Saturday 1 September 2012

Cattivo

I have had a week of being senza internet (without the internet) due to a certain 5 year old son bending and breaking the USB key thingie that we use for our internet connection. He pretty much ruined my social-life in one foul swoop. But I'm pleased to say I survived being senza internet and am now back online with a vengeance.
Well, maybe not with a vengeance, but definitely enjoying my access to the world-wide-web once more.

It has been a mostly good week, daily counting down the sleeps until we get to see Pappa again. He arrived late on Thursday night and Friday morning there were three very excited little boys in the house! So sweet hearing them excitedly fill their pappa in on all their experiences since they saw him last.
New words.
New dance moves.
That sort of thing.

But anyway, prior to the return of my husband I would daily experience a flurry of new Italian words whenever the boys and I would venture out into the village.
People exclaiming over how beautiful my sons are, pinching their cheeks, asking if we are staying permanently here and do we like Italy, etc.
I am sure that not all the comments are positive, but for the time being they are mostly going rapidly over my head.

I try my best to lock new words I hear in my memory and then Google Translate them when I get back home.
One word I have been hearing in the past weeks has been cattivo, but I never got around to translating it until I heard it a few more times.

Cattivo = naughty.

Well.
You can probably imagine my hackles rose as I thought "how very dare they call my children naughty!"
The next day I met our elderly neighbour in the street, the lady who always complains about my boys being noisey and crying blah blah blah. She was talking to Luca and Beni outside the supermarket and I heard her call them cattivo.
Well, I am pleased to say I promptly put her in her place (as much as I could with my limited Italian), "No signora, non sono cattivi".
Hmph. That told her. Yep.
She backed down immediately and bid me farewell.
Nice one Mamma.

I dare say there will be many more negative experiences like this where people feel they can tell my children what they can and cannot do, labelling them as naughty or bad.
And my boys need to know I've got their backs, even in this land of rapidly speaking Italians who we don't really understand.

But I did walk away from that encounter feeling I triumphed, that I stretched out my Mother-Hen wings and protected my babies from harm. ... even if I did agree with her.... but she doesn't need to know that...

As for now, my husband is home with us and we are enjoying being a family again.
And I'm enjoying getting my coffee's in bed every morning, having meals made, someone else dealing with the nappies, settling a child in the middle of the night.
But most of all I'm loving having my Life-Companion back.

And it's also comforting to know he can now deal with the old ladies calling our children cattivo.
If they dare...



:::

linking up here

5 comments:

  1. YAY I GET TO SEE MY MASCALZONI TOMORROW NIGHT!!!! (albeit mascalzoni dormire....(?) I possibly just sabotaged an italian/latin word there, oh well, I should probably actually learn it at some point instead of pretend)

    BRAVA MAMMA for standing up to grumpy old lady with crazy hair and scary teeth and no bra. BRAVA. I think she knows I don't like her. ATTENZIONE SIGNORA PAZZA!!! La zia prottetiva ritornerà al villaggio e lei aggrotterà le ciglia a Lei.

    Can't WAIT to see y'all and the boys and my italian family HOME!! xxxxx

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  2. hahaha so very italiano.. "cattivo".... only because they are not their own grandchildren... they will have more respect for you now "mama"... the problem with italian "mamas/grandmothers" is that they love to tell everyone else what they should be doing while their "own" are little angels.... cough cough splutter ha rcah och ahhhhh

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  3. How dare they indeed!!!
    I love it that your protective wings are spread like the mother turkeys we have on the farm who guard their offspring when threat approaches. Or like the father duck who pretends to be hurt in the face of danger so the mother can quickly scurry away with their babies to safety.
    How dare they indeed.
    Hmmph!!

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  4. Pfft!!! Sounds like she has nothing better to do other than feeling the need to comment on other mammas parenting! All the boys I know (and especially my ones) are loud, bouncing, run every where, seldom listen the first time and are MESSY!!! I dare someone to call them naughty! Look at those faces, those are not naughty faces!! Look at their Mamma, YOU are not the Mamma of naughty boys! (even if you do think they might be sometimes) Loving you from a distance xxx

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  5. What's the Italian word for 'mischevious'? Looking at Maxie Moo's face in that pic I think that is a much more apt word. Love you lots. Probably good I'm not there cos I wouldn't be very patient or polite at all with grumpy old meddling Italian ladies. Bring it. (Hm, actually, a 6mth pregnant aunty wrestling with Italian grandmas is perhaps not such a good look). They need to go back into their musty dark old houses and think about anything else to complain about, but NOT our sweet, fun loving, happy little boys!

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