I have always embraced my Italian heritage.
As anyone who knows me, or has even just talked to me for five minutes, knows that I live and breathe being Italian.
I know a lot of people who are not proud of their heritage, no matter what it is, but I am proud to say I am an Italian-American. As we watch Tony grow to almost three-years-old, I hope he says the same when he is old enough to understand what it means to be a proud Italian-American.
So far, I think he is embracing it!
He without a doubt loves the food, especially any type of pasta. He loves twirling his spaghetti on his fork.
Tony has even learned some Italian words over the past couple of years, including agida, vino, paesan, Madonna Mia!, mangia and scooch a menz.
We have made multiple trips to Bagliani’s Market in Hammonton over the past couple of months to not only go food shopping, but also support a local, family-owned business that has been thriving since 1959.
I am going to get a little honest here tonight and I hope you get a good laugh out of it.
Nicole and I purchased an Amazon Fire TV Stick recently. It arrived this past week and we have spent our nights binge-watching the entire series of Jersey Shore. Yes, Jersey Shore.
When the show first aired, I swore up and down that I would never watch a single episode of it because I felt the people on there were giving Italians a bad wrap.
Well, Nicole began watching and I was hooked immediately. I don’t know if it was because the show was actually funny or the fact that most of it was like watching a trainwreck, but I have enjoyed it so far.
We are through the first couple of seasons and are going to begin watching Season Four, which is when the gang heads to Italy, which cannot end well.
So, you might be thinking, where does Tony fit into this story? Well, before heading down to Bagliani’s today, Tony asked Mommy to comb his hair.
The guys in Jersey Shore love to make sure their hair is perfect each time they leave the house. Yes, the guys. This made me laugh. Tony loves it when Mommy gives him handsome hair. All I can think about now is these guys doing their hair for hours on end on this show.
“Mommy, do my hair.”
She put gel in it and then he said, “Spray it!” Once she was done, he exclaimed, “I look good.”
To go back to the topic of Bagliani’s, we were looking at all of the cured meats and Tony asked, “Is that soppressata?” What toddler knows how to say that word, let alone what it is? But, our little Guido knows what soppressata is and eats it too (the sweet, not the hot).
Tony wore a sweatsuit around today and every time I looked at him all I could see was myself. Not only do I see myself in his face, but in the clothes he was wearing. As everyone knows, I love to wear track suits and sweatsuits as much as possible. Not because I am lazy or fat, but because they are just plain comfortable. Well, Tony was rocking his sweatsuit today and looked just like Daddy!
Italian Scene Image credit: Flickr
