Parenting blog of a Parisian French expat mum in Canada. About parenthood, photography, bilingualism, languages and the little things in life.
Little Miss Sixtine enjoyed this very easy-to-put-together activity today. You will only need one Ziploc bag (the bigger, the better), some tape and paint. Great to do with the little ones, especially those who still mouth everything like my daughter! Look at the smile on her! Precious!
Sixtine has been exploring the house (which is totally new to her perspective since she was only about 4 months when we left to Paris) for a good two weeks. Climbing, mouthing, touching, messing around and loved every minute of it. She was at first, very attracted to that little stand play table offered to her at Christmas by family members but seems to have lost interest in it. She has lost interest in pretty much all of her toys to be quite honest. What she wants is to play with grown up items, and be with Mama or Papa all the time, see what they are up to. I have come to realize that Sixtine needed a few more toys. I usually put some away for a bit and bring them back out so she does get that sense of ’novelty’ now and then.
I felt bad this afternoon thinking: my baby is bored. I have to find something to entertain her. First, I checked out my favorites on Etsy for Montessori toys, and then my Montessori board on Pinterest, to finally end up on how we montessori‘s website. Kylie has two boys and I have been following her adventures for a while now. I like her simple, honest writing and she is very resourceful.
I was on the look for some ideas of what she did with her son when he was between 9 and 10 months and decided to try playdough with Sixtine for the first time.
Her recipe is very easy and simple to make. It calls for 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 of water, 1/4 cup of salt, 1/2 tbsp of tartar cream, and 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil. I didn’t have tartar so I didn’t use any and it still worked beautifully.
She was extremely excited to see that ball-of-something in my hands and went right at it as soon as I put it on her tray. And put it straight to her mouth. No surprise here! She squished and squished and squished! Shivered here and there (I suppose she didn’t enjoy the salty taste of it but it didn’t stop her from doing it again!)
Results: I think she had a lot of fun. It wasn’t a long-lasting activity as I had to prevent her from eating it pretty much the whole time. I think I will try again in a few weeks time!
What are some go-to activities you do or did with your under one babies?
7/17/2012: Our baby turns 9 months old today. Where did time go?
So what’s with little Miss Sixtine?
I have recently come to the conclusion that wanting a baby girl because they are quiet, calm and sweet wasn’t very accurate. It appears that, as she develops her own personality, my daughter is a real active, fearless girl and I am starting to think…Will she want to go to ballerina classes? Those were my plans for her! She doesn’t take her fearlessness after me as I have always been considered as a “delicate flower”, a very girlie girl. My husband must be over-the-moon excited as he gets 2 for the price of one! “She may enjoy playing hockey”, he even said. Uh, no. Dance, and er..art, and if you really insist maybe figure skating.
Obviously, I love my daughter the way she is and won’t force her to do anything but I am hoping that we will get to share some things together. I am so happy that she is a smart, happy, social, full of life, and risk-taker type of person! I mean I wouldn’t dive off a bed like she does. I know she is only little and she will sure grow and change but she is starting to show us who she is and I love it!
When I first became pregnant, my only wish was to have a healthy pregnancy, delivery and baby. And then, as the pregnancy evolved I started to wish (more or less secretly) that we were expecting a girl. My dad kept saying “It’s a boy, it has to be boy. Nature will make things right…”. He meant balance things up a little bit as he is the father of four girls! And I felt it was a girl but waited until the day it was confirmed: “You are expecting a girl”! It was such a beautiful day.
We were ecstatic and then, after a bit, I felt a little sad for the baby boy we also envisioned and dreamed of…I think we won’t make the same mistake again (talking about two distinct babies – a boy and a girl) and will just talk about “baby” until we find out what baby is as it was really sad to think about that boy we already loved yet didn’t exist in real life.
Some of you may have requested to know the gender of their baby, some others may have waited for it to be a surprise…I was one of those mamas counting down the days to gender revelation day. You should have seen my face! I guess we all have our reasons for wanting a specific gender, or not wanting to know. I was glad we got to know as it helped prepared myself mentally…I think it would have taken me a few weeks to get over the fact that we weren’t having a girl. Don’t take me wrong though. Children are blessings and I would love a baby boy just as I love my baby girl, but some of us can’t help but wish for one or the other. I think I always felt like I would be a mama’s girl. Growing up in a family of 6 including 5 ladies, I never really had close friends that were boys, and I always wanted to have a daughter.
Now, if we were to have another baby some day, I know my husband would love to have a boy and I have to say that I would love to have a baby sister for my daughter but would be just as happy to have a boy, now that the girl box has been ticked!
I would love to hear your thoughts on baby gender! Did you find out the sex of your baby during your pregnancy or did you want the surprise? Why?
Our bumGenius stack (it is missing a few that were in the wash)! Show me yours!
How do you tell such cute face “not your bed! mine!”?
Sixtine used to be a great sleeper. As soon as she turned 2 months, I decided that it was time for her to sleep in her own room. It only took about three days, and perseverance and consistency! Then we went to France for four months and shared the same bedroom. I would go to sleep long after she would but I am pretty sure she was laughing inside knowing exactly what was going on! I am sleeping with Mama! Yay! Now that we are back, Sixtine is almost 9 months, she is teething (her two front upper teeth are piercing through), she is learning a million new tricks everyday and she is facing separation anxiety. Plus, this is a new environment for her, Paris was loud, busy, and the house was filled of laughter, a barking chiwawa dog, aunties and Nana. Here, it is just me and her. And it is as quiet as quiet can be. You may have guessed by now:
She won’t sleep alone! Every time I put her in bed, she screams for me to come back. And she is not pretending, she is really upset, you should see her. It is heart-breaking. I have been rocking her to sleep, cuddling her to sleep, and even lying down in bed with her for two weeks now. She usually sleeps in our bed after she first wakes up in the middle of the night. She sleeps so peacefully when she is with us.
I can’t blame her – she is being such a trooper. She is probably missing what she thought was her home, her aunties, grandmother and all the little things that make you feel come home. She is showing interest in my own little thing that I used to sleep with ( I am using the past here, but really, it is a lie. I still sleep with it.), I think it has my smells and that it comforts her somehow.
I am hoping that it is just a phase and that it will pass. I want her to feel happy in her own bed again.
Not eating sand YET.
I have been looking actively for a new position and in the hope of getting extended a job offer, I have been looking for childcare. I had a spot for Sixtine starting in September but they emailed me to let me know it wasn’t available anymore which left me very little time to organize myself. It was a French ECC – there is only one where I live so I was over-the-moon excited to get a spot! Anyways, I got over it and decided to look for home daycare until I get the Early Childhood Center of my choice. I am very looking forward to going back to work, earn money, learn new things, use my brain a little more and have adult time and conversations but…
…then it hit me: WHAT AM I EVER GOING TO DO WITHOUT MY BABY? I miss her already. She drives me nuts but I love her so so much it hurts. I feel very emotional writing this because I always try to put myself in her shoes and I wonder how she is going to react to our separation. I, for one, know that I am going to miss my daughter like crazy after being 24/7 together for almost 9 months – so 18 months (including pregnancy) of constant love. When my husband got back to work at the end of his vacation, she appeared shy when he got back home. It didn’t last long though and she soon had a huge smile on her face for him but it won’t be the same. Because Sixtine and I have never been separated longer than a few hours (except that London getaway which lasted three days/she cried pretty much the whole time I was away and my heart ached so much). We are very fusional and I have been thinking…
Will she still love me? Will I still be her favorite person in the world? Will she resent me? Am I going to miss her milestones? I knew that separation was inevitable but as it gets closer and closer, and it gets heavier on my heart.
We decided to baptize our daughter a while ago and thought it would be nice for our French family to do it in Paris, since they missed the wedding and the birth of the baby! The great thing was that I was able to celebrate in style with great French boutiques and shops! I was absolutely delighted by My little day and Chez Bogato! You can use all these for other type of celebrationszaQ
Absolutely amazing hopscotch Christening cake by Chez Bogato, 7 rue Liancourt, Paris 14eme.
You can ask them absolutely anything. Anais Olmer will get in touch with you and you can discuss your wants and needs. She is very nice to work with. They then surprise you with something beautiful! I want to add that the cake not only looked amazing, but it tasted really good.
Vintage-inspired party favors for the kids by My little day, online boutique.
My little day is a beautiful site with great products to make wonderful parties for children. If you like pretty little things and are young at heart, you might go crazy and decide to buy everything. My little day will make any party planning, a piece of cake! Dorothee and Gabriella are really friendly and very helpful so go check out their shop and let me know what you think!
Moelleux au chocolat nuage and cupcakes stars by Chez Bogato as well.
Delicious, pretty and cute. What else to say? Chez Bogato is a very small shop/bakery located near Montparnasse in Paris. They also sell sugar cookies, and almost anything edible can be customized. You will also find vintage items such as candies, and kitchen accessories. I am in love!
Recyclable party favor – flower seed kits by recycledideas, Etsy shop.
I really wanted to do something different than sugared almond. To me, they are dreadful. So I looked for something innovative and discovered those flower seed kits while searching on Etsy. I was immediately convinced that they would make great party favors for adults. They were really easy to put together, earth friendly, and I was able to pick the shape of the seeds (sheeps), the colors (ivory, white, and beige), and what I wanted on the little leaflet (name, date, etc…). I am really happy with my choice and I think my guests were pleasantly surprised as well!
Balloons, glass milk, striped straw, place mat and napkins by My little day.
Did I say it was the best party boutique ever? In the world?
Invitations by Simply Stunning Stationery, Etsy Shop.
These invitations came all the way from Australia to France. I would have rather order from France for earth-friendly reasons but they were so beautiful that I couldn’t refrain myself and purchased them. Rachel is a lovely Australian lady and she was very nice!
And last but not least, little Miss Sixtine, wearing her beautiful vintage baby bonnet by 4PennyGirl, Etsy shop.
Sixtine and Papa looking in the same direction – cruise on the river Seine, Paris.
Paris wouldn’t be Paris without the Eiffel Tower. I waited for my husband to arrive to visit it as we had promised each other to do it as a family. I always made sure to check things out on line before going anywhere, and oh no…:
“Access to the Eiffel Tower is currently very difficult due to a technical incident on a lift.Very few tickets are available through our online ticketing system. Waiting time to the ticket office of the monument is likely to be over 2 hours for visitors without a ticket. We regret this situation and apologize to all our visitors for this inconvenience.”
I was very upset to tell my husband that we wouldn’t be able to go inside as Sixtine would probably not deal well with a two-hour queue in the summer heat. He was disappointed but I promised him we’d go by ourselves and queue it all off very soon.
It was a beautiful sunny day. We actually started the day by cruising the Seine with Les Bateaux Parisiens and had a blast! Sixtine stared at the water the whole time and enjoyed the wind on her face, and my husband listened carefully to the history of all monuments and building we were passing by.
La Tour Eiffel is literally a few meters away from the boats dock so it is very convenient. We proceeded to get closer to it and bought crepes on the way. (If you go to Paris, you MUST have crepes. It is just the best thing since sliced bread!) We walked under the Eiffel Tower, checked out the huge queue and sat down on the grass nearby to enjoy our crepes. We had a great weather but it would have been a nightmare to just wait there in the sun so I am glad we took the decision not to go inside.
The following time, we went as a couple ready to queue for a long time. We had the right shoes, the right outfits, cameras, water, everything we needed to make it to the tickets desk. So we started waiting…after ten minutes, my husband decided to take a peek at the “stairs” queue and noticed how much smaller it was. There are over a 1000 steps to the second level. The trick was: we were able to purchase tickets that would take us to the top without queuing the crazy line up. It just took some exercising…a lot of exercising. I felt so out of shape. I had to stop every two flights of stairs to rest for a second (or two). I felt so proud at the end!
The view from the top is absolutely stunning and you can recognize many monuments from there. If you feel fabulous, there is a bar a champagne to celebrate (for about 10 euros if I remember well)! We personally didn’t do it but I think it could be a fun thing to do to mark the occasion. It is definitely worth visiting!
Ps: I didn’t remember the color of the Eiffel Tower. I thought it was grey-ish/green (and I have lived in France for about 24 years of my life…) but no, it’s bronze. Go figure!
Four months ago, I left Prince Edward Island, Canada, with my daughter and two huge suitcases a little unexpectedly. My husband and I decided I needed to go for a family cure. I was extremely homesick, sad and tired. We didn’t want it to affect the baby and thought it would be the best for everyone on the long run. We left PEI on a stormy day and arrived in sunny France the following day. I felt better almost instantly. After a month, I did feel that I felt good enough to go but my husband had planned to come for a two-week visit later in June so we stayed in France with my family.
It feels like we had been gone for a year. Or that we lived here in another life.It is still the same yet things have changed. I feel different…Sixtine is not the tiny baby she used to be. She is a very active little girl and I am a happy Mama. It was heart-breaking to leave my husband and be separated for so long but I am so glad I went to France. We had a wonderful time there and 3000 pictures later, I can say: “I am ready to conquer the world”.
Welcome & thank you for visiting my blog ! My name is Deb, I am a 28-year old Parisian French expat mum and I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada with my husband and beautiful daughters Sixtine and Victoire. I am an amateur photographer, and I write about parenting, and the little things in life that matter. Stay in touch !
