Bambini

Italians love children. We did not expect that LP would draw such warm affection from strangers everywhere -people were always talking to him, playing with him, making little jokes that he found hilarious, cajoling him (which we weren't so sure about at the beginning), cooing to him even though he's not a baby anymore... Twice during our trip, shop owners gave him a little present he could choose (much to his delight), and when he wore the AS Roma soccer football jersey we bought him, people went nuts, and all day long we could hear them amicably shouting to him: La forza Roma!

I suppose this should not have come as a surprise... After all, our stroller (a Peg Perego Pliko 3) is Italian, as are a lot of baby gear and clothing companies, including Chicco. City after city, we came across the most wonderful children's furniture, toy and clothing stores... No sweat pants, no Disney endorsements, no everything-pink-and-froufrouey for girls and no future-quarterback for boys. I loved how kids were dressed: freshly, smartly, fashionably, slightly more up than down, but still like cute kids who play around and have to be comfortable. If we had been sure we were having a girl, I would have gone nuts with the clothes. They were much more to my taste than everything I see here (or perhaps not in high-end places but I don't shop there). Pink was used as an accent color, as I personally think it should be at least some of the time, and there were tons of ridiculously cute, feminine little dresses in gray, black and white, teal, etc., shades which we never see here. And shoes! They were usually a bit expensive, but oh my the kids' shoes were so stylish! In the end we caved in and bought LP a pair in the colors of the Italian flag -hey, they're Geox, so they're super well-made and breathable. (Much to my surprise, there were also a lot of maternity shops, both cheap and more expensive. So many choices compared to here! Did you know Benetton makes maternity clothes (sweetly called premaman)? I suppose they're probably not even available outside of Italy, where the brand is ubiquitous. I ended up buying white jeans and calf-length leggings.)

I think specific images often give the best idea of how things really work and how a certain people thinks and acts. So without further ado, in a span of two weeks, we saw the following:

-A Smart car outfitted with a baby car seat (on the front -and only- row, obviously), the tiny trunk filled with a baby stroller.

-Mopeds with some sort of children seat attachments on them, zooming by long enough so that we could see the mother in her chic outfit and heels with her child, maybe just a little older than LP is, wearing a very small helmet.

-Children playing in the park at 10 PM, surrounded by mellow, chatty parents and grandparents.

-Prams fitted with pretty little umbrellas, being enthusiastically pushed by a beaming grandfather.

-At least three couples of gay men, attentively tending to the needs of cute baby girls (OK, maybe they were "uncles" or whatever, but still).

As for food, in some kind of a follow-up to my pre-trip post on how curious I was to see how children there were fed...

Well, there were no kids' menus in restaurants, for sure. With the exception of a couple of places. One time, it was small plates of pasta with juice: like everyone seemed to agree upon, this is the right way to do a children's menu. The other time, it was pasta with fries (because yeah, these two go so well together, right?) -clearly they were just trying to please the tourists, and we politely declined. Everywhere we went, there were a lot of kids in restaurants, even quite late (ha- the Italians seemed to concur with our later bedtime policy, and the children don't seem to do so bad), and they were just eating what everyone else was having. It was really funny to see these little kids managing quite well at rolling their tagliatelle around their fork as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

But. I don't think that it's like a unspoiled paradise, either. Kids seemed to have a lot of soft drinks, which has not really spelled good news here in North America. Mind you, it was mostly Fanta, which is orangeade, and compared to here where the color and taste is completely man-made, looked like it was only fizzy water with real orange juice and (OK, probably a lot of) sugar. LP loved it, and we let him have it from time to time (we don't really here). There were also a lot of kids-targeted sweets everywhere: candy, chocolate bars, processed pastries. And despite a lot more opponents than here, McDonald's joints are rampant, and I don't think it matters which culture you grow up in: it's slightly disturbingly fascinating, but its appeal to kids is powerful and universal.

There were a few things LP didn't want to eat, for seemingly no reason at all. The choices we had for breakfast were always great, but morning after morning, he would only pick at his food, have to be coaxed into eating a few bites, and shamefully waste most of his plate. He suddenly decided that fresh mozzarella and prosciutto were not to his taste. Luckily, there were also many things he thoroughly enjoyed: pesto, olives, bruschetta, fruit, salad, pizza and pasta of any kind. He refused to try the small whole fried fish plates we would gorge on while nearby the Mediterranean, but happily accepted calamari and baby octopus (go figure), licking his lips and marveling at the great "fish and chips" (we didn't exactly correct him).

He was also a big fan of the gelato, which we made a daily run for, although it took him forever to make up his mind about the flavor, and then he would change his mind again and request us to change cones with him. Often this little game would go on until everyone had had a little bit of everyone else's, which we didn't mind so much. Ah, three year-olds.