his amico del cuore yet which started dp worrying! AIBU to not be remotely worried? He plays with other kids and likes being with them and he's not 3 til Sunday,do they tend to have best friends so young?? We had the swine flu lecture and heard about his additional subjects . He starts music and movement, theatre and movement and English this month

Glad he is settling in Gio, sounds much better than my DD's scuola materna.
Yes the thing that really pisses me off most here is the dog shit on the pavement, it really really makes me cross, every time we go for a walk I spend the whole time scanning the pavement, which just makes me more angry and doesn't make for a pleasant experience.
The park where the giochi are always has piles of the stuff at the entrance so I can't let DS run around freely, and even where the swings are it's not fenced off, although luckily I haven't actually seen any there yet.
Then there is the huge pile of cat crap right near the entrance of the condominio, made by the stray cats people in the offices feed. It stinks.
Ok, end rant, will go and watch Elio to calm down.

I am for pipi too, if children are small and desperate, especially in the park. My english friends think the same (funny enough we have been talking about this important subject last night over a pizza ). Def not okay if grown up man/woman does it. Once I saw man weeing outside his front door before going in!!! WTF!?

Penthe LOL at lazzaretto!

MM forgot about your move and now that we won't be able to have other meet-ups in london. Must make sure we get together at half term.

Morning- just back from translating a document on predatory pricing for tetra pak, my excitement knows no bounds.

Eek, dd has a red eye as well, I presumed she'd scratched it and shall continue to think that.....am not buying into the swine flu hysteria....(I know lots of people who have had it this summer in the UK and most of them "had a bit of a cold" and then about a fortnight later decided it had probably been swine flu.) Real flu (as I tell dp monthly when he says he has it) has you in bed conked out totally, unable to eat or drink or even get up and stagger to the bathroom sometimes. I had it in my first year here, it came on in the space of an hour and I had no cold symptoms whatsoever, just aches and pains all over my body for about 4 days.

Re: toxo- the midwife I saw in England couldn't believe they tested for it here- said you really literally need to either eat infected food which is so infected it stinks, or rub cat poo all over yourself at regualar intervals, or be incredibly incredibly unlucky. Dp's brother (a vet) also says it's a waste of money (and apparently it's one of the most expensive pregnancy screenings they do) My gynae was "OMG you have a cat you'll definitely have toxo" and refused to believe my negative result. Likewise, my SIL (the amuchina one- who used to make me shut my cat on the balcony when she came round) tested positive which made me laugh-out-loud.....Bloody hope dd doesn't have swine flu....... I'd have to eat my words then wouldn't I?

The dog shit is a 'mare here too. There is a "garden" opposite the house where all the local dog owners come and have a communal shite every morning. I shout at them if there's just one of them and threaten to go and do a poo myself on their doorstep.

I have the opposite with dd and the public weeing. She only wees about twice a day (and sometimes only then if I force her to go) I think it's fine while they're little though...

Maestra called me over this morning and said dd needs to slow down and take more care with her work as she wants to be the first to finish all the time. (she was like this at nursery too)

Gio- I shouldn't worry about the amico di cuore...Dd's has already changed from Clara to Giusy in the space of 15 days!I don't think they do have a special friend that young tbh....I don't rememeber dd talking about special friends till maybe the second year of materna. Don't hold your breath with the inglese either...dd has done 4 hrs of inglese and coloured the copertina of the exercise book She started her extra-curricular music on Saturday which seems to be a nice course, and brings back together a little group of children who were all at nursery together....

Lol at man peeing next to his front door

Gio, yes, I wouldn't worry about special friend, he is def too young. I think they usually start at about 4. Ds has never mentioned a special friend until he started reception, so he was 4 and a half, older, even.

Dog poo is a huge problem in Milan too, though many "parks" have dogs only areas, which helps (dogs areas are usually bigger than children's areas... , but never mind.

Another thing I hate is people spitting. It appears, somehow, that new generations are starting to spit. Bleurgh. But I think I've already ranted about this here

yup spitting is uber-disgusting.

I don't even think twice. especially when they are small to see mums zooming off down side streets and holding little ones to pee. PLus we don't have an excess of public loos ( I tried to get a free card - for residents and gave up !). In the Uk though there are lots more public loos and when in town in the UK dd1 needed a wee and I went to Costa and asked - they were so friendly - no obligation to buy I think the lady said' you can't plan these things.' If playing on the park and dd needed a wee yes I would take her behind a bush or something if no public ( decent) ones nearby. My SIL says e tutta roba santa........
MInirosas dry sore cough has moved to her chest and when she bounces ( so pleased to see her bounce) she does some real belly coughs. you can still feel/ hear her chest rattle a bit but so much less so for once it was a good thing she had antibiotics as a precaution - which have now been increased. Not sending dd back until they are both 100% fit and am giving dd1 Actimel ( over reacting emotion ??)and am seriously thinking about that Betotal stuff .....She does eat lots of fruit but I want to help her defences ( load of money making crap ?????)
Going solo - I am lucky as dh tends to be back most evenings but about once in 10 days I have all day , night and then a few more antisocial hours thorwn in ..as if he isn't here. I just do myself a routine and try to stick to it ...Then the kids get sick.!
Console yourself just think of the chhocolate selection at Christmas !!!

Thanks Franca, I just put DS to sleep watching Elio clips on youtube
This deserves special mention, I feel.
L'eterna lotta tra il bene ed il male

Bug**r I missed a page out - Dog shit now that drives me insane and I will stop if I see somebody who doesn't pick up and offer them a plastic bag ( I seem to have them stuffed in buggies!)
They started putting containers with bags in in obvius places like vaporetto stops entrance to the park but of course people just go and take the lot (WTF?) so they are pretty much always empty.
I even refuse to buy my fruit and veg from one stall as this lady did not pick up her dog poo ...and she knows it and scowls at me !!!
I have threatened to take dd2 poo nappy with me and drop it at the feet of a dog owner before but Dh would prefer not

Rosa steps down from soapbox with Gio !!

Rosa- watched v interesting programme on BBC about Actimel and stuff- apparently money making crap one and all if you are healthy....however, if you are ill/run-down etc, then they are worth taking. Best ones are the acidophillus ones you buy in pharmacies/health food stores though.

Our paed always prescribes the probiotics from the pharmacy along with antibiotics.

Oh I love that one (panino con lasagna )

One of my fav one at the moment is Ignudi fra i nudisti.

Rosa, I used to give mine Orsovit vitamines, they look like jelly bears.

Yes, those ones, that you hide in juice etc....

Thanks for that will investigate further as I think seeing as they have both been so ill right at the start of the winter I want to strenghten them as much as poss...Rosa goes off to slug the Actimel .....

X-posted with Franca- am not suggesting anyone hides jelly bears in juice!("eeek, what are these lumps in the juice!")

Rosaaaaaaaa don't go, I need you. I am going to make a cake and the recipe is in 'cups' and 'tbsp' . Now how do you measure 4 tbsp of butter at room temp?

I think it is a good idea to boost the children immune system at the start of the wintery season, Rosa.
I, too, am very suspicious of Actimel.
Soon oranges will be sold, nothing beats a glass of spremuta (nonna emoticon).

I am here Never heard of tablesp of butter If it was me I would..... Soften the butter a bit not liquid , Dig it in the butter sort of level it off abit and then use that. I am guessing it will be about 200g of butter

Yup. Normally it 175gr or 200gr of butter so it makes sense. Will check how much in gr a cup of flour is. I hate thise cup business... there is a reason why we have gr and kg dontcha know, I'd like to shout.

oh and thanks btw .

Prego cara.....I like cups when its dd cooking as its so much easier but I tend to do a tablespoon of flour is about 2oz or 50g. PLus I tend to do old favourites so I know by eye . Mind you haven't cooked for ages as I threw out all my flour as the moths were back ....

Damon, as I am a food geek I use the following website when converting cups and tbsp:

allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cup-to-Gram-Conversions/Detail.aspx

I am making teacake and raspberry muffins today as my British inlaws are staying for a week - food should keep them (and moi) happy hopefully.

I hope all the sick babies are getting better! Amongst spremuta and acidophilus, I am a believer in Betotal. I loooooooooved Betotal as a kid. Sickly sweet and ghastly yellow - what's not to like? Once I stole the bottle from the cupboard and a couple of good glugs... Hmmmm

Lol at roba santa... Never heard of that one before either...

Off to feed DD yoghurt...

Oh and by the way. There is a thread somewhere where they are saying that in 2005 Giuseppina was the second or thereabouts most common girls name given in Italy.

Pls tell me it cannot be true....