Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. We are still busy as ever, here, but looking forward to a few more restful days before the new year. In the meanwhile, please, enjoy my holiday gift to all of you stragglers who still check here occasionally...

Vito Urinates!

We tried potty-training this summer while we were in Italy, but the results were infuriating. Vito simply refused to try. He would sit on the vasino (the Italian word for it) shaped like a yellow cat and read or drink water, but he would never use it the way you would imagine. He could hold it for hours, make a show of sitting, and then walk around the corner or down the hallway and pee on his shoes. Argh! We eventually scrapped the idea chalking it up to being in an unfamiliar place.

When we returned to the states, my sister gave us a ring for the toilet, but Vito wouldn't have anything to do with it. Yesterday, we took him to Target, and he found a green potty in the shape of a frog. Beaming, he carried it into the house. He sat on it fully clothed yesterday evening, but wouldn't do any more than that. Tonight, after much coercion and trickery on Angela's part, she got him to sit on it in the buff. They read books together and talked, and after about one hour it was time for bed. When he got up, to our surprise, the potty contained the magical pee so eagerly sought after! There was joy in Mudville on this night, even if the Yankees won game two of the world series.

We're gearing up for Halloween this weekend. We will go to downtown Vacaville and trick-or-treat at the businesses, which is something they do for the kids every year. It's fun to see all the kids and grown-ups dressed up, too. On Saturday, we will hit a few select houses in the neighborhood. Should be a fun weekend, in between my grading backlog and writing papers for National.

Here's a little video of Vito doing his thing at the Silveyville Pumpkin Patch.

Moto GP

I spent the summer in Italy with the family, as many of you already know. We stayed in the countryside with Angela's parents and didn't have easy access to the internet. When I did get to use the computer, it was mostly to complete coursework for an online course in which I was enrolled.

Trying to get my bloglegs back, now, despite teaching full time at Sullivan Middle School, teaching Writing for Comics and Sequential Images at the Art Academy University in San Francisco, taking another credential course this month, parenting and husbanding. There's not much time left for my fantasy football league, entering its thirteenth season, but the show must go on...

Anyway, almost every other Sunday, during lunch we watched Moto GP. Angela's brother is a huge fan, and after watching this race, I am too. Here's the final two laps of the race, if you missed it. Valentino Rossi!

Realia 4

what     you dream
of     facing the hull of another wreck
it sailed off into the wild blue yonder     some
half-realized titanic with an emphasis on
iceberg     float in the fatal aqua
gah-gah     you still saw     see!
faux pas in guady gew-gaw     whee!
ooh!     ahh!     moored to the weird maw
of mine     pining the far beaches and outer reaches
without a flaw     no one on no horizon     one     fallen but freely
pink     all sun-swabbed and succulently
among palms as does late day downwardly     i know you
pretty town     you know my little city and what
bitter renown comes of trying     you must fly with no good-byeing
no sighing     no doubling up
bubbling over     troubling
stubbling up through the smooth sand and surface
to plant a kiss

All of April...

...without a getting a word in. It hurt. Quite simply, THAT much is happening in my life and blogging has just taken a back seat!

I started another blog in the meanwhile, though. Wait! That's contradictory! That's a great @#$&% idea, Bob! You can't even update this one regularly. What are you doing starting another one? As you might imagine, my upkeep on the new blog has been lackluster, as well.

I suppose I could back-date this post if I really wanted to keep up appearances...

Things have settled down a little now that I know I will keep my job in the district next year and I won't have to look for one anymore. I still don't know if I'll be at the same school or not, though. In any case, I'm not looking for a job in Saudi Arabia, and I'll be able to enjoy my summer vacation in Italy. Two months all up in it! That's the light at the end of the tunnel...

Vito is excellent. Thanks for asking. He tried finger painting for the first time today. It wasn't even that messy...

I'd like to say more, but it's getting late...

March in a Nutshell

I have to try and get something posted before the end of the month, which is nigh. I wanted to post something so many times, but I didn't. Actually, I did, but that's a secret, at the mo. All will be revealed in time. Anyhow, here's the past month cleverly encapsulated:

Work during the week, as per usual. Receiving a pink slip (should that be hyphenated?) added no additional stress whatsoever. I knew it was coming. Yeah, I'm fine. Really. It's not bother. I mean it.

Read Educational Psychology texts at night.

Bowl on Friday afternoons.

Complete Educational Psychology assignments on weekends.

Sleep as little as possible.

Write more poetry than I have written in months! I'm busier than usual and I write more than usual?! Go figure...

Sprinkle in liberal servings of husbanding and fathering, although with, unhappily, less on the former. The latter won't let me off the hook without a fight...