We're back from our terrific trip to Venice! Daphne grinned from ear to ear every day (other than for one hour on Day 7 when she had a meltdown in a restaurant...not a tantrum, just big fat tears. She was worn out and we still had a 1 hour concert ahead of us. She got over it and we ended up with a memorable evening!)
Things I learned:
1. Don't expect your child to sleep soundly the whole way over the ocean just because they're good sleepers normally. Have plenty of entertainment available. Necessities: Good headphones, various flavors of gum, and a kid sized fluffy blankie and pillow.
2. Don't expect your picky eater to suddenly want to eat everything put in front of her, just because you're in Venice! Luckily, she truly enjoyed the bread, potatoes (not so much those other veggies) and she loves prosciutto and salami. And gelato!!! And brie or gnocchi!
3. Anticipate fatigue in your wee ones. On the front end, I shared my intentions of buying a scooter for her so she was "high" with anticipation and she never once complained of being tired once she got it. We also gave her the option of walking/scooting to our destinations or riding a boat. The scooter was foldable so you could easily carry it on board, and, when we left Venice, we abandoned it in the apartment for the next family to enjoy.
4. Much of the culture will be over their heads. I gave Daphne a writing journal. On the first few pages, I wrote a small paragraph about things she'd see: cisterns, knockers, lions, fountains and so on. I also wrote a bit about how Venice is made up of 118 small islands with bridges connecting them. She read it on the plane and was ready to watch for these things when we got there. She then wrote daily in her journal. Some evenings it was hard for her to remember everything that happened, but with the aid of her camera and pictures, she managed pretty well on her own!
5. Give them a little grownup freedom. I gave her my old camera to use. I attached it to a kid-sized lanyard and she had that camera with her the whole time. First she was taking panoramic shots. Soon, as she observed me, she started honing in on closeup shots, even just reflections in the water. (I don't think there's a dog or pigeon in Venice that DIDN'T get photographed!!! Lots of paintings to come from those, I imagine!)
6. Don't assume kids wouldn't like exhibitions (or concerts). One day, I recommended to Antoine (her Daddy, our son) that he could go inside the DaVinci exhibit (where they've created working models of DaVinci's inventions) while she and I sketched outside. He suggested she might like the show too, so we all went in. She seemed fascinated by it all!
7. This one's addressed to me: Don't assume your little artist won't want to sketch EVERY day. She very well might!
The day (night??) we landed back in JFK, Daphne looked at me. She said "I'm going back to Venice one day." I said "Yes, I'm sure you will." She said "But...probably not before I'm 12." 😍😍💙💜💚💗
The End (for now)
