Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Just a quick note to every mother out there…..let your little/big ones spoil you rotten on your special day!
Love Vero x
Between Friends
‘Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.’
‘How are the things between Matilda and certain someone?’ ‘Err, err…okish’, trying to avoid the deep analysis of the true state of the things. ‘Oh, lets go for a coffee, you look like you need one.’ ‘Do I?’ It must be the lack of the time I have got for myself in the morning and that is, needless to say no matter how early I wake up. Trying to chase Tilly off to school on time – making sure she is dressed, fed and equipped with book bag and lunch box seems to be impossible task. Last thing I really need is to be greeted at the school gates with the problem I am desperately trying to avoid. Reason being is I cannot think of solution. Whichever way I look at it, no matter how deeply I discuss it, there is no way out of it without truly hurting someone’s feelings. And as much as I want for my daughter to learn from the situation that much I want to protect her. So after hours of clutching the cup of coffee and listening to how important is it to organize play dates, and making as many friends as possible, I can’t stop thinking about how to STOP my daughter from socializing with this little girl called Naomi. It also makes me think and write about friendship. How many friends is enough? Are those early connections our children make really that innocent? Or is it the social pressure that makes us rush into relationships and holds on to them no matter what?
I knew I will never have to worry about my little girl and her capability of connecting with that special someone. She was/is always happy, compassionate and easy going little girl. I believed and let her believe that two people will always recognize this goodness in each other and connect over it. There was no reason not to believe it, and as we started our first social outings we have made some great connections that we cherish to this day.
We have met Michelle and her mom in a baby group and she has been like a sister to us.
Kai and his mom bring that cheeky chappy element to our live.
Sienna and her mom are our soul mates as we share the love for great outdoor and everything girly and pretty.
We have also made great friends via social networking with Alexey Kareem and his mom who don’t live nearby so we get to see them only over holidays but they are great fun to hang out with.
And I cannot forget our little friend in Prague Tina and her mom and twins and Vendy with their mom who keep us on our toes where language and different culture is regarded.
We love them all, but our greed got better of us and we/I wanted more.
It comes to no surprise that I was super excited about Tilly starting school. An opportunity for us to make some new – fresh connections. Matilda has embarked on this journey of discovery, changing her mind every day about who she likes the best and who she wants to hang out with outside the school gates until she finally settled for this cute and pie little girl. However, instead of laugh there was cry, instead of gentle interaction there were physical attacks, instead of happiness there is a fear. I had to watch my little girl being almost strangled as a part of a fun game invented by Naomi. I am to watch her as she kicks my little baby because she refuses to share with her scooter. The other day she pushed Tilly on to the busy road as we walked home, just for the fun of it. No one got hurt and yes I had a word with her mom who just shrugs her shoulders and laughs it off or makes silly excuses such as her daughter is really tired and she means no harm. I feel as it is my responsibility to resolve this even if it means stepping in and taking charge or my daughter’s social life. Every morning I remind my naïve daughter to not to play Naomi and that it is NOT OK for someone to kick you, hit you or abuse you in any other way. I teach her that it is OK not to be friends with everyone. After all, shouldn’t friendship be about shared commitment to good? So next time they ask me how are the things between me and Naomi’s mom I won’t be ashamed to say that we parted our ways as we did not share the same/similar views on what healthy relationship is about. In a meantime we are happy with our little friends that are good to us and stick with us through thick and thin. Still, we are open to add some more in future as life is definitely richer when shared with that someone special.
Love
Veronika x
If you face similar dilemma, or just want to know more about children and friendship check these friendly sites.
| Aged 3/4 | Children start to use the term ‘friend’ to describe playmates |
| Aged 4/7 | Children start to appreciate that own views and identity is different from others |
| Aged 6/12 | Children start to be able to ‘put themselves in other peoples’ shoes’. |
| Aged 9/15 | Children/young people are able to take on the perspective of a ‘third person’; to look at interactions and, thus, to work on relationships. |
| Aged 12+ | There is a recognition that individual friendship is part of a larger network of relationships |
DVF loves Gap and I love DVF
“This collection is all about celebrating life and celebrating colors. A little girl, the minute she is born, she already is the woman she will become… so, to empower a girl is to empower the woman she will become.”
(DVF on her collaboration with Gap)
At the heart of the collection are vintage Diane von Furstenberg prints, including the instantly recognizable hibiscus and leaf motifs. Diane’s signature prints meet Gap’s relaxed style, and are playfully mixed, encouraging young girls to be bold and play with their personal style. The legendary wrap is re-invented with a child-like higher waist detail, in structured cotton or as a jersey romper shape for babies and toddlers. The dress collection continues with a series of exquisite cotton shift dresses that incorporate print with a refined appliqué daisy detail or delicate layers of cotton voile, as well as an elegant white cotton eyelet style that’s perfect for the Summer months.
This collaboration is following in the footsteps of the most recent Stella McCartney line for Gap Kids and BabyGap. Stella McCartney ended up launching her own exclusive range of children’s wear. DVF has already debuted her maternity range so one wonders if kids’s fashion is in her future after all…
Oh what a doll!
When I was a little girl, I had a rag doll
Only doll I’ve ever owned
Now I love you just the way I loved that doll
Only now my love has grown …
(RiverDeep, Montain High- lyrics)
I have been meaning to make a rug doll for my little one ever since she was a baby. But life took over and I quite never got around doing it. Instead I have bough her one – ‘emergency one’. Still, the lack of time did not stop me from searching around for that perfect inspiration. Many of you might be familiar with Jess Brown’s rug dolls but for those who are not let me introduce you to the ‘ultimate’ rug doll there is out there!
Jess Brown is inspired by beautiful textiles, she started to make dolls for her children 11 years ago and used old cashmere sweaters and recycled fabrics. She searched flea markets for unique antique buttons, trims and other useful materials and started to make one of kind dolls. Each doll is hand dyed in Persian black teas to create variations in skin tones. Each doll is stuffed with sustainable corn fibre stuffing and they are all made of cotton muslin and linen. Heaven if you ask me!
The dolls are ever so unique and popular that Mrs Brown was commissioned various collaborations. One being a super cute photo essay by Stephanie Rausser called Kiki&Coco in Paris, documenting a day in a life of a girl and her doll and their journey through Paris which resulted in one of the sweetest books I have ever seen.
Jess was also commissioned by Bottega Veneta to create life-size dolls for their window displays. Absolutely adorable idea and even cuter execution! And as Jess’s creativeness knows no boundaries she has also launched her woman’s collection of soft linen tops and knitted shawls.
Seee you soon
Vero x
Love is in the Air…
There is something so sweet about taking a day – a week – a month to celebrate love. I know, Valentine day is commercial … but if one turns a blind eye to all the fuss it can instead be a great excuse
to bake heart shaped biscuits
to serve out kids pink milk and hearts shaped pancakes for an after school snack…
to sip hot cocoa with marshmallows out of a dainty cup
to send our loved ones handwritten notes
Or you can simply go down the commercial road and buy something lovely for those special people in your life just to remind them that you still care or just simply make them happy!
Here are few ideas for grown ups:
a. Wine in the Park b.Personalised Dictionary Extract Cufflinks c. Aspinal of London coin purse d. Bunny Ring Holder e. Bird Feeder f. Stargazer Stellarscope g. Handmade shell Heart h. My Life Story Diary
Ideas for Babies:
a. Noah Ark Shape Sorter b. Black Rocking Lamb c. Set of Wooden Musical Toys d. Wooden Truck e. Kitty Pull Along f. spinning tops g. Maileg bunnies and pram
Ideas for Kiddies
a. Doctor’s Case b. Tea Set c. Mouse CheeseBoard Solitaire d. Skipper toay Sailing Yacht e. Soldier Skittle set f. Weaving Loom g. Pirate ship wooden h. Race Cap and Glasses i. Retro Racing Car j. London in Bag k. Valentine Dog Picture l. Magnetic Fishing Game m. Stargaze Kit
Ideas to give out to your kids’s little friends
Happy Valentine!
Veronika x
Guess what?
Guess what?… I have been offered a post of guest columnist for amazing and oh so stylish Babiekins Magazine! My column will be posted every Wednesday so enjoy!
Love Veronika x
Story Time!
‘Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.’
Let me tell you a story. A story of a girl who as soon as she opens her eyes she imagines herself being a baby bear who munches on porridge made by Goldilocks, a girl who takes telescope to park so she can spot a shark in a park, a girl who loves eating ‘ocean nibbles’(fish fingers to you) that has collected at the bottom of the ocean with her fellow mermaids – a girl who’s head is full of stories. A day doesn’t go by without her making us laugh out loud with one of her made up story.
I so desperately wanted her to have the same passion for literature so I surrounded her with books even before she was born. I know mad! Still, I found out I was pregnant in the final year of my literary degree which made my little ‘peanut’ exposed to all sorts of texts from Contemporary and classical to poetry and critical as well as to fashion gossip.
Over the years we have collected many books, some of them came to us in a form of a gift, some of them we borrowed from local library (and we wished we never returned them), but most of them we own. Matilda is imaginative child with great vocabulary and logic of her own, which I believe has been encouraged through reading. She has learned to love books for what they can offer to us, for the ideas they transmit, for all they teach us, for the endless places they take us through their narratives. She learned to love books because through them she can travel through time and space, and can visit places as exotic as her imagination allows. So, let me tell you a story of a girl who loves stories and let me share some of those story books with you.
From our house to yours,
Love
Veronika x
Books that made us laugh out loud
Books that helped us tickle moral issues
Books we read when we struggle with sleep
Books about animals that we love so much
and at last but not least thumbs up for our favorite Author and favorite Illustrator!
Bloom Through the Gloom!
We are now mere two weeks away from the grand year finale, and I have already found my self day dreaming of sandy beaches. How does one substitute for the lack of sugar supplies (yeah finally even supermarkets stopped selling Christmas sugary traps), a lack of sleep (back on old same old commute) and a lack of daylight ( no more fairy lights to make city -neighbourhood - world a better place)?
Christmas decoration is down, the trees are gone so is the spirit as it seems. It is slightly depressing passing-by lonely, empty flower pots in my garden, but somehow I cannot bring myself to do something about it. And while my flower pots are still waiting to house those beautiful hyacinths I have chosen for them from local florist, shops are already blooming with new S/S ’12 arrivals. Believe me nothing beats the blues as a spot of window shopping! Tiresome Sales seemed to go on forever this year. One cannot help, but weep with joy at the sight of eye watering shades of yellow, fuchsia and lime brought in to lighten up even the darkest wardrobe.
Go on girls/boys, fill up your virtual baskets with bright denim pieces, flowery prints and nautical stripes. Go on, wrap up your holiday dreams with the latest chunky knitwear as spring days can still be bit breezy. Lead the way out of the gloomy January with your tots geared up in scrumptious shades of the season yet to come!
Love
Veronika x
LOOKBOOK
New Year’s resolutions…
…it got me thinking, one thing that made 2011 such a damn bad year must be because of my lack of goal-setting, vison casting and forward- thinking. I am very much in a present kind of girl, maybe planning a little bit, like for what to wear the next day but that is as far as my life plan goes. It must be because I kind of love the flexibility of my schedule. I hate deadlines, I hate targets and what i more I hate life plans. I love to live in a spur of the moment and take life as it comes but just maybe this year i am going to be bit more constructive with the vision of what my life should be.
So here I am, dont worry I am not going to write down the list of things that only I can find interesting or worth of putting down in writing. Here is printable for you or you lovely offsprings from Mickey. Let your little ones fill it in, stuck in onto your fridge or frame it and you never know you might find out that your child/ren has/have more clearer idea of their life path then we adults will ever have.My baby daughter knows for sure that in 2012 she will definitely fly to the stars. Oh well, one never knows what is in stars for himself so feel brave enough fill your own resolution card as Mickey has got a grown up version on her site as well.
