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.

You know it's been awhile since you've blogged when...

...it takes three tries to remember your correct user name and password.

Here are a couple photos from our recent trip to Italy. Garett's grandfather was born in the small mountain town of Cassingheno about an hour outside Genova. This is a picture of his second cousins Lisetta and Norina, their husbands Rino and Lino and mother Theresa, and neighbor (who also lives in LA half of the year and was a very helpful translator) Maria. They have this amazing room below their home called a taverna where they host large family meals usually on Saturdays and Sundays. The wine abounds and the large wood fired pizza oven in the corner delivered individual pizzas on our last day together. Wyatt's backpack-turned-high chair got us through the deliciously long and leisurely meals.

Lisetta and Wyatt shared a particular bond. It was as if they were old friends when they first met.

Wyatt's first taste of fresh lemon gelato. You'd think he didn't like it but he ate nearly an entire bowl making this face after every bite.We went to our favorite little beach town, Levanto. The Hsiehs told us about it several years ago and we can't visit Italy without spending at least three days there. This was a typical shot from the days where we traveled by train.
Levanto has a large sandy beach where we spent most of our time. The water was warm and the sea still so it made for easy swimming.
Gratuitous family shot during our best non-family prepared meal.
I'll end with a product endorsement. The travel bed that Wyatt is playing in made our trip pleasant. He slept in it on the airplane in the space below our feet in our bulkhead seats and slept in it on the train while we traveled when he was tired. He slept in it every night during our stay and that allowed us to sleep well and enjoy the days. I got it from Amazon but here's a link to the manufacturer's website: http://www.kidco.com/main.taf?p=4,5 When packed up, it fit snugly in my carry on suitcase. Seriously the most worthwhile $75 we spent on the trip.

Sugar High

We ate dinner last night at Mama's Meatballs to celebrate Wyatt's birthday. Wyatt was treated to a Torta Golosa, a chocolate sponge cake filled with peaches, yogurt, ricotta cheese and whipped cream. He wasn't too sure about it at first but it may have been the surprise of the flame on top.

He knew he'd tasted love after his first bite of freshly whipped cream.
And there was no turning back.

He didn't finish off the cake but my hunch is that he would have if we'd given him the opportunity.

Before and After

Wyatt will be turning one tomorrow and that seemed like a good reason for his first haircut. Thanks to Supercuts, we now know he cleans up real nice. Here's a shaggy before shot:And here are a couple of after shots:
In case you're curious, his pajamas read "I Heart My World" but the image of the globe usually gets lost under his belly when seated.
For those of you wondering if your birthday party invitation got lost in the mail, don't worry, it didn't. We're simply having a little gathering on Saturday with our parents and siblings and my goal is take at least one picture.

I'm grateful that Wyatt is finally turning one. I knew this day would come but six months ago it felt like an eternity away. I'm not one of those it-pains-me-to-put-away-tiny-clothes/where-has-the-time-gone kind of moms (at least not yet). Today I am simply glad we've all made it through this first year of his life and beginning to appreciate the fact that life does not operate like my dvr and allow me to fast forward the utterly mundane moments or rewind to relive the beautiful parts.

Happy Birthday, Garett

We spent Garett's 33rd birthday with a few friends at La Parisienne, a little French bakery, in Morro Bay. Afterwards, we took a walk past the rock to the jetty and Todd took this picture with his cool iphone. This was Wyatt's first trip in the backpack and he made it almost two hours.

Have you seen these thighs?

Wyatt is really building some serious thigh muscles these days. I keep reminding him to appreciate this short period of time when having chubby thighs is generally believed to be cute.

Good Times

Can I call this a blog if I only post an average of once per month?

A few weeks ago Wyatt and I had an adventure. I was driving us home after he'd spent the evening with my friend and colleague, Sam. I took a left turn onto a one-way street, nailed the curb and popped my front left tire. It was in a safe, residential area and I was able to easily pull over and call AAA. They said help would arrive within 30 minutes so Wyatt sat on my lap in the front seat and our fun began.

Wyatt thought he'd died and gone to heaven being able to sit in the front seat and play with the steering wheel. I turned up Vampire Weekend and Wyatt started doing his upper body belly dancing to the strong, rhythmic beat. Then we rolled down the window, opened the sunroof and hung our heads out to feel the cool breeze across our faces. We observed the nearly full moon and read Goodnight Moon under its glow.

One of the things I love about Wyatt is the way he makes a flat tire feel like an adventure. If I'd had this exact same experience one year prior, I likely would have been lamenting the fact that my huge belly barely fit behind the steering wheel and complaining that AAA took twice as long to appear as they'd estimated.

Three's a Crowd

Garett, Wyatt and I celebrated the coming of the new year with a dinner at my second favorite restaurant in SLO, Novo, sitting at my favorite table on the patio under the beautiful oak tree at the ripe old time of 5pm. It's a little different making plans for December 31st keeping in mind our nearly ten month old son. We started with the Potato Samosas which come with a perfectly tart plain yogurt and mint chutney for dipping. Garett ordered the Roast Quail and I had the Salmon Salad as our primary entrees. Garett looked a little disappointed when the quail first arrived because it was so small. I'm surprised he ordered it without asking for dimensions of the meat. At another restaurant that we enjoy, Hoppe's Bistro, he used to ask our friend, who also happened to be a server, about the exact measurements of each item on the menu to make sure to avoid the catastrophe of not stuffing his stomach to the brim. The good news is that some of the bones were strategically removed from the quail so he was able to really maximize his carnivorous needs. I enjoyed a perfect glass of wine, a 2005 Barrel 27 Viognier, that made my salmon salad even better.

Wyatt wasn't thrilled to be at Novo. He didn't seem to appreciate our perfect table and the tasty samosas and instead wanted to rip the table cloth from the table and chew a hole in it. He also seemed determined to make sure that all of the other patrons on the patio knew that he was present and was not pleased. We were both a little surprised, as he usually just looks around, eats what we put in front of him and barely makes a peep, but we were determined to not be in a rush and attempted to enjoy leisurely meal.

We finally finished our meal and were ready to head home and restore peace to the patio when our server magically appeared with a dessert plate. He brought us a small portion of creme brule with fresh berries on top. He said that the chef wanted to share it with us to help us celebrate our anniversary. I immediately broke the news to him that we weren't celebrating our anniversary in case we were stealing the real anniversary couple's treat but he kindly left the dessert on our table anyway. Even though he told me why he brought us the dessert, I secretly think he felt sorry for us attempting to ring in the new year a good seven hours before midnight with our noisy son.