Before anything… You see those picket fences above? Dear husband meticulously cut and glued those one by one. Isn’t he something? 🙂
Anyway… 🙂
There are two things my daughter look forward to before and after nap time. One is that I read to her a Beatrix Potter story before she settles down and the other is having Tea Time after they take their nap.
Kids and Moms making their DIY tea bags to bring home.
Materials Needed:
A lot of felt! Cut out several to make the body of the Tea Bag.
Cut different colors for the spout and handle of the tea pot as well.
Different colors and shape of felt, buttons & sparkly stuff – to embellish the bag.
Ribbon/yarn – for the handle of the bag itself.
A tool to make holes on the bag for the ribbon/yarn to go through.
(My hole puncher didn’t work. Husband used a tool from his swiss knife instead)
Craft glue or fabric glue and glue gun (assign the glue gun to a mom).
A little after lunch, she would head for the bookshelf. This past year, it was all about Beatrix Potter stories! There seems to be something about these short stories and illustrations that help dear daughter create her own little world. The slow pace and intertwined plots of each story capture and actually hold her attention. A charming simplicity and quaintness, if I may say so.
We cuddle in a corner before nap time and she begins to listen to tales of Peter Rabbit, the Flopsy Bunnies, Mrs. Tittlemouse and her other furry friends.
After nap, we all have yummy/special snacks and “tea”. We either paint, draw on our nature journals, bake, listen to music, look at paintings, or work on handicrafts. It is this hour of the day that helps and reminds me to slow down and just enjoy hanging out with the kids. I treasure these unhurried moments. And I could see that dear daughter loves it as well!
Therefore, a Peter Rabbit Tea Party for her 4th birthday! 🙂
She has been eagerly waiting for her birthday! We usually hear kids say, “are we there yet?”, but for her it would be, “Am I 4 yet?”. Reaching four years old means a lot of things to her – more privileges, more school work, being taller, more permission to help in the kitchen, and becoming a big girl. But to myself, it only means one thing: she’s growing, and she’s growing fast.
My kids are in a hurry to add a year to their lives while I do all I can to postpone it – trying to keep things slow and relish in each moment.
How do I try and achieve that? I learned a nugget of wisdom from my Mother-in-Law when she talked about “Quality Time” in one of her parenting talks. She mentioned that parents have this concept of spending “Quality Time” with little kids. Usually, we parents think that “Quality Time” needs to be well thought of, that it has to be elaborate, that there ought to be some special bonding activity with them from time to time to make up for lost moments. But what we don’t understand is that giving them our undivided attention, whether it be sitting on the floor building legos, playing pretend with the doll house, or merely taking a walk, already IS quality time in their eyes.
To our children, all time spent with them is automatically quality time. What they want and yearn for is how much time we can spend being with them. For them, the more the quantity IS quality.
This is something that I need to remind myself of regularly. And when I do remember, I start trying to “live in the moment”, and time does go a little slower.
She has had her 1st, 2nd, and then her 3rd.
And now 4 years old 🙂
This dear daughter of mine has her own unique flavor of teaching me how to be a parent. I have had some “practice” with her older brother with how the routines go but she made me realize that children are not part of the routine. Rather, they are what the routines are built around. She showed me the importance of knowing and really building a relationship. My being Nanay/mom does not mean that I automatically have a *relationship* with her. I have to work on it too.
All in all, it’s just such a privilege seeing her bloom before my eyes.
Our pink knight (she refuses to be called a princess),
No need to grow up too fast, anak.
Happy 4th birthday.
Looking forward to more Tea Time with you.