Super Saturdays!

Now that my girls are getting older 4 and 2 1/2 (and that 6 months makes ALL the difference to toddlers), I’ve been wanting to do something with the girls that they will remember in years to come. Something they can look back on and fondly remember the fun we all had together and perhaps, when they have their own children, want to do they same or something similar. I wanted to start our own little tradition.

Traditions are something that are important to me. For example, I love the fact that my mum waits for a day where my 2 sisters and I are all free to decorate the Christmas tree, even though we are 31,29 and 26 respectively and I live an hour away. But traditions aren’t just for Christmas or special times of the year, they can be anything at any time, and that’s the beauty of it. Doing something on a regular basis can become a tradition.

I am a girly girl by nature. I love pink and pastel colours, fluffy animals, make up and doing my nails (helps I’m a nail technician!) so I was delighted when as my girls personalities blossomed, it became apparent that they shared the same interests too. And I in now way forced it upon them. We bought trains and tool boxes as much as barbies and ponies, but the latter is what they preferred to play with the most. So this being their preference, I decided to indulge in it.

Weekdays are always pretty busy for us with school drop offs, hobbies and my work, so I picked a Saturday morning for our little tradition to happen. I felt like it would signify the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend for them. I also wanted to incorporate doing their nails into it. Partly because Sofia loves having her nails painted and partly because Amelia had started getting into the habit of biting her nails. And I don’t mean the odd nibble, I mean painfully short to the point the na bed was being exposed. So I thought I could encourage her to look after them by having them painted on a regular basis.

One evening, Sofia wanted to watch ‘The Little Mermaid’. It was almost bedtime so there was no chance that day, but I promised her we could in the morning, As it was Saturday and we didn’t have to be up and out early. For some reason, I decided to put French braids in her hair that night, so she could wake up the next morning with ‘mermaid’ hair.

She woke up the next morning and bounced through to our room. She squealed in delight at her now wavy hair and immediately went to dig out her mermaid costume. Poor Amelia doesn’t have one, so she had to settle for one of those poncho towels with a mermaids body on it. She wasn’t bothered! We went through to the lounge and I put the film on for them. We all snuggled on the sofa to watch it, only interrupted by the outburst of a song, or them wanting to act out a certain scene. Of course I had to oblige and join in! After, I painted their nails in suitable mermaid colours and we even had ‘starfish’ egg on toast for breakfast. It’s amazing what you can so when you’ve got a draw full of various cookie cutters!

And so it was born, our ‘Super Saytudays’. A morning around a theme of their choice, be that a film or book or character. A morning of dressing up and playing make believe. A morning of magic. And for me, a morning of escaping real life. It’s so much fun to be 4 and 2 1/2!  Of course, they won’t always be this age. Before I know it they will be teenagers with very different ideas of what fun is, but I hope our ‘Super Saturdays’ will always be that, whether that be pretending to be mermaids or a shopping trip and lunch. But for now, I’m more than happy to be Eric to their Ariel. I already know the words after all!