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Monday, June 1, 2009

What do you see?


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.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Nano


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)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

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


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.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hey Dave, mo' rock... pish

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!!!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Perché é la Pimpa, ecco perché

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!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

T-day travels

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... =)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

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

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