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The Giovanna's story

25/05/2017

Dear Falcotto,

I have so many points on by library Fidelity Card that I won't have to pay for anything for the next two years! Now that I was going to be a Mom, for the first time in my life I wanted to know everything there was to know about being the best Mom in the world for my first child: there would be no surprise for me, I would have all the answers, because I had asked all the questions!

So here I am, so very knowledgeable, after having successfully coped with my daughter’s first bath, her first tooth, her first words and her first solids: the time has now come to move on to a little pasta, with the exciting thought that from now on I will no longer be making special broths and purees, but my daughter will be eating what my husband and I eat: without mentioning the fact that it will no longer be necessary to pack a Thermos and a whole picnic bag whenever we go out to lunch!

I am planning to make tiny pasta stars that she can swallow easily and so that I don't have to worry about that, with a little olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

Admittedly it's not an exciting way to start: a neutral taste, smooth texture and delicious cheese. I am sure she will love it. I sit Martina on her high chair, telling her all about the delicious gourmet meal that I have made just for her: you're a big girl now, I tell her, so now you can eat what Mummy and Daddy eat!

With a confident and hopeful smile in order to hide that slight anxiety every mother feels when it comes to food and children, I wield the spoon pretending it is a plane that is recklessly carrying a cargo full of pasta stars straight to Martina's mouth: in an instant she puckers up her mouth and spits a galaxy of pasta stars over my hair. Where did I go wrong? I did everything I was supposed to do to the letter. I carefully chose the cutest pasta shapes, with a delicate multivitamin oil and perfectly aged Parmesan cheese ... all for nothing! After two or three tries, I admit defeat: Martina just doesn’t want to know.

Discouraged and dejected, I feed Martina her usual vegetable soup, telling myself that perhaps it was too early and asking myself where I had gone wrong.

But there was a surprise in store for me at supper time!

This is what happened: Martina was in her playpen after eating her fill of creamy pureed baby food and beef puree, while my husband and I were enjoying a chat and a delicious plate of spaghetti with pesto all the way from Genoa made with tender loving care by my Aunt Clara. Martina starts to whine, she calls out to us and just won't sit still: conversation is impossible. So Il pick her up and sit on my lap, and give her piece of bread to keep her happy: quite unexpectedly, with a rapid movement, worthy of the most skilled swordsman, my little girl throws her piece of bread onto the floor and pounces hungrily on my spaghetti!

You’re kidding? Right? So there are no rules then! Or perhaps my daughter - and can you blame her - thought that pasta and olive oil was just yucky: I mean it just doesn't compare with spaghetti with pesto, does it ? and... …. what’s more - Aunt Clara's pesto?

So there you have it! What I am really trying to say is that children KNOW: they know when, they know what, they know how much and they know how. And all we Moms can do is accompany them along the way, because they know exactly what to do all on their own.

Giovanna, Martina's Mom.

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