We’re never quite sure how experiences that require lots of sitting will go with our two year old. This one went well. Even though the hour-long performance of Bambi was entirely in Croatian, Theo was still asking for more at the end.
One Fish, Two Fish
The last few apartments we’ve stayed in have been rented to us by people with young children or grandchildren, so they came with an assortment of borrowed toys. This apartment, not so much. However, as I’ve written before, whether something was intended to be a toy seems to matter very little.
Fındıklı Parkı
Our apartment in Istanbul is lovely, but in a more upscale-hotel-centered neighborhood than I realized, which means that we haven’t found many nearby playgrounds.
Transitions
I went to Alexandros Riding Stables for a trail ride last week, which was lovely in all ways. I left with some amazing fresh goats’ milk too, courtesy of these goats and their kind owner.
Poolside
It’s been coolish during most of our stay in Cyprus, so we haven’t spent too much time by the pool. (Plus, when I have the choice, I’d generally rather be at the beach.)
Our Day-to-Day Balance of Working, Parenting, and Playing
For the first ten-ish months of our trip, Brian and I split schedules so that we could both freelance part-time and hang out with Theo part-time.* Most days looked like this:
7:00 am (ish) – Theo wakes us. We try to convince him that it is time to relax and snuggle, and he tries to convince us that it is time for breakfast. After 10 minutes or so, Theo wins.
8:00 am – Parent 1 watches Theo for the morning while Parent 2 works (or sometimes explores solo.)
12:30 pm – Lunch, often together and generally cooked by Parent 1.
1:30 pm – We put Theo down for his nap or quiet time.** Sometimes, he stays in his room! Parents work.
3:30 pm (ish) – Theo wakes up and Parent 2 watches him while Parent 1 works or explores.
7:00 pm – Dinner together, generally cooked by Parent 2.
7:45 pm (ish) – We put Theo down for sleep. Sometimes, he stays in his room! We work, play, or read until bed.
Continue reading “Our Day-to-Day Balance of Working, Parenting, and Playing”
New Toys
We don’t obtain a ton of stuff, so Theo is often inspired to find joy in ‘toys’ like salad spinners and mops. However, we’ve picked up a few new toys in India: wooden stamps and a toy tuk tuk.
List of Preschools
Here is a running list of the preschools Theo has attended on a temporary basis on our trip. We were happy with all of them. Some schools, like Cheeky Monkeys in Bali and Kiddee House in Chiang Mai seem to more frequently take children on a short-term basis. For others, we just lucked out because they had an empty slot in their program.
Preschool As We Travel
For a little more than four months, we have been enrolling Theo in local preschools as we travel. Thus far, he’s attended school in New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.
We aren’t particularly worried about keeping up with the academic aspects of school. Theo is young and seems to be soaking up information from the wider world in a very sponge-like manner. Instead, we like that school gives him an opportunity to learn to socialize with people who aren’t us on a regular basis. Just as important to us, sending Theo to school gives us adults extra time to work and explore independently.
Shoe-free Playground
The nearest playground is two minutes walk from our apartment building’s front door. During dry weather, it buzzes with children from about 5 pm to 6 pm, as they burn off post-school energy. In wet weather, it’s almost empty.
It’s the first playground we’ve found where we’ve needed to remove our shoes before entering – presumably to keep the fake grass clean!
