Dressing for Totems and dealing with the TV dilemma

The Reason He Dressed

We like to check out every single park that Modena has to offer, so a few weeks back we found a Native American themed park we’d never been to before. It’s actually strange we’ve never been, since it’s beside our favourite ice cream spot.

The T.V. Dilema

We’ve been watching Little Einsteins

lately, and my son’s favourite episode is the one with “Little Totem Pole”. Anyone else ever heard of the Little Einsteins?….”Little Totem Pole listen….here we come to save you”……

It is a continuation of the Baby Einstein series but there were only two complete seasons created. At first the Little Einsteins annoyed the hell out of me, but hen I realized that they’re not so bad. By “not so bad” I mean, I only feel minimally guilty about parking my son for 20 minutes in front of an episode while I make dinner! Each episode features a classical music piece, a painting or artist and a theme like an international destination or something else culturally based.

Lately we’ve been going through a no T.V. at home phase because I’ve noticed that even 20 minutes a day was causing temper tantrums every time I had to turn the t.v. off. However, no t.v. at all in the house means that I am WAY BUSIER….like WAY BUSIER, but generally speaking I’ve noticed my son is calmer. With no t.v. every single minute of the day has to be constructively filled, and he’s finding other ways to occupy himself like destroying our couch if I look away for a milisecond, or flinging dirt from our potted plants with a small shovel all over EVERYTHING. If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen these pictures….

Oh yes that is permanent blue ben on our white pleather couch. Whatever….we’ll get new furniture when he’s ready to move out. And since we’re in ITALY that means in 30 to 45 years!
Now, I didn’t go cold-turkey on him, he’s allowed to watch “t.v.” (meaning youtube) on my iphone when we’re eating out in a restaurant. I just wanted to focus on no t.v. in the house. The only problem is….he LOVES t.v.! We’re talking about a kid that seriously laughs out load at slapstick comedy, sings along with the characters and responds to questions when asked. Not only that, but because we live in Italy and I am trying to raise him to be bilingual, the only access that he has to English is through me and….well…the t.v.

Recently, I met another English mom in Modena (super rare!) and I’ll be featuring her style next week! Aside from the few times we’ve hung out, my son pretty much hears only Italian when we are out of the house. It is amazing the English words he’s picked up from watching t.v…..like “totem pole” for example. Since he loves this episode we made a point of going to this cool park to give him some real context as to what a Totem Pole is!! All in all I think t.v. isn’t so bad, I just need to figure out a way to give him the right boundaries to be able to deal with the fact that after 20 minutes it gets turned off. Any suggestions?….I’m all ears!

What He Wore

He’s wearing a Zara Baby long sleeved golf shirt and camo shoes. His hat, little blue spring jacket and pants are by the French brand Grain de Blé, that have several locations in Modena. His vest is by the local brand/boutique Monsieur Cucù. Their style is really “cutting edge” and they have a lot of raw, unfinished edges and unique shapes. They also do a LOT of harem-style pants for girls and boys, which some people love and others hate. My son also has a pair of these harem pants that I think are cute but that my husband DESPISES. he won’t let our son leave the house in them because he says they make him look like he just pooed himself. But, let’s be honest……he mostly likely has!

His bandanna is by the brand Dribble Ons

bought online here

. I’ve had this since my son was born ( I think I bought 8 or 9), and even though it was quite expensive (like REALLY EXPENSIVE) it is of EXCELLENT quality, so I guess I forgive Dribble Ons for being so damn expensive! These are the bibs that have made every outfit cool, the ones that have never stained, the ones that don’t curl up at the tip after they’ve been washed and line dried, the ones that are soft, thick and absorbant…..these are the best bandanna bibs I.M.H.O.

I used to use it as a bib when he was younger and now I use it as a scarf substitute, since in Italy you can’t go anywhere without a scarf!

I buy all of his clothes years in advance, so I have no idea what I paid for anything, but you better believe it was all discounted at LEAST 60%. I have no issue buying stuff for him in advance because I figure “hey, he’ll eventually grow into all of it”, and so far so good!

I’m having a lot of fun talking about Zeno’s style. Aside from the fact that it helps me justify why I take literally hundreds of photos of him a day, it also helps me justify why he always looks so great (kidding!) . But seriously, I can’t have him leave the house in jogging pants, jogging pants are WAY too precious and must be reserved for indoor potty training accidents.

By the way, I’ve given up on potty training, not peeing yourself is so over rated.

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