Plethora of Everything

Motivation!     A couple years ago while working at the shelter I helped a mother and her two, young daughters choose an adoptable dog.            They were all Caucasian-looking, blond and clear-eyed; they  were Italian. The mother spoke English perfectly and didn't even have an accent.      And with her daughters she spoke exclusively in Italian. She would translate everything I would ask or comment to Italian.      Her diligence impressed me .           I've known dozens of multi-lingual parents to multi-lingual children and most, in similar situations, would go ahead and speak English when dealing with a native English speaker that doesn't speak Italian. -Not this mama !  She wouldn't budge on her Italiano with those sweet girls.  I relished the moment.  I love language.  I love different cultures.  I love hearing other languages and spea...

Last May, when my son was just 4 months old...  I didn't even consider blogging about Mother's Day.      I was too new at motherhood to fathom doing anything that didn't revolve around my baby being in my arms and/or at my breast.      That's how I instinctively knew to mother an infant- pretty much never let him go! He nursed on demand which was every 1-2 hours and he preferred to be held by mommy in the early days, maybe because I held him all the time!      People tried to tell me that then but I thought they were crazy and unsympathetic to my plight of having a 'needy infant'.       Needy Infant...   Now I know those 2 words go together like hand in glove, butter and bread, poop and diapers... ok, you got the point!  Infants are needy.   They need to be needy to survive.  There's a '4th trimester' philosophy which states the first 3 months out of the mother's womb ar...