Childcare while in Italy

Dan & I had the wonderful opportunity to get away on a child-free vacation recently. This was our very first child-free, overnight vacation in more than 8 years. 

Yes, you read that right. And, yes, we are officially crazy. 

In all honesty, it’s not that we never wanted to have a night away, together, without children. The reason was more or less that we never had the opportunity, due to breastfeeding babies, attachment/colic issues with child #1, then twins (3 kids under age 3!), then my own separation anxiety/night issues after Matteo died, which left me feeling the need to check on the kids often throughout the night to make sure they were still breathing. (Yes, crazy again. I know.) And most recently… we just truly needed someone who could take care of our army of children, as well as manage a very busy school/activity schedule. Four kids is a lot. Add taxi, constant meal service, and medical emergencies (because of course there's always 1 when mom & dad are away!)... and well, I imagine it could push a weak soldier over the edge.

Until now, the children always vacationed WITH us… Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Arizona, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Oregon, etc. We did have one vacation in March 2009 to Mexico where we just took Gabby. My parents and our au pair at the time stayed with the twins in CA. It was relaxing to get away with just one child. But still, at age 3, she kept us quite busy. 

So - finally! A kid free vacation! We were excited...

We recruited and enlisted the help of my parents, as well as one of our favorite former au pairs from Germany, Maria. Maria and my parents know each other well, which made us even more comfortable. The kids were SO EXCITED to hear that we had bought tickets for Maria to come visit us again. They asked every day for a month “when will Maria be here?”. And, having gammy and papa visit at the same time would be the icing on the cake. I figured Maria would be like the team captain of child duty and play, my mom was designated as chief homework, story reader, medicine dispenser, and snuggler (needed her to refrain from heavy lifting & vigorous activity). And, my dad was named chief chauffeur (and probably errand/grocery/drug store runner). 

We learned quickly about the only real emergency while we were gone. Rocco had an awful asthma attack that landed gammy & papa at the emergency room from 11:30pm-3am. This also required frequent checks throughout the night the following 2 nights to make sure he wasn’t having any trouble breathing, etc. Add this asthma drama to a topical allergic reaction he was having to all the pollen in the air, and toss in Marco’s twice daily Rx administration (not easy with this kid!) for his ear infection… it was like the perfect little storm to keep everyone on their toes. Needless to say, my parents were exhausted 3 days into our trip (and probably wishing they hadn’t committed to this! Oy!). Hopefully, the gifts we shipped and brought back with us will make up for all the drama and sleep deprivation. 

The only other real issue was that we had planned for Marco to sleep with gammy and papa. But, he quickly decided he wanted nothing to do with that. Instead, he preferred sleeping with Maria (or, “Ria”, as he calls her). So, poor Maria got the mommy treatment… little feet kicking her in the face and chest during the night, and a few snuggles too, while we were away. Dan and I joked this was GREAT birth control for Maria! Sorry Maria!

We are beyond thankful for these special people in our lives! Clearly, we could not have been more confident with anyone on the planet taking care of our children when we are not there. So HUGE, GIGANTIC thank you to gammy, papa and our favorite Maria! We love you and are so thankful to have you in our lives, and for allowing us to get away together and relax.

Marco & Medicine Tricks

In my opinion, these are the big milestones that make things a bit easier for moms and dads everywhere. They include:

* sitting up

* child puts self to sleep

* walking 

* talking

* getting dressed by themselves

* toilet trained

* buckling themselves into a car seat

* taking medicine without issue

* the day you can start to reason with your child, or convince them to do something because it is good for them, even if they don’t like it. (keyword = start… because I know this is a lifelong issue!)

Well, Marco just crossed (sort of) another of these milestones… but he had to do it HIS way. I finally found a trick to giving him medicine without having to waste an entire bottle of medicine!

I would rank him *third worst medicine-taker* of my children. 

Giuliana was the worst. Matteo was the second worst medicine-taker. 

I literally had to try everything in the book with Giuliana. I even sought sneaky technique advice from my friends on F.acebook. We tried letting her do it in her own time, holding her down, sneaking it in while on the changing table, putting it in food, ice cream, chocolate syrup, sip it from a straw, take it from a spoon, etc. You name it - I tried it. The worst was when we wasted an entire bottle of medicine trying to get 4 mls in her mouth. The thick syrup was instead all over the floor, counter, in her hair, in my hair, it had painted our clothing and was disbursed across various desserts and beverages and yogurts. She would successfully spit every last drop out of her mouth. It was awful. Even the nurses tried to help. They agreed. She was a little H.oudini. Somehow we eventually tricked her into thinking medicine could be fun to take. And, never a problem since then. 

Matteo wasn’t nearly as bad a Giuliana. But, we did have a few instances where it seemed like medicine was everywhere BUT in his little mouth.  

Marco is a lot like Matteo was. But, he’s gotten smarter and better at spitting the medicine out… and he wont’ stop spitting until it is all out. Every last drop. 

He’s been on an antibiotic every month since January due to ear infections. In February, the medicine delivery had reached the point where I dreaded having to give it to him. I would be stressed he wasn’t getting a full dose, wondering how much he actually did consume, and already fearing the day’s second dose. Finally, I decided to just try and reason with him about his medicine, and also bribe him with a treat. 

Marco still doesn’t talk a whole lot. But, I do know that he understands most of what we are saying. I can tell him to go do something - and he will. Or, if I talk about someone or something, he will look around for them/it. 

So, one day I just sat him in my lap and told him it was medicine time and how important it was he takes his medicine so we could get rid of all the yucky sick germs that were making his ears hurt. I told him I would give him a treat if he took his medicine nice. Then, I put him down and filled up the medicine syringe and got a little caramel treat. I followed him around telling him it was time for him to take his medicine (5 minutes maybe), and all of a sudden, he opened his mouth up big and drank the medicine without any protest or spitting. I was so excited I started cheering and jumping and telling him what a good boy he was. He was SO PROUD of himself. And, he really enjoyed the caramel treat. Every day we did the same thing and it worked like a charm after that. 

Well, of course he got another ear infection right before our trip to Italy. And, of course it was a different antibiotic - one with a worse taste. He hated it. Back to the spitting. Again, I tried reasoning with him. It didn’t work. I tried hiding it in chocolate syrup. I tried bribing. A few times, I had to lay him down and try to stick it in the back corner of his mouth and hope he would swallow most of the dose. That wasn’t working so great. 

Finally, we decided to try making it a party. This worked great because we had the entire family home, as well as and my mom & dad and Maria (one of our wonderful au pairs, from Germany). I scooped Marco into my arms and told him it was medicine time. I put the medicine in a spoon dropper. We also started clapping our hands and singing, very rhythmically, “med-i-cine, med-i-cine…Marco’s gonna take his MED-I-CINE!” and we repeated that mantra over & over. He had a big smile on his face, he drank up his medicine in one go, and every single one of us high-rived him after that. He thought this was the coolest thing in the world and LOVED all the singing and attention. 

It was hilarious and fun and he TOOK HIS MEDICINE! YAY!

Now, let’s hope I’m not alone the next time he needs medicine. Because I’m quite certain I am much less of a party than a group of 9 people. :))

Marco skipped straight to the big boy toys

It seems my little baby is skipping straight to big boy toys. 

Sigh…

I thought surely the little guy would make use of the remaining baby and infant toys that one or more of his older siblings had used. But, it seems that when he hit 18 months… all that went out the window.

 He is MUCH more interested in whatever Rocco and Giuliana are playing with. So, now the little guy is obsessed with N.erf guns, transformers, hot wheel cars, legos and Giuliana’s little ponies. 

He’s also now frequently taking a toy to bed with him at night (which we remove once we know he’s down for the night). These toys often include N.erf guns, legos built into towers or guns, sometimes a sword, or a car or truck (or two!). 

When he wakes up, he’s been known to say “gun, gun gun??”, first thing. So, we’ll scoop him up and bring him on a journey to find his favorite toy gun. 

He sure is a funny little guy. All too eager to grown up!