This Saturday was the Blue & Gold Banquet, where Cub Scouts receive the badge that they've been working towards. My son, Gaetano, received his Bear badge!

When the scout receives his badge, their Akela (that's me in my son's case) pins the badge upside down over their left pocket (close to their heart). When the scout does his first good deed he can turn the badge right side up and it can be permanently attached to their uniform.

Gaetano was with us shopping at HEB and a bunch of those yellow coupons you see hanging everywhere had fallen and scattered on the floor. We were busy shopping to notice them, but Gaetano saw them and picked them up and put them all back on the hook.

At first, I thought he'd knocked them down and was just cleaning up after himself. I was ready to scold him for touching them in the first place but he told me they were already on the floor and he was just picking them up. Awwww, he did a good deed! :-) Tonight, I'll have him help me put his patch on his uniform.

The following are some statistics from the back of the program from the Blue & Gold Banquet that I thought you might find interesting. Keep in mind that Gaetano is a Cub Scout, not a Boy Scout. Gaetano is a Bear now, and has Weblos 1 and Weblos 2 to complete before entering the Boy Scouts in the 6th grade. As you read through these facts, keep in mind that with every year that passes in scouting, the next level brings more advanced achievements and greater commitment.

Gaetano tells us that he'd like to go all the way to Eagle Scouts. I would be so proud. As his Akela, I promise to do my best to help him reach his goal.

Though Gaetano looks like he's laughing in the photo on the right, he's actually doing his impression of his sister crying like babies do. That's my goofball! I love my Bear cub and look forward to more good times with scouting.

Back in March 2005 I blogged about discovering my son's allergy to artificial color. It was a brief entry stating I had a suspicion and would be taking him to see an allergist to confirm my suspicions. Today I’d like to finally follow up and get this out there for other parents who may have children with this allergy.

When Gaetano was 4 years old, he'd had a chronic cough for nearly 2 years. He had multiple ear infections as well and the doctor said that if he gets one more ear infection we would need to put tubes in his ears. The poor little guy was constantly congested but I didn't know why. I've been congested most my life, so I figured it may be bad genes, but I hoped to find a different reason.

Gaetano would get a fever and I'd give him Children's Tylenol for it. Most of the time he threw it up right away. Sometimes he'd throw up later. Either way, I'd blame the vomiting on the fever or illness itself.

It was the same way for antibiotics; he would get a pink colored Amoxicillin and he'd throw that up too. Again, I'd blame the illness or fever. He'd get better, but not as quick as I thought he should for being medicated. It almost always felt like illnesses had to run their course and that medicines didn't really help.

In between being sick, when he was more healthy than not, he was still congested and coughed quite frequently. I took him to the doctor to see what was wrong.

The doctor tried to tell me he was asthmatic and gave him Abuterol (which I've since learned contains yellow #6) for his chronic cough. It didn't help. I knew it had to be something else and figured it was something he was allergic to. I didn't know what that allergy might be. Was it the old carpet in our house? Was it all his stuffed animals he'd drooled on for years? Was it some other environmental cause that I didn't know about? I looked for every possible cause I could find -- I didn't want him to be asthmatic and suffer with that all his life.

From time to time, Gaetano would spike a fever and throw up but had no other symptoms that were noticeable. It could have been that he wasn't very talkative being only 4 years old and not having the words to express how he felt. It could be that he really had no other symptoms. I'll never know for sure.

Every illness (for lack of better term) which happened seemed to have a decent explanation of its own. Yet somehow I knew that there had to be some common thread. Maybe it was my maternal instincts, maybe it was my analytical nature at play, or maybe it was neither. It just seemed logical to me that there could be something making him sick and I just didn't know what it was.

I started trying to keep a mental note of what he ate before he threw up to see if maybe it might be something of a gross food combination that would naturally upset anyone's stomach. (You know, like milk and orange juice together.) Sometimes I had to figure out what he'd eaten by what came out of him... I started to notice that every time he puked it was pink.

Looking back through my blog, I see that I never wrote about taking Gaetano to see an allergist. Well, I did that and found that there isn't a prick test for artificial color. He was given a prick test anyway and turned out he wasn't allergic to anything that he was exposed to at home or daycare.

I learned that the only way to test for an allergy to artificial color was to remove it from the diet for 3 full weeks before re-introducing it to the diet. If he gets ill, it is fairly safe to assume that the dye was the cause. You should then wait for the reaction to clear up and then 3 weeks after that you can try introducing the artificial color once again. We did this several times, sometimes without my own knowledge...

Most of our family thought that I was just being a health nut or overprotective, that there's no way that artificial color could possibly make anyone sick. Some thought, "a little won't hurt", while others simply didn't believe it at all.

At the time, I was going through divorce and Ambrogio (my ex-husband) didn't think there was anything wrong with our son. Ambrogio just figured I was trying to be controlling since I was "picky" about Gaetano's diet from the time he started eating solid foods. (I made all his baby food from organic vegetables.)

It wasn't until family members gave Gaetano foods with artificial color without telling me first that they believed me. It's pretty convincing when you give him something with red dye in it and he pukes in your car!

It took a few months to get everyone else who cared for him on board with checking every label. There were many "accidents" and those responsible always said things like, "It wasn't that much.", "I'm sure he'll be fine.", "It wasn't red, it was just yellow #5." It was infuriating at times to say the least.

Months later, I'd finally gotten Gaetano off all artificial color for a full month and his cough was much better. He was generally much better behaved too. We thought that was just because he was getting older but I've since learned that some children react to artificial color with bad behavior (or hyperactivity).

He got sick a few times the year following, and we came to discover that there's only one liquid antibiotic that did not have artificial color in it. One. That's right; just one. (It was an Amoxicillin, but I can't recall exactly what it was called right now.)

The doctor said that since there's only one antibiotic he could have, it was important to keep him healthy since he could build an immunity to it. Though there would be ways to get around that issue, it would be a major hassle he explained. So, I did my best to keep him healthy as I could.

A year later Gaetano was much healthier over all. He wasn't congested anymore and hadn't gotten any more ear infections either. (Yay, no tubes!)

Over the years there have been several slip-ups where he's had artificial color. In kindergarten it was orange iced cookies for Halloween that some parent told him it was okay to eat even though he said he couldn't have it. He trusted them. In first grade, there was a similar instance. There've been plenty of other times where he was given something either accidentally or carelessly over the years.

From time to time we run into people who don't believe his allergy is real. They think I'm nuts. Most people are understanding thank goodness. However every now and then someone will try to tell me that a "little won't hurt" and I just stand my ground. Most of the time saying something like, "Well if you want to clean up his puke then by all means give him a little!" convinces them enough not to give him anything he shouldn't eat.

Gaetano's had a rough time of it in the last couple years because kids at school can be so mean at times. Some have teased him that they have certain candy and he can't have it. For the most part, he handles it pretty well. Sometimes it gets to him and he says to me things like, "Mom, do you hope that I grow out of my allergy some day?" or "Mom, can we just test it and see if my allergy is gone yet?"

To make Gaetano feel better, I try to buy everything red that I can for him to eat that is all natural. (I know he's allergic to the other colors, but red is the one that makes him puke.) I buy all sorts of great treats from Whole Foods for him because I know that shopping there is safe. I've made homemade candy corn, bubble gum and marshmallows for him and they're even better than store bought junk! Luckily there's very little that I can't find an equivalent for, so he doesn't feel left out.

Why am I writing all this after so long? The answer to that is soon to come. (Hang in there; I know this is a long blog post!)

Last night, we were eating at a restaurant and the server offered us some "all natural" black cherry soda. I asked the waiter if he was sure that it was all natural and told him my son is allergic to artificial color. He said it was all natural except that it had sugar in it. I commented to him that sugar is natural, and he said that some people complain because it has sugar in it. That should have been my tip-off that this guy had no clue, but I trusted him.

Half way through drinking the can of soda that the waiter had poured into a glass, Dan started to read the can's label. You can see where this is going... Red #40 was the final ingredient. Dan & I did our best to not make a big deal out of it and let the waiter know.

In short, I didn't like how the waiter handled the situation. I found him rude as soon as he said, "I told my manager and he said it only has a couple of drops of Red #40 in it." I decided against talking to the manager at that time because I didn't want to make a big deal with my son there. (The waiter offered me the chance to speak to him now or I could call him later. For some reason, he insisted that if I was going to talk to him it had to be now, not after our meal. It was very awkward.)

I was as nice as I could be about it, letting him know that I just thought he should know so he didn't tell people it was "all natural" anymore. I told him that I didn't blame him, that I should have checked the label. He didn't seem to believe me. Despite the awkwardness, we ordered dinner and did our best to enjoy the meal.

Gaetano seemed a little concerned that he might get sick. I explained to him that he'd been wanting a test to see if he's still allergic. "Well, this is your chance!", I told him. I explained that if he didn't get sick from it this time, then maybe he's outgrown it.

I wanted to allay his worries and really let it be a true test. I knew that only some red wouldn't necessarily bring on fever and vomiting but I knew it would at least bring on congestion and possibly an upset stomach. I didn't tell Gaetano what I thought might happen.

I really wanted to talk to the manager on the way out (while Dan & Gaetano waited in the car), but I didn't. Having been a restaurant manager myself for some time I was mad that he didn't even bother to stop by the table. I knew that if I spoke to him it was not going to be pleasant. I saw the manager from a distance. He looked like he was a generally grumpy person. It would have been ugly... So we left.

About 45 minutes later I noticed Gaetano didn't look too good. I asked him how he was doing and he replied that his tummy hurts. I asked him when it started hurting and he said it'd been hurting since about five minutes ago.

I did my best to get his mind off of it, making him smile and laugh while being careful not to make him suspicious. He went to bed in a good mood and I hoped for the best.

At 3:45am I woke up with a massive headache. I'd been dreaming that Gaetano was sick and that I'd taken him to the hospital. The doctor said it wasn't his allergy, but it was stress due to the TAKS tests. I got out of bed and went to go check on Gaetano. He was sound asleep and didn't feel feverish. I felt relieved. Maybe he'd be fine. Maybe he's outgrown his allergy?

In the morning, Gaetano woke up and complained of a headache and tummy ache. I checked his sinuses and he seemed to be rather stuffy. Most likely a sinus headache caused by the congestion that ingesting artificial color causes for him. The verdict is that he's not over his allergy.

Gaetano was worried that he'd throw up at school because of his upset stomach. Dan & I tried to put his mind at rest and convince him that he's just worried about the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge And Skills) test tomorrow. I'm hoping that we were right.

I really hope he feels better. He needs to be feeling good for TAKS tomorrow. Having a bad day prior to the big test is sure to make him tired.

So there you have it; I'm writing this for two reasons. One is because I'm worried about my son since he had a dose of Red #40. The other reason is because I know that by sharing my story here on my blog it'll help other parents.

If you found this info helpful, or have a story of your own to share, please leave a comment. Thanks!

Earlier tonight my son asked me, "Mom? Does Adobe.com sell like a whole bunch of different colors and kinds of clay or something?"

Oh the innocence of youth. You know, I once thought the very same thing of Adobe itself -- back then there was no ".com" to speak of. I always thought that Macromedia was a better name and still do. Adobe clearly had a brand name with a larger market penetration so they made the right choice keeping their name.

At any rate, his question helped to remind me that intuitive naming isn't absolutely critical to success. I for one prefer intuitive names, but that would just make sense. ;-)

I often listen to XMKids in the car with Gaetano. There's a hilarious song by Anita Renfroe called Momisms that comes on every so often. Gaetano doesn't seem to appreciate it near as much as I do of course.

I love Momisms more each time I hear it and thought why not share it here on my blog. Enjoy!

And for those of you wondering if there are any Dadisms, well Anita's got this for you:

Cub Scouts only have one fundraiser per year and that's popcorn. We need your support to help keep things running smoothly for our boys. Please take a moment to at least consider a purchase today, even if you don't eat popcorn -- you can always send some popcorn to our troops (keep reading to find out how).

To support my son's Cub Scout den, please click on OrderPopCorn.com which will take you to http://www.orderpopcorn.com/Store/Catalog/Default.aspx. Enter your Entry Order Key TEJE3AX. The screen should say Welcome you are supporting Den 11 Gaetano B. and that's it; just browse to find the popcorn you'd like to order.

You'll find there's an option to send a popcorn tin to our troops for $25. What a great gift and way to show your support for our men and women of the military.

Thanks for your support!

On the way home from school yesterday, my son decided to ask me a question. Here's our conversation for your reading pleasure.

Gaetano: Mom, how much does a jet pack cost?

Me: A what? A jet pack? (I know what a jet pack is, I was just caught off guard since his question came out of nowhere.)

Gaetano: Yeah, you know the ones you wear to make you fly.

Me: Yeah, I know what a jet pack is. Well, you know I'm not sure. I'm not even sure there is such thing as a real jet pack. If there is, I'm sure it costs a lot of money.

Gaetano: You mean like 50 bucks?

Me: No, probably more like 5,000 dollars. I don't know, maybe more.

Gaetano: That's a rip off!

Me: Well when things are new they usually cost more until enough people have them and then they cost a lot less.

Gaetano: Maybe you could look it up on Google when we get home. I don't know why they would cost that much. I can make a jet pack!

Me: Oh really? You think it is just that easy?

Gaetano: Sure! I can make a jet pack. You just make the thing and put straps on it so you can put it on your back like a backpack, but I don't know how to make the flames part.

Me: Don't you think "the flames part" is important?

Gaetano: What? (He didn't understand what I was getting at.)

Me: Well, don't you think the flames are important? Isn't that what makes it fly?

Gaetano: Ooooh, yeah.

Me: So don't you think making the flames is complicated? I mean, if you're going to wear a jet pack they have to make it safe -- so the flames don't burn your butt.

By then we'd just pulled into the driveway. Gaetano was laughing hysterically. I'm guessing he was laughing that hard because of the imagery, but also because its not every day he hears mom say "butt".

If it weren't for Dan telling me about the guy who crossed the English Channel today I would not have blogged this.

According to the article, this jet-wing (jet pack) costs $190,000. Boy, I was way off! When I get Gaetano home from school today I'll be sure to show him the video. He'll surely get a kick out of it. I bet he'll say he looks like Buzz Lightyear too, probably right after he exclaims that $190,000 is a "rip off" too.

Nope, we're not buying an RV... Yep, it is true; earlier today Dan asked me to marry him! (A few weeks ago, he quite jokingly asked me in a very thick southern accent, "Wanna git hitched?" To which I said, "Not when you ask me like that!" Hence, the title of this blog post.)

Everyone's been asking me, "How'd he propose?" so I'll fill you in...

I just returned yesterday from 10 days in California, so I was totally worn out. It was a little after 10am this morning when he came in to try and wake me up (again). I was just not wanting to wake up at all. I was thoroughly exhausted. Dan said, "While you were gone I bought something that should help you wake up." He pulled the ring out of his pocket and presented it to me.

I was so bleary-eyed that I could barely make out that it was a ring, let alone what shape stone it was. It did the trick though; it woke me up! I had to stare at it a moment, to make sure I was really awake and not just dreaming it. Then Dan said, "So do you want it?"

I said, "Well yeah, but you haven't asked me to marry you yet!" Dan said, "Oh yeah... Will you marry me?" Of course I said, "Yeah!" [So technically speaking, his blog post is slightly inaccurate, since I didn't say "yes" -- I said "yeah". ;-)]

Dan has posted a picture of the ring on his blog. I know, its HUGE! Those who have seen photos already can't seem to tell by the picture if it is silver or gold, it's a platinum cathedral setting and simply gorgeous.

Gaetano is thrilled. He keeps telling me how excited he is that Dan is going to be his stepdad and that he's so happy for me.

No news on a date or anything else yet. I'm sure we'll blog it when we've made some decisions.

With the holidays around the corner, family and friends keep asking which Lego Star Wars Gaetano has already. He doesn't read my blog (yet), so its safe to list them here.

Please let me know the kit number and its name and I'll update this post.

• Getting This Christmas: 7261
• Getting This Christmas: 7661
• Getting This Christmas: 7662
• 7660
• 7663
• 7658
• 7664
• 10174
• 7659
• 7657
• 6208
• 6209
• 6212
• 6210
• 7656
• 7654
• 7655
• 6205
• 10144

...that my ex-husband moved back in tonight and is moving to Texas with us. ("Us" in case you weren't aware, means my son, boyfriend and me.) He'll be living in our guest room, until he finds a job.

Go ahead, check your calendar; it isn't April 1st...

Me: You're so yummy I'm going to eat you up.

Gaetano [with much facial expression/animation, smiling, spoken indignantly]: I am not a munchkin. I'm not eatable. I am not breakfast!

Those who know us know that we love to tease him and call him munchkin. He always laughs and its a fun game for us. Today it was the "eatable" part that cracked us up and I had to blog it so I'd never forget it...

Me: This is called checking email son; its boring.

Gaetano: I don't want to do work. When I get married to a mom she's going to do all the work.

This was just too funny to not share...

Ambrogio bought Gaetano a little toy horse with a head that can turn awhile back from a street vendor. (In other words, it was a real cheap toy.) Gaetano played with it for only a short while before he discovered that the head was removable.

We have been prepping for Christmas today; we're throwing away broken toys and giving away toys in good condition that aren't played with anymore.

I showed the headless horse to Gaetano and asked him if we should throw it away. He agreed. So I showed his dad and told him that's what happens when you get cheap toys.

Without missing a beat Ambrogio asked Gaetano, "Gaetano, where's his head? You didn't put it in somebody's bed did you?"

Gaetano's too young to get his father's joke, but I had to leave the room so I could burst out laughing. To those who don't get why I found it so funny...The movie The Godfather is a hint. (Not that a horse's head in a bed in and of itself is funny, but the opportunity to reference the movie like that is what was so hillarious.)

Last week Dan and I were having dinner with Gaetano at a local sushi restaurant that we frequent. Gaetano is only five but he loves sushi and has been enjoying it for two years now.

Dan and I were talking about how we feel sorry for some people who have significant others that don't like sushi as much as they do. Often one person loves sushi and the other one doesn't want to go out for chicken teriyaki more than once a week (if that much). Its so sad...

So we told Gaetano that it is really important that he finds a girlfriend that likes sushi as much as he does so they can go out for sushi together. We were just including him in conversation, not really expecting him to take it to heart.

A couple nights later he comes into our office and tells us, "I hope Taylor Mae likes sushi." Instantly I knew what he meant and asked him if he wanted her to be his girlfriend. He nodded and grinned.

The next morning (which was this past Friday) he talked to us some more about Taylor Mae liking sushi and it was important. Uh boy... He then tells me that he's going to ask her if she likes sushi and if she hasn't tried it she has to.

Dan walked him to class and I stayed in the car. When they got there, Gaetano went up to Taylor Mae and asked if she liked sushi. She told him that she tried it and it was "blech" as she made her most disgusted face while sticking out her tongue.

Gaetano wouldn't take that for an answer. So he told her that she'd only tried salmon eggs (since that's one thing he doesn't like, that must be what she tried) and that she had to try a different piece. She just had to like it.

Well today we saw her dad and told him this little story. As it turned out, she loves sushi just about as much as Gaetano! Did she somehow know why Gaetano was asking and decided to fib about it? Who knows...

Now we just have to wait and see if Gaetano finds out she really does like sushi and what he'll do then. Perhaps he'll offer her his jacket. He just might do that since last night Dan told him that you're supposed to let your girlfriend wear your jacket because I was wearing Dan's. I bet that sunk in too!

Like most kids his age, Gaetano just loves to touch things when we're out shopping. A few nights ago I felt like a recording stuck on a loop playing the words, "Gaetano, please don't touch. Don't touch please. Gaetano, didn't I say don't touch?".

As we walked through the store I noticed that I had encountered some static electricity and decided to use it to my advantage. The next time he touched something, I reached over and touched his arm.

His eyes widened and he just looked at me like, "how did you do that?! " Then in my best matter-of-fact/trying-not-to-laugh tone I told him, "Did you feel that? Didn't I tell you 'don't touch'? I shocked you. Mama has super powers." He wasn't sure if I was teasing or serious, so I guess he decided to play it safe and not touch anything the rest of the shopping excursion.

I thought for sure he would know I was teasing... Hope he doesn't have this to get over in therapy some day!

I can't believe I forgot to blog this, so rather than update the original post...

I showed Gaetano the MXDJ and told him to look at all the pages. He flipped through them and commented about various things that he saw. When he came to the "MAX is Angela Buraglia" ad, he said to me. "That looks like you mama... That is you!" It was too cute :-)

This week's poem is called Keep a Poem in Your Pocket. Not sure if I'll make a post about the homework every week or not yet, but I will do my best to at least scan it in for the gallery...

Gaetano started Kindergarten and he's doing great so far. Its been a lot of fun watching him learn. So I started a Homework gallery to show off some of his work. This week's work included memorizing a poem about apples and illustrating it.

When times are tough, I just have to remember the positives and I know I'll pull through... :-)

Today I discoverred the new line of Natural and Organic Snacks from FritoLay. I never thought Gaetano would be able to have Doritos due to his food allergies (which I believe I share so I avoid the same foods), but now he can! So far I've taste tested the Natural White Cheddar and Natural Cool Ranch Doritos and they're just as yummy as the original. The Natural White Cheddar Cheetos are delicious too and sure to be a hit with Gaetano. We'll surely be trying their other natural products when these run out. I'll comment here if any turn out to be less yummy than the original, but from the taste of it so far it doesn't look like that will be a problem at all.

As you may recall, Dan and I celebrated our love of FireFox a few days ago. Today, Dan wore his t-shirt and Gaetano thought it was really cool.

Gaetano pointed at Dan's shirt and notices, "That looks like a fox. He has a nose." With loads of curiosity in his voice he asked, "Why is the fox on fire?"

Naturally, Dan and I were pleased at his observation and the two of us replied at the same time. I said, "Because that's the FireFox logo. It's a FireFox." while Dan said, "That's his name. His name is FireFox." Looks like they did a good job depicting the name with the logo!

Shortly thereafter we arrived at my friend's house for her son's 10th birthday celebration. Demetrius saw Dan's shirt and exclaims, "Wow, you really do like computers -- a Mozilla FireFox shirt!"

I was surprised to hear he knew what FireFox was, so I asked him about it. As it turns out, Demetrius knew about FireFox because his aunt "got it after her virus". He also thought the logo was really cool.

Today Dan and I celebrated our love of FireFox. We are now the proud owners of the two available FireFox t-shirts (navy and black), though you'll probably never catch us both wearing the same one at the same time (*or the same style for that matter).

I also got Dan and Gaetano matching FireFox baseball hats. For our office wall, I bought us a limited edition poster of the Firefox two page advertisement that appeared in The New York Times on December 16th, 2004. On its way still are some FireFox stickers and the navy polo shirt for Dan.

If you love FireFox like we do, please help spread the love and buy something to help support your favorite browser.

*Note: I made a funny. If you didn't get it, go back and read it again until you laugh, even if it is just for courtesy's sake!

It's almost time for Gaetano to start Kindergarten and we've been getting ready for it. He's really excited about it too, which is great. (This is going to be a really long post, but hang in there if you can because there's some cute momoments. I'm a sucker for cute moments though...)

We already went school shopping for all the basic Kindergarten supplies so he'll be ready. When I was a kid, we didn't have fancy purple glue sticks that dry clear, washable markers, washable crayons, or erasable color pencils. So not fair... I'm looking forward to the fun projects I'll be helping him with at home.

One thing he wasn't excited about was getting his immunizations last Thursday and I can't say I blame him! Explaining to him that he has to do it to be in Kindergarten and that all the kids have to do it helped a little bit. Of course that didn't stop the wailing tears when he got the injections.

He received one shot in his left arm and two in his left thigh. Gaetano insisted he only got two shots total instead of three until the next morning when he took off his band-aid and saw there were two red spots. That's when he proclaimed, "I did get three!" He was too busy screaming over the second injection to even notice the third one!

Later that day, he pointed out his injections on his thigh to his daycare teacher and then turned to me to ask where his other one was because he'd forgotten. I guess it couldn't have hurt that bad or he would have remembered that it was his left arm.

Given my medical history and a couple potential symptoms, the doctor ordered some blood tests for Gaetano too. He's probably fine, but given my bad health history I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm thankful to have a doctor who doesn't shrug things off and is willing to check just in case.

So I waited until Monday to do that since I was due to get my blood drawn too then and we both had to be fasting for the test. Early Monday morning we headed to the lab which is on the first floor just below the doctor's office.

They drew six vials from me first while Gaetano watched. I was calm and chatty, no big deal. He was pretty nervous but he did much better than last Thursday. So well that he only started to tear up a little before he got distracted by the technician who asked him to count to twenty which stopped him from crying.

Afterwards, he claimed it didn't hurt and he was only scared a little bit. He was mostly just disappointed because when he asked if we could take the blood home with us the answer was no.

Last on the pre-K to-do list was the TB test; back to the second floor for another needle, what fun. As we got out of the car Gaetano asked if we were going to go on the elevator to level two. I told him yes and he complained that he didn't want to go because level two hurt but level one didn't. I told him this time level two wouldn't hurt and not to worry about it as we approached the doctor's office.

Dan and I really expected that he'd do well given how well he did with getting his blood drawn. We couldn't have been more mistaken! Gaetano started crying and wailing as soon as he saw the same nurse from the last immunizations and the needle in her hands. He was telling us that he wanted to do the TB test on level one because level one doesn't hurt but level two does.

I thought maybe a different nurse might be able to make him feel better and the nurse agreed. She felt so bad seeing him cry and I felt bad that she felt bad. Talk about a vicious cycle!

So another nurse came in and she was really good with him. She had him write TB and his name, clean the vial containing the TB and his arm with an alcohol swab.

As soon as she opened the needle package his eyes were leaking profusely and he kept repeating all the same things he did before about levels one and two. So much for my theory; the new nurse made no difference!

I hated to do it, but I held his arms while Dan held his feet and the nurse gave him the injection. It was the tiniest little prick, just barely under the skin on his forearm. There's no way that it would hurt badly, and no matter how much anyone told him so he didn't want to believe it.

When the nurse was done, he saw stopped crying for just a second until he saw the bubble on his arm. (It looked like a blister.) The site of the bubble must have scared him because he started to cry harder again, but stopped after less than a minute. What a trauma!

Afterwards, it was the same story as after getting his blood drawn. In the car on the way to dinner, Gaetano told us that it didn't hurt, that he was only scared. So I told him next time he needs to trust us and not be scared. I'm hopeful that he'll be much better next time, just like he was the second time he got his blood drawn. (The first time was quite scary and is a rather funny story that I'll save for another day.)

Last thing to get done is the paperwork that needs to be filled out. I noticed earlier that there's a blood lead test that's required for all children over the age of 4 years 3 months. Uh oh...He already had blood drawn Monday and that wasn't part of the testing.

The nurse called the lab to see if they could use the blood from Monday at my suggestion. Even though Gaetano did well with that, I didn't want to put him through it again if I didn't have to. Unfortunately the nurse couldn't get an answer for us right away so I had to wait for a call back.

After we got home from dinner there was a very happy sounding message from the nurse stating that the lab had enough blood left to do the lead test. Hooray! Gaetano doesn't have to get poked again.

Friday the TB results are read and we'll get all the blood test results from Monday and hopefully the lead test too. What an ordeal for all of us!

Gaetano loves to tell people all about the things he's done. He's a talker; yes I know, he's like his mama. His latest favorite thing to tell people is his trunk story.

Last week he took an entrance exam for Kindergarten. When he was done, he wanted to tell the teacher something. As soon as he started telling her what he wanted to say, I knew what it was and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Gaetano told the teacher that Dan put him in the trunk. Her facial expression was what you'd expect it to be when she first heard Gaetano tell her that we'd put him in the trunk.

Now before you go freaking out, it is important to know that he was not traumatized in any way; he went into the trunk willingly, was not scared, and likes telling people the story.

The problem is, sometimes he forgets to say why he was put in the trunk, which is the most important part. Once we told the teacher why, it was no big deal.

Dan bought a new Jetta a little over a month ago, which has a glow-in-the-dark safety release handle inside. I wanted Gaetano to know how to get out of the trunk if any bad guys ever tried to put him inside.

Before putting him in the trunk, Dan put the back seat down so that Gaetano could get out that way if he wanted. I explained to him that he could go out through he back seat if he gets scared, showed him where the handle was, and put him inside. He pushed on the handle a few seconds after we closed the trunk and the trunk popped right open. (The Jetta is great; the trunk opens all the way by itself.)

Gaetano was proud of himself and not scared whatsoever. He told my parents about the trunk the next time we visited and we showed them how he knows how to get out, this time without the back seat down. He wasn't scared at all. I'm so proud of him.

He knows that sometimes bad guys take kids and put them in the trunk, so he knows that he shouldn't be scared because most new cars have a handle. He also knows that if there isn't a handle he needs to make a lot of noise if the car isn't moving.

I feel better knowing that he knows what he should do and I'm glad to see that car manufacturers are taking steps to make trunks safer. Such is the world we live in that these things are important. If you have a young child and a car with a trunk escape mechanism, please be sure to teach your child how to use it.

"I downloaded a new game." ~Gaetano, age 5

On April 20th my son turned 5 years old and my mom turned a year older than she was last year. (I know how old, but she'd probably prefer I don't announce it.)

The theme for Gaetano's birthday was The Incredibles. All of us wore paper Incredibles masks to dinner at Bucca D'Beppo. One of the waiters was a big fan of the film and looked like he could be Frozone. As he walked by our table he impersonated Frozone by shouting, "Honey, where is my super suite? Where is my super suit!?" We all cracked up laughing; it was great. So of course we gave him a mask to wear too. Two other servers also wore the masks.

Since Gaetano and my mom share a birthday they also shared the birthday cake I made for them with The Incredibles figurines as decoration. It had Frozone sliding in on some ice that was made of icing and rock candy, which Gaetano just loved.

Gaetano got a really cool Blue 16" Sting Ray bicycle, airplanes and a bunch of other cool gifts. I'm sure this will be a birthday party he never forgets.

Keep an eye on this post for an update... I'll be posting pictures in the coming week.

In a desperate search for a cereal without any potassium (due to my allergy of it), I have recently discovered All Newman's Own Wild Blueberry Pecan cereal. (I would provide a direct link to the exact product but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be on their website and neither does Costo's site which is where I purchased the cereal.)

Since it is all natural that means Gaetano can have it too because there are no artificial colors. For me that's a double win.

So what's this got to do wiht generosity? Well, I was reading the side of the box and it says, "Paul Newman, as sole owner of Newman's Own, donates all his profitss and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes." Wow... His website says that he's donated over 150 million dollars since 1982.

Mr. Newman has given me a reason beyond our allergies to try his products. I'll be buying more of this cereal for certain and trying out more All Natural Newman's Own brand products for sure.

I wish I'd found this cereal sooner! (I've been searching for over a year now.) Hopefully the rest of his products are as tasty and healthy...

If you know of any of his products that are especially good (low fat, and potassium free are preferable) please feel free to post a comment or send me an email. Thanks!

Shortly after Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 was released, I made this recording of Gaetano. I could have sworn that I blogged it at the time, but I can't find a post referencing it. It must have been one of those times I started blogging and got distracted or something...

Gaetano now recognizes both the Macromedia logo and the Dreamweaver logo too, as well as the words Macromedia and Dreamweaver. He's always proud to point out that he knows them both.

If you listen to the recording, he doesn't say Macromedia but he does say Dreamweaver. Back then he could only say mack-ee-me-tee-uh, but gradually it became Macromedia. He now says Dreamweaver properly as well.

Guess I'd better start teaching him to say Adobe and showing him their logo as well! Should be a lot easier to say, what with so few syllables. <grin />

Gaetano is at that age where he'll ask a question, I'll give him an answer and then a moment later he asks the same thing again. It is as though he thinks he'll get a different answer the second time.

I've learned to answer him once and when he asks again I have him tell me what I answered. If he asks again, I'll tell him, "Don't ask again or [insert consequence here]". Sometimes he does this when I'm reading him a story just so he can stay up longer and in that case the consequence is usually "no more story".

Tonight he was reading me a story. (He tries to read but it is more like making up a story based on the pictures.) He'd been "reading" for quite some time.

Me [teasingly]: Are you done yet?

Gaetano [sternly]: Don't ask again or no more story.

Me [opportunistically]: Are you done yet?

Gaetano: [He pauses a moment before closing the book, keeping his finger in place just in case.] That's it; no more story.

Me [convincingly pouting]: No more story for mama. [fake sad face]

I turned my laughter into a little bit of fake crying.

Gaetano: That's ok, next month.

Me: Next month you'll read me a story? [He nods] Ok. [I grin]

We said our goodnights, hugged and kissed, and then I turned off the lights and walked out with a huge grin that turned into laughter once I was back in the office where he couldn't hear.

To make a really long story short, we have good reason to believe that Gaetano is allergic to artificial colors in food. For the last month or so now, we've done our best to avoid giving him anything artificially colored and let me tell you it hasn't been easy.

Since he's been off the artificial colors, he's no longer congested all the time. His behavior has improved in school, he's learning more, eating better with increased appetite, and he's grown at least an inch. Sure, some of that may be coincidental, but not all of it...

As soon as I find a moment to exhale, I'll schedule him to see an allergist to confirm my suspicions. I'm more confident than ever though that they'll be able to confirm my suspicions. In fact, if it turns out that he doesn't have an allergy to artificial food coloring, I'll be pretty shocked.

Gaetano has been learning the same mealtime prayer I learned when I was a little girl which is said before every meal where we're all at the dinner table together. It is the youngest person at the table's job to say the prayer. At this past Thanksgiving I whispered the words in his ear as he spoke them out loud. He could barely pronounce most of the words. All of us smiled at how adorable it was...

A few weeks later he wanted to memorize it himself and kept asking to pray and wanting to know the next part of the prayer. By Christmas he had the entire prayer memorized.

If before a meal anyone starts eating, he promptly remembers that we have to pray first and then he proceeds to lead us in prayer. I always let him know he's done a good job, but aside from that I haven't been encouraging -- that is, we're not prayer obsessive in our house. Gaetano has pretty much decided on his own that prayer should be done and not forgotten. It's rather cute and I'm proud of him for it.

Last night before dinner he misspoke one word that nearly caused the rest of us to burst out laughing, but we refrained. It went like this:

"Bless us O Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to refreeze. Through thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen."

(In case you're unfamiliar with this prayer, "refreeze" should have been "receive".) We decided to eat the meal and not refreeze it.

Gaetano [pointing to some identical objects on my desk]: What is that?

Angela: Ram chips.

Gaetano: What do they taste like?

Angela [holding back laughter]: Those aren't for eating! [grinning] They're for computers.

Gaetano: I was only just teasing. [pretending to eat one and chew it] Ow, ow, ow, owie. [he giggles]

My son was sitting on the floor in my office, playing with a wooden mosaic puzzle (much like this one but with 3 different shapes) while I was having a conversation with someone.

Gaetano [mildly frustrated]: I need some patience... Me: Yes you do; you can do it.

[A couple minutes later, I begin conversing again.]

Gaetano [quite annoyed, almost shouting]: I said, I need some patience! Me: Yes, I know. [pause] Gaetano, what does patience mean? Gaetano: It means you have to be quiet so I can do my work.

[I try desperately to resist laughing hysterically.]

Apparantly all those times he asked me something while I was working and I told him to "wait just a minute and be patient" he thought I was asking him to be quiet! I can easily see how he'd come to that conclusion... It was just too cute.

"When you say run for your life, it makes you run faster." ~Gaetano

My son Gaetano has been attending a Montessori Preschool (thanks to his yiayia for footing the bill on that) for a bit over a year now. He seems to enjoy it for the most part, and he seems to have learned a great deal.

I'm curious if any of my blog-reading audience (that's you), have experience with the Montessori education process and am interested in hearing about them. Please feel free to leave comments on my blog with your likes, dislikes, suggestions for helping the child get the most out of the way they are taught, etc. I appreciate your input.

Please note, comments are not automatically posted and if you'd rather I don't make your comment public you can just let me know and I'll honor your request.

Thanks!

You go to sleep too mama. You need your rest.

Gaetano turned 4 years old today! My son shares a birthday with my mom. When asked how old his yiayia (that's greek for grandma) is, he proclaimed with confidence, "5!" :-)

4 years ago I gave my mom the best birthday present...I've never been able to top that since. I love them both and wish them many years of happiness.

As it turns out, I am in fact mildly anemic. I'm starting on Iron therapy which should help. Sure explains why I get tired so easily; I'm relieved it wasn't my thyroid causing tiredness.

I've had congestion/sinusits over the last 6 months or so, and so has Gaetano. Finally, my regular doctor saw me while I had symptoms. (Usually he's always booked and I get stuck seeing someone else. He's very good, and hence quite popular. Dr. Sobral has been my doctor for about 24 years now.) As it turns out, this is a chronic condition, and should be treated (in what I consider to be) in an agressive manner.

I'll be taking a pricey brand-name medication, Augmentin (which is an anti-biotic) for 3 weeks, along with 2 other medications. There is no generic, which means I've now met $210.40 of my $500 annual deductible for brand name medication. Yep, I said it was pricey didn't I? ;-)

Getting rid of my constant "colds" (that's how I think of them) and treating my anemia should give me back quite a bit of energy and strength. I'm so looking forward to feeling healthy again, I cannot even explain it properly. I'm feeling like there's hope now for wellness! :-)

Preface: Gaetano will oftern refuse an item insisting on having "the other one". He'll cry and whine until he gets it too.

Me: Why is it that kids will want another thing that is identical to the one they have, instead of the one they already have?

Dan: Cause he's a toddler, and he has micro-difference vision. You lose that around 4 or 5.

Conclusion: I think Dan may be right. :-)

Gaetano's sick again with a fever. :-( He didn't want to take Tylenol this morning, exclaiming he wanted "purple". So what's a mom to do? Add a drop of blue food color of course! Good thing he didn't want yellow...

No matter how crappy life gets and how rough a day I've had, my son brings joy to me. He isn't the greatest singer, but he sure tries.

Ok, you may think I'm a little nuts to post this, but I'm going to anyhow. It's my blog after all and nobody is forcing anyone to read my ramblings. I use my blog to record events (sometimes you don't even realize I'm doing it) that matter to me. Anyhow, tonight's big event was tucking Gaetano in bed for the first time. Today the front rail was taken off his crib, making it a day bed.

Ambrogio tucked him in, and an hour later he fell out of bed. He cried for about 10 minutes, watched some TV, and then asked me to take him back to bed. This time I got to tuck him in and it was so, so sweet. An hour later, he fell out of bed again! Awwwww :-( I put down some cushion and a stuffed animal is behind his back so if he goes to roll he'll be okay. Tucking him in his first bed was one of those sweet mama moments. Comforting him is something I wish I never had to do, but I'm so glad I'm able.

He did it!!! :-) (Sorry to those of you who come here to read about Dreawmweaver stuff...) It's been one whole year since Gaetano has gone potty on the toilet. He only went "number 1" once before and "number 2" a couple days later. This time, he went "number 1" twice within an hour! I'm so proud!

Every Friday I pick Gaetano up from school and we usually go shopping for necessities. When he's a good boy, I usually get him a small toy. This time it was the Play-Doh George Foreman Grill. We played with it this morning for a whole hour and had so much fun. It even makes sizzling noises!

We would make chicken, fish, steak, or hamburger, then flip the plates over so that they're ready to make grill marks. It's really a cool little toy. You can even use it to make french fries, bacon, and hot dogs. It was so much fun that I may have enjoyed it more than him!

The most exciting part for me though, was when Gaetano started counting the grill marks. It was the very first time he has counted to 10 all by himself with no prompting or help. Of course I promptly smothered him with tons of kisses and encouragment. :-)

Gaetano and I made some more Play-Doh art together a couple of days ago. Together we made a miniature orange, a carrot and a snow pea. I also made a yellow rose. You can find pictures of our fun with Play-Doh in the Artwork photo album. Enjoy!

At about 6:20pm I got to Gaetano's school to pick him up from daycare. I saw Ambrogio's car in the parking lot so I knew something was wrong. Poor Gaetano had thrown up just 15 minutes earlier. They called his dad at work since it is only roughly a 1/4 mile away. I could tell he had a fever so I told Ambrogio I'd take him to Urgent Care.

On the way to the doctor's he threw up in the car. I took Gaetano in and his fever was 102. They gave him some Tylenol and we waited what seemed like forever. Dr. Aufenberg saw him, and said that he seemed to have a throat infection developing and prescribed an antibiotic. Ambrogio came to the office just before the nurse came in to give Gaetano a suppository to help supress vomiting.

He was fine in the car on the way to the pharmacy but on the way home from there, he threw up once more in the car. Poor guy :-(. He wanted rice for dinner which is a good choice for upset tummies, so I made him some. He ate a bit and soon after he dozed off. I hope he feels better in the morning.

At about 3am I woke up to some really loud and unfamilar noises. Ambrogio got up to see what it was (my foot was "asleep"). It sounded like someone was maybe breaking into the cars or something. Turns out there was a big brown dog out there behind my car. It whimpered a little but we didn't think anything of it since it got quiet. We figured it was just a stray. I heard more whimpering at about 6:30am so I got up this time and went to the window. The dog was apparently stuck; he'd wrapped his long leash around one of the poles that hold up the carport. Animal Control doesn't open until 7:30am and by now it was 7 when I decided to go outside and take a picture of it. (Camera battery died before I could snap the picture.) Gaetano watched from the window amused and laughing. Just then, a neighbor came out and indicated that the dog may belong to someone across the street. I went over there to ask, and sure enough it was "Bailey", their dog. Bailey jumped up and down and wagged his tail when he saw his master. It took him about 5 minutes to untangle the dog's 25 foot leash. The clasp was stuck under the tire of my car which is what got the dog stuck originally, but then he paniced and got himself wrapped around the pole numerous times in a tangled mess. Once "Bailey" was free he came to me as if to say thanks, and I introduced myself. All is well now, and Bailey has gone back home where he belongs.

Gaetano went on his first field trip yesterday. It was one of those "mommy" moments for me to sign his permission slip and sign up as a <span class"definition" title="According to m-w.com: an older person who accompanies young people at a social gathering to ensure proper behavior; broadly : one delegated to ensure proper behavior. Boy do I feel old! :-)">chaperon.

I uploaded the pictures but made no effort to optimize them or add captions yet, sorry. Some are out of focus and I'll probably get rid of some of the images that didn't turn out great later. I'm just too busy this weekend unfortunately. I wanted to get them up at least so family could look. :-)

Thursday morning Gaetano woke up with a mild fever (99.2). It didn't take him long to get his first cold from school! So we kept him home, took him to the doctor's and got him on anti-biotics.

Friday he stayed home too, and was clingy since he didn't feel well, but to look at him you wouldn't know he was sick except the occasional sniffle. We were both hungry so we went out for Japanese together. He just loves Miso soup. By late Friday night I could feel a sore throat coming, but it felt more like an alergic reaction to something I ate, or so I hoped.

Saturday I woke with one of the worst sore throats ever. If there is one knd of pain I have a low tolerance for it is sore throat pain. In the video of my labor with Gaetano, I tell the nurse I don't need any meds for the contractions, but ask if it is okay to take my throat medicine! It didn't take long for post nasal drip to start and my head to get all stuffy. Now I know how Gaetano was feeling, poor guy. :-( I've been so miserable, I can't get anything done, not work, not household chores, nothin'.

Today I woke up totally stuffed and am about 1/2 way through a Kleenex box since about 8pm last night. Of course I have several deadlines looming, and this isn't helping me to concentrate on those any either... I want my mommy...

As I understand it, most mothers are emotional when their child goes to their first day of school. I guess I'm just not like most mothers. I observed him from behind a two-way mirror for about 20 minutes with Ambrogio. Gaetano has become used to playing alone, and so he would wander away from the group to do his own thing quite a bit in those 20 minutes. I'm told he got better as the day passed.

Gaetano painted his first masterpiece today too. Soon as I can find time to fuss with my scanner I'll add it to the Artwork photo gallery.

I've added a new Artwork gallery to the site. Not much there yet, but it should grow over time.

I finally bought a new cordless phone, 2.4ghz. Seems crazy that my phone is 2.4ghz when my computer is only 1.7ghz... :-\ (Yes I realize that it is frequency vs. processor, but it just sounds weird.)

So I'm walking through Target, I'm pushing the shopping cart and when I let go to pick something off the shelf, my cart bumps into another cart. I told the guy I was sorry and he says to me "That's okay, I'll just hit yours back." and he bumped my cart gently and we both burst out laughing hysterically. His wife was stunned, glared at him and said "You're lucky she has a good sense of humor." I replied "No, you're lucky that he has a good sense of humor." She thought for a moment and answerred "You know, you're right?" Pretty funny, but I guess you had to be there.

Later we went to dinner for sushi. Gaetano all of a sudden tells me with pure excitement "Mama look at the princess." I asked him, "What princess? I don't see a princess." "Over there he answers," pointing to a goergeous blonde who very well could be Cinderella. It was adorable. I asked him to tell the princess hello but he didn't want to. "I don't want to say hi. I don't have money." I'm a little concerned about the second sentence, but it was so darn cute I had to tell the "princess".

I had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. Took a few pictures but none turned out all that well... I will try to upload them this weekend some time. I've a busy week ahead of me.

Ever have days where you just can't think straight? I've been having lots of those lately. They say fish is brainfood. I'm having sushi for lunch; I need all the help I can get!

Have you ever been curious what would happen if you poured milk inside Buzz Lightyear's helmet? Apparantly Gaetano did... He brought the toy to me, pushed the button and we both laughed hysterically at what we heard(340kb). Thankfully I was able to repair the damage and Buzz is now in good health. In fact, his voice sounds normal, which is more than I can say for mine. (I've had a sore throat for a few days now.)

I give up... I'm off to the zoo. Maybe a break is what I need to be able to do the simple things without a headache. :-)

Gaetano's learning to draw. "It's a frog!" he tells us. I've given the frog a permanent home in the miscellaneous gallery.

While helping my mom prepare yesterday's dinner, she asked me what Gaetano's uncle Mario and Aunt Melissa got him for his birthday. I answered "They gave him $25 and some Playboy." My mom had this look of shock on her face and then I realized what I'd said. "Not Playboy! I meant Play-Doh. They'd better not get him that for at least another 15 years!" If you want to see some pictures from his birthday check the gallery under Easter & Birthday 2003.

What a weekend this is going to be... Easter is on Sunday, but it is also my mom's birthday and my son's 3rd birthday! I'll try to take pictures if the digital camera is more cooperative than it was in Toronto last month...

In case the self-portrait just wasn't enough for you, there's two new shots in the Miscellaneous Photo Album April 6th and Cheek 2 Cheek are the two new shots. Yes, I have had a drink ;-).

Its much more red in the light, and I'm sure it will get a little lighter over the next couple of days. Little by little I'll lighten it more and by summer it should be the way I want it. :-)

Such a proud mommy moment that I must share... Gaetano came up to me with a plastic bundle of baloons from his 1st birthday cake. He pointed to one and said "That's red" and he was right! Then he did each color in the bundle successfully. Colors are something I haven't really worked with him that much on --least not as much as I should. So I'm pleasantly surprised that he's caught on so quick. Before I know it he'll be using Dreamweaver and writing extensions ;-)

Yes, I caught Gaetano's cold. My throat hurts... Gatano says, Mama no work. Mama sit. Mama sick. Hugs? So I'm going to do as he wishes and take the night off until his daddy comes home. I want my mommy :-(. She made me cookies and I ate all of them already... Mom's bringing more tomorrow. I love mom.

After giving Gaetano his cough medicine last night, he started coughing more (as expected). However the poor little guy was not sleeping comfortably, coughing every couple minutes. I decided he needed to sleep semi-upright to allow the drainage to go past his throat so he would cough less. How do you get a 2 yr. old to do this? You can't just prop 'em up on pillows and expect them to stay that way. So, mama propped him up on his inflatable car bed and slept there with him last night, scooting him back up every time he scooted down. No coughing as long as he was elevated, and I would wake by his cough the moment he slid to a flat position. I'm exhausted, but I'll do this every night until his cough supresses. I can't help but think there's got to be a better way...

Belated Happy New Year! :-) Better late wishes than never right?

I've been busy busy lately, hence the lack of posts (although I'm pretty good about posting regularly even when I'm swamped). Gaetano is going through a clingy phase -- especially since he has a cold. All day long I hear his sweet little voice say things like: Mama come sit. I want you to sit. Mama kiss? Shake hands? I want a hug. I want to hold you. I want a kiss now. Hug, please? Pleeeeeeeeeeeease, I want a kiss. (I think you get the point.) I don't mind it at all, although it hasn't been very good for my productivity lately!

Yesterday I got an email from someone that read my interview in Inside Dreamweaver MX. It is the second email I've gotten from that interview. This one made my day though. The person who wrote was looking for a way to inspire his wife to get into web development with him. She felt she needed schooling to do so though. He felt my interview was just what he needed to show her that "all anyone needs is a strong will and some guidance". He's right! :-) It's emails like that which keep me going and make what I do worthwhile.

Yesterday was filled with fun for Gaetano and me. We went to a Christmas party for the community we live in and Gaetano sat in Santa's lap as if he'd known the guy forever. He sat there for a good 5 minutes leaning on him and if I didn't pick him up he'd probably fall asleep in Santa's arms! He looked so cozy :-)

Kicking and screaming I tore him away from the party. (Santa left already; I'm not a meanie.) We went to the mall and Gaetano started fussing being in his stroller so I took a chance and decided I'd see if he'd behave walking with me. He did really good! So we're in Godiva and Gaetano is organizing their boxes of chocolates as I'm picking things out. We leave and do about an hour's more of shopping. When we come upon an empty bench Gaetano decided it was time to go sit. I was tired too so I sat down with him. Just then I notice a strange box shoved between the diaper bag and the seat of the stroller. Gaetano put a $36 box of chocolates in the stroller! Of course I took it back and explained to him that he can't help mommy shop and should ask before putting things in the stroller. I just hope he understood and this is not a foreshadowing of any kind!

I'm in for some long days... My mom won't be babysitting Gaetano as much now because he's become too much for her to handle. Generally he's a really good kid, but he's at that age where kids get stubborn and refuse to let you dress them (especially pajamas) or change their diaper. I can't blame mom, because I know it drives me crazy when he acts like that too.

I'm going to try to take advantage of the time he'll be home with me to break him of these bad fits and get him potty trained. I think that will help quite a bit. Unfortunately this means I won't be getting as much work done :-(. Good thing I am done with the book :-) I sure hope this phase doesn't last too long!

On this Thanksgiving Day, I'd like to share some of my thankfullness here because I know it will reach the right people (some of whom I have no other way to contact). I really do count my blessings often (should be every day, but it is only just often, lol). My biggest blessing I'm thankful for is Gaetano, but I'm sure you knew that. I love my littly guy! Of course I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and family as well.

The folks that may not realize their importance to me are who I'm hoping this message reaches. To every single tutorial author at DWfaq and every DWfaq beta tester: You're the greatest. DWfaq wouldn't be the same without your help. I appreciate everything you've contributed and it is a pleasure working with all of you. To Brad and Mike, extra thanks for all your help admining DWfaq. Dan Short, you're like a brother to me and I'm so grateful to have you in my life. (I'll spare the folks reading this all the mushiness and not to embarrass you too much <wink />.) To those I work with on various projects and/or books, I'm thankful for the opportunity to work with such talented people. Those who have helped me learn Dreamweaver and write extensions (you know who you are..) I'm so grateful to you for your help and will never forget it. To all my friends, I love you and am thinking of you today. I'm sure there's more I could say, but I'll spare you all, and return you to your holiday festivities. Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I've been running back and forth from my office to my son for months now. Every couple of minutes I'm up to check on him. Even in a matter of seconds he'll get himself in trouble though and I certainly can't be in the room with him always. Like once, I went to the bathroom and when I came out he'd gotten the powdered Strawberry Nesquik and poured it all over himself! Well, I have a new strategy...

Moms and dads out there, break out your old baby monitors. I set it up in the kitchen and now if he's anywhere near anything off limits I can not only hear him but I can see him since I was lucky enough to have been given a video monitor. Now Gaetano is confused that the moment he's into something he shouldn't be I know it. :-) Ha ha son, you're on candid camera!

I forgot to mention it... shame on me! That adorable little hand in the ad for Color Assistant belongs to none other than my adorable little Gaetano :-)

If you have a 2 year old, an old PC that you let him/her use, and you're missing a credit card, check inside the Floppy drive. :-)

Beta feedback on my new toolbar extension has been great. We've caught quite a few bugs and I've squished all of them. I have one more adjustment to make...make the selection replaced with the input rather than putting the data before the selection. Early on I tried this, but it wiped out the entire CSS file, which is why I opted for inserting before the selection. I've found out about some other means for inserting the data so I'll give those a shot. As soon as I'm done with that, I can release this baby.

Speaking of babies... my son is taking his nap now. Soon as he wakes up, I'll dress him up as Elmo and take him to my mom's so he can go to about 4 or 5 houses for trick or treating. I'll post pictures of him soon as I can. I also have some to share from our visit earlier today at the pumpkin patch. No play (making albums) until after I get this extension released though!

I don't get out much. Really, I mean that. I'm home more than anyone I know. Quite possible that's because I work from home but still. I need to get out more. So, tonight I did just that. Gaetano is spending the night at my mom's and my husband had the night off so we decided to go see a movie. Remember, I said I don't get out much. I've been to about 4 or 5 movies since my son was born. Let's see, I've seen Planet of the Apes, Beauty and the Beast (which I have on video anyhow from 10 years ago but that new scene was worth going for), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (that I saw 2 months ago with my mom) ummm ummmm darn, I can't remember. So, what'd we opt to go see? My Big Fat Greek Wedding of course. Great movie, and I didn't mind seeing it twice. I'm half greek so I think it was especially funny to me. Anyhow (this is the part where I tell you why I feel like I don't get out much), as I recall previews in movies last about 8 to 10 minutes. We get there at 10:19pm when the moview was supposed to start at 10:10pm. 9 minutes late and I'm thinking we missed the beginning, but no we were in luck. Previews had already been going for 9 minutes and didn't end for another 20 minutes. I kid you not, I looked at the clock on my cell phone just before it started. Since when do they show TV commercials before movies? I'm so out of touch. Ok, this probably sounds like I'm complaining about it, but really I'm not. I'm just reflecting on how out of touch with the world I am. When did all these things change? Where was I and why wasn't I informed? :-) Seriously, I don't mind it, I was just pretty surprised by it all. By the way, if you haven't seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding yet, go see it.

Dan's been gettin' fancy with his blog. I think he's trying to make me jealous. He's doing a fine job of that if he is! Soon as I'm done with Killer Tips I'll have some time to play around and add all the features I'd been planning. One of them is an archive of pages I make when helping folks on the Dreamweaver newsgroup. I'll assign it some keywords, a link to the original thread at google, a description, and a link to the solution page. It should be fun to chronicle these things, and eventually be able to pass out the links when duplicate issues occur on the newsgroup. See folks, this site isn't all about me talking about things like potty training; it is about the average day in the life of a Dreamweaver developer who happens to work from home and is a mother of a (precious) 2 1/2 year old boy. :-)

I think Gaetano may be having a potty training breakthrough... I put him in Thomas the Tank Engine undies and he was so excited to wear them. He's only worn undies about 6 times. Well, he had an accident and made a puddle on the carpet. He's never cared when he's had accidents before, he just takes the undies off and brings them to me. This time he was standing up when it happened and must have seen the urine. He just stood there helpless crying. Awwwww my baby! He's starting to understand what is happening, so hopefully it won't be too long before he's potty trained.

Just got home from the hospital... I'm exhausted. Gaetano is okay now, and asleep in his bed. About 2 hours ago I heard a scream, dropped my JavaScript Bible, and ran to the kitchen. Gaetano had gotten his right thumb stuck in a 3/4 open empty can of olives. (I had no idea Ambrogio left the can on the counter.) Gaetano was panicing, screaming repeatedly "I stuck!". It must have really hurt, because I couldn't get him to hold still so I could get his hand out. I reached my hand in the can and pushed the lid in with my finger next to Gaetano's in an effort to not let the lid cut into him more. I didn't get cut, and frankly I am not sure if my effort helped him or not. It seemed his thumb was attached to the lid. Once I got his thumb loose he was bleeding a lot and it looked just awful. I rinsed it with water, and put pressure on it while I called Ambrogio to come home. (He was making a grocery store run.) As I waited for him to get home, I dressed Gaetano in his pajamas (my son loves being shirtless) with one hand, while putting pressure on the wound with my other hand. Soon as Ambrogio came home, he got Gaetano in the car, while I threw on some clothes. When we got to the ER, they took him in right away. They put on some Lidocaine gel to numb the wound. Gaetano kept telling everyone, "Boo boo, owie is cold". There was an area of the wound that was all bunched up and had a dark spot in it. The doctor wanted to clean it, and make sure it wasn't metal or an olive. Turned out that it wasn't and stitches were not needed. Unfortunately the doctor had to snip off a big chunk of skin. Of course it started bleeding again too. I just hope it heals normal and that it isn't malformed or anything. My poor baby :-(. I just know it is going to hurt when he wakes up...

My son is too cute. I know it is a biased opinion but he really is. He now asks me if he can watch "Airy Pottuh" which sounds like Harry Potter with an English accent! Awwww my baby, he's growing up too quick. :-) Which reminds me, I really need to start that Gaetano Says section of the site...

My friend Jay A. Grantham gave Gaetano and I matching Houston Fire Department t-shirts at TODCON. Of course, I just had to take some pictures of Fireman Gaetano wearing his t-shirt. Thanks Jay!

I was too shook up (literally) last night to write anything here... Somewhere close to midnight I felt a slight shake, and after about 2 seconds I realized it was an Earthquake. I jumped to my feet and shouted for my husband, "Earthquake! grab the baby!". I was blocked in my office by the child gate and saw Ambrogio stumble to grab Gaetano off the floor where he was laying down playing with his cars. He'd begun crying before I shouted, at the moment the shaking got violent. Before I could get the darn gate open, my husband and son were by the doorway with me on the other side of the gate as I struggled to get it open. Soon as I got the gate open, the shaking stopped and my son reached for me crying for mama. My poor baby was so scared. His little heart was beating so fast, just like mine was and he wouldn't let go of me for at least 20 minutes. He kept saying, "I broke the walls. I scared.". I think that was his way of telling me the walls were shaking.

It was at about 10 minutes before the TV news started reporting on it. They said that the center was North of Yorba Linda and South of Diamond Bar. Can you guess where that is? Brea; where I live. They said it was only a 4.6 but I've lived through many earthquakes, including the 6.1 in Whittier. This was no 4.6 it had to be at least a 5.0 or more. What's a few tenths of a point? A lot when it comes to earthquakes. We felt 2 aftershocks and my boys couldn't sleep. We all went to bed at about 3 am together. Gaetano stayed with us, more for our comfort and peace of mind than his. Hopefully there won't be any more shaking...

My mom has this story she likes to tell me about that when I was about 2 years old I was by the front door and about to get out and she ran to grab me just as I stepped out the door. I'd have fallen down a step about 8 inches or so and probably would have gotten hurt if it weren't for mom. She was badly scraped and bruised on her arms, legs and I think even her face. Thanks mom, I've returned the favor to my son today.

I was about to cook a steak and started heating the oil. Stupidly I let the oil get too hot and without thinking, I tossed the steak in the pan. The oil splashed all over and got me on my upper chest, my right wrist, my right thigh and down the back of my right leg. When I told Dan what happened he said, "What were you doing, dancing?". No, I quickly spun around to push my son out of the way. He didn't get hurt at all, but the back of my leg got it badly. I was just relieved he was spared. He's to cute to be scarred. So now my right leg is swollen (see post from a couple days ago) and burned. I'll never make this dumb mistake again, and he's no longer allowed in the kitchen when I'm cooking until he's 10 years old!

Proud mama moment here! For the last few weeks I've been trying to teach Gaetano how to properly ask for things. He repeats each word after me and the sentence is always, "Can I have some (more)______ please mama?". As the weeks have past he's said: "Can I have" , "Can I set go!" (we play a game of ready? set? go! and somehow he decided that is how he should ask me to play with him I guess), "Can I have some please mama" (but he doesn't tell me what he wants so I have no idea...). Well tonight he got it right! Gaetano asked, "Can I have some water please mama?". I'm so proud! :-)

I'm playing hookie! My husband has the day off, and wants to take our son to the zoo. Originally they were going to go without me so I can get some work done, but I'm jealous! I've been working hard lately, so I'm going to ditch work for a few hours. I'll take some pictures and upload them later so you can see how much fun we had... I'm outta here!

I think I just really need some sort of outlet now. Being a work-from-home mom and the lack of adult interaction can take its toll. So I've decided that this is the place where I can just talk about whatever it is that's on my mind or happening in my life. Some of this will be work (Dreamweaver) related, and a whole lot of this will be personal. I fully intend to brag about my little boy – probably to the point that it gets annoying – but if you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to read this anyhow. Besides, there will be plenty of pictures of Gaetano (that's my son in case you didn't know) and once you see just how cute he is, I'll be totally forgiven for going on and on about him! Oh, and seeing as how I'm a mom of a child still in diapers (I can't wait until he's potty trained!) you can fully expect to hear all the icky things too.

Normally I'm a pretty private person. I don't even like the idea of people I don't know seeing a picture of me. It is just a creepy kind of feeling; people knowing who I am, and I haven't a clue what they look like. Perhaps I'll get over it with the growth of this site. I'm somewhat surprised at myself for opening up this little window into my life. I'm not sure how I'll handle it, or if I'll even keep active with this site... everything is just up in the air, and I'm not going to think about it. I'll just take it one day at a time....