So, Week Two of our Botany Project isn’t going so well. Yes, I’ve managed to basically kill our plants; and, yes, this project is designed for 2nd- and 3rd-graders. Epic fail on my part.  Giuseppe thinks that if he re-plants them in a larger pot with fresh potting soil he can save them. We’ll see.

On Saturday morning, during breakfast, he was stealthily climbing into the jogger. Before we could catch him, he fell off before making it safely into the seat.  And onto the kitchen floor he went, banging the side of his head.  He immediately starting crying/screaming, but I was able to calm him down. Then he became sweaty and sleepy, which made me nervous. But the fall wasn’t from very high, so we watched him for a few minutes.  Exactly 15 minutes after he fell, he started vomiting.  So we dropped our breakfast and literally ran to the ER. (Still in our pajamas.)  The poor little guy kept throwing up in the car and wanted to take a nap, but I kept him awake.  Once at the hospital, I raced into the ER.  Luckily, we live in a small town and it was totally empty; we were seen immediately. Now he was still sleepy, but not throwing up.

The doctor examined him, and said it only looked like a mild concussion, but was worried by the drowsiness. So Paolo was taken to have a CT scan to check for any serious damage. Luckily, the scans were clean and we were sent home after a few hours, with specific instructions to not let him sleep for more than one hour without waking him up. And to return if any symptoms reappeared.

Thank goodness, he’s totally fine. But I must admit that I was pretty scared from the whole ordeal. And now the jogging stroller lives outside. For good.

And since Paolo throw up all over his pajamas, I had to strip him down at the hospital. All they had to give us was this gown for a 5-year-old. But he looked pretty cute in it, so we snapped a few photos.

To hurry things along, I decided that Paolo would have his first Botany Project.  Last week I purchased a little mini terrarium, and in it we planted tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber, eggplant, and, of course, basil.   This took place exactly one week ago, and I can’t believe how quickly our little plants are growing. Pretty soon, we’re going to have to transplant them all into a larger pot.  (Which will require G’s assistance. He’s the one with the green thumb.)  Notice how four of the nine of the cucumber plants are cut in half? I accidentally decapitated them yesterday when I dropped the terrarium lid, crushing their skinny little stems. I was quite upset with myself. But it looks like they are making a come back.

Botany project: Week one

Today Paolo is 16 months old.  We’ve spent the day at home just as we spend most of our at-home winter days: playing, cooking, and doing a few chores.  Lately, Paolo’s favorite thing is to stand on stuff. Any and everything. Tables, chairs, the sofa, toys….When I snapped this, Paolo was multi-tasking. We were dancing to salsa music and he was also reading his favorite book (“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”) while perched on his drum.

I must say, though, that this climbing/standing on/jumping off EVERYTHING is crazy.  I have to be on the constant lookout that P doesn’t climb on the dining table chairs which he uses to climb onto the table and/or into his high chair. Or climb onto the ottoman, where he will dance around until he falls or jumps off. The same goes for the sofa, our bed, and every chair/stool in the house.  And the toilets. It’s fun.  Well, it’s fun for Paolo, at least.

Giuseppe can’t seem to remember that the correct phrase is “that’s bull.” Instead, he makes it sound like we’ve sighted cow dung.

It’s stopped blizzarding and is now crisp and sunny. An absolutely gorgeous afternoon.  So we decided to go out for a walk around the neighborhood.  We quickly realized that despite the beauty of the fresh air, it was much to cold for a stroll. (Even in our snowsuits.) After about 10 minutes, we rushed back to the warmth of our apartment.