Little shoes

I have written about my children's shoe fears  on here before, when I was first looking for pram shoes. I am far from a snob when it comes to clothes for myself and Sofia ; whilst I do like a few treats now and again I like to mix and match clothes that are reasonably priced with a couple of more expensive pieces to jazz up the wardrobe. One thing I do like to spend a little extra on is shoes. For me, investing in a good pair of shoes is well worth it, after all they do all of the hard work carrying us around every day. When it comes to children's shoes it is imperative that we give their cute little feet room to grow, breathe and develop in good quality shoes. But, why oh why do children's shoes have to be so ugly ? As expected with my initial fears, it is definitely apparent that Clarks has monopolised the market, sucking guilt ridden parents into their light up, sparkly, brown, clumpy shoe hell. It really is quite odd the  amount of dislike I have for Clarks; my husband really is fed up of me droning on about them! It is just every time I mentioned buying Sofia her first shoes they automatically mentioned how I ' had ' to buy from Clarks as they are the only place that measure ' properly'. I wouldn't really mind all the marketing brainwashing if the shoes were actually nice but they are not and they are charging a hell of a lot of money, especially considering they are made abroad, and from reading reviews are not always the quality they profess to be. It was not my intention to have a rant about Clarks, I simply wanted to share
a few of the lovely shoes I found whilst looking for Sofia's first pair. After much searching I stumbled upon Tiny Toes Baby Shoes and fell in love with their very cute but equally as supportive, soft and good quality as THAT shop. I realise that they are equally, if not more, expensive than Clarks but the fact that they are handmade in England make the extra pennies worth it. Here are a few others that I liked along the way;

Elephantino girls shoes from Mon Petit 
Boys Emilio shoes from Livie and Luca
Girls red London Boots from Livie and Luca
Unisex navy T bar from Tiny Toes baby shoes  
Tip Toey Joey gold trainers from Alex and Alexa
Converse trainers from Office 

Pitter Patter Painters

Whilst I think of myself as a very creative person, I am not the best at drawing or painting. My husband on the other hand is a very keen artist and is always drawing, painting or taking photographs and I think this has started to rub off on Sofia already. From quite an early age, Sofia has been picking up pens and trying to draw and it is very cute to see her scribble her ' name ' on birthday cards and pictures for family.  As the little one is only one, we have not had much exposure to painting, mostly because she puts everything in her mouth but also as it likely to get very messy! However, recently we had the perfect opportunity for Sofia to get her hands dirty, get messy and have lots of fun without all of the washing up. The Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool, put on and event called Pitter, Patter Painters; a free event where toddlers can get to explore art and painting with lots of fun along the way. The day was lots of fun and Sofia loved getting her hands full of paint and drawing on benches and walls without getting told ' no, no, no ' . Activities included hand painting and freestyle drawing on walls but also had a few of fun ideas such as a paddling pool of paint with different shaped balls that you could coat and throw on to paper to make different shapes; definitely one for the garden if you want to try at home! I also loved the idea of having a bench coated in paint but with a layer of plastic over so that little hands who don't like getting messy can still enjoy the colours and textures.

The painting session was a part of the gallery's BIG ART project, a great project that aims to allow children to get involved in art at an early age, with a room dedicated for children to take part in various crafty activities and lots of fun ways to educate. There may be a museum near you with something similar, so it is worth checking it out. You can also check out the Tate website, with a page dedicated to   kids that has lots of great ideas for activities that you can do at home to have some pitter patter painting fun. The thing with painting though, is that it should be fun and doesn't need to be structured and organised. so get creative, don't be one of those mums who worry about the mess and get splattering.

November book of the month: The Kite Princess

As regular readers know, I am an ambassador for Barefoot Books . Barefoot have lots of amazing books for children and I will be highlighting one as book of the month, that I think you and your little ones would love. November's  book of the month is ' The Kite Princess ', written by Juliet Clare Bell and illustrated by Laura-Kate Chapman with a CD enclosed that is narrated by Imelda Staunton.

Princess Cinnamon stitch is a tomboy who has no interest in courtly life. She'd rather cartwheel through puddles and dance with alley cats. Can she show the king and queen that there's more to life than being pretty or good?  As well as a great story that celebrates individuality and independence, this book provides a visual feast for the eyes that you and your little one will love. Help your child express themselves in their own personal way and have some fun as you read along.There are instructions in the back of the book to make your own kite, just like princess Cinnamon, so you can get really step inside the story.


Take a further look at Barefoot Books and get 20% off your first order using the code TWENTY12 at checkout, including all our weekly dazzling deals and sale items.