Menino Luca - A Boy Called Luca

Such a nice day out with vovó and vovô! e rode the bike, played outside and saw several different things... What Luca liked the most: "I liked the dragonflies, they look like dinosaurs"

"Mum, was Drake a baddy or a goodie?" "It depends a lot on the point of view Luca... The Spanish think he is a baddy because he took their gold during the battles, but the English think he is a goodie because he helped to build England with his exploring travels around the world, he is very important in the history of England" Luca paid attention in every detail in the things he saw inside Drake's house and made these pictures. The first one shows Drake with his hat beside the queen who is wearing the necklace that Drake brought for her and the objects he saw inside the house: a spade, a glass of wine, a diary where Drake wrote his adventures, a treasure chest with some pictures on and a sentence just to illustrate how Drake used to write: "I wrote those words. Drake wrote many things on his special book. What did he write mum?" On the second picture he illustrated Drake being thrown in the ocean, his ship with a swan at the front (he swears th...

So there is this cake. It is a recipe from Brazil... It is a cake made of corn, we call it Fuba, I love it! Today I helped mom and daddy ate it all!!!!

My Godmother sent me a very nice gift: A BIKE!!!!! At first I was a little afraid of falling down and didn't feel quite safe to do the way daddy was telling me to do, so I decided to do it my way, the way I felt safe! "Mom, I'll find a small hill to practice my balance" And my balance was there! First time I tried I could balance, but not paddle just yet! When I noticed I could balance I decided to ask for help so I could try to paddle. "Mom, can you hold me? But do not let go!" Of we went and my balance was so good that mummy felt quite safe to let me go, she kept on running alongside but she would let go a few times. After that I just got better and better, and I am now a "pro". I can go downhill and uphill, I can even ride in bumpy places! It is so exciting!

After 2 years without seeing them (and we used to see them every day since we were neighbours in Brazil) they finally came for a visit! It was lovely to see them again, we really really missed each other! Luca has showed them his favourite places around Plymouth and we've been to Mt Edgecumbe, Buckland Abbey (were the pirate lived), the Aquarium, the Hoe and many other places Luca loves!

"I wish I had a pet mummy, I would take care and play with it" Luca loves animals so much and misses the pets we used to have in Brazil, we decided it was time for him to have a pet... We adopted Cherry, a lovely and playful female kitten. They play chase and hide and seek every day!

"Lead Ghost is the green guy and Cuby is the yellow one, they are both ghosts" Loved it Luca... He is thinking about the story behind these guys!

So, after the dinosaurs at Eden we had to go to the Library to get some books about this subject "I have to learn more about flying dinosaurs" Luca said. The library in Plymouth is amazing for children and they are having a summer reading challenge, which is reading 2 books every 3 weeks to get some prizes. Luca picked 5 books and learned a lot from them. specially about animals with the animals encyclopaedia he picked. Because of this encyclopaedia he decided to make his own book of animals. His drawing is absolutely amazing. Today he returned the books and talked to the librarian about what he learned and showed her his pictures on his very own book. She was quite impressed and he was so glad. he couldn't care less about the prizes, all he wanted was to share his learning. I believe he got that from the school he is at the moment - Plymouth School of Creative Arts - they don't reward, but teach children how to value their work and the children pride is the best pr...

Luca is afraid of bears, really afraid of bears. He thinks there is a sneaky brown bear with red eyes who lives inside our flat, I really don't know where he hides during the day because we can never find him but he gets quite noisy at night, according to Luca. Today he had a serious chat with the bear at the zoo, kindly asking him not to come here anymore, he also made a sign which says "bears not allowed". I hope this will scare the bear away...

"What is the tiger eating? He is a carnivore you know?" Asking to the carer: "Have you heard about the Proboscis Monkey? They have a big nose and they have conversations with the noise they make." (What????) "Mum, look a gecko!!! They have powerful hands that stick anywhere, they can even be upside-down" "This monkey has blue bottoms to get more girlfriends! I will paint my bottom blue" (What???? 2) "Turtles have shells to protect themselves against predators, it is hard like a rock, feel it!" "Bear, I have to ask you not to go to my flat anymore, you are too big for the lift and I don't like you inside my room" (hahahahaha! I am sure he won't bother you anymore Luca) Such a clever boy you are Luca! I love you!!!!

After the "Eden saga" Luca, who loves animals (actually he knows more than me), wanted a book about dinosaurs. I decided to go to our local library which is amazing and we could bring some books home. He read, looked at the pictures with deep attention and made some pictures in his new book of animals. It is so delightful to see his passion and curiosity about animals, specially because I believe he got it from me. I love animals so much that instinctively he learned how to respect and love them. He wouldn't kill an ant and would cry and get really disappointed if he saw someone being aggressive to an animal! What a sweet sweet boy!!!

Today we explored a new beach called Bantham. It is a beautiful beach with a river that is hotter than the ocean! I surfed with daddy, made sand castles and a sand island. I decided to go paddling my surfboard in the river and went far away from daddy! He had to swim quite fast to save me! It was such an adventure! "Daddy is my hero" "We both have black wetsuits!" 

When the weather wasn't very good we made a tent! I was watching my cartoons inside the tent, it is cosy and there is a light inside so I can read at night! I actually wanted to sleep inside the tent but daddy and mummy said no, it is too small!

"Mum, we have to help Dr Stein! He lost the T-rex that he created in the bubble at the Eden!" "We have to follow his noises and look at the map!" After finding the dinosaur at the Eden Luca says:  "Mum, don't worry, the dinosaur is not real, there is a zipper on its tail!" I thought he was disappointed but he continued: "That is how the explorer created him, he filled its body with air like a balloon, it now can walk and do everything a real dinosaur can do but it isn't real" Luca says to the other man who holds a small dino on his lap: "I know your hand is in there!" I said: "Luca, you don't need to say that to everyone else, keep it as a secret!" It was an awesome day!

"Well, they used to... They invaded England several times to conquer some lands. These guys are just actors showing us how brave vikings used to be..." This is how his first summer holiday weekend was... We went to a "viking party" were daddy played the guitar, he drove a car and fed some sheep. He also saw vikings fight and set fire on a boat, he loved it all!

Luca's last day of school, summer term... He climbs up to the back seat of the car and somehow manages to lose his balance, he falls off and there you go, breaks his wrist! Lots of tears, from him and from me... Mums always know what is going on even before doctors say (well, most os the times we do know...). He was crying but trying really hard to be brave and made me a very proud mum. After wearing the splint he was quite sensible even reminding me that he had to put it back on after his showers... Well done my lovely boy! Mum and dad will take care of you with all our love and even with a broken arm we will have some fun!!! xxx

Hoje o dia é do Luca, todinho do Luca. Ele acordou saltitando como sempre faz, mas hoje veio saltitando e perguntando com empolgação: "mamãe, é hoje que eu faço 6 anos???" quando eu disse que sim parecia que era o presente que bastava: 6 an os... Colocou o broche na camiseta, um broche com o número 6 que encheu ele de orgulho, abriu os presentes que o vovô e a vovó mandaram de Piracicaba: os gibis da mônica, carrinhos, dinossauros e indiozinhos que foram do vovô, depois do papai e agora do Luca... Pegou a bandeja de brigadeiros para os amiguinhos da escola, brigadeiros lindos e coloridinhos com as forminhas mandadas pela vovó maluca. Com o maior sorriso do mundo foi ele pra escola exibir seus 6 anos! Ganhou muitos abraços dos amiguinhos e o sorriso estava pra traz da orelha! Ele ganhou os 6 anos e em troca me deu os 6 anos mais felizes da minha vida! Ele é meu coração que bate fora de mim, minha riqueza, pessoinha favorita da minha vida! Amo você meu lorinho, continue assim,...

I read this article by Sarah Bregel and it was quite overwhelming... This is exactly how I felt after having my boy. Everyone talks about the amazing things of being a mum, but let's not leave the difficulties aside please. New mums deserve to know that too. I hope more people could read that. Here is the version in Portuguese: http://blogueirasfeministas.com/2014/06/o-que-uma-mae-no-pos-parto-realmente-precisa/ When I became a parent at the ripe old age of 24, I was glad to kiss a difficult pregnancy goodbye and embrace the joys of new motherhood. But while the joys were many, so were the challenges. I thought I had been adequately prepared to reach a whole new level of sleeplessness, to feed someone from my own body more than I fed myself, to answer every beck and call and do it effortlessly. Now the word "prepared" seems laughable to use in the context of becoming a parent -- literally, becoming a whole new version of yourself, shedding your old skin and giving ...

Now Luca can enjoy the water, the beach and... fell like the amazing black spider man!!!! He was so happy that it was almost impossible to take it off. So good to see our boy happy. He feels happy with the simple things. I love you molequinho! "mom, I look like a super hero. Actually like the black spider man..." "it is so cool! I can get inside the water and I am not cold!" "I look just like daddy."