Hello Two.

Two is no longer such a tiny kidney Bean.

Two is all gangly legs and skinny Beanpole.

Two is a chatterbox, in a unique and alphabet soup-kinda way.
    “Daddy readen de boek?” [Daddy reads the book?]
    “Bean-ey haven de grote dummy.” [Bean has the big dummy]
    “Apwi la bocca, Monkey!” [Open your mouth, Monkey!]
    “Dov’è the mes gone?” [Where has the knife gone?]

Two is Little Mr Stalling, Staller, Stallest
Admittedly not 100% desirable when Daddy is already 10 mins late and Mama’s deadlines holler for attention, but still kinda cute. Evading the nappy and squeezing yourself in between the cupboard and the bed until you get stuck. Carefully and slooooowly examining a speck on the floor that has suddenly become the Most Interesting Thing Ever. Putting off bedtime for as long as possible by heaving as many books as your little arms will carry onto the bed. You own stalling, Two.

Two is the cuddliest CuddleBean you ever did see, languishing in bed, digging toes under thighs for extra closeness, practically purring under the soft fleece of the buggy blanket.

Two is still ravenous, but also highly suspicious. That green thing? “No likey”. That mash which is orange not yellow? “NO LIKEY”. Two says no to sweet potato mash…

Two loves cars and tractors and trains and drills and brooms and HOOVERS, oh my god, HOOVERS. Although Two is also a little bit scared of HOOVERS.

Two detests spinach, marmite, not being in control, having to share toys. Two says “No! Mio!” [mine] rather a lot.

Two loves apples, pears, bananas, and strawberries too on a good day. Crumpets, crisps, rice, PASTA PASTA PASTA and poLENta. Peas and cucumbers and … No actually I can’t think of any other vegetables Two likes.

Two still adores sticks, stones and dirt.

Two is a yarn-thief: runs off with Mama’s current bit of crochet, his laugh bouncing off the walls and yarn unravelling in his wake. Then comes back in a tangle two minutes later and says, “Sowwy Mama”. Still grinning.

Two falls asleep tucked into the crook of Mama’s arm or curled up against the small of her back.

Two can name numbers 0-9, count to ten in Italian and English, and name almost every letter of the alphabet as long as they have an alphablock stuck to them.

Two is hell-bent on doing everything himself, even if that involves seriously challenging the principle of self-preservation or fitting squares into round holes, and will sweep aside any of Mama’s concerns or offers of help with a courageous “Beaney plobelen [proberen = try]”. And Mama can do nothing other than stand back and admire Two’s tenacity.

Two is masses of fluffy hair, a cheeky grin, a unique song:
    “row row row your boat streeeeeeeeam! Merry merry cro-CO-dile scream AAAAARGH”

Two goes gaga for Peppa Pig, Tractor Tom and Raa Raa.

Two is a bit bossy, but also very funny:
    “Daddy! Do angry armpits!” [Daddy, cross your arms and make an angry face”]

Two has a fascination with how things work: spinning wheels, turning cogs, opening & closing scissors (!), pressing buttons.

Two is obsessed with anything by Julia Donaldson, but especially Zog. And the Gruffalo. And Witch-on-de-bwoom. Especially all of them before bedtime.

Two is everything he should be: fiercely protective, boundlessly curious, seriously volatile, studiously pensive, endlessly testing, beautifully loving, irresistibly gorgeous.

I look forward to getting to know you better, Two.

Come say hello: 

Back in November Mr P&P treated ourselves to a new toy, one that we’d been talking about getting since we first moved in together (6 years ago!): a Digital SLR camera. We finally settled on the Canon 100D, with kit lens and 50mm lens. It is a thing of beauty.

Your average commercially available camera bag, however, is not. It’s ugly and characterless and screams “hello! Camera inside! Nick me!”. And expensive.

So I decided to make my own, and today I’m thrilled to share this tutorial for a handmade camera cosy with you. 

The idea is that this cosy fits into any (large-ish) handbag, removing the need for a separate camera bag. Which, when you also carry a removal van’s worth of toddler stuff with you at all times (or so it feels), is rather a good thing.

That said, I’m also in the process of making an “outer” bag that fits around this cosy perfectly. Once it’s done I’ll share that too so check back soon!

This cosy is quick to make up with some cheap supplies and basic sewing skills. Note that it’s made to fit a Canon 100D, which is currently the smallest DSLR on the market. If you have a larger camera you will need to make a bigger cosy!

Supplies:

 - foam padding (of 1 to 2 cm thick) -

1 piece of 21x16 cm (A - bottom)

2 pieces of 18x10 cm (B&D - long sides)

2 pieces of 14x10cm (C&E - short sides)

1 piece of 12x10 cm (F - middle piece)

- fabric to cover each piece -

1 piece of 25x38 cm (A)

2 pieces of 22x24 cm (B&D)

2 pieces of 18x24cm (C&E)

1 piece of 16x24 cm (F)

- needle & thread

- pins

- (optional) glue gun

Instructions:

1. Cut the foam and fabric to the required sizes.

2. Wrap each piece of foam into its fabric as though you were covering a box in wrapping paper. Pin into place. If you find this fiddly and feel like swearing, do go ahead - it won’t show up in your pinterest feed. 

3. At this point it’s a good idea to have a play with your pieces to make sure they’re the right size. Pin them into place and see how well your camera fits (I decided piece F would remain unattached). 

4. Once every piece is pinned, take a second to admire your handiwork, then sew each piece along the top fold and on each of the shortest sides (where you did your parcel wrapping). 

5. Using a hot glue gun, assemble your cosy. This adds stability, but it isn’t strictly necessary and if you don’t have a glue gun you can also just pin the pieces together. 

6. Sew your pieces together as inconspicuously as possible. I did this by making a zigzag pattern a few mm away from the edge of each piece, then pulling the thread taut. If you did not glue your pieces together, you will need to sew them on the inside and outside to make sure the cosy is secure.

Voila! Done-diddly. It ain't the neatest project I've ever done, but it was extremely quick and has proved very useful over the last couple of months already.

Note that piece F is (re)movable, so I can choose to take both my lenses (left) or just one of them (right). 

Did you like this camera cosy? Have a look at the other things I've made!

Come say hello: 

So, despite last week's panic over late bunting, the crumpets rose, the Bean turned two, and the world kept on turning. I'm not entirely sure how any of that happened, but it did. 

This week it's noses to the grindstone with multiple work deadlines, but I did find a glorious half an hour on Sunday to flick through the Green Kitchen cookbook I received at Christmas. It's AMAZING. Casa P&P is not a vegetarian household, but we do limit our meat consumption to 1 or 2 portions a week. This book is giving me so many great ideas for our non-meat dinners that I'm developing a full-blown crush, so expect many a recipe from it over the coming weeks (I've underlined the recipes from the book in this week's meal plan). 

fennel, potato & coconut tart served with salad
polenta with mushroom sauce
gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce
rice noodles with courgette strips and almond & sundried tomato dressing
roast chicken with sweet potato mash & red onion gravy
cheese & ham toasties with red pepper & rosemary spread

Have a productive week, people, and don't forget to click on the Meal Planning Monday badge below to get more family meal inspiration.

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In early December we treated ourselves to a little pre-Christmas getaway to Venice and the Veneto. A long weekend (8 December is a bank holiday in Italy) for the three of us to spend some time together discovering something new, before the intensity of all our Christmas & New Year travels home.

Venice itself had been on my must-see list for years but, shockingly, even after nearly four years of living in Milan I’d never made it there. It’s not the most obvious place to be taking a toddler, but after getting some great advice on twitter (more on that later), we decided to give it a go.

I’m so pleased we did, despite a hair-raising moment when the toddler’s enthusiasm for water got a little out of hand. 

Read on to find how we made sure both the toddler and the adults had a fun three-day break.

(WARNING: This is a very photo-heavy post)

Round Italy with a Toddler: Venice and the Veneto

As we’ve been doing since the Bean was born, we hired a car and drove during his nap times. I’ve written before about how there’s something about having a toddler comatose in the back that makes us, as a couple, just take in the drive and have a bit of catch-up.

Once the Bean was awake we searched for a random town to find a park and some coffee. We happened upon Lonigo, a very pretty and historical town where there happened to be a Christmas market and band: instant toddler entertainment! We spent a very pleasant couple of hours milling around, then carried on driving to our hotel once darkness had set in.

We chose to stay at a farm near Venice rather than in the city itself, thinking it’d be easier, cheaper (WAY cheaper) and more relaxed. We chose Il Feudo, an agriturismo-style place that offers both accommodation and excellent home-cooked food. The kind of food that adults like, such as creamy polenta with mushrooms and cured meats, as well as kids (the Bean ate his body weight in pasta al ragù d’asino - donkey! - over the two days). Our room was gigantic and very comfortable, with a cot for the Bean all made up when we arrived. The biggest plus point of it all, though: a friendly dog. Bean heaven.

On Sunday, our second day, we got up early and drove to Padova to get the train to Venice. Driving into Venice yourself is not a good idea - being a lagoonish sort of place it has a few issues with parking. The Bean is usually very good on trains (and very excited), but a piece of pizza as big as his face tends to help too. 

Thinking of Venice’s reputation for being very expensive, Mr P&P and I also decided to take sandwiches, snacks and water to last the day (although, as Tales & Tours Tips pointed out on twitter, you pay less for your coffee by having it standing up at the bar - "al banco").

Once in Venice it was time to pull out the light-weight buggy and start exploring the back streets rather than braving the main thoroughfare (both great tips by Gretta Schifano of Mums do Travel). It was a lovely, relaxed way to take in a city that is always busy.

Whenever the Bean’d had enough of his buggy, one of us would “do bridges” with him: 

After a few (okay, MANY) ups and down and ups and downs he finally conked out in his buggy. It was time for Mr P&P to get our elbow grease on - I don’t think ‘wheelchair access’ was much of a concept when all those tiny, stepped bridges were concocted - but we still had a lovely afternoon admiring the crazy blue-green of the lagoon, the beautiful architecture, and the quiet snore from the buggy.

When the Bean woke up we went to the Piazza San Marco. Obviously. We didn’t fancy doing the Doge’s Palace, the other big ‘must-see’, with a toddler and his post-nap grouches, but wandering around the Piazza taking pictures, laughing at people’s selfie-sticks and pointing out more boats to the toddler (and more trying to stop him from diving into the water) was great fun for everyone. 

At this point we found ourselves at the other end of the city to the train station, and so after a long day we followed advice from Cathy Winston of Mummy Travels: take a vaporetto (a water taxi) back. At 7€ per adult these things are pricey, although if you wanted to avoid dragging a buggy over bridges all day you could get a one-day pass for €20 (2, 3 and 7-day passes also exist). Needless to say this was the highlight of the day for the Bean, even though it was by now getting dark and perishing (Venice in winter = cold). 

We made it back to Padova, found our car in one piece (we may or may not have found some dodgy bog to stick it in on for the day) and set off back to the warmth and comfort of Il Feudo.

Monday morning was spent offsetting all things city by taking a walk around the premises of our hotel as well as the surrounding countryside. Even in the bareness of late autumn, there is something soothing about rolling hills and neatly lined up vines. 

Another nap, another drive, then one final stop: Lago d’Iseo. As one of the smaller of the North Italian lakes this was one we hadn’t been to before, but the town we found had everything we needed for a family of three: stunning views, a big park, and gelato. A lot of gelato.

We had a great weekend, and one I’m proud of too: making sure we see and enjoy as much of Italy while we’re still here is important, and there’s no reason for the toddler to be left out of that. Even if I did have sore arms from wo-manhandling his buggy over all those bridges.

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Oh Help! Oh no! My Bean is turning two tomorrow! 

I'm completely unprepared (having mostly stuck my head in the sand over his first birthday I haven't had much practice at this) and so at 9 PM on a Monday night, instead of pouring over my Christmas prezzie with post-its and a pencil...

...I find myself feverishly stitching together bunting...

...and waiting for some crumpet batter to rise. Because my darling Italian LOVES them. Which I am THRILLED about, but right NOW I wish he'd taken to something I can actually buy in the shops. Still, I hope they turn out alright and I can't wait to see his wee face when we stick a pair of candles in one at breakfast :-)

That does also still leave this week's Meal Plan to be done. I was tempted to skip it, yet again, but it did help us a lot last year. Once I got into the habit of drawing up meal plans we ate better, wasted less food and therefore also less money. I need to get on it again. So with one eye on the batter I'll take a deep breath (and if you would, please imagine me saying this really fast):

shepherd's pie with sweet potato mash 
pasta frittata (with leftover tomato sauce mixed in)
courgette, pea & mint soup served with Tuscan bread and cheese
pasta with pesto & green beans
vegetable noodle soup & spring rolls

Not at all adventurous and I don't know what we're having at the weekend yet, but hey, MY BEAN IS TURNING TWO TOMORROW AAAARGH. I'll just have to delve into my lovely new cookbook next week!

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We're two weeks into 2015 and my Twitter and Facebook feeds are awash with New Year's Resolutions, Diets and Detoxes. My Pinterest feed has suggested 100 Ways to Organise my Socks (colour-coordinated, of course). How inspiring...

Or not. If there was a Scrooge equivalent for the January Get-Up-and-Go spirit that seems to have infected otherwise reasonable people, I'd be its poster girl. Happily. Complete with piles of chocolate and chaos and un-coordinated socks. 

I can't bear New Year's Resolutions. Maybe because it smacks of effort. Or perhaps it's because it suggests there is something wrong, that whatever we are doing isn't good enough. There is a constant pressure to be better and happier and wealthier and more successful and and and. I find it exhausting (although that might also have something to do with the toddler full of snot fidgeting in bed with me all night).

Although I wouldn't claim my life (or me!) is perfect, I think there is something to be said for simply being content with what's already right in front of you. 2014 was good. It was fun. It was just fine. Can't I be happy with that? Stick with the fun, the just fine? Embrace a dopey-smiled sort of complacency instead of always striving to do better?

This year, therefore, I'm making Anti-Resolutions:

1. There will be no diets or detoxes, despite the extra pounds gained over the holidays. There will be more simple, delicious meals. Some of them will be healthy and nutritious. Some of them will contain cream or sugar or full-fat cheese, and always loveliness. Some will have come straight for the pizza place down the road.

2. There will be no attempts at super-parenting, despite the toddler tantrums, the tiredness, the wee on the floor as we continue on our very messy toilet learning journey (a post on that to follow later this year - isn't that something to look forward to!). The door will still be firmly shut to all manner of parenting guides by those who don't know us. We will still bin any article containing the words "must-have" or "guaranteed to work",  burn those that dare mention "baby" and "sleep" in the same line. 

3. There will be no inspirational quotes or missions to Be More Mindful. Just Muddling Along As Is: adequate mother, preoccupied wife, mostly-failing friend. Dreadful housekeeper, avid crocheter, semi-successful translator. Reasonable cook. Maker of Toy Buses. And that's all, because that's quite a lot already and will just have to be good enough.

4. There will be no bucket lists or Grand Plans, because all I can think of when I see one of them is "oh God, not another to-do list". We had three long-haul flights in 2013 and another two in 2014 and, as much fun as we had once we were off the (goddamn) plane, I have no desire to test the limits of by sanity by constraining a two-year-old in a winged box of metal for twelve hours again. Possibly ever. For as long as Italy remains our home, I'd rather just get up on a Sunday morning and decide on the spot where the day will take us. 

I like this list, my Anti-Resolutions.

There is just one snag to my Resolution not to be Resolved. It looks like this:

My Office/Craft Room and, it seems, our family's Dumping Ground.

Or actually, that's just one part of it. The truth, you see, is that the whole of our 60m2 flat is full. of. stuff. 

Full of stuff that will be a pain in the backside when we, most likely, have to move later this year. Gah.

I have to do something about it both because of said move but also because it's driving me bonkers. I can't work with this pile of stuff next to me. 

And so, kicking and screaming and utterly UNRESOLVED, I'm decluttering. I'm even trying to follow the Household Organization Diet by a blog called Clean and Scentscible:

I am, I promise you, shuddering as I write this. But it needs to be done and this plan (don't make me say the word 'diet') is so logical and well-put together that I can't not do it. So let's just stick with the word 'plan', file it under 'general prettifying' and 'pre-move prep', and continue being completely Anti-Resolution, shall we? Because, heaven forbid, it seems to be working:

Come say hello:

Had you asked me ten years ago where I thought I'd be raising my children, I'd have answered in a beat: "the rambling countryside". In a house with a big garden as far away from any city as possible. No pollution, no traffic jams, no dog poo on the pavement. Only cow poo in the fields. 

Life had other ideas, however, and we are undeniably City Kids. In what feels to me like the most city-ish of places: Milan. With its frequently dangerous levels of air pollution, insane traffic and almost complete lack of green spaces. Where 99% of the population live in small flats without gardens, many kids have unexplained eye and respiratory problems, and it's always just a bit smelly.

Can you tell I feel guilty about bringing the Bean up here? But this is our life, one that we chose. Plus I have to remind myself that he doesn't really care. He doesn't see things the way I do.

I see an expanse of forbidding concrete, he sees an assault course for his trolley.

I see sad, sparse tufts of green in far too much brown. He sees a blade of grass, a fountain, and thinks "I'll wash one of those!". 

I see walls covered in dog wee, he sees an opportunity for a giggle with Daddy.

I see roads and roaring traffic right alongside the park, but he only focuses on the leaves that need to be 'mown'.

I see how nothing escapes the dirt and the graffiti, I see the shabbiness and grim-faced neglect of it all. 

He just makes a beeline for the climbing frame.

So this is our ordinary life as City Kids: adventures in an urban jungle, fun found in unlikely places, a toddler who just wants to run around and point out the trams. And a mummy who does, in spite of herself, have a blast kicking leaves alongside him. 

Come say hello: 

I cracked it. The shrug for my mum. The one that made perfect sense in my head, with the colour combo that looked amazing in the shop. But which was so very stubborn and uncooperative in reality. 

I went through so many permutations and undid and redid and shouted and swore, but I cracked it. And I love it (and so does my mum, fortunately).

I think there are two reasons why I struggled with it so much:

1) I insisted on using stitches that were new to me, and were hard to reduce for the shoulders
2) The colour scheme isn't exactly safe

In the end, though, I think I got the shape of the shoulders right and I'm happy with the proportions of the three colours. My mum has bright blue eyes (she's not the one modelling it for these pictures, by the way!) and so the blue colour collar looks fabulous on her. 

The two main stitches I used are the Half Double V (or Half Treble V if you're in the UK):

and the Grit:

I found both in 200 Crochet Stiches by Sarah Hazell: 

I love the Grit stitch in particular, as you get a lovely diamond motif when you alternate colours. The Half Double V is very easy and wonderfully supple - great for the straight panels at the bottom and for the collar.

The yarn is a soft and warm mixture of wool, microfibre and cashgora (the same wool I used to make the Bean his beanie), and is by the Milan-based yarn manufacturer Lanar Emporium. It's DK, but I used a 6mm hook for a fluid feel.

The 'pattern' is my own. I say 'pattern' because, being an amateur crocheter, I made it up as I went along and redid it whenever something didn't look right. Perhaps one day, when I'm more experienced and better at understanding crochet patterns myself, I'll make an attempt at writing it up and sharing it. For now I wouldn't dare - a fair few fudges are concealed within!

Come say hello: 

I'm linking up with Moogly and Petals to Picots for Hookin on Hump Day #86