Brand new MN Little Italy (22)

[Francagoestohollywood]

hello, ciao, etc

hi girls, welcome back SG and Buch.SG your ds is gorgeous!!
How was dd on Friday Franca - any better?
I have rediscovered my reading mojo finally thanks to my holiday and am currently halfway through Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels which is fabulous! Can't put it down. DP told me off for being antisocial so am waiting for him to finish cleaning the kitchen so we can have a partita di scopa. Got my crodino, cig and spot on balcony ready. He has crucified me in every match we have had recently so need revenge! Oh the excitement of my life these days

Thank you both.
Ah, Gio, Mitford books are all very funny, aren't they? Remember enjoying them a lot.
Am currently reading 3/4 books (one by each breastfeeding station) and "The Politics of Breastfeeding" is very interesting (if a bit simplistic on the economic side of things).
Must be off to bed, in case master SG decides for another 5.40am start tomorrow...

Hi,
Gio I read Hons and Rebels last summer and enjoyed it a lot!
I love it that you play scopa so regularly (and I'll start stocking crodinos, sounds like a good idea!). We spent our evenings during the summer holidays playing either scopone scientifico or King with the friends we went on holiday with. It's great, as you can also chat, smoke, drink and most of all quarrel when you lose (these are really good friends, we have known each other since 1984!!!)

As for dd yes, she still cries when it's drop off time. Poor dd, I think she gets really overwhelmed by the crowd and the new sourroundings.

SG hope you din't have an early start!

Cakes , more cakes , inserimento ( chaos ) 9 genitori and 9 bambini its a small room anyway and some mothers were treating it like a morning in the park . DOmani I have to say something to the maestri as there is no way I am walking out on minirosa domani and leaving her when she has not had even a chance to work out who are her referimenti and who are mamme martinelli ( will expalain at another time) with effin gucci sunglasses inside and who took off her copri scarpe at the end despite the fact there were still children sitting playing on the floor. ( breathe) . will catch up soon - Stressed Rosa waves to everybody

Sounds like a nightmare, the nido where my two went did the inserimenti gradually, nine sounds an awful lot in one go. I am impressed by the existence of copriscarpe though.

Hope your DD is getting on a bit better Franca.

DS had his first full day til 3, it went fine so I'm very pleased, it means I avoid having to drive out at 1 to get him then again at 3.30 to get DD. So I would've had a nice long day to myself today, were it not for the fact that DD was sick at school and I had to go and get her. She seems ok now.

9 inserimenti at the same time sounds like a nightmare, I'd complain.
But lol at mamma martinelli, do you mean the pushchair?

Sput, thanks, dd is still a bit upset about big school, I hope she'll get used to the new environment soon.

I am knackered, my period has just started and i feel tired.

As nearly all the children are new then they do it inblocks. WIth DD1 I was lucky as had the 1st group and there were 6 and tutto tranquillo. So after yesterday and being so upset/ annoyed at it all I rand teh teachers as dh was at work and I couldn't have got there early and spoke to them in private. ANyway today they told everybodt to be quiet to stay sitting where we were and it was better. Then when we left it broke my heart as she was upset. Apparently she got distracted a bit but started crying when all the others did . Her teddy ( racoon actually) was wet and she had huge sobs -Why do we put them and us through all this ? Anyway dh was with me and so we gave her caramelle for being a good girl and I am just keeping my fingers crossed for domani.
She is now crashed out!
Franca I hope your dd is ok as well as I don't think I could keep up the brave face until elementare......

Oh Mamme Martinelli - Here the mums that have a martinelli pram are the ones who have the 'look' Louis Vuitton / Prada bag - fake or otherwise. Matching sunglasses. Children only dressed in R Lauren or similar and they usually have a yappy dog attached to the pram. They generally don't have much of a brain and when they open their mouths its scary .

Awwwwwwwwwww darling minirosa with her racoon! So sweet!
I know, it is heartbreaking. I remember I was an emotional wreck when mine started nursery.
But deep in my heart I knew that that experience would make them happy in the long run, and I really think it did.

Just give minirosa a big squeeze from me...

Dd is still sobbing in the morning. Today there was the maestra di matematica meeting them and she was very kind to dd. Apparently there is also a small number of very "lively" boys. It appears that one smacked a good number of children yesterday and this must have made dd even more apprehensive.

Also, the Martinelli isn't exactly the best pushchair to negotiate those venetian bridges!!!

Dh is from a small provincial town, and there people have the tendency to dress their babies in Burberry (vom) and Moncler.

No you are right - but I had the Peg Perego Carrozzina ( as opposed to the navicella) one and it was in fact easier to haul up and down the bridges than the simple ones as it is very well sprung!
It is good that your dd has nice maestre and I hope the boys behave soon does your ds look out for her at play time ?
Minirosas racoon she adopted when we were in the Uk and she calls it 'niawww' sort of miaow but with an 'N'I still have the image of her standing in the room all red eyed with it saying Mamma .....

Oh you are making me cry now with the image of minirosa crying in the room. Bless her! It'll take a while for her to settle,but we'll hold your hand!

Ah yes, you are right of course, I suppose the Martinelli has good ammortizzatori for all those steps.

Ds and dd might meet in the school's garden during the long break after lunch. I hope he will keep an eye on her, though I know he'll be too busy playing football
She told me she had a lovely time yesterday at play time as she played with her 2 friends from materna.

Oh it's so heart breaking isn't it. Hang in there, it is the best for them in the long run as Franca says, I'm sure you know that but so hard to go through for everyone.
Ok as a distraction, can anyone suggest something, possibly cakey, I can do with some very squishy figs we were given? They are mostly past the stage of eating raw.

Can you make some sort of tarte tatin, but with figs?

Hmm, looks nice but not sure I have enough friut for that. Will think about it.....

I have decided to buy more boden stuff for DCs, I just sold an old t-shirt of DD's for £9.50! She wore it loads but it still looked good, so good investment I'm thinking.

oh poor Rosa and Franca. I really feel for you, it's so horrible when they look at you as if you are abandoning them and they can't understand when they want you to stay with them that you don't! First few weeks are horrible. Don't know what I would have done without LI holding my hand last year .

The good thing is that when I pick her up she is as perky as ever (is perky the right adjective?), in an excellent mood.
I also think that she'll feel much better about school when they start working a bit more.

Pil brought us some excellent chocolate from modica, I think I'm going to eat tons of it and re watch some eps of the office

I have no idea what this was, and I thought I lived in a city full of mamme fighette. Which I do.

Had first parents' meeting of sezione primavera at asilo. Discussed learning objectives this quadrimestre and elected parent rep. It all sounds so "advanced" for bloody nursery - but I suppose parents want this. This is the 3rd week all kids have all gone full time, and no crises any more so there is light at the end of the tunnel!!!!!

Rosa, we did not have copriscarpe either... Would not have thought about that in 1 million yrs (slattern mummy alert).

Squishy figs - fig and frangipane tart (puff pastry bottom, put frangipane mix on top, figs slices on top (do not need many), put in oven until pastry cooked)

Nice idea MI but I don't like frangipane.
What if I just cooked them up and added to a simple tea cake kind of mix?

I'd give it a try Sput, sounds good to me?

What do you mean by advanced MI? What will they do? How old are the children? I think in private schools they might have to metterla giù più dura del dovuto ...

Dd was much better today, she only sniffed a little bit. Also her "compagno di fila", a really sweet looking little boy, was sniffing, and then they looked for each other and held their hands so tightly to give themselves courage. Bless them!

NOt much better today and we were out longer !
WHen I got back one of the maestre said I am much more tense with minirosa than I was with DD1 - I said that I am not yet relaxed with it all and the inserimento with dd1 was much more tranquilla with a much calma gruppo di mamme ( actually we were all older mums which makes such a difference!) Oh and the Gucci - martinelli mamma has 3 dc eldest of which is 17. SHe must have started very young. Mind you I haven't seen her eyes yet as she kept her sun glasses on and even opened the paper in the sala !!!!!
Rapp di classe MI- I have been asked to candidate myself at dd1 materna but right at this mo I am not sure I have the time. I have another 2 cakes this weekend ( 1 at costo dei ingredients and one is for dh and his friends!)!!! DH says he will do a cartella of pics on my side so I can share them with you !
Right more ironing ..........

RE copri scarpe - I was the only mamma in bare feet in the sala today all had brought their own socks with them...rather than use the copri scarpe.
Figs - If they are soft just chop roughly and mix in with a simple Victoria sponge mix as long as it is well beaten before you mix them in they shouldn't sink.

Sorry to hear it was bad today. Did she cry for the whole time you were away or did she manage to play a little bit?

Do you think you are more tense because of the different situation (busier etc) or because you are more protective of minirosa? I'm def more protective of dd, not sure why.

The children are two Franca (sezione primavera) I thought they would just play a lot, paint blobs on paper and other messy stuff and run around. Instead they have a "programma" which encompasses learning targets (e.g. expressing feelings, the days of the week, my family and I do not remember what else). I am sure they do it through games, but I just see no reason to structure things that much at that age. DH not bothered - he never is.

I do love the teachers though - 1 is Canadian and 1 is Zimbabwean so quite diverse by local standards - the children really seem to like them, which must have helped inserimento quite a lot.

Uh Rosa, bare feet? No real Italian mum would do that... Barefoot is just not done - I used to leave DD with bare feet in her pram in the summer... Oh the comments I got!

I would not go for class rep unless you are sure you have the time - most of the time it's not that much work but my mum said that if you got one or two "difficult" parents in the group things could turn unpleasant. I would rather make cakes

I have no direct experience of Italian nidi, as we were still in the UK when the dc were so young, and our nursery was quite laid back.
I think they had similar programs, and I seem to believe that the UK has now some early years educational program (so that all children read and write at 2... just kidding!)

It sounds like a lovely place to be, I'm sure your dd is having a great time!