We are finally back in Estonia. I love to observe how much he has grown up in the last few weeks, he plays with his toys a bit differently, more maturely, he can e.g. keep his train on the track, he can throw almost all shapes in the shape sorter, he can finally put a lego block on a lego base (now he knows he has to push the block in, before he would just put it on) and he walks so much better and further. Aww, my baby is growing up, exciting and a bit scary, can't imagine him being a kindergarten-er. 

But it is still more fun to drive off-railroad :)

The thing for carrying huge stuff is still on :-) Picture from the Prague Airport.

Bath-hater???

Another super-annoying thing happened 3 days ago, he started screaming in the bath, so since he is not getting a bath because he is super-scared of it. WTF? How? He was such a bath-lover? What happened? What to do? He can't go without a bath forever...

Out of order

Even though I did try, we are totally off our daily routine, it felt impossible to keep our rhythm in a family with another one and in another time zone (even one hour counts!)

Teodor didn't want to eat for the first week and something, maybe different cooking, maybe different high chair, maybe the buzz around (in contrast with our very quiet household), maybe it was just the change or me being too pushy, who knows? It got better, though, I gave up and he is partly on baby food jars as he was starting to lose weight.

Unlike with the food, his sleep got even worse than it was before. The first night he would wake up every hour, the next night too, then it got a bit better, now he sleeps more or less like at home, so that's not the problem, making him sleep got totally out of hands. I kinda blame my mum's obsession to stroll around with him. She started making him sleep in the stroller, so now I am unable to make him sleep just in bed as it was before. And it takes ages, sometimes he even doesn't fall asleep (the stroller does not work 100%), so I have a 14-month old who sometimes doesn't get a daynap, it's quite a cut from two naps per day. Not to mention how whiny he gets without his naps. Or maybe it is tooth no.2 on the way? Whatever it is, I can't wait for it to be over. I can't wait to go back to Tallinn and get back on tracks with our routines.

Goodbye to his first real shoes

I sold his Livie and Luca Fox Grey shoes today. I am a bit sad about it because maybe I should have put them in his memory box marked as"shoes you did not like to wear".

I decided not to buy Livie and Luca shoes any more, I was so not happy with the quality, a few weeks ago I even noticed that the inner stiches were finished with a little bump, which felt a bit itchy. The stiching and gluing was generally not very good. Not to mention they were too wide for Teodor. Otherwise I was very happy with their barefoot side and how easy it was to put them on.

And these are the replacement shoes to be ordered: Bulgarian well-praised brand Zeazoo.

Simple countryside life

When I see him how much he enjoys simple countryside fun, I'm getting seriously annoyed by the fact we still do not have a house and there is actually quite a little chance to get it any time soon as I do not plan to go back to work next year, which will cut our income into half and we want to start our own business, which is another black hole for money (hopefully we'll manage to earn it back)

I sometimes try to make up some sophisticated fun for him like  riding his motorbike, which included a serious talk about the necessity of wearing a helmet (Teodor still thinks it is one of the most annoying things in his life).

And this is what he considered as a fun...

Mother, take off my helmet because...

I need to go chase chickens.

I tried to persuade him that the motorbike is fun one more time, I thought the smooth surface would make him go...

I was wrong, again. First we were watching a dog, then a man building a fence and then he finally found the entertainment he was longing for - throwing stones into a creek - made him busy for cca 20 minutes. 

It seems to be so easy to make him busy when the weather is fine...It is not like we couldn't do these in the city, but it is so much more complicated, you have to bring everything out (and back, nothing can stay outside unattended for more than a couple of minutes) and you have a feeling you are under your neighbour's watch.

practising in real life the skill gained from his Melissa and Doug Latches Board

Watching sheep with grandma.

Walking home from sheep-watching. He got this col car from my uncle. He is not a fan of riding on anything outside, otherwise he loves this car.

Helping grandma to put cherries on the cake.

Playing with water, pity it was hot only at the beginning of our stay.

The problem arises when the weather gets rainy, for some reason I expected it to be really hot, so I didn't bring our bad weather clothes. It is a bit boring at his grandparents' house, my mum is always trying to make him play with his cars, which was fun at the beginning, but now he starts to agree with me that it is kinda boring, but my mum doesn't seem to be willing to offer him any other kind of fun ("boys play with cars"). We are spending most of the time in the village - it would be wonderful if I had friends here and if they had children (ideally older and willing to play with Teodor)...but I don't, so I am not having as much fun as Teodor has here. 

The best fun ever

Chasing chickens, ducks or any other birds...

My little strong ant

Transporting big stuff is becoming a thing? :)

Meet his Schleich farm animals

Almost each of them is made in another country. They are so real-life looking. I am very happy with them and have a feeling we need more. Can't wait for him to get older and start playing with them. 

Try guessing which one is his favourite? (see the post about our trips to the zoo to find the answer)

Zoo

We took two trips to the zoo in June, one in Tallinn and the other one in Prague.

We started the "zoo season" on 1 June on Children's Day as the ticket was half-price, I went alone with Teodor, the dad had to work. 

Out only picture together :) (can you see how well matching is my scarf and his jacket?)

Tallinn Zoo is small, half-renovated and they don't have cool animals like hippos, but they have ducks and they are overall everything Teodor needs to be happy.

I didn't take our stroller with us because I didn't want to fight for space on public transport (my thinking: cheaper tickets=lots of people coming) - I haven't seen anybody babywearing in the whole zoo...but lots of mothers were carrying their babies in their arms and I was thinking why do they make life more difficult for themselves?, you know, you can just buckle your tot in and carry them comfortably without any back pain. Anyway, I missed the stroller for storing our stuff...it is more comfortable to push your stuff around than carry it over your shoulder while your toddler is on your back.

I was so proud of Teodor walking, he kept the direction and walked a lot. It was a great walk and well-spent afternoon.

Prague Zoo is so much bigger and nicer. In my very personal opion, Tallinn Zoo management should learn from Prague Zoo about using donations from companies and common people.

He liked the penguins a lot, he learnt to sign them the day before and one penguin was swimming there and back, it made totally Teodor's day, he could laugh his head off.

With his penguin buddy

The children's zoo was great, unlike in Tallinn, you are not allowed here to enter and pet the animals. It is made in village style and I liked it a lot. So did Teodor. (I dont have a picture, but you can google it)

Guinea pig

Watching ducks, I guess.

It was possible to borrow a buggy for free at the entrance. It was mostly used for my mum's backpack.

Us with elephants in the background :))) (the elephants were too big and didnt fit in the picture :))

I consider it super-important that Teodor sees the real animals, especially those ones he knows from pictures. We will keep on going to the zoo on a regular basis, I hope/promise.

Train lover

He loves his wooden Brio train -  it has a perfect size for his small hands. 

He loves to push it on different surfaces and it is a great helper when feeding him. Now he even understands the magnet thing, that if it doesnt work on one side, he has to turn it to the other one. 

He also loves travelling by real trains probably because he can run around :) Not only being on a train is a wonderful pastime, but watching them choo - chooing by is not any less fun. My parents live near a railroad and it seems like a perfect fit for him because he can see a lot of them. In Estonia there is only one type of trains, here are so many. When he hears a train going by, he instantly starts to make "sh-sh goo-goo" sound (it is what Czech trains make, more or less). 

Our new waldorf stuff

I am thrilled to bits about it...and I am not ashamed to admit it. I wish we already had a house, so we would have space for all the cool stuff (even though hoarding stuff is not something promoted in Waldorf philosophy)

Waldorf doll with a bed

The doll is custom-made on fler.cz and I love it. Teodor ignored it at first, but now he starts to notice it and puts it in a big bed and then back to its own bed, then he covers the doll with the blanket (usually the face, not its legs). My mum also taught him to push it in a big stroller - it is adorable and makes me want to buy him Haba wooden doll buggy.

The bed was also bought on fler.cz - it is not exceptional quality but the ratio price/quality is very good, so I am happy with it, too.

Creative stuff out of bee vax

I couldn't wait to see Teodor painting with these, but again, he showed very little interest in them. He prefers drawing with a pen, probably because he sees us with pens, not drawing blocks? Maybe he is still very young for those. But he enjoyed dropping the crayons on the floor and breaking them. 

Drawing blocks/crayons and modelling bee vax

Mr. Artist working

Result of his "boom"

Tree building blocks

Seeing a bunch of branches in our garden made me thinking...it is a great opportunity to get waldorf blocks for small money :)) So I asked my dad to cut some, he was so happy about it, he likes to be useful and praised. Totally win-win situation. I can't believe I'm going to bring a bunch of wood by plane :) 

Another great thing? I totally don't care if he destroys it.

Bugs in my head

There are two things on my mind lately:

• Simplicity in a toddler's life
• Bedtime routines

I am planning to write a very long philosophical post on the topic of simplicity, but I will get to it properly another time...just want to note that I was thinking about it today, like how much a child probably benefits from simple activities like splashing the water or transporting a huge cardboard box around rather than from trips to amusement parks (or playgroups or whatever we are advertised to think as important for a child's development/amusement). This is kinda difficult for me, I am a mall person, I love the fast speed of the city,... will talk about it deeper in the planned post :)¨

Creating a bedtime routine is another thing bugging my mind...It takes too long and he seems not to get enough of sleep at night, so I wish for creating a clear bedtime routine for him hoping he will start falling asleep faster...

The key problem is timing his sleep, he seems to still need 2 naps per day, which shifts the bedtime to 9-10pm, if he gets one nap per day, he falls asleep at 6pm, which is too early, he might wake up at 7 and be awake till 10 or wake up at 9 and be awake till 10/11... No matter what what time he falls asleep, he is awake by 7am.

I have a feeling he would be able to fall asleep between 7-8pm (even with 2 naps per day), but at 7pm his dad comes home and it's way too exciting...he has to spend an hour following his dad, which postpones the bedtime, I understand his need for the daddy time, but... Maybe the dad should take over the bedtime? (but he usually refuses saying he doesn't want to fall asleep) How to structure the bedtime? Bath, dinner, book, songs, breast? I am now thinking also about googling some calming toddler massages...I feel like our biggest bedtime issue is him calming down. Once in a blue moon I manage to make him sleep in the right time and he falls asleep within 10 minutes (instead of an hour or hour and half). Otherwise, I have to put him in Tula carrier in which he calms down and then is able to fall asleep while nursing...One hour of my time, twice or three times a day. 

What are your bedtime routines? 

How did the flight go?

Very differently from what I expected. Obviously he is not a fan of travelling neither by car or by plane because when we got on-board, he started screaming and was not happy for the whole flight. Luckily, that flight took about 20 minutes, so it was manageable.

Coming to Helsinki

When we got on the other plane, he  became very vocal again...so after the take off, I buckled him in Tula baby carrier and started walking there and back, there and back, tried to breastfeed him, tried to make him pee (it was a few hours since he peed last time), walked there and back, went to the toilet with him again, walked there and back...and then he finally fell asleep (without peeing). The flight attendats must have been very happy that I was always in their way.

He spent most of the second flight in Tula, which was great (for him, not that much for me). When he woke up, he finally peed, and then was playing with his Brio wooden train and afterwards he got very busy with sticking stickers into his sticker book. He dived into sticking stickers so much that we even didnt notice we had already landed :) 

At the airport he finally let me feed him (for the first time that day) and we were ready for the adventure of getting to my parents´ house...

Ready for a take off?

No, not realy. It's almost 10pm and so far I've packed only Teodor's clothes. I decided to wake up early tomorrow to pack it all up because, well, I am a last-minute packer. Good luck to me.

We are going to take a 30-minute flight to Helsinki, I suppose he won't need much entertainment on that flight, it's basically a take-off and landing. Then we will run to another plane, take off, and then the fun will begin. The magnetic drawing board is a huge success in the last few days, hope he will still enjoy it on-board, a sticker book and a new picture book will surely entertain him for some time and then, I hope, he will fall asleep in Tula and I will enjoy at least 30 minutes of sitting undisturbed.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, it's gonna be a loong day tomorrow...not to mention I will have to deal with my overwhelming family.

Building his self-confidence

I know I am repeating myself but it's striking me again how important it is to let the child help you. He is so happy if I let him feel useful. His face reflects pride when I ask him to bring his T-shirts to the drawer (and he does), it is like he feels he is not a incapable baby any more...Let your child help you with the chores even if it means much more work for you, but your toddler will eventually get better at it and maybe one day they will take over :) 

Today I asked him to bring his socks to his dad and he did, it is amazing to see my child growing up, understanding simple commands and happily fulfilling them. Wish he was so obedient to his mum even later in life :))

Bringing his T-shirts to his chest of drawers. It was impossible to take a picture of him, he was running there and back happily...

Helping with putting away clean diapers.

Melissa and Doug toys

They are absolutely worth the money (they are considerably more expensive in Estonia than on amazon), not that much because of the quality, but mostly because Teodor plays with their toys every day. They keep him busy for dozens of minutes and that's amazing considering he is 14 months old. Another great feature I see in some of their toys is the multiple use, for example the latches board is now used for opening-closing doors, opening-closing the locks and recognizing the animals behind doors, but later it can be used for sorting colours. The house is now used for trying to open the locks, opening-closing doors, putting people in and out, walking with the people on the floor, but later it can be used for a pretend play. If we buy batteries, the ring bells would start ringing...not sure if I want to listen to that, so maybe he will never know about the "battery function". 

Latches board, so far he can open/close doors no. 3,6 and 4, currently he is working on closing no. 5.

 The house 4 doors with 4 different keys and 4 people. He is trying really hard to put the key inside of the lock, but it is still too challenging for him...but obviously not too much because he keeps trying.

A person living behind the door :)

Hammer game and a ball run in one. He loves this toy. The only problem is he likes to hit the coffee table with the hammer. 

I am not sure if this is Melissa and Doug toy, but bought it in the same shop as the other ones, it is a sound ball run, a lot of fun, too.

Walker, a nice idea, but the crocodiles stopped working quite instantly and the dad says they are so difficult to repair. Also the back wheel tend to loosen. Also not very suitable for outdoors. Currently lent to a friend and her daughter who is learning to walk.