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What do you see?

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:48:00 +0000

Damiano loves to put his own spins on the beloved children's classic, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". Here's one of my favorites:

Zachy, Zachy, what do you see?
I see Zara looking at me.
Zara, Zara, what do you see?
I see Baby Bluke looking at me.
Baby Bluke, Baby Bluke, what do you see?
I see Tom looking at me.
Tom, Tom, what do you see?
I see Thomas The Train looking at me.

Nano

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Back when D was born and we began making the announcement calls, the first thing that came out of a lot of people's mouths was, "Da-mi-an-o. So what are you going to call him... Dom?" "Umm, no. Dom is short for Dominick, not for Damiano. We'll stick with Damiano." Well, it turns out that we as well as our name-shortening friends & family both had it wrong. Oh, it was Damiano for a good while, but as soon as his friends began putting words together, they told us what we should be calling him: "Nano". Yup, leave it to the kids who had just moved beyond cooing and grunting to come up with a name that didn't cross any adult's mind, but that totally stuck and is now in use by everyone. And I mean everyone. His friends, classmates & teachers, our friends & family and even Nano himself.

I don't know if this will last though. "Nano"'s been in effect for a few months now, but recently his pal Zach busted out with a very clear "Damiano!!", so I have a feeling that the days of "Nano" may be numbered. That's alright though. I'm sure he'll have plenty of other nicknames along the way. But whatever you do, just don't call him "Dom"!!! ;o)

L, M, N, O... POO!

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Lately D's started stringing together the sounds and words that have been on repeat for the past 21 months. The ABC's and 1-10 are coming along nicely. There are letters and numbers that he can't say though, and when he gets to one he'll either just stare at you or skip on to the next one that he does know. Sometimes he likes to throw a lil' of his own flavor in though. Here's how a recent session went down...

D: "J"
Me: "K"
D: "K"
Me: "L"
D: *stare*
Me: "M"
D: *stare*
Me: "N"
D: *stare*
Me: "O"
D: "POO!!"
Me: "Hahahaha!"

The end.

Hey Dave, mo' rock... pish

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Well I've gone and done it. This past weekend I inadvertently created a monster... of ROCK!!

You see, we have a Tivo subscription to Austin City Limits, which for 33 years has been broadcasting concerts filmed live in Austin, Texas. The current season of the show has been running since October and has featured a bunch of great performances from the likes of REM, Gnarls Barkley, Thievery Corporation, Bloc Party, and others. Whenever a new episode pops up on Tivo, I let it run, and Damiano pays no attention to it. That is, until he saw Dave.

Yup, Dave Grohl and his merry band of Foo Fighters tear the roof off the house during their ACL performance, and it didn't go unnoticed by the lil' guy. So now, every morning when we wake up, and again every evening when we return home, Damiano runs into the living room and asks for "mo' rock... pish". I, of course, have to oblige, and we jam out for at least a song or two. A few things that I've learned about D's Foo Fighters preferences this week are: 1) the only slow/acoustic song that he will enjoy and dance thorough is "Skin and Bones", 2) his favorite songs include the end of "But Honestly", "All My Life" and "The Pretender" (which all ROCK), 3) he doesn't like when Dave leaves the screen ("Uh oh!"), and 4) the boy loves to throw his hands in the air, bang his head and ROCK OUT!!!

Perché é la Pimpa, ecco perché

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:38:00 +0000

We've been a bit slack on posts and photos for a while, but we're trying to catch up. Finally got around to uploading photos from August & September as well as October & November (links to which you can also find over in the left hand column). More to come soon.

In the meantime, you can keep yourself busy by watching Damiano's current favorite YouTube video, featuring our favorite Italian cartoon dog, Pimpa. D's trying to see if he can set the record for most times watched, and he's doing a pretty good job with over 200 views to date!!!

T-day travels

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:10:00 +0000

Boy has it been a while since the last post. You look away, fly on a couple of planes, visit some family and next thing you know it's December already! So, quick November recap - we had two wonderful Thanksgiving feasts, one at home with our local neighborhood friends (we couldn't pass up the usual fried turkey) and one in Atlanta at the grandparents'. Here is our buddy Seth entertaining the kiddos while we're hanging out.
Then it was off to holiday travel - luckily we traveled in off-peak time and by all accounts the travel wasn't as heavy this year, so the flights went relatively smoothly (no delays, lost luggage or meltdowns). After a night in Atlanta we loaded up in grandpa Rog's car to go visit Uncle Matt and aunt Sarah in Asheville. After an initial adjustment, D took to the new people and environment, and especially enjoyed tromping around in the yard and getting his aunt and uncle to read him stories.
Finally we headed back to Atlanta for an evening with friends (thanks Pat and Rog for hosting and everyone for showing up!) and the big day with family friends. A traditional turkey this time, with a delicious pumpkin trifle for dessert that D enjoyed quite a bit! The travel and all the change was a bit hard on D, but he did all right. I'm sure glad we're not traveling again at Christmas time though! At least we got a nice photo op out of it... =)

Riding on the bike is so fun that I zzzzzzzzzz...

noreply@blogger.com (superflav) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:57:00 +0000

I've been slackin'. Sonia hooked us up with an iBert safe-T-seat earlier this summer, but I never got around to installing it on my bike until a couple of weekends ago. Better late than never, eh? Apparently not. Damiano and I were all set to head out for a ride the next weekend, but mo'nature had other plans. I think she was teaching me a lesson because, for the first time since late April, rain unloaded on the Bay Area all day Saturday and Sunday. OK, lesson learned.

So finally today, after much anticipation, D & I headed out for our first ride!! Through the Lower Haight, up Page to GG Park and on to JFK Drive, which is closed off every Sunday to motorized vehicles, allowing bikers and skaters and walkers and bladers to cruise in safety. From JFK, we popped over to the pathway next to Speedway Meadows and over to the polo fields. I stopped there to take a break and realized that homeboy was PASSED OUT!!! I was wondering why he was being so quiet. I don't get to get out on the bike too often these days, so I figured I'd keep on for a bit. The next 6 miles were completely hilarious. I was riding with a bobble headed sack of potatoes... he'd be all slouched over one minute and then splayed back into my arms the next. Everyone was pointing at us saying stuff like, "oh my god, is he OK?", and "hahahah, look at the little guy!".

We made it home without incident, and D woke up right as his moms came out for some photos. Good times. We'll be doing this more often, that's for sure.

Catchin' some zzzzzzzzzzzz's in the iBert

Awake for a photo op w/Pops & Smokey

Pkeh picking

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:44:00 +0000

D is starting to pick up lots of words. Of course, they come out his own way, so they're not always recognizable. We recently figured out that he's been saying "all done" and "pumpkin" lately (it must be fall).

This weekend we went to pick a pumpkin with Auntie Camilla, Uncle Sergio and Francesco, so he got to practice the last one. It comes out a lot shorter than the actual word, more like "pkeh". D had a great time romping around among the pumpkins and we had a photo opportunity to compare what a difference one year makes.
Check it out - last year:
This year:
And these are the boys posing for the camera:
Halloween is Friday - looking forward to some more photo ops then!

Mo', mo'!

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:30:00 +0000

The D is talking a lot these days. Sometimes he sounds a bit southern (he says "mo" for more and "bah" for bye), but to my great pride he finally started speaking Italian as well. His first word? Acqua. Which makes sense considering how often I offer him water on a daily basis. Speaking of water, he and his pal Zach also started their first swim class. "Swim" is a bit of an overstatement, as mostly we sing songs and play around in the water, but they seem to be enjoying it despite the relatively chill pool temperature.

But the "mo" here is less for him than for his grandparents. They've been clamoring for more video, so here it is. These were taken during our last camping trip in Big Basin.

Lookie lookie, October already...

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Can't believe September is over! We had a couple more busy weekends and the San Francisco indian summer has been in full effect, so we were able to enjoy wonderful weather on our outings.

First, we headed up to Tahoe for Chris and Fiona's wedding. The drive up was a little grueling (got caught in traffic and it took us five hours), but D was a champ through it all, despite arriving past his dinner time and being really tired of being strapped into his car seat. We were able to fit in a little hiking and enjoyed amazing views as we climbed over Emerald Bay to Granite Lake. We also had a nice time at the wedding, reconnecting with friends and enjoying the lake views as well as the wine handpicked by the couple.

Then, it was off to Big Basin for a (cabin) camping trip with the M's and the DiZ's. I often forget just how amazing the park is and how lucky we are to have it practically in our backyard. The redwood groves are awe-inspiring, and well worth braving the windy roads required to get to the park. Our three sites were all adjoining each other, and we had a fire-hollowed redwood base at our site, providing great toddler adventures. The three kiddos had a wonderful time playing outdoors with logs, rocks and sticks as well as the two dogs. The adults split up the food duties and voila' - three gourmet meals a day! We had such a good time we'll have to turn it into a yearly tradition...

Busy weekends...

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:18:00 +0000

We've had three action-packed weekends, and I've been behind in updating D's site. First in late August we had Outside Lands, the first multi-day festival-style concert in SF. I would post pictures except for D slept through it, so it wouldn't be that interesting. Uncles Pete and Pat made it out for the concert though, so D got to catch up with his pop's best buddies.

Labor Day weekend was such a treat - another open-air concert, this time affiliated with the Slow Food Festival. Ozomatli and Gnarls Barkley played and every family in SF was out enjoying the warm weather, great food and rocking tunes. Here's D enjoying some tea-smoked salmon and pancetta flatbread during the break and D during the Gnarls Barkley cover of Radiohead's Reckoner. Needless to say, his pops was stoked.

Then, continuing on the food streak, Labor Day we went to Pacifica to celebrate Ash's 40 and partake of the wild boar he had shot not long before. D loved his boar chops (as well as the watermelon and the Radio Flyer rides with Cameron).

This past weekend, as the heat wave kept going, we headed down to Carmel for Darren & Steph's wedding. D loved whiling away the hot afternoon hours in the hotel pool, as well as the wonderful Mexican fiesta and dancing with Cooper in the barnyard.

Walking & introducing... video!

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:49:00 +0000

So it's been forever since the last post. I have to say, the last month flew by. Ever since D started walking life just changed. It's a constant running around, looking after him and making sure he doesn't get into trouble. He's loving it though. Loves going wherever he likes, having a new perspective in life. And he's growing like a weed. He's already dining-table height (such is the perspective you get when you try to child-proof your home). We decided to make our dining room a bit more child-friendly, so we installed some Flor carpet tiles, set up another baby gate and bought a child-sized table where we can leave his sippy cup, snack trap and other playthings. Since I also recently received a nifty little videocam, here's some video of D while Chris is installing the carpet...

Chillin' on the 4th of July

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:52:00 +0000

We just got back from a long weekend up in Tomales Bay. This year we rented a house on the water with the DiZs and had a great (if eventful) time. D just started walking this week, and he loved the wrap-around deck - he and Z did many laps around the house. We also brought out the ball pool as extra kid entertainment, and they had a great time tossing the balls in and out of it.Although 4th of July was overcast, the Saturday was beautiful, so want back to the beach we visited last year on our oyster BBQ excursion, but the tide was low and all the muddy flats were exposed. Smokey was surely happy that he got to come along this time though!
We cooked loads of food (including 100 oysters from the place next door) and generally spent time chilling by the water - Tom even tried his hand at fishing. The cottage is actually built on stilts over the water, and it has it own little dock jutting out into the bay. The views from the windows were nothing short of picture-perfect...

Father's day, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Father's day came back around last week, and pops and D spent some quality time hanging out at the playground. There they ran into Tom and Z, doing the same thing. D showed pops all his favorite spots - the swings, the slide, the sandbox, and the balance beam.
After the playground, we wondered up to Lower Haight, where we took v.2 of the Lower Haters photo. D is twice as heavy now as he used to be last year - next year will have to be a different shot as he'll be too big for the Bjorn! Later that day we had a little backyard BBQ with the Zs and Tom to celebrate Father's Day and one year of having met each other. The kiddos were so young back then, 3 and 1 month - what a difference a year makes!

Ducks and travels

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:43:00 +0000

Last week we took our first extended family vacation and headed out to Grand Cayman. We had no big plans, just time to chill and bask in the sun, enjoy the scenery and a few cool drinks. We had been in Cayman before, so we knew what we were in for - we rented a house close to Rum Point, a relaxed family-friendly beach with chairs at the edge of the ocean and a beach bar serving up tasty lunch as frosty drinks.
Grandma Pat and Grandpa Rog joined us as well, so baby D got to spend some quality time with them while we went diving. It had been a couple of years since I had the chance to go diving, so it was treat - the water was perfect, crystal-clear and warm, and the reef had totally recovered from Hurricane Ivan and was teeming with coral and fish. Back at the beach, D got in his water time by strolling around in his inflatable star.
We all had a wonderful time, listening to the reggae station, grilling out and enjoying the screened in back deck at night, lazing around on the hammocks, catching up on leisurely reading, and sampling local conch and lobster specialties. A completely unrelated highlight was that D refined his first word: "duck". Of course at this point dogs, cats, birds and ducks are all ducks, but I'm sure he'll start distinguishing them soon enough...

One whole year!

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:43:00 +0000

Yesterday baby D celebrated his first birthday. Given that he was born at 2am, we all celebrated by sleeping through the time of his birth. I spent some time reminiscing about what it was like a year ago: he pretty much slept through his first day and we thought we had the best baby in the world... =) We truly had no idea what we were getting into, and it's funny how "seasoned" one year can make you feel, while on the other hand you know you're barely at the beginning of the journey.

Back in the present year, D wore his birthday bib to daycare and they sang happy birthday for him. Calls came in from friends and relatives all day long wishing him a happy birthday. Even the city was celebrating, by showing off one of the few heat waves we get every year. This was a scorcher - 80's in SF is pretty rare, and D got to play in his sandbox after coming home in the evening. Perfect preparation for our upcoming trip to tropical climates...

A weekend of firsts...

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:48:00 +0000

This past weekend was action-packed - we had D's first birthday party (a little early because we're going on vacation next weekend) and our first mother's day (D managed to skip last year's by delaying his arrival). We had a few friends and their tots over for D's birthday party (as well as Auntie Kathy and Uncle Cho), and the kiddies had a great time playing with the water table and in the sandbox.

We had a bit of a Cinco de Mayo celebration, with fajitas, margaritas and, naturally, a tres leches cake to mark the event (although he didn't have any). D loved hearing everyone sing to him, and I blew out the candle for him.
The next day we celebrated mother's day by going out to brunch with our friends Zara, Tom and Zach. We were all famished, so we thoroughly enjoyed the food as well as a mother's day cocktail or two (all but the little ones, of course). And so another set of firsts was celebrated, as D counts down the days to the first year anniversary of his coming into this world...

Fun at the park

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:27:00 +0000

Ever since he started going to the playground at daycare, we've begun taking D to the local playground during the weekends. He has a wonderful time on the swings, the little kids slide and crawling around chasing after pigeones or just watching older kids. Last weekend we ran into Zara and Zach, and she snapped some photos of D and I hanging by the sandbox. He still does most of his sand play by banging things or trying to eat the sand, but eventually I'm sure he'll get the hang of it...

We're walking...

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:58:00 +0000

... with our new super-fun toy! I've been a fan of Plan Toys for a while, as they make good quality wooden toys. D's had the xylophone and the drum for a while and has just loved banging on them (as well as chewing on the sticks). So as he started getting stronger on his legs, I noticed a really cute wooden walker on the BabyCenter store and decided to get it for him. Instant success!

Whereas before he would crawl, get to a piece of furniture and maybe scoot around a bit, now he's walking up and down the hallway and loving it. He especially liked it when Smokey thought the walker was something to growl at - he laughed at Smokey's silly antics (seriously, look at the smile in front of the walker - what's there to growl at?). Anyway, we'll have to start uploading video to the site, because pictures aren't really cutting it anymore. Pretty soon we'll have a little toddler on the run to contend with.

11 months!? and summer in SF

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:07:00 +0000

D is 11 months tomorrow. I can't believe he's turning a year soon. Time flies with the little ones, they change so much. Last year at this time I was about to go on leave, with not a clue what was ahead of me. Now, well now I almost have a toddler on my hands - unbelievable.

We've still been struggling with colds and ear infections over the past few weeks, but we did manage to sneak some fun in there. There was brunch at Heike and Kira's for Ms. Beth's visit, which was a lovely reunion (can't believe it was 10 years ago)!
Then, as summer in SF kicked in, we managed to go on a hike up in Marin. It was the first time we got to try out the hiking pack that my friend generously passed down, and it was a great success. Everyone had a wonderful time, Smokey included, who was glad to not have been left behind for the adventure.

Easter

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:25:00 +0000

Last week was D's first Easter. We didn't do all that much though, since we were all pretty sleep deprived (the top four teeth are coming in) and we were attending another big event : Francesco's baptism! Auntie Marie-France was in town for the big event, as she is godmother to Francesco. Francesco was a champ and didn't cry when they poured water on his head. D, on the other hand, was screaming pretty much the entire time, and in a big church it was echoing, so Chris had to take him outside. Here's an action shot from the register signing after the fact. After the reception, we went home to take a nap and then D got to enjoy the book that his great-grandma Gerry sent him. Chris read it to him a few times, and he loved lifting the flaps and looking underneath. So, no bunnies or chocolates or egg hunts for him yet, but I'm sure those will come in the upcoming years.

Spelling with flickr

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:20:00 +0000

I know, the title is sort of ironic. My co-worker turned me onto this site where you can find flickr images to spell what you want. Pretty cool, huh?

Woofs by the sea

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:20:00 +0000

The family took a day off from the usual routine and headed down to Carmel, one of the most dog-friendly towns on the California Coast. We packed everyone in the car and drove down a couple of hours, then cruised around town for the day. We had lunch at great little outdoors cafe in an open-air mall - almost every table was occupied by people with furry companions.

Then we took a stroll down the gorgeous white sand beach - too bad D fell asleep during the walk, so he wasn't awake for the photo ops. Smokey in the meantime took advantage of the opportunity, running his little heart our up and down the beach while chasing the ball. The day was nice but a little crisp, and clouds were gathering on the horizon.

Afterwards we all had dinner at a restaurant with an outdoor patio that had a menu for doggies too! Then we retired to our hotel and all crashed out early. The next day it was unfortunately raining so we didn't hang out very much, just had some breakfast, drove along the Scenic Road admiring all the gorgeous houses (and guessing their prices, since many were on the market) and then drove home. It was a nice break from the usual routine and I think the whole family enjoyed it (especially our four-legged member).

Dinner out

noreply@blogger.com (soniap) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Sunday we attempted an (early) dinner out with Zach, Zara and Tom. The weather was really nice, so the likes of Delfina were totally mobbed. Luckily, we made it to Regalito before the crowds. They had these awesome Stokke high chairs and the boys had a great time eating and listening to the mariachis. The food was also excellent, and the ambiance casual enough that no one minded the occasional baby shriek. It was so much fun that we plan to explore other local restaurants in the future...