The Vinciguerra Boys

Lucas had been sick all weekend and today at 5:50 AM he woke up with a really bad cough. I knew Matias was about to wake up for his feeding so I managed to convince him that his cough would go away if he slept a little more and that he would not be going to daycare today. That made him happy and slept while I was patting him on the back every time he coughed. I managed to feed Matias quickly and we all went back to sleep. I knew I had to get my rest because it was going to be the first time I would spend the whole day with the Vinciguerra boys.

We woke up again at 8:30, I gave Lucas some breakfast and while I am preparing Matias's bottle for his next feeding I realize we are out of formula, this is the last bottle I'm going to be able to make today unless we go to the supermarket. Lucas has no fever and the cough seems to be gone so I get them ready and we are off to the Stop and Shop. Before leaving I have a serious talk with Lucas. I'm going to need you to be a responsible big brother today, I can only fit Matias's car seat on the shopping cart so I will need you to walk beside me and listen to everything I say. He puts a very solemn face and assures me he will be a good boy. And he was great! We were able to do all the shopping for the week. I ask for his help or opinion every once in a while so he stays entertained, but the challenge of showing that he is a big boy to his dad seems to be enough to keep him focused and happy. He gets a couple of treats for it: some PAW patrol mozzarella sticks and Sesame Street cookies.

We get back home and together store all the groceries. Lucas really enjoyed figuring out where everything we bought goes. Finally we go to the basement and have a Pokemon marathon. Lucas has been so good I decide to spoil him a little bit and let him have his lunch while watching TV. Matias has been a little restless, maybe he is used to having all my attention these days and is getting jealous. Nap time comes and Lucas picks his books that he wants read before sleeping. He does not cry or complain he needs to take a nap, he has been keeping his promise all day. But Matias will have none of that, he decides to have a complete meltdown, so again I need to talk to Lucas. I explain to him that I will not be able to read his books today, that maybe since he is a big boy he can read them by himself. He says ok and starts going through them. I leave the room to try to get Matias to calm down. I can hear Lucas going through the books' pages and reciting everything he knows about them from memory. He's making me so proud today. Matias finally goes to sleep and I get to Lucas's room but he is also asleep. I can finally relax for a couple of hours and I fall asleep too.

What did I watch?
A lot of Pokemon.

The Pledge Drive

I have made a conscious decision to try to avoid politics in this blog. Mostly because it is what us Venezuelans usually talk about so I wanted to have a space that was free of that. But Sunday's plebiscite or popular consult or whatever you want to call it is too important to ignore. I ask you if you are reading this and you are Venezuelan please access the following links to find out where you can participate:

If you are in Venezuela: https://crdvenezuela.com/index.php/puntos/
If you live outside of Venezuela: http://www.unidadvenezuela.org/2017/07/conozca-los-puntos-la-consulta-soberana-del-16j-habilitados-exterior/

If you are not Venezuelan maybe you can help by spreading the word or if you have some free time go and encourage the people in these places. It means a lot to us to feel that we are not fighting alone against this curse that has been upon us for the past 18 years. The short summary of what is happening Sunday is that the current president is trying to change our constitution to support some sort of soviet style commune state. The only legal way to change the constitution is via elections, but that has been denied by the servile courts. Polls say that about 80% of the population reject this, so the civil society has decided to organize these elections themselves to pressure the government to listen. Massive support and participation is needed so every bit counts.

After that public service announcement I get back to this blog's real topic. The day was pretty quiet, much better than yesterday. The highlight came this morning from Lucas. I had to go change my shirt after a Matias spit-up and I asked Lucas to watch him while I quickly ran to my bedroom. His response was: "I am always going to take care of him. I promise!" Lucas is going to be a great big brother.

What did I watch?
Stazione Termini: Every movie directed by Vittorio De Sica that I had seen until now I had loved, unfortunately this was the exception. A very boring tragic love story with two unlikable characters. The only redeeming quality of the film, I think, was the setting. It all happens at the Termini Station in Rome which is home to some interesting sights and sounds, I wish they had exploited it a little more.

High Society: The final result of the Friday poll was a tie between this movie and the Emigrants. I didn't really feel like watching a 3 hour Swedish movie so I went with this one. Nothing really special, as the most notorious commenter of this blog, Russ, mentioned a better version of this story can be seen in The Philadelphia Story.