There are loads of really terrific things about your kids getting a bit older. Weekends improve dramatically – both mine now love a playdate and I sit in a corner with my feet up texting my friends while about 19 kids happily smash up my house, occasionally stopping to cram pizza in their mouths. The other weekend Sam went to some kid’s house ALL DAY. It was insane.
But more contemporaneously relevant is that winter improves so much. Before kids I loved winter. Rainy days, dark afternoons – who cares? Just drink red wine in front of the fire and read a spicy novel.
Then with small children, winter took on a fearsome dread and awfulness I had not been warned about. It was just snot, noro and going completely mental stuck in the house from 3.30pm until bedtime.
Now most days they’re at school and when they’re not at school I bundle them up and chuck them in a playground for the time when we’re not at home with playdates (see above). And they’re so much easier to get dressed. For a full 18 months Sam threw a massive tantrum every time you tried to put on his coat. And then their little arms always stuck out at weird angles or they kept pulling off their boots when it was minus 2.
But now they’ll put their damn coats on if it’s cold. And if they’ve been running around for 25 straight minutes and they’re obviously not cold anymore they will take their coat off and give it to me. And it’s fine.
For the last two years I have been very smug about my technical fleece-and-puffa arrangement as their outerwear, but I think I have wrecked the puffa inside-stuff by over machine washing and Kitty has broken the zip on her fleece.
And, anyway, I’m a bit bored of the sight of them – so instead secured myself two Muddy Puddles winter jackets, called the 3 Season Storm Explorer Jacket. I have been shy of these in the past because they are £75 each – BUT they come with a removable puffa gilet thingy and, I discovered only when Sam was about 2, that what you do is buy your kids clothes that are FAR TOO BIG and then you get about two or three years’ wear out of them.
I also get all coats always in navy so that when Kitty grows out of hers Sam can go straight into it without complaining that his coat is covered in unicorns and plays “Let it go” every time he does up the zip. My only complaint about these is that the hood could be a bit bigger – and if you do have a girl who is a bit fussy about what she wears, (unlike Kitty who could give a shit that she’s dressed like a football manager), they will reject this coat on sight.
I also got these mega cute snow boots. Because life is misery if your feet are cold.
Loving the image of loads of tiny football managers, shouting and having tantrums and fighting over the ball… oh wait…
LOL
RE: the snow boots … very nice and cosy, but may I draw your attention to the “waterproof rubberised FOOT”… as in the uppers are most likely water resistant and less fun if they go in too deep a puddle (speaking from my child’s experience) … snow is “dry” though, so these’ll be fab trotting out on the slopes. Thanks.
yes you may draw our attention to this, thank you x
Love the unisex colour tip, how have I never thought of that?!
it’s the patriarchy!!! we unconsciously put girls in pink. (this may not be true.)
I always bought everything in green or red for this reason; I was going for “neutral” but probably landed at “festive”. Upshot is boy’s favourite colour is now green, girl’s is red. Maybe I should have dressed them in vegetables.
Winter with tinies is hard but I have an excellent tip – head torches. One per child and one for their keeper. It means you can go to the Heath after dark and the children think it is an awesome adventure.
that IS a good idea
Yes – these are really good for stockings as lots of fun first thing, but relatively quiet fun.
Oh my goodness, I am definitely getting head torches for my girls for Christmas Stockingness…. Then the two that share a room can read at night without floodlighting the bedroom (my youngest just looks at the pictures and makes up a story but likes to feel grown up)
If you want children to use head torches in the morning, be very careful about which ones you buy. My kids wear proper hiking head torches which are SO BRIGHT. They would probably floodlight the bedroom more than a bedside light/ main light. I think I’ve seen some which clip onto the sides of books but I can’t turn up a link!
I’m so jealous of people who manage to get their children to share rooms. Mine just shriek, giggle and dance- with no sleep. How did you do it? I need to solve this before #3 turns up!