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║today my way║























Today was a good day. Sunny to the blinding point, cold yet mild enough to feel relaxed and abundant in activities of sorts. We like to visit places for the first time however we absolutely don't mind checking in again and again. Bournemouth Oceanarium is such a nice place aimed at kids from different age groups with animal feeding times happening every half an hour to their hearts delight (both kids and animals). It was a great occasion to go and having Nadia as my sweet companion was a highlight of the trip. Walking past the big Amazonian fish was definitely one of the scariest experiences so I tried not to get her out of her comfort zone and we swooshed ahead to admire more pleasant species like puff fish or seahorses. There were sharks and turtles of course, there was not just one happy child too. Overall we had a great time and wouldn't mind taking advantage of the place pretty soon.

►► See what I'm talking about? Not so friendly looking fellas ;)

Have a lovely long Easter holiday, friends!
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This is a post of what we do best when we're at our most productive. Or I should have actually started that this is what Nadia does best but I assign some cutting and attaching tasks to myself so yes, we're all in it. School started last week so in slow motion everything falls into place, hair familiarizes itself with abundance of elastics, later then usual nights are far and almost forgotten. Every morning before we see the sunlight the rushing begins -- sleep washed from faces, packing daily essentials, making important hair decisions and checking school uniform for stains and tears. We do watch early kids channel too while influencing some cereal and tea. And off for the bus we go, scooter in hand and a book bag hanging from the stronger shoulder. We like our mornings, predictable and manageable on most days because there's always a room for chaos if you're aware of it or not.

Every time new chapter in our lives begins, excitement merges with aggravation, all parties included. New expressions emerge, words flow rapidly or are purposefully denied. We get it each time it occurs, most times a cuddle and a whisper is all that can help to pause and start inhaling rhythmically. Now and again I point to Damian we get a taste of what it will look like when Nadia's a teenager - against everybody and everything in sight. But we all get stressed at least five times during the course of a day struggling to come out untouched, why being so meticulous to ensure our children are safe from even a dash of cortisol? Handling it right is the answer, installing a way of dealing with meltdowns as a result of regular situations and starting school is one of them. Having to wake up brisk is one of them. Eating within a set period of time is one of them. But I like the way it's going, we're all adjusting trying to make it easy on everybody (for mama skipping eyeliner and a blush most times does the trick).

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 Before school invited all sorts of new behaviour we looked through a vast amount of drawings Nadia was involved in this year. Pile of shapes and hand made books awaited their big moment (she's simply obsessed - glue, stapler, sellotape, you name it, she's used it all to create one and only publications). I've been collecting lots of things that belonged to Nadia - her first pair of shoes, favourite cup she no longer uses, first tooth omitted by a Tooth Fairy so it's understandable I'd preserve the art that circulates in abundance around here. We've done it before, this time I introduced a folder full of clear pouches for things of irregular size and shape and of course simple binding a pile of drawings never gets old. One day I want to organize it and lay all her treasures together - for me to look at when she's studying away or traveling or just sitting next door painting nails. All memories locked in a Moroccan straw basket or wooden box upholstered in pink put away on the highest shelf next to hat boxes and Christmas decorations because the most wonderful part of all this is, it's priceless because it's hers. Excitement preserved in the best of ways. My take on a treasure.

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What I love about this stage in Nadia's life is that we're never short of activities we can do together. I thought those will be gradually wearing off and her independence would call loud and clear from not afar but there are still moments and things company of others is most needed -- to explain something or just cut the stubborn bit of paper because with sprinkles she's perfectly fine on her own. It was a sunny afternoon, we read a bit, ate and rested so finding another thing to do before going to bed was easy - we love princesses as much as we love drawing them. Add some twine, drinking straw and we made ourselves our own hanging decorations. Or puppets if the day is still young enough to put on a show. The whole project is easy like my morning routine - draw or cut out a shape of a doll/hero/even your own photo, cut and glue a piece of straw onto the finished doll, intersperse a piece of twine through it, attach hands and legs and voila! Done and amazed. The final product can be as weird or simple as you wish, I have a vision of creating Halloween decorations with their limbs hanging spookingly and throwing harmless looks in pairs or individually. Imagination is the boss here and we've been blessed with a really efficient one.

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paper dolls, learning, doll hanging, blonde doll, todaymyway.com
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Enjoy the week, friends!

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Is it a girl's or her mother's dream to spend time nearly flying around the ballroom so light and graceful in each pose only a handful of people will experience without much struggle? Some will even dedicate a life to it. Ballet classes as we know and encourage are a part of most under five female generation. The amount of pink sheer fabric produced in a year only compares to the amount of caffeine I could have consumed to this day if I was initiated early enough. It is a trend, a modern day normalcy that boys play tennis and girls dance. Mostly for fun and to wear the rose-coloured tutu without limits. Or with just about everything that comes handy. Every once in a while we ask Nadia if she would want to continue her adventure with the overly lit dance hall. Her answer has always been positive, her ballet pumps never so comfortable. I get it, she likes it and has a good time skipping hand in hand with her friends, I have no intention of separating her from the group. Yet as a parent I always look ahead, like beyond the third grade that's for sure. I believe an activity that makes your heart pumping blood at a dangerous speed will never make you feel otherwise especially if this eager heart gets addicted to it, is trained well and evenly encouraged. When fun becomes purpose, occasional turns into regular and a struggle calls for more practice, steadily and intentionally shifting conversations towards the future. Nothing too drastically pushed forward in time but reasonably distant to have a concept of the size of tutu we need to order next.

When fun meets purpose it produces dedication. Under the ballroom ceiling heavily lit in artificial light, girls skip in various directions, hold hands showing off their skills independently or with a helping professional hand. They're all ballerinas in their own eyes, they've all been selected through their own will and their parents' financial capability. They're equally spectacular. And sometimes it happens. The potential is released and each pirouette is the most important. Some will dedicate a life to it.

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Nadia was chewing a handful of candy leaving two of the jawbreakers untouched. I asked her why she did not want them. 'They're not yummy' she answered.

Going up the hill from school we got a bit tired from walking. Me: How nice it would be to have a pair of wings right now. Nadia: But those would get tired too, mummy. Good point, babe.

Nadia desperately wants to wear glasses just like some girls at school and both of her cousins. So one afternoon on our way home from school a tiny piece of dust got into her eye and once we wiped it off, she said reproachfully: If I had glasses it wouldn't have happened.

When Nadia was coming down with a cold but was still going to school we tried to teach her how to sneeze and avoid accidents. 'When you're about to sneeze, at making 'Aaahhh' is the right time to take handkerchief out because when it comes to 'Chu!!' it's generally too late.'

 I love attending parent's evenings and flipping through pages documenting Nadia's school days, daily highlights, progress in learning. Here are some questions the teacher asked and her sweet answers:
►► What do you do to relax? I play games with my daddy on the x-box.
►► What's healthy food? Oranges. (I love that one!)
►► What would you like to get better at? Getting dressed for P.E.
►► What do you need to do with the basket full of shopping? You need to scan it and then pay and then you can go home.
►► What would you hide in a treasure chest? Chocolate.

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Evenings like these have happened to us throughout each winter, let it be loved and short season or long to the point of hating half of my closet - we've always spent days on the floor. It was our playground, our dry land, a place where anything could work - leisure-wise the most. This carpet is far from exciting in its decorative form but it did not matter on any day we had plans to use it wisely or completely opposite. Our space is small, like lazily small as we haven't tried the tricks of using mirrors or paint to visually stretch it out and the floor seems to be the biggest feature therefore it holds more than any clean surface available. Bricks, lines of cars, board games seem to live to their full potential here only. They do their best, show the truest and most painful nature once stepped on. It's the temporary home to Lego statues and a foster house to drawings that have no permission past the room. But board games with their millionth and therefore so important part are dotting this floor constantly. Nadia is old enough to know and play by the rules each box comes with but all that stubborn and independent enough to refuse to win the manufacturer's way. So we go along with the kind of imagination that finds you unprepared, beats you up just when you were thinking you've been winning and leaves you disorientated near the start even though you've reached halfway on the board. You're also asked to choose a character for the game - forget the pawns and cogs - reach for the nicest toy you can because imitating its voice and silly moves is always a good idea.

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This particular game is called Mushroom Picking and as seen among less or more comfortable positions players travel around the board collecting mushrooms and meeting a variety of adventures. The best way of achieving this fast (according to Nadia) is to pick as many mushrooms as the hamper holds (not recommended for people with easily upset stomachs) and race to the finish line. It's nearly impossible to convince her some mushrooms are to look at only but if she is to win she will reap all the benefits along the way too. Still a way to learn and have fun while at it. And then we felt extra ambitious and drew faces, dragons and pandas.

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Happy Easter everyone! xx
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I'm Eli, an optimist in training collecting an awful lot of ballet pumps and spending too much time admiring the sea. You'll find me writing about the joys of parenting, fashion, simple pleasures that all together create a beautiful life. xx

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