On London: Tutu: Tutu Du Monde from It’s So Me Boutique | Kitty Ears: The Perfect Petunia
Bracelets: Pretty by JL | Nail Polish: Piggy Paint in “Jazz It Up”
Photography: Marcella S. Photograpy
In what seems like the blink of an eye, London has turned into our big girl with a personality that is bubbly and fun and all her own. As much as I look forward to the days we will be playing dress up, hosting tea parties and baking ooey gooey chocolate brownies or whatever other sweet treat our hearts desire, I love to be in and enjoy the moment with my little girl. It is so thrilling to watch her grow and make memories and I embrace the changes in her development and have used them as the perfect opportunity to find fresh and innovative ways to bond, connect, and spend quality time with my sweet little love. Although, it is impossible to slow time down, I have included some ways to optimize the time you spend with your kids before you tuck them into bed at night :)!
1. GO ON A MOM & ME DATE
London and I love our lunch and babyccino dates when I get home from work. I just prop her in the high chair and give her a few bites to eat and she is well on her way to blabbing about what she and her favorite sitter, Bertine did while I was gone. I let her start the conversation and ask open-ended questions like what her plans are for the day and what’s for dinner? She doesn’t say much that I can understand right now but I can see the excitement in her eyes when we engage in conversation and I listen intently to everything she has to say. It is such fun to spend mommy and me time with my amazing daughter but my favorite part is when we finish off our date by blowing each other kisses!
2. PLAN A ROAD TRIP
Nick and I are always running to Chicago, Pittsburgh and Toronto for fun little weekend getaways and love bringing London along. The 4-5 hour car rides give us a ton of time to plan our itinerary and talk about the new things we want to experience and see. We just got back from East Chicago, Indiana last night where Nick won his first poker championship. It was such an amazing experience and I love that we had London there to celebrate such an exciting time with us. I can’t wait to tell her the story about this weekend when she is old enough to understand.
3. EXPERIENCE AN ADRENALINE RUSH
London loves playing a good game of “Catch me if you Can.” I chase her around the house saying, “I’m going to get you,” while she runs from room to room and jumps from one couch to the other. She finds the whole experience hysterical and by the end of it, she’s completely out of breath and can’t stop laughing. Depending on your child’s age, experiencing an adrenaline rush could be anything from riding bikes down a hill to racing each other down the street.
4. CREATE RITUALS
We have really gotten into the habit of reading London a story every night before bed. Her new favorite thing is to bring every book from the coffee table (and there are quite a few) to us over on the couch, and then she climbs up and snuggles in between us. She loves to turn the page and just cracks up at us making different sounds and voices for all of the characters. It’s something so simple but has turned into a family tradition that we look forward to doing together every night.
5. GET ARTSY
Depending on how adventurous we’re feeling, London and I have drawn masterpieces, made fairy princess wands and painted our piggies all the colors of the rainbow. London is super ticklish and loves when I tell a story while I paint her toes a new color. London loves to check out my new nail color every time I get a manicure so I was beyond thrilled when I found Piggy Paint. It is a non-toxic nail polish made from all-natural ingredients that is safe for all of the little piggies in your life. Piggy Paint also comes in a ton of adorable colors to match your mood and make your outfit pop; Our current favorites are “Pinkie Promise” (no surprise there) and “Mint To Be.” My all-time favorite nail hack is painting London’s fingers and toes when she goes down for a nap. Her sweet surprised face is too cute when she wakes up to new colors and makes me want to change up her toenail color all the time- it is sandal weather, after all and baby jellies are oh, so cute!
So mamas, what’s your favorite way to spend quality time with your little lambs?
16 Comments
Love the new post! Very well said and extremely sweet! London is a total doll and I love her little piggies!!
So stinking cute! I need to get that nail polish for my three year old.
Aww, you two have such fun together, I love how you paint her nails while she is sleeping, too cute!
I have two boys so no nail painting but we do love playing superheroes and reading books.
It’s so important to give them the time now as it goes so fast. x
Oh My London is adorable enjoy her at this age when learning is fun and playing is everything xxx
Time does fly.. I love having girls to have “girls day out” joe they they’re getting older friends come first it seems but we still try and make time for lunches.
My little boy is a bundle of mischief and wants to be outdoors all.the.time. We live a few hundred meters from the beach and I find he’s happiest and I’m most in-the-moment when we get outside and get dirty playing in the mud, garden or the sand. Lots of laundry but that’s a small price for a happy baby.
We do have to figure out a way to slow time down. Our little princess is getting so BIG…. Can’t believe she is almost done with the “bucket” car seat !!
We love going on dates with our children. Thanks for sharing!
This sharing of time with your little girl reminded me of the time when I felt guilty while driving that I hadn’t said anything to my son for about 5 minutes. I’m a strong advocate for ongoing conversation for learning and language development, concept building, etc. So just as I was about to say something to him to overcome my guilt, he said to me – “Mum, did you know that there are 23 light posts between home and where we are now?” Here was I thinking I wasn’t stimulating him enough.
This was a great article. My children are grown now, and we didnt have these kind of great reminders of how fast time flies.
I love the idea to surprise your little darling with new nail colors while she is down for a nap. How fun?! Thanks for the piggy paint suggestion. I had no idea about kid safe polish.
Perfection. This article is beautifully written with so many great ideas to spend QT with your little QT!
Awww so cute!!! I love our morning walks to the park. Lucas gets so excited to go down the slides and claps his hands once he is at the bottom. My heart just melts. These kids are just amazing.
She is so adorable and I love hearing other parents spending quality time with their kiddos! Especially reading books, I think this is super important and we have always done it with both our boys. Now that our oldest is in school and reading really well, we can see that it helped him a lot!
Too gorgeous! Asking them what they want to do is also fun – they’re never short of ideas!
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