When your mother, whom you have as your personal parenting model, texts you on Mother's Day to wish you a good day and tell you that you are an excellent mother, it means that after all, you are doing something right! Thanks mum, I needed that! Becoming and being a mother is probably the most challenging thing I have ever had to do in my life. Forget climbing the Etna volcano in crutches, learning ancient and modern languages, moving to a foreign Country alone, taking a PhD...all these things had their difficult moments but they are nothing compared to the array of challenges brought by motherhood, probably the most natural process in the world and yet one of the most complicated subjects to master.
It's Mother's Day in the UK today and, of course, we celebrated it. I am the mother of a little Brit, in the end! I got my first gift a couple of days ago when Emilia and Rob got back home after their evening stroll with a lovely pot of mini gerberas. They knocked on the door and when I opened Emilia was there handing the vase to me. She had such a cute smile on her face.
The best gift of all, however, came from Rob when he offered to do morning duty for me so that I could sleep in on my special day. How thoughtful! Emilia is waking up quite early these days, usually around 6.00am, so this gift was particularly appreciated. She used to wake up around 7.30 and sometimes even 8.00 o'clock but recently things have changed. We think it might be because of a new wave of teeth cutting through and hope that it is just a phase! So, I did sleep in and it was wonderful. Then, the day started with a yummy breakfast prepared by Rob, pancakes and cappuccino, and some cuddles in bed with Emilia who handed to me a cute pink envelope with a lovely note inside. Great way to begin the day.
A little while I go I read on a magazine that the Museum of Childhood had organised something for Mother's Day so we quickly got ready and left. The Museum of Childhood is in Bethnal Green, an area in the East of London, not too close but not too far either from us. Since the weather was quite nice today, we ended up walking all the way there. It took us about an hour but it was worth it, and good exercise! The activity for Mother's Day consisted of making and decorating crowns, however, we didn't attend the class as it was running from 2.00 to 4.00pm, the time when Emilia usually naps. Nevertheless we had a great time wandering around the museum. We got there around 12.30pm, had a look around, played a bit and then enjoyed a quick lunch at the museum's cafe'. The museum was full of kids of all ages and Emilia loved looking around and interacting with her little friends. We left around 2.00pm to allow Emilia to rest and walked again all the way back home while Emilia was peacefully napping in her stroller. We had such a nice and relaxing day and can't wait to go back for the Easter egg-tivities!
Happy Mother's Day to all of you, wonderful mothers out there!
