7 Inside and outside activities with a preschooler.

If you have another baby in the house and your preschooler is already on holidays, like I am, then I have some fun activities you can do to survive and make happy both of your kids.

1. I used to go walking a lot with my baby while my first son was in the nursery. Now, I had to think that my kid won't walk as much as I do. So my daily walking routine, changed on going to different kids' parks to uncharge somehow his battery.

2. Outside activity - Feeding pigeons, this activity is always a good idea, every time we fed pigeons our kid enjoyed. He loves to run after them. What is great as well.

3. Read books, great inside activity. Here I would like to mention that I have observed that if my preschooler is not watching any video or TV, he is keen to listen while I am reading. As well it is great activity for a not sleeping baby.

4. Playing with montessori toys or not so montessori, leaving him play alone, while baby need your attention.

5. Inside activity - scissors. Help to develop his fine motor skills on cutting paper. By the way, it is montessori activity as well.

6. Inside activity - painting. If till now, painting was more for developing his skills on discovering colors and create new things. Now this activity is to develop his ability to write with pencil.

7. Outside activity - zoo, discover the greatness of nature that exists in the World. Here you need help. Daddy is always with us on such complex activities.

Now, our kid is with his grandparents, my parents-in-law, and I understand how much free time I have for me. If you have somebody who can help you, just leave them to help you. I was too tired after such a full activities week. And yes, my preschooler didn't have any screen activity during these days.

P.S. You can follow us on socials. I began to upload little videos with our daily routine. Come and enjoy them.

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Second pregnancy: what have changed?

I have written already a post about my first pregnancy and you can find it here. Even though I have lived the experience of being a mum, second pregnancy made me to ask questions as well. There is no pregnancy the same.

Disorders - same or not

There are disorders that will be the same as queasiness or back pain, because these disorders are related to the changes that we have in our body. For example queasiness I had less on my first pregnancy, but back pain was felt more in my second pregnancy.

Feel baby's movements

I was reading that for sure in my second pregnancy I will feel baby's movements before that in my first pregnancy, I would say that both babies I have noticed on my 20th week of pregnancy.

Food

On both pregnancies I felt like I am 24h hungry, this feeling hasn't changed. The only thing that was different was the kind of food that I was keen to eat more. On my first pregnancy I ate chocolates, and a lot of sweet things. While with my second pregnancy I ate a lot of salt things and I didn't like sweets.

Duration of delivery

Oooh yes, here is so big difference on its duration. With first baby it last almost 12 hours, and with second 3,5 hours. Researches say that on the second delivery, our muscles are more elastic and our body maintain something like "memory" about what have happened once in our body. Our body is marvelous and it can do miracles.

Breast feeding

With second baby breast feeding is much easier, because it is prepared for the suction, while with first baby almost one month I needed to get customized with the process. Very first days of breast feeding with our first son, was painful, while with second son there was no pain. And breast feeding is a pleasant process.

                                Aren't they cute?

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No sew sensory book. Quiet book for a toddler. Steps to make your own no sew quiet book.

It was some time that I wanted to make a quiet book for my toddler, but the idea that I have to sew all the little pieces and then order these to a quiet book, stoped me from making this quiet book. Last week I have seen on pinterest a lot of options of a no sew books. So, I thought that is just a great idea for me and for my toddler.

To make a no sew book what you need:

1. A shape to measure the desired size of the book

2. A felt for the base of the book ( I choose different felt colors for the base)

3. Hot glue gun

4. Scissors

5. Pen or marker

Now, it's time to decide how many pages will have your book. Once you have decided the number of pages that will have your sensory book, it's time to cut the pieces and split all the pages with hot glue gun.

Now it's time to create and to make this book useful. I used some fine motor skill ideas and montessori pages.

Below you can see our no sew sensory book pattern:

1. Hourglass and baloons sensory book page

2. Matching windows and doorof the hous sensory book page and learning the finger signs of numbers 1 to 5 sensory book page.

3. Collect flowers, fine motor skill quiet book page

4. Montessori activity with a shoes quiet book page and LEGO brick sensory book page.

5. Caterpillar fine motor activity quiet book page and buterfly change of colors sensory book page.

6. Directions sensory book page and crayon box uiet book page.

7. Matching world map continents quiet book page.

8. Number association quiet book page and octopus fine motor skills sensory book page.

9. Montessori transport quiet book page and montessori watch quiet book page.

10. Heart puzzle sensory book page and maatching shapes quiet book page.

My toddler loves this quiet book, and I enjoyed making this for him and his little brother. It took me 2 days pf hard work and it was worth it.

How do you like our sensory quiet book?

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Paw Patrol and Robocar Poli meet in one game. Screen free inside activity for a toddler.

In our family there is limited time for youtube videos or any other screen activity. It is complicated to manage this with a toddler, I recognize it, so, every time we have to invent new games for our kid. The last idea, was to keep our toddler busy with his beloved toys from paw patrol and robocar poli.

I created a miniature city where paw patrol dogs and robocar poli help citizens, all toys meet each other in one simple game. Our toddler loved this idea, he felt as he is inside of the cartoon.

 I needed for this: our living's room table (it is big enough to create miniature city), foam blocks, citizens (our toddler's toys) and of course paw patrol and robocar poli.

What I have observed from this experience:

1. Our toddler enjoyed playing alone with his toys. Usually he wants us to play with him if he is not waching something.

2. He developed his leadership skills, as he had to manage with all his toys and help citizens of miniature city.

3. Damian created his own story of paw patrol and he didn't need cartoon to play or to stay quiet for a longer time.

I am happy of this experience and for sure we will repeat it.

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Create your kids a good habit to travel. Collect them great memories.

Our toddler loves traveling and we always try him to have a good experience and to remain with great memories from each of our getaway or holiday. He loves planes, trains, cars and even public transport, as every toddler he gets bored if our trips last more than an hour, but we to take some toys for him, or sing songs with him, and always have fun.

Now, we have a baby who is just 2 months and he doesn't have such experience as his brother, so we thought, it is good to begin one day. Our first getaway of the last weekend were Tossa (Tossa del Mar) in Costa Brava. Our baby boy, I think, will be a great traveller, as he stayed very quiet all the way from Barcelona to Tossa, I was impressed as I didn't expect him to be as quiet as he was.

We have been at the beaches of Tossa, enjoyed great weather and not as cold water as I have expected there to be. We have visited the castle and other lovely places of this amazing place in Costa Brava.

Our family, for sure, got another great traveller to the board, and we will share with you our experience as traveling family of 4.

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Toddler outside activity. Playing with sand.

It is summer and one of my favorite outside activities is to go to the beach. But what to do, if you have a toddler, who enjoys a lot sea and beach, and a newborn baby who can't stay more than an hour at the beach, and you have to go or early in the morning or late in the evening? The answer is to go to the park and play with toddler there with sand...hmmm...not the same... I know... Even though, my toddler loves sand and even more he adores time when I play with him. Once he is a big brother we spent less time together, as he has to play with daddy or alone while mummy takes care of little one. And I feel that we have to play and spent more time together.

Playing with sand - is a great montessori and fine motor skills activity.  And of course, is one of the easiest activity when you want to spend some time with your toddler, to disconnect from all the things that are not done. Toddler develops his imagination, thinking, concentration and in the same time he knows that there is a person who appreciate his work.

Try to play with sand with your kid, I asure you that you will enjoy even more than your kid.

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Tips for introducing a newborn to a family with toddler.

I was aware, of introducing a new member of our family, to our toddler from my first days of pregnancy. I thought, that Damian, would not accept easily his brother and he will be very gelous, because we always gave him all our attention and a new member, will mean, less attention to him. Looking back, I understand, that all steps that we have done, helped us and our toddler to pass easier this change in our life. I mean, that he is still gelous, but not as much as I have expected and our toddler loves his brother.

Below I share with you some tips.

1. Tell to your first kid about a sibling, from the beginning of your pregnancy. He has to take care of your bump and not to push in it. Our toddler was kissing his brother from my early days of pregnancy. I don't know if he knew already what we will expect, but the feeling was that he understands all.

2. Take your toddler to the doctor visits, not to all of them, but some of them. On such visits we were listening the heart of the baby. These moments, helped our toddler to understand that there is life inside my bump.

3. Days in the hospital. When our toddler visited us, I told him, that doctor helped mum to give birth to his brother, and now in my bump there is nobody, as his brother is already with us, and will be part of our family. It was strange for him, he was touching my bump all first month to see my reaction, and why it disappeared so quickly.

4. Little brother brought him a lot of presents. Little presents that your toddler would like to receive. We repeated a lot of times that his little brother will bring him presents, because he loves Damian. I think this was the most important thing that we could make, our toddler enjoyed all his presents and showed his love from the first days. I know that some mothers will say that love cannot be bought, it's true...but it works.

5. Spend time with toddler while the baby is sleeping. Try to envolve him in more interesting activities and show him your love. I mean, show your toddler that even if you have less time to spend with him, you still love him as much as before.

6. Invite your toddler to help you while you are changing diaper, for example, he can bring you a diaper or a body while changing clothes. In this way toddler feels his importance in the family and how much he can help you with baby. It is important to tell him how brave is he.

7. Respect your toddler routine. Huuuh, this is the most complicated for me, but I try to do it well. Even if you haven't slept all night, because of your baby, you have to make your toddler routine in the morning. Which is breakfast and going to the nursery. And in the evening, dinner at the same time as before and bath at the same time as before and of course his sleeping hours to be the same as before. It is not so easy, but my husband helps me a lot and we are doing a great job together.

Of course in all these tips you need help, and I am really gratefull to my husband for his help.

Good luck and enjoy!

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Inside activity for a rainy day. Boys love cars.

On a rainy day it is most difficult to keep quiet a toddler, who enjoy running, skipping an playing football. One thing is true, all boys are the same, and all of them love to play with cars. In my last days of pregnancy I thought that it would be a great idea to make my toddler a high-way and parking for his little cars. As well, I thought that it is a great idea to remember him the rules of a traffic light.

I think we've done a great job together, and my toddler enjoyed playing with his cars.

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Bilingualism. Is your kid ready?

Nowadays all of us understand the importance that has knowledge of different languages for personal or professional reasons. Each mum wants her kid to know as many languages as he can.

A lot of parents are affraid of introducing more than a language to their kid, others are asking themselves if it is ok to introduce a second language to theirs' kiddo. The truth is that human brain has a lot of flexibility and is prepared not just for the second language but even more languages. I always thought that the easiest time to introduce a second language to our kid is till 3 years, but recently I found in other resources that it can be done till age of 8. So, go ahead, it is never too late.
To explain better the word bilinguism, it is to mention that it is considered a bilingual person, the person who is able to use 2 or more languages at the same level of understanding and does not make any difference by it's difficulty. And this happens due to the environment where kid is growing like family or community.

When baby hears 2 or more languages at the same time, baby accepts them both, the same way as another kid who hears only one language. The only difference between these babies can be, that the first baby who listens 2 or more languages begins to talk a little bit later, because he internalizes these languages before saying anything. After different studies on bilinguism, there have come to a conclusion that babies' brain who grew in a bilingual environment works as a traffic light. When he has to choose a word, he gives green light for the language that it is used at that moment. And this natural process of choosing the right language, becomes a good gymnastics for his brain.

Advantages of bilinguism.

1. Kids with bilinguism concentrate better and they are not upset by the noise of the class to make their works.

2. Brain of a bilingual person is much more flexible and in critical situations can find more solutions and even more quickly.

Age for bilinguism.

As I mentioned before, after looking for recent studies any kid till 8 years can be bilingual if the language is introduced as a natural second language. What about other ages? Of course, it is possible as well, but it comes to be more difficult. And always it is easier to have that environment of the language that we want to learn.

Good luck for those who want to be bilingual.

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How to deal with tantrums? My experience with a toddler of almost 3 years.

Tantrums on toddlers? Do I have to let him calm down?

Recently I have read a scientific study about tantrums and how to deal with them on a toddler. And I have found out, that it is very important to leave your kid to calm down, then to ask him about his tantrums and to let him/her express his/her feelings.

All of us, for sure, have passed through such uncontrollable emotions of our toddlers and didn't know how to manage such comportament. So my questions always was, do I have to act immediately when my kid begins tantrums or it is better to leave him to cry a little bit then to act? In this study from Emotions Magazine, describes that the most effective strategy is to leave him cry few seconds or minutes and only then to act, because there are different phases of their tantrums, and depends on the phase phasethe tantrum is, you as a parent can control or not his emotions.

Here we go with the phases:

Phase 1. It is a crisis phase, when a toddler has a complex of emotions (rage, sadness, anguish and search of consolation), this means that he feels like nobody is understanding him. That is why, at this step it is preferable to ¨ignore¨ him, till he is open for consolation. A tantrum is a form of expression of a feeling that our kid is not able to control or to express in a right way. The idea at this phase it not to center on his tantrum, but to find patience within us to find the real reason of what have made our kid to feel bad.

Phase 2. Our kid begins to calm down, he is pretty open for consolation, now, it is the perfect moment for mum&dad to find what have caused such comportment on our kid. Ask questions and help your toddler to express his real feeling. This can be the feeling of less attention (this happens to me mostly of the times after a long working day and I pay less attention to my kid), or any other jealousy.

Phase 3. You have to discuss with your toddler and explain that either of his strange feeling he will be understood by mum or dad, and that is not necessary to create a tantrum . And that every problem has a solution, and it is absolutely normal to have the feeling that happens inside him.

Conclusion. It is better not to interrupt a tantrum. After making a study on 1300 toddlers of age of 2s and 3s, there is a scheme of a tantrum which is characterized with shrieking, shouting, crying, lament and whining. Last 2 help to calm down our kid, while first 2 are when the tantrum begins and it is better to leave toddler to pass first 2 and then to begin consolation.

This post is very theoretical, I know, as in reality it is very complicated to resist to all the tantrums. I think that I am a lucky mum and I had few of them, and believe me I know how horrible it is. You feel like no way to calm down the toddler and you feel helpless. I am very happy that I have found this study, because it helped me understand how to manage a tantrum on my toddler. I hope you will find it useful as well.

P.S. For various reasons I do not like to make images of my kid while he is crying, that is why I share with you a cute image of my kid :)

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Week #1: 5 Tips for introducing a new sibling to toddlers and preschoolers

Welcome to week´s #1 post from #happymamasecrets project.

Today´s invitee is Harriet from Toby & Roo and her super cute kids. Feel free to share and comment. I, personally enjoyed reading her article.

Introducing a new sibling to our family is something I was so worried about, especially as Reuben, who is nearly 4 years old and very aware of what is taking place around him, seemed to be really anxious about baby’s arrival. He was very excited, don’t get me wrong, but he was also very clingy, possessive and nervous of being left anywhere – even though he’d been to preschool, Grandma’s house, wherever so many times before. Toby, on the other hand, seemed to be in sweet oblivion, he’s only just 2 years old so doesn’t really have much of a concept, we felt like maybe he would feel pushed out or like he wasn’t the ‘special’ baby anymore. I was unsure what he would make of me breast-feeding baby, especially as he was breast fed… would he be jealous? We spent a tonne of time before baby was due, planning out what to do to help everything go smoothly and make sure that no one feels pushed out.

I thought it might be helpful to put together a little list of things that we did to help introduce older siblings to the new arrival, so here goes, good luck!

• Talk, talk and talk some more

• 
  

Talking is possibly the most important thing you can do for helping to prepare your children for the new changes they are about to face, and I found it was just as important for after baby is here. During my pregnancy I talked to the boys about everything, in fact I wrote about that here , and it seemed natural to me to continue after my baby was born. Question’s like ‘How did baby get out of your belly?’, ‘Why is baby eating your boobie?’, ‘Why can’t I come with you and Edie?’ are a few of the ones we have had so far and I can honestly say, for us, they have been a blessing – the boy’s (Reuben mostly) feel more involved if their questions are answered. I have also found that honesty is the best policy – ‘Baby was born when mummy went to the hospital, she moved down what’s called a birth canal and then arrived into the world’, ‘Baby doesn’t eat Mummy’s boobie, she is drinking milk that comes from mummy’s boobie’ and ‘Baby has to stay with Mummy at all times because she can only drink from Mummy’s boobie, no one else has her special milk, so she has to stay with me. When she is a big girl like you, she will be able to stay with Daddy or Maw Maw’ are just some of the answers we have chosen to give. Honest, but without too much detail! Basically what I’m saying is, no matter how tired you are, how touched out or fed up you’re feeling, don’t deflect the many, many questions that will come your way. Answer them, as best you can, and that will help.

• Ask for help, not just from Daddy or other adults

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I’m really surprised by how much I have found this to be helpful in integrating Edith into our family and making the boys feel really happy and special in themselves. I ask both the boys to help me with little things like fetching me a nappy, picking up a packet of wipes or passing me muslin squares while I’m feeding. This has been especially helpful with Toby – Reuben is at the age where he is super helpful when he wants but if not, he won’t bother – but Toby loves to pick up little bits and bobs, it makes him feel really useful and helpful (which he of course is!) but, most importantly, it makes him feel involved.

• Ask visitors to be thoughtful

• 
  

Imagine every time your extended family members come to visit you there are cuddles and kisses, often toys or treats and then suddenly this new thing, this usurper, comes in, and you aren’t even the first person they say hello to anymore, the gifts aren’t for you, the treats aren’t for you and the kisses and cuddles are being showered on someone else. That would piss you off, right? You would probably feel like acting out for attention, but you wouldn’t, because you’re an adult and can control your emotions, but your child might not be able to. Before family members and friends come over to meet baby for the first time, make sure they know that you need them to think of your other children first. Things like making sure that they say hi to your kids first (this is actually the most common ‘mistake’ people don’t say hi, it’s surplus to requirements and they forget), then any kisses and cuddles that would normally happen should still go ahead, and finally, ask the children to show off their new sibling, ask their permission to hold the new sibling etc etc – involve them as much as possible. I know the temptation to just default to the new parents, ask about the labor, ask questions, congratulate etc is really strong, but make sure visitors know that the most important thing is to involve the kids and treat them as normal.

• Bring the kids something they have been really desperate for from baby

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We did this both times we had have had a baby, and each time it has been really effective and something that has had the desired effect. For weeks (maybe even longer!) Reuben has been begging us for a special toy that he was in love with, we have been telling him that he has to wait until his birthday, however the day that we brought Edith home, we brought him his special toy and told him that his new baby sister brought it for him because she loves him and wanted to bring him something special. We obviously did the same for Toby, he doesn’t quite get it so much, however it still put a big smile on his face!

• Make time

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It’s the most simple one to say, but the hardest one to actually do. This is something that requires work and is going to be a learning curve for everyone – you, Daddy, the kids and the baby. I find that bath times are a really good way to spend some time as a family. I get in the bath tub (or sometimes shower) with Edith and the boys come in with us, Daddy helps by getting everyone dry and sorting out pjs. It’s a way to make ‘family time’ everyday. On top of that, when the baby is sleeping, you can do simple things like read a book with the kids, bake or even set them up to paint. It’s the only way to enjoy time together, but don’t push yourself too hard!

So there you have it, this is how we have integrated our new arrival into the home, I’d love to know if you have anything to add, we could get a lot of ?

Harriet x

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Blois- and how we managed to keep our toddler in a car seat for 9 hours

Later on January we went to Blois, a very beautiful town in the center of France, with a great history a lot of Castles and beautiful surroundings. Why we have chosen this destination? For a simple reason, that we have friends there, and for long time we wanted to visit them, but always there were a question about the easiest and fastest way to get there. As this town is almost 200km away of Paris, and is about 900km away of Barcelona, and always we were on doubt to go there by car or by plane. First one, by car, it always seemed impossible as our toddler was small, and we have never ever done such a long way by car with him, and we thought that it would be tough for him and for us. Second choice, by plane, we were almost decided to by flights, but then we thought that anyway we will have to rent a car in Paris and make 200km by car, and hours spent before the flight, during the flight, renting a car and so on, appears to us that is more likely to be a bad idea. Apart of that while you fly, you do not take all the things you need with you. So, at the end we decided to go by our car, and yes it was tough, and yes we were tired, but we took a lot of things with us, and the result, and sightseeing of the town worth all the efforts we made to get there.

Till the last day we were on doubt when is better to leave, and to go by car, during the day, make a lot of stopovers, and enjoy France as it is a really beautiful country, or to go by night with very few stopovers, and enjoy that our kid sleeps all the way. First choice seemed more attractive, as we like to travel and discover new places, but at the end we have chosen the second choice, easier for us and our toddler. It was a good decision, the better one. Our kid slept all the way to Blois, and we made several stopovers to breathe fresh air and be on our way.

Tips for a night car trip with a toddler:

1. Dress your kid with very comfortable clothes

2. Do not give milk during your trip, and even before the trip, like several hours before only.

3. Leave your kid to go to sleep later than usual, as he gets really tired and fell asleep right away in the car

4. Prepare car seat in a sleeping position

5. Prepare some snacks, as he will asks before sleeping

6. Be aware to make stopovers and take your toddler to the toilet, as it will be a surprise when you are on a highway and your kid is awake and asking for the toilet. (This haven´t happened with us, but we were mostly afraid of this)

7.Relax, there is a long way away.

Some pictures of the beautiful town Blois

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