Bookworm Phase

Wyatt loves books and I love that he loves books. This love gets us through cranky late afternoons, trips to the supermarket and my exhaustion at the end of the day. These days it seems to be the only time he's content being still.He's started liking to read alone in his crib in the morning before he gets his day started. When I come in to get him, he reaches for his books and waves me away, letting me know he's not quite ready to get out of bed yet. I can relate. So I scoop up a few books, put them in his crib and turn on the light. He flips through them methodically and pretends to read them. Sometimes I stay in there and watch him but sometimes I tinker around in the kitchen listening to him babbling from the next room. This morning he read for a good 30 minutes. I think tomorrow I'm going to bring in a book of my own and enjoy a little morning reading.

You never know how long a new phase like this will last but it sure beats the screaming-until-I-pick-him-up phase.

Poisonous Plants for Children

This afternoon as Wyatt and I were playing a simple game of peekaboo, I noticed the beautiful colors of the jade plant and grabbed the camera. Right before I took the picture, Wyatt decided to take a huge bite of jade.

Of course I googled "poisonous plants for children" and thankfully jade is not on the list. Shortly thereafter, Wyatt decided to eat an entire handful of rocks from a pile near our house. Usually a quick finger sweep does the trick but now he's started clenching his jaw, looking over his shoulder and running away from me after he eats something outside. The wise words of his pediatrician continue ringing in my ear, "This year is all about safety."

Mmmmmm...

It seems I have quite a few shots of food we enjoyed in Italy and I'd like to share them. I'm still dreaming of the best pesto ever and the perfect wine from the barrel.

Here are some of the treats that were shared with us during our time with our family. First, the individual pizzas. Here's Lino kneading the dough that Theresa made that morning.

Here are the pizzas right before hitting the oven.

This is where the magic happens.

And, finally. the best pizza ever. He used three cheeses, fresh tomato sauce, homemade pancetta and argula from the garden. Jenni, I think you would approve of the thin crust.
Here's a shot of the meats curing in a room below one of their homes in town. Thankfully, I did not see this room in person and only saw the photo that Garett took upon our return.
And later, the coldcuts on our plate during the antipasto course.

The Ligurian region is known for their pesto and Lisetta's pesto is the best. She claims the key is to only use one small clove of garlic and barely any olive oil. It also helps that the most fragrant basil is grown in this region.

Norina (on the right) is affectionately called Queen of the Mushrooms, as she has several secret spots where she finds amazing mushrooms. That morning, Maria (in the middle) tricked her into thinking that she'd found this huge mushroom but she'd actually picked it up at the grocery store. Norina was in awe until she realized she was being tricked.

They sliced up and fried the mushroom. Yum.
I've been dreaming of Lino's cappuccino since our visit five years ago. He kindly made me one each morning and also shared his espresso with us after each and every meal.
In addition to the espresso, each meal concluded with some alcohol to "settle our stomach".
They took us to a restaurant in nearby Recco known for focaccia with fromaggio.

Wyatt loved it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take this photo in time to capture the tasty gelato on the top of these cones. My favorite flavor was pistachio and Garett's was straciatella (chocolate chip).

Finally, at the villa where we stayed in Levanto I discovered a very happy kumquat tree. When we checked out, I picked a big bag and saved them for the airplane ride home. Kumquats are my favorite fruit so it was the perfect ending to the trip.