А Завтра Весна!

а завтра весна!

Про неДетский Досуг в Англии, or Horse Races in England

Hey all, are you as me feeling that you just had enough of winter and look forward to welcoming March in a week (!) time...I most certainly had enough. Despite the daytime increasing day by day, I am so looking forward to the warm days and sunshine.

Don't take my moaning seriously though as today was such a bright and lovely day, and we had to get outside. Living in very close proximity of the Royal Park has its advantages, but even then you want a bit of a change. So we opted for Kempton Park, a jockey club racecourse about 20 minute drive from Richmond.

I can only say that there is no necessity to introduce the little ones to the adults' world of gambling, or betting. You may be amazed, but they just like cheering the races and they are happy for any horse which crosses the finish line first. This makes a great family day out, with lunches in the picnic areas and some really seriously adrenaline rush in the fresh air...

There are plenty of courses around London where you can easily get by train from any of the central London train stations, no car is necessary. Some of the places like Kempton host other events during the week, like Sunbury Antiques Market which takes places second and last Tuesday of every month, or simple themed family days out. So if you are in London for a holiday, try to squeeze this activity in your busy diary. Trust me, your kids will enjoy it much more than the idea of being dragged along the busy walkways of Southbank, or overcrowded at times National History Museum.

Yours
Tasha

xoxo

When Do Kids Learn How To Play... Musical Instruments?!

Every parent believes his child is a little genius. Ahhh, he smiled fir the first time! Ohhh, have you seen her first steps, she is only 9 months! Wow, he is only 1.5 and already says words in two languages... That never ends. It pleased parents that their child does good in school, achieves high results in sports, and graduates with 2.1 from uni...And though some may push their kids hard get better results and don't really care about the child feelings and desires to do or not to do things, the majority still try to put their child interest first, AND make sure the child enjoys doing those activities. I hope to be one of those parents.

Since mu little man turned three, there were a few activities we scheduled around the days when he is not in the nursery, and those include football, swimming and ... hmmm.. piano lessons! Yes, you didn't mishear me. Piano lessons. A friend of mine whose daughter is a true little piano virtuoso recommended the teacher who specialises in teaching little kids. I never learnt how to play the piano myself, so me and my son learn together, which actually helps us to spend time together and bond. The teacher uses this wonderful technique called 'Dogs and Birds' method and you can read more about it here...It's fun and easy.

Don't take me wrong. I am not putting any hopes on my son becoming a pianist by the age of ten. But if he likes it, and gets something out of it, that's good. Well, so far piano lessons seem to be ahead of the football on his priority list ?! ;)

And how about you? Which instruments your little one play? Do you think it's even important to play any instruments...

Yours,
Tasha

xoxo

Tantrums, Meltdowns or How Do You Handle It?

I am just asking a question. Not giving an answer.

And the sunset in Richmond which we witnessed on Sunday. It was just soooooo beautiful...

Yours
Tasha

xx

Choosing A Baby Name, or How to Avoid Pitfalls

Choosing the name for the baby can be an interesting process... When our son was born, there were a number of criteria we as responsible parents had to consider prior to filling in the birth registration form. When he was born, the tag on his wrist simply said - Baby Gospodinova. It made me laugh indeed! But also taught me my first lesson... The specifics of your own language shall be left at the Boader Control agency. The English language doesn't defferenciate the gender by adding an ending to the last name. So as long as my name ends with -a, everyone assumes, my son's does exactly the same...

So what points did we personally have to consider when naming our baby son?

Firstly, the name should sound international, so don't be country-specific. Hence the probabilities of us living in the Russian-speaking only environment are not great, we thought it wouldn't be fair to call our son a typical Russian name.

The name shall not be long simply to compensate the lengthness of the last name. My husband had an example with a corporate email address which nowadays we use more often when a postal address. Imagine spelling that? But in general that would concern not only emails, but banks, airlines, hospitals, local authorities ...You name it!

We were mindful of other friends' kids' names (something I re-considered recently). Our initial point was that it is unfair to your friends if you name your child same name as their's. But frankly speaking, I don't really see it as an issue anymore. The migration is on its raise, and with a transportaion being more and more affordable, and the boarders being opened, the chance that your kid would be living next door to the kid of your friends in a long term are quite minimal... So why skip the name simply because your best friend who lives miles away from you has already named her son Daniel?!

One of the points we had to consider was any unpleasant associations or potential nicknames which could cause your child hard time as he or she would be growing up... A good friend of mine who worked in Moscow for quite some time once said that he loved the Russian name Sveltana. The point he was making was in short version, the name sounds as Sveta, so the chances of getting a nickname Sweaty Sveta are very very high. Another good example would be with a beautiful Russian name Anastasia, which a short version - Nastya... I will only let you guess... The recent example with boys name was about very typical Russian name Sergey, which may please grandparents's ears, but won't please your son's when he gets called Sir-Gay!

If the parents are religious, they could also consider how close the name they want to choose is close to the Biblical name. Am I overthinking it?! :)

At any country at any period in time, there will be its own tendencies and popular names. Be mindful of the fact that a child of the celebrity may profit from being called unusually.. North West may sound cool and trendy to Kim and the Kardashian gang, but wait until year three in school when they start leaning about the navigation system.

There are also plenty of surveys on line about most typical, most hated, and most unusual names which could help. Think long term, and don't let the hormones to rule your decision! Good luck!

yours
Tasha

xx

 

Brussels. Full Stop

Пролог.

Да простят меня мои подруги, но я а) не могу писать этот пост на английском и б) не могу не привести мега-цитаты, которые предшествовали нашей бельгийско-брюссельской поездке... 

Действие первое. Диалог. 

"Я когда-то парле, но теперь очень хреново. Можно сказать, что не парле, давайте app лучше, чем мне позориться!"

"Хреновое парле, лучше чем никакое парле!"

"То есть на четверых у нас всего одно хреновое парле, маладцыыыы;)"

"Ладно, прорвемся;) яблочный штрудель еще никого не подводил;)"

Действие второе. Короткое

Неделя выдалась та еще. Муж любимый в командировке. Это значит, что в сад ребенка я, из сада тоже я. На ликеро-водочный завод?... Стоп, это кажется уже не я. На работе встреча за встречей, и еще нужно умудриться саму работу как-то сделать. Ну да суета это все. Главное, четверг, муж любимый вернулся, все счастливы, сумка собрана, и времени поспать целых пять с половиной часов. Плач, смотрю на часы - половина второго. Встаю, иду, успокаиваю, ложусь обратно ... и вспоминаю, что не поставила будильник... Спать всего каких-то четыре с половиной часа!

Действие третье. Брюссель

Брюссель чудесный, если вы еще не были, обязательно съездите. Нет, нет если выбор между Мальдивами и Брюсселем, то вам совершенным образом не сюда. Но если вот так, девочками/мальчиками, пошататься, пива выпить и на писающего мальчика посмотреть - добро пожаловать. 

Город небольшой. Обойти за день можно, для желающих растягивать удовольствие, это конкретное удовольствие можно растянуть на длинный выходной, ака long week-end.

Пива в Бельгии около 600 сортов, поэтому даже если вы не сторонник музеев, заняться будет чем.  Идите в местные "достопримечательные" места. Мой любимый Toone, бар при театре кукол. И отличная подборка по ссылке здесь (с адресами/паролями/явками). 

Но! Даже если вы не любитель музейных походов, зайдите в Музей Музыкальных Инструментов, где само по себе здание уже шедевр искусства, кроме как названий инструментов и даты их производства информации особо никакой, зато вам дают наушнички и вы переноситесь в мир прекрасного. Мне мира прекрасного хватило на полчаса. И главное (да простят меня великие музыканты и композиторы) у них есть неплохой ресторан с террасой и замечательным видом на Брюссель с высоты не птичьего полета, но десятого этажа. Рекомендую.

Такой приятный и очень коммерческий рынок антиквариата располагается по определенным дням на площади в центре Брюсселя тут. Позволить нынешний антиквариат мне финансово разумным не представляется, и потом мне всегда казалось истинным мастерством откопать заплесневелую шнягу, которая потом будет являться жемчужиной вашего дома/образа. Умение это в других  ценю, но кошелек в таких местах не достаю. Ах, да и о коммерческой стороне вопроса, на неловкую уловку (хаха) одной из подруг сослаться на наличие отсутствия наличных для покупки, тут же был незатейливо так предъявлен банковский терминал, мол берем все, кроме dinner's club! До чего дошел прогресс! (с) 

В Брюссель таки стоит ехать за хорошей едой, безумнейшим шоколадом, laid back atmosphere, да и просто развеяться. 

Эпилог. 

А самым прекрасным явилась удивительная и незапланированная возможность встретится с безумно талантливой и замечательной Yulia Ignatova. Если вы в Испании, вам однозначно к ней. Ее фотографии прекрасны. А еще у нее на Facebook сейчас акция на беплатную фотосьемку. Подробности здесь и по-испански! :)

Yours, 

Tasha
xx

Museums and Three-year-old - Does It Work Together?

One of my favourite images of my then 1.5 year old at Saatchi Gallery. The one which causes some really serious judgement and criticism, as some are convinced that toddlers memorise these powerful visual images which can then cause some distress in a long term. Being absolutely honest with you I feel that the headless raw chicken on the kitchen table can cause much more emotional distress to a child... But it's only my opinion... Not a rule!

The fact is that we do take our little one with us. We are those lucky parents who (thanks God!) don't have support from our own parents, so we don't have a choice whether we shall be leaving our son with grandparents, or taking him with us. That means he visited the majority of galleries and museums around UK and Europe. 

The fact is that we'd rather have a glance at the exhibition than not attend at all. And you never know - he may like something. 

Below at ROCOCO exhibition at Danish Design Museum (more photos here). 

And today at Tate Modern. He simply loved running in the vast open spaces of Turbine Hall.  

Do you think it's important to take your kids out to such places? 

your's 

Tasha