"I want to do cutting!"

Yes this is my wee man using scissors all on his own. It's actually a favourite past time and an art that he seems to be perfecting. He insists to do it himself without any assistance as well. Any involvement of help on our part is met with heavy resistance and usually ends in tears. 

He likes to cut the paper sometimes into really small pieces getting so close to his fingertips.  He knows they are sharp and that they will hurt him. He is certainly not allowed to move freely about with them. He definitely does not intentionally want to cut himself or poke anyone's eyes out but geez my heart. I fought the impulse to grab them away from him for a while. Now I have the mantra "Watch your fingers" which I should probably just put on record. 

It's interesting how long this activity can hold his attention as well. Trust me amazing for my wee man. We have always thought that my wee man presented as very orientated towards the arts and I actually now have invested building up a box of arts supplies. 

I love seeing the creativity of at Red Ted Art and The Imagination Tree. I have tried to steer the cutting enthusiasm towards grander projects but at the moment though he is happiest with just a huge box of paper and a pair of scissors.

Project 365 Days 1-4

So here I am in the New Year making the very brave decision to really start pushing myself when it comes to photography. It is possibly one of the few hobbies I have really stuck with over the years. I always get teased that I take SO many pictures but then everyone is really pleased that someone has marked the occasion. Granted that usually means I am not in any of the photos but that is another worry really. Hubby bought me a remote and I really need to use it more. So I have decided to join the 365 project over at The Boy and Me. While this project will be a lot about capturing all the small moments and enjoying my son grow and learn I really want to use this project to start turning the dial of the camera and getting out of my comfort zones. Last year I realised flash is not always a bad thing and this year I am hoping to learn a lot more about TV and white balance. So here goes...

Day 1: A New Year walk with the Nonni at Borghetto in Italy.

Day 2: Puzzles with Nonna.

Day 3: Always got lots of cuddles for Nonna. We stopped for lunch at Rifugio Malga Malera during a walk from San Giorgio when we went in search of snow.

Day 4: My wee man has discovered the joys of Pandoro! A famous Italian dessert at Christmas time. The excitement on his face when we bring it out is indescribable. the best bit of course is adding the sugar and shaking it up in the bag and then dipping your finger onto the top when it's opened.

San Giorgio

We awoke and quickly got excited when the wee man discovered we were heading to the mountains in search of snow. Yes it took a bit to convince him that he had to wear "tight pants" which are actually thermals but he quickly decided going to find snow was more important. Only about an hours drive away is San Giorgio where we planned to take a short walk to the Rifugio Malga Malera for lunch. Really only a half hour walk took us more like an hour as we had to take a lot of stops. The wee man's excitement was uncontainable! Really he has never seen so much snow before so it was pretty understandable. His smiles and laughter were pretty contagious. The addition of beautiful snowy white scenes made for a beautiful walk. We threw a lot of snow balls, rolled around in it as much as we could, had a few little tastes, and of course finally built a snowman...the wee man's first! Lunch was delightful and the wee man obviously benefitted from the fresh air as well he ate his all up without a bit of complaint. Once finished he was rearing to go again and it was another exciting walk back down to the car. Once home nothing better than a nice hot bath to warm up cold toes.

 

New Year stretching of the legs

Oh dear! Hubby and I have started the New Year with a cold. Thankfully on holiday you still manage to push yourself to do things and well the Nonni are pretty amazing doing most things with the wee man. We woke to a beautiful day and he was off with his Nonni for a walk into town where he got to listen to a marching band. I was regalled with stories and shown how to play the trombone. After his afternoon nap I had just enough energy to stretch my legs too. Start the new year the way you plan to continue it or something like that, so off we went to Borghetto. A place that we always manage to visit while we are here. It's always beautiful and seems to get busier each year.