Christmas Confusion

Yesterday we went to Disneyland and Christmas is in full swing. This has proven to be a little confusing for Marco. First, we watched the parade where the grand finale is Santa Clause. Marco said "Look at all the toys he has!" Then after the parade he complained "I wanted a toy." So, I had to explain to him Santa is just getting all the toys ready and we have to wait until Christmas morning.

Next, we go to see Santa and tell him what Marco wants! Well, Marco came prepared. He brought his "magazine" aka Target toy ad with him. When it was his turn he pointed at Optimus Prime (or should I say Octopus Prime) on the cover. Santa took a look and said "Oh, is that a Transformer." Then Marco started talking, explaining he was the big one, telling him the name, etc. He tried to go through the rest of the Target ad with Santa, but we made him sit down just to get his picture taken. He got his candy cane and was a happy boy. I should point out that prior to seeing Santa, Marco had hold of his "magazine" since we left the house. After Santa, he was done with it. He was a man on a mission.

The rest of the evening progressed nicely. He had an agenda, wanted to go on Peter Pan, the Carousel, Small World, Trains (small and big), Buzz Lightyear, and Winnie the Pooh. We didn't go on Winnie the Pooh. He cried, but we were there late enough we decided to stay and wait for fireworks. Marco was very excited about the snow after the fireworks, although he complained a little that it wasn't real snow. He quickly fell asleep once we were in the car.

Fastforward to this morning, he wakes up and wants to know if his toy is here. I told him it isn't Christmas yet and that was not an answer he was ready to handle. And we still have 10 days to go before we start the advent calendar! This is going to be a long month.

Words

This weekend we were at Disney California Adventure with Zio Massimiliano, Zia Pina, and Marco's cousins Alessandro and Andrea. We were watching the Pixar Play Parade and the first part had passed us and we were waiting for the next float and I said to Marco "Do you like the parade so far?" And he said No. I paused thinking of how to respond and after a bit he adds, "I like it so close."

Dining with a Couple of Mice

We went to Disneyland two weeks ago and dined with a couple of mice. Now, I suspect that you currently have a picture of something like this in mind.

But you would be wrong.

Perhaps Mickey is busy and farming out some of the work? The mice were running and jumping around, having a great time. Marco thought they were tons of fun. We didn't have a camera with us the last time we were there, but we brought one today. As soon as we got to the area we saw them last time, Marco ran over saying he wanted to see the mice. We only saw one little guy this week. He didn't venture far away from his protective hole, but it was earlier in the day and a lot noisier than last time.

Santa Claus

Marco has had the pleasure of meeting Santa a few times this year (and has always asked him for the same thing.) Unfortunately none of our pictures look very good. This one we met at the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland.

Zio Alberto & Zia Angela

Zio Alberto and Zia Angela stopped in Los Angeles for a few days for a visit. Yesterday we took them to Disneyland.

Happy Halloween!

Hanging out with Veronica-Elmo at Mickey's Halloween Treat

That's one yummy cookie! (School Halloween Party)

Handing out treats.

Open Your Eyes!

Marco sees things a little differently this the rest of us old and jaded adults.

When you look inside a flashlight, what do you see? Since you have no imagination, you probably see a light bulb. Marco will tell you it is actually an egg.

This? This is a camera.

When you wash the windows in your car, it is raining. And don't try to convince him otherwise!

Often when we are driving, Marco swears he sees a cow or a turtle or something else equally fascinating.

Marco is actually at a very fun age right now. He gets very excited about things. For example, we recently went to Disneyland and he knows we are there as soon as we get off the freeway. He starts "seeing" Mickeys right away. "Right there! Right there!" When we take the tram ride from the car, he points out every Mickey on top of every light post. The last time we went to Disneyland, as soon as we got off the tram he was pointing at everything and exclaiming. "Look, Mickey!" "Donald!" "Daisy!" Then we passed a rack of sunglasses and he screamed "GLASSES!" Things you perhaps find mundane are reasons to celebrate for Marco.

Along the Same Lines

About a month ago, probably the last weekend we were all not sick, Laura and Jeff treated us to a stay at the Disneyland Hotel and brunch at Goofy's Kitchen. Marco had so much fun this trip. On Friday, we got to the hotel early, dropped our bag and spent a few hours at the park.

We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon to meet Laura, Jeff & Liz. We attempted to get Marco to nap, but that was a lost cause. After a little relaxing, we decided to head down to the pool. They had a slide for little kids and Marco became obsessed with this. He would slide down, dunk under the water, come up for a breath and ask for more. I would lift him to the side of the pool, dad helped him onto the slide and repeat. He soon was good enough to get on the slide himself.

That evening, we headed back to the park and to Toon Town. Marco went on his first roller coaster - Gadget's Go Go Coaster. He was a little nervous, but it is such a short ride, he wasn't too scared. We let him run around the various play areas in Toon Town before meeting Laura, Jeff, Liz, Vickie & Mark for dinner. After dinner, Alessandro and I decided to watch Fantasmic and meet the gang later. We found a decent place to watch Fantasmic and alternated holding Marco up on our shoulders so he could get a good view. At this point, he was so tired, he was drooling. I am pretty sure Alessandro's head got wet despite my best efforts to wipe Marco's mouth dry. Tired as he was, he enjoyed Fantasmic. A few minutes after Fantasmic, the fireworks started. Marco was excited standing and pointing, then he decided to sit in my lap and about halfway through the fireworks, he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. And he was out! That just allowed his parents to hang out a little longer while he slept in the stroller.

On Saturday, we headed to Goofy's Kitchen. The first character he saw was Baloo. He ran up to him and Baloo bent down to his level and then Marco got a little nervous. He wasn't so sure about this huge bear who had focused all his attention on Marco!

While we were eating, Goofy came to say hi! Marco was still a little unsure, but starting to get the hang of it.

Dad was thrilled to see his favorite character. (That is tongue-in-cheek, for those of you who are not aware. I did warn Laura, Jeff, and Liz that I was not responsible for Alessandro's potential actions at Goofy's Kitchen given his previous behaviour at Euro Disney.)

After this personal visit by Goofy, Marco decided that these guys were a-ok. He found Chip, took his hand, and brought him to our table.

He ran through the restaurant after Goofy and gave him a big hug... and wouldn't let go.

He then stalked Baloo everywhere he went in the restaurant. Alessandro said he thinks Marco was in at least of half of the other families' pictures with Baloo.

After brunch, we spent another hour in the pool and then headed home. I think it took about 10 minutes for Marco to fall asleep in the car. It had been a busy and fun trip.

A Great Weekend

Preschool has been tough on us. Since Marco started, I would say at least 80% of the time, someone in the house is sick (usually Marco). This past weekend, we were all well (first time in over a month) and we had a great weekend.

On Saturday, we went to the beach and dad taught Marco how to fly a kite.

On Sunday, we went to Disneyland. Every time we go now, Marco seems to have more and more fun. He recognizes the characters and gets so excited to see them. He saw Mickey Mouse yesterday. After patiently waiting in line, he ran up and hugged him.

After Disneyland, we stopped by Laura and Jeff's to meet Marlee. She was born Thursday, June 12. Much to Jeff's delight, Marco was much more interested in Sunny than Marlee.

Such a great weekend really tuckered Marco out.

Flying High

A few weeks ago we took Marco to Disneyland. He learned about one of the downsides of the park... all the waiting. And I have to say, he didn't really take it so well.

He really wanted to go on rides, but the lines were so long, there was no way he could handle them. We were thinking to take him on Dumbo, but the wait was almost an hour, so instead we hung out by the exit and watched the elephants go by. Well, a very nice lady who was working on the Dumbo ride let Marco go in the exit and he didn't have to wait at all! While we were waiting for take off, he was so excited. He kept saying "Ready, set, go!"

When we had to get off the ride, he cried and cried. Later we took him on the Winnie the Pooh ride and he cried because we had to wait our turn to get on (maybe a 5 minute wait), he kept saying car. Then he cried as soon as we came outside of the ride doors, not even waiting until we actually had to get off. He knew it was coming.

Boots & Balloons [Stivali e Palloncini]

Marco got new boots yesterday and he was so excited about them he had no time for clothes, or time to stop to take a picture. This is as good as dad could get…
Ieri Marco ha ricevuto un nuovo paio di stivali, era cosi' eccitato che non ha avuto tempo di indossare nessun indumento e neppure di fermarsi per una foto. Questa e' stata la foto migliore che papa' ha potuto scattare...


until he stopped to take a drink.
fino a quando ha dovuto fermarsi per bere.


Then we went to Disneyland and Marco got a balloon! Oh, the joy. He ran and ran with his balloon. Dad was trying desperately to get a picture of this as well, this is about as good as it got.
Poi siamo andati a Disneyland e Marco ha voluto un palloncino! Che gioia. Ha corso tantissimo con il suo palloncino. Papa' ha provato disperatamente a fotografare la corsa, questo e' stato il risultato migliore.

Then we saw Santa. That didn’t go real well.
Poi abbiamo visto Babbo Natale. Non e' andata un granche'.

But Mom and Dad made up for it by taking Marco to Toon Town to play at Goofy’s House and Minnie’s House and Donald’s Boat House and Chip & Dale’s Tree House and the Fire Engine and oh so many other things! Here is a phone that captivated him…
Cosi' Mamma e Papa' hanno cercato di rimediare portando Marco a Toon Town (Citta' dei Cartoni Animati) a giocare nella casa di Pippo e nella casa di Minni, nella barca di Paperino e nella tana di Cip e Ciop, alla caserma dei Pompieri e in tanti altri posti. Qui c'e' un telefono che ha catturato la sua attenzione...