Month: August 2012

Mama’s Visit

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Okay, I have been lazy and haven’t posted for while but it was all for a good reason. We had mum visiting with us for almost two weeks and our mission has been to make sure mum had the time of her life. We took Mum to visit places of interest to her: a day trip to mount Athos and visits to Thessaloniki’s old catacombs. We encouraged her to try new things: gyros(a much yummier version of kebab!), wonderful home made sweets from as many zaxaroplastias(Greek sweet shops) we could and a swim in the sea had been on our to-do-list! Most importantly, we allowed her to spend time with her granddaughter and re-acquaint with Emma as a little girl full of stories, opinions and love for her Bica. Mum left today and we feel our  mission has been achieved in its most important task: Emma begged her till the last moment to stay with us as there is room for her here! There were tears and sadness but more important, there were memories created …

New discoveries

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I am always on the look out for good websites where I can find inspiration and ideas to be a better mum. Today I run into I Can Teach My Child and I was very pleasantly surprised to find a LOT of resources, printouts and parenting tips. The website is very neatly organised into themes and ages so you can find what you’re looking at a click of a button. I’m so impressed with it that I think I’m gonna make it a tradition to write about excellent parenting websites every time I find one! My challenge to you all(and to myself) will be to do one respective website-inspired activity with Emma or apply one tip to my daily life! Happy Sunday, everyone! P.S.-this is not a sponsored post, by the way!  

Parenting with less grace. Remedies

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I have been struggling with some of Emma’s behaviour lately. Or maybe not only lately but my reactions have become more dramatic and anything to be proud of. I shout and I smack. There, I said it. I do it in certain circumstances and I thought I might be brave and share them with you just in case other mothers struggle with the same things. 1. My number one trigger is TIREDNESS. Both mine and hers. When we’re both tired and short-fused and when I expect Emma to sleep and she plays up(quite expertly lately, I must add!) I lose it. And it’s not a pretty sight. Remedy: stick to a sleeping routine even if it’s painstakingly difficult to do it. Reinforce your words and actions(thank you, Supernanny!) until the child understands you mean business. Even if that means putting her back into her bed 100 times until she’s dead tired of playing the same boring game. AVOID sleepover with relatives less aware of routine/unwilling/unsupportive. 2. BOREDOM. Yeap, we’re all guilty of it as mothers. …

Random thoughts

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I have been wishing for another child for a while. Convincing hubby is another story given the rough start with Emma, his being self-employed and working all hours and what I call a man-characteristic fear of  increased responsibility. This post is not to give you the good news I managed to convince him but just to reminiscence over Emma’s growth through pictures from my old phone. The quality may not be great, but the cuteness is extreme, be warned :-)! P.S. – Emma is doing a much better job at convincing daddy anyway, she has been carrying this baby doll around for the past two days,cuddling and kissing it and meeting its every need and melting his heart…