Outside activity - feeding pigeons in the park

When we do not know what to do, we go to the park, there is always a lot of fun and a lot of kids who like to play. But how make this activity really interesting and make zero effort? This weekend to my husband came a great idea of making our outside activity really interesting. We took bread and we went to the park to feed pigeons. Pigeons are really smart, they were afraid to come and to eat bread, because Damian was running there and forth and send all of them away. But this happened just till pigeons understood that there is no harm in this, and they began to come more and more, and eat our bread. Our toddler liked the idea to run all the park, and send pigeons away, but to feed them for him was very unusual activity as he never did that. So, little by little, we showed him how he has to feed them and he found this activity quite interesting. At the end our toddler learned how to feed pigeons and they on theirs side were more confident in staying with us. Look at this beauty in the images.

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Another day, another place in Barcelona - Sagrada Familia

This is not a travel blog, I know, but this blog is my place where I share all great moments that I have with my toddler. All inside activities and outside activities that we do together. Traveling is our hobby and one of my life goals is to see all the world together with my toddler, and in this way to show to my toddler the life outside the place he was born, because every place is unique in its way.

Barcelona is a city that I fall in love from my first day when we came here to live. This is a very beautiful city not just for tourists but for its citizens as well. That's why I want to continue with my project Discover Barcelona, and this time I would like to present to you dear mothers and families, Sagrada Familia (The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família). If you come for the first time to Barcelona, I would advice to write this place under "must see place", but if it is not your first time in Barcelona and you travel with children, then this place it is too crowdy to take a walk here.

The church project began long time ago the construction, official date of comencing 1882, and then in 1883 in this project was involved the famous architect Gaudi, taking control over the project and transforming this architecture into an unique project combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms to this. When Gaudí died in 1926, the basilica was between 15 and 25 percent complete. After his death, the project continued the activity, but very slowly. (source Wikipedia) Even though, the architects who continued with this project, tried to maintain the idea of Gaudi regarding this project. The project is supposed to be finished in 2026, that's why nowadays you can see a lot of changes during your visits to Barcelona.

Interior of  this church is very shy, there are a lot of mosaic colors that play with each other, and on a sunny day, the church is very beatiful inside. Not only the colors make this church beautiful, but as well its architecture.

My impressions are, I wouldn't take a walk there outside of Sagrada Familia, as it is very crowdy and you have to stay on fourth with your baby. Because Damian like running and playing outside, so this is not the safest place to do this. But, inside the church, it is amazing, and there is a lot of space to go, that's why my toddler didn't get bored.

I advice you to take a tour inside this amazing unique church.

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Sunglasses and toddlers/kids - are you ready for summer holidays?

As an adult you understand the importance of wearing sunglasses on sunny days, as being adult you feel uncomfortable while you are exposed to sunlight. Well, the same feel the little once. Looking for the information about the importance of sunglasses I have found a really good article on Google search. Dr. Greene explain that: ¨The cells of the lens of the eye are never replaced; the proteins of the lens are never replenished. The lens cannot repair itself; damage accumulates over a lifetime.¨ and excessive exposure to sunlight during early childhood, can be harmful once you grow up.
I don´t want to alarm you, because I understand that every person is aware of this and take on its own responsibility to avoid this to happen. How about children? Have you ever thought or was scared about too much exposure of your child? As mum, I always think about this, even on sunny winter days. I always insist my toddler wear a hat or a cap to be protected, put him a cream, but I thought that sunglasses is too early as these will annoy my baby, and till now I haven´t bought him any.
Last week, thinking about a getaway and summer holidays, I remembered my fears about exposure of my child to sunlight, and I began to look for a pair of sunglasses on Amazon and not only there. I was quite surprised about the great supply of sunglasses for toddlers, even for babies. My biggest priority was to buy sunglasses that won´t annoy him, and won´t be damaged after first 2 uses... and of course to be of the highest protection category possible. See, what I have found.

Kids sunglasses for an affordable price, good looking, very easy to use, protective and Damian doesn´t want to stay without them. I think it is a great choice.

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5 tips for mums with boys and how become a happier mum

How to be a happier mother? This question makes all of us to think about not once. All the time you feel sleepy, tired, out of time and never have that moment to relax. Here I want to share my top 5 tips that help me feel great with my toddler and enjoy motherhood life.

Every child is different, and we can´t firmly say that if you have a girl, you have more time for yourself, than when you have a boy, but during my almost 2 years of experience as a mum of a boy and I can tell you that the way you look at them it is very different, even how you play, talk and make things together. Boys prefer more outside activities like run, play football, skip, jump nor inside activities which require their attention. That is why Ishare with you my top 5 tips as a mother of a boy:

Tip 1: Run or practice sport... I know, you will say you don´t have enough time for practicing sport, me neither... but half an hour in 2 days is more than enough to practice sport and feel better. Is it possible for you? For me is just perfect. I began to run very few time ago, so I am not a really good runner, but I understand that I feel better, and I have more energy to dedicate to my toddler and to play with him with a ball, or any of outside aactivities that he needs.

Tip 2: Sleep, sleep and sleep whenever you have the opportunity. When I do not sleep enough I feel tired, I don´t want to run, I do not want to play with my kid, and I do not want to do anything.

Tip 3: Wake up early. Being a working mum I know the difference. I love the days when I have to go to work...wierd...but it is true, as I wake up early in the morning to take a shower, make up, drink my coffee in silence, and have a nice breakfast. Because, when I am off and I lie in the bed till my toddler wake me up, I don´t have these 30-40 minutes for me, neither the time to be a really pretty mum.

Tip 4: Read... Fortunately, I have my Kindle, and I have my 30 minutes to go on subway while I get to and back from my work and I have this time for reading a book and learning something new. I read all kinds of books, but I prioritize the books, which make me grow intellectualy. It is up to you what do you read, it can be a magazine, but READ something. You develop your vocabulary, what I think you stop doing once finished school, college or university.

Tip 5: Talk to your boy. Boys are a special kind of humans that they do not want to talk too much, and they are not the humans who share their feelings, but think about it, and ask yourself. Do you want to know what happens in his mind and how he feels? If he will see in you a good listener and see that you are ready to speak with him about anything, obviously when he will grow up he won´t forgive to make a call to you.

I hope you find these tips usefull.

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Festa Major at Sagrada Familia an event that brings joy inside us

Yesterday we went for a really great event called Festa Major that took place at Sagrada Familia. Festa Major is an yearly celebration that is dedicated to a saint, and depending on each city can last from 1 to 9 days and can have a lot of activities in different parts of the city. We enjoyed watching human towers or Castells, how it is called in Catalan. It is very traditional Catalan event that I wanted to see from my first day here in Barcelona. The idea was that people of different ages form a tower of people and in this way they show the importance of a team and how they lean on each other. It is very important that people who participate in creating of these towers are well prepared to afford the weight of the persons who stay on theirs shoulders.

More about the history and the rules of creating these towers you can find here:
http://www.castellersdebarcelona.cat/international/what-exactly-are-castells-or-human-towers/

But meanwhile I will share with you, my own experience. So, it was amazing to watch all the preparations of the people, to see how much they care of theirs health and make this show not just beautiful, but safe too. Then I saw how children get prepared for the tower, even though at theirs age they understand the importance of team building and the importance to be prepared for this show. I had time to analize the preparations, while the show I had not time to watch as our toddler was running there and forth and I took some pictures very quickly. As I went mainly for my son there, I thought that if he is happy while he is running and not watching the show, I have to be happy as well. This event for sure brings joy in hearts of everybody as you can't stay and watch this beatifulness with indiference.

Enjoy some amazing pictures:

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Educational activity - printables with fruits

I found printables almost one month ago on pinterest and I thought that this is a one of the best educational activity for my toddler. Living in another country far from my birth place and far from people who would speak him my mother tongue language, apart of me and my husband, I thought this activity suites perfect in our educative process of our toddler. Before finding out this amazing printables we have bought some books, we have watched youtube videos, always speak to him in Russian, but I felt this is not enough to learn a language. Printables come as a supliment to all other things we do together, and I can firmly say that this is a great way for a toddler to learn another language, even if you born and live in the same country, try to develop language skills of your baby with printables. For sure it will work, as I see really great results with my toddler.

This time I decided to choose FRUITS theme, as he loves fruits, and not just because of that, but also I thought it would be easier to ask him what he prefers to eat. Yesterday was our first day when I showed him them and he began to repeat some of the fruits he ate earlier but didn't know how to call them. Another thing I have observed was, if you show your toddler something regarding food, you need to be prepared to have it, as Damian asked me for fruits on printables and I didn't have them. I felt sorry and for the next time I will try npt to miss this.

If you need help with printables or you want me to share with you my printables on online format, just shout and I will send these to you. I'm in the process to create another page where you would be able to download all my preparations for free.

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Tibidabo - a place for everyone in Barcelona

Last month was a difficult one, as our little sunshine got a cold twice, then I followed him, this made us not very keen of doing a lot of activities inside nor outside... but, this don´t stop us to share the little things we´ve done together.
About outside activity, today I will share with you some older images in the post, as we have been there several times and I would like Damian to grow up to go there. As he would be able to enjoy from outside activities that offer this park of amusement.
Tibidabo is a great place for little once and for people who like to travel and are keen to see new places. The place represents a mountain that overlooks Barcelona, there you can afford spectacular views over the city and coastline. At Tibidabo you can enjoy your stay by going to the church, that took 60 years to construct and is topped by sculpture of Jesus, or more likely to enjoy the Amusement Park, near 7Ha big, that was opened on 1899. This amusement park is considered the oldest one in the world and that is still functioning.
Apart of the amusement park, there is a part that you can relax and stay on a picnic, enjoy great views with a cup of coffee at the bar or to take a walk within this magic place. As mentioned above this is a great place to visit for everyone. IhI really advice you to go there, as it is a place to visit for everyone.

Enjoy!

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Valencia - the city of paella and flamenco

As on my previous post you have already seen that we stoped on two towns on our way to Valencia. Today I will share our experience in paella city, Valencia. A really beautiful city that exceeded my expectations, I would never thought that I will be so impressed. A city with a history and in the same way very new, clean and calm for living. Maybe in summer it is more touristy and it is not so quiet as we found it, but this was just great. 

In the same evening when we have got to the hotel we decided to take a walk to the city center, where all main touristic places are. We passed by very known Gardens of Valencia which strech almost 14 km by Valencia, then we took our hot chocolate with ''churros''. Took a walk by Cathedral and a lot of restaurants which called us with its smell, to enter and taste their food. Then we went back to our hotel, a good choice of hotel, Silken Puerta Valencia, good location, walking distance from the city center and really great bed. But it has a but, if you travel with family, as it is nothing compared with an apartment or aparthotel where you are able to prepare something for your baby if he wants to eat. For next time, we will look for a flat.

Second day on Valencia, the city of paella, we planed to visit one of the biggest Oceanographic in Europe, with more than 500 of types of fishes and a lot of other animals. Me and my husband enjoyed it very much, I think we were worse than children, but Damian didn't like it too much, he was a little bit afraid of fishes, and we had to speak to him and to show that all fishes are by a protection and they won't harm us in any way. I think at the end Damian as well liked our stay there.

After Oceanographic we went to the Science Museum, by the way very similar with La Caixa Forum in Barcelona. Here were special space for children,Damian 100% enjoyed playing here, I think it was his best moments during our getaway. He run, played, jumped. I jjust couldn't stop him, but I didn't even tried to do this as I thought not to tangle him.

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