As far as museums go, little gosling has taken to visiting repeatedly the ones concentrating on things that move: trains, trams, cars, planes. Whilst we’re yet to visit the tram museum (only open in the afternoons), we’ve seen the others at least twice each over the past months. Great opportunities for quality time together in an instructive, exciting, playful setting and for little ones to use energy. This is particularly true for us when wether makes us less inclined to spend time outdoors during the weekends.

The car museum (“Autoworld”) is accommodated in a big hall with plenty of space. This allows little gosling to run around, which is what he mostly does, on fast forward without much chance of knocking down fragile exhibits. It displays a varied collection of over 250 European and American automobiles from the late 19th century to the 1990s. It is notable for its collections of early and Belgian-produced vehicles and several limousines belonging to the Belgian royal family. Interestingly, there are corners displaying horse drawn carriages, as well as mechanical workshops and different engines. 

There’s also a corner dedicated to the French comics’ character, Michel Vaillant, featuring an F1 real size car maquette. This was obviously the highlight of our first visit. What can be better than getting into a car and pretending to drive? If one does not take into account climbing on to the wheels or trying to make them turn. Of course, there was time for drawing, snacking and reading a story.

First time around we looked at sizes of cars, wheels, steering wheels, comparing them. Most of all, we played at identifying their colours. The second time we went, he went ahead and we followed. He would stop in front of a car, pointing and asking: “What is this car called? How fast can it go?” Brand of the car, year of fabrication and, most importantly, the maximum speed it could reach. We compared the size of cars and their lights and identified the convertible ones (“this can only go in summer, it has no roof”). 

A temporary exhibition of racing cars attracted most of our attention. Little gosling loved the sound of the Italian brands . He was completely in awe with the big numbers I blurted out for the maximum speed they could reach. 

We hardly ever cover the entire museum in one visit, which is ok. The aim is to stay as long as he is enjoying the experience, but not long enough for him to get tired. The ideal duration would be around an hour, but we can hardly stick to it. Little gosling gets overly excited about trips to the museum and insists on seeing everything.

Make time for snacks and reading

After the initial burst of energy and running around, it is pretty quickly that I hear “Do you have something to read? Do you have to eat?” We never leave home without snacks. I find it important we make some time half-way through the visit for a snack break. As a result, we avoid tiredness and hunger setting in and communication difficulties. We usually take along a combination of fruits (banana or bite sized strawberry or apples), nuts (cashew, pistacchio, peanuts), cubes of cheese and salami and bretzels or corn cakes. In less restrictive times, we take advantage of the museum cafeterias to enjoy a hot chocolate and a biscuit or a sandwich. 

“Tia Isa wants a car”

Equally, I always carry picture books in my bag when we go out. We never know when we may feel like reading ;). The first time we read “Tia Isa wants a car”. This, as it turns out, is the our only story featuring a car.

I loved the story the first time I heard it read aloud by Meg Medina on Julie’s Library podcast. An immigrant family: aunt, niece, uncle, working to support their loved ones back at home, on the island. Reminiscing about their house by the beach and dreaming about the day, soon, when they will be all together again in their adoptive place. The aunt wants a car, green like the ocean, with wings like a swooping seagull, to take them all to the beach. Little gosling loved that idea: to get a car to take us to the beach! The niece secretly starts doing small chores in the neighbourhood, to put aside money to help her.

It’s a wonderful, heartwarming story about family, separation, longing, nostalgia, kindness, community, effort, the value of work, joy. A touching introduction into the life of immigrants. An emotional perspective of being far from the loved ones, whilst constantly having them present, in mind and hearts. I found it incredibly moving that first thing they did upon getting into the car was sticking a photo of the entire family. 

We definitely need more stories featuring cars and/or driving. And someday soon, we’ll watch “Cars” together :P. 

Little gosling loves to spend time in the driver’s seat of our car, “Zambilica” (in English, “small hyacinth”). He emphatically tries to turn the steering wheel and touches the commands, pretending he is driving. This is his ritual for a few minutes every time we come back from a car ride. When he grows up, he would like to drive us around, with daddy and I taking turns sitting in front, next to him. 

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I suddenly remembered I had this little pretty board book saved for some time and asked him “Shall I sing you a special song?” He paused, intrigued, nodded and quickly climbed into my lap to see the book I had pulled off the bookshelf. 

I gave a most imperfect and off-key rendition of Louis Armstrong “What a wonderful world” and… he loved it . He gently caressed each page with his cute little fingers as I sang, pausing longly on the pages with the children holding hands and the kid diving in the ocean amongst the fish (“where is the baby, mummy?!”) and then asked we did it “encore” and “encore” and “encore”…

The book is a joyful, lyrical, amazing pairing to the song and it is so happily coloured, like all Tim Hopgoed’s books. We love it. Little gosling forgot all about his troubles and was back to his playful, cheerful self. Now, he occasionally entertains his very sleepy (and annoyed) dad at 5.30 a.m. singing the song and corrects me sternly when I get a line wrong. Mea culpa, I keep forgetting “the bright blessed day” and improvise..

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Being out in the rain is a different story. When we returned to Europe, little gosling found the Brussels rain less than enchanting. He would get agitated and fussy whenever we went out when it rained, and shouted “rain, go away!” in a distressed voice. He disliked having the rain cover on top of the pram and would do all to pull it down. When walking, he just didn’t want to be outside. To be fair, he has similar reactions to wind or sun, when the latter gets into his eyes. And, generally, people coming to Belgium from further away always complain about the rain and grey, low sky. 

I am intent on us having an active, outdoorsy life, therefore I started to look for ways to have him embrace the weather. If not enjoy the rain, at least not let himself be discouraged from doing what he wants because of it. 

First thing I did was to enable him to do what he (and I suspect all small kids, including myself, according to what must be what my parents most vividly recall from my early childhood) loves most: splash into every puddle he can find. What joy and pleasure this simple act can give small kids! We quickly got him a sturdy pair of long rubber boots and agreed with him that he could splash into whatever puddle he liked, as long as he was wearing his boots. He happily acquiesced and now he knows: whenever he is wearing his sandals after rain, he stops next to the puddle saying: “this is a boot puddle”, so no stepping, no splashing. Next, we made sure to have rain jackets for all kinds of temperatures; some with whales, some with numbers (his favourite), so he is all set. He loves umbrellas, but it’s just so very impractical to have one around him; it does not serve him and, well, it’s just a hazard for everyone else in his hands, at this stage :))). 

With all the reading and singing we have been doing, I looked for relatable, positive, uplifting songs and picture books on the topic of rain. I was happy to find Tim Hopgood’s illustrated “Singing in the rain” and “Cyril, the lonely cloud”. I take them out with excitement every time it rains! And I’ve made a habit of singing “Singing in the rain” and B.J. Thomas’ “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. I think this is working… although it has no effect on daddy’s grumpy and reluctant mood when it rains :P. 

Little gosling immediately got hooked on the song “Singing in the rain” and wanted me to sing it again and again and again. As customary, he was not so keen on Doris Day’s version (that comes in a CD attached to the book), but wanted mommy’s version. I’m struggling both through the higher and the low notes, but I make up for it with smiles, silliness and with the absolute enjoyment I take in singing it. The illustrations are lovely, in strong, bright colours and there are music notes and smiles everywhere; they reflect superbly the joy imparted by the lyrics. Little gosling liked the children running and playing under the rain, splashing happily in the puddles, with big smiles on their faces. My favourites are the children floating down with the open umbrellas, their smiles reflected in the puddles and the children enjoying the small, simple things around them in the rain: a flower, a butterfly fluttering, the grass underneath their bare feet.

Little gosling seems equally attached to “Raindrops keep falling on my head”. He recites the first verse and asks for it when he feels raindrops on his face and little hands. He’s irresistibly cute raising his hands up and fidgeting his fingers saying “these are raindrops!”

“Cyril, the lonely cloud” just wants to look down on the world and see a happy smile, feel welcome, but people receive him with distrust and displeasure, as a fun spoiler. Therefore, he pours his sadness over them and travels further in search of a friendly face. In the process, he grows bigger and more frustrated, until…. He reaches what looks like hot, dry Africa, where the animals are so happy to welcome him. Cyril is sweetly drawn, with a kiddy face, very likeable and relatable and helps build understanding and empathy and a positive perception of clouds and rain.

Lately, in the good night message to everyone, I made a point of starting with the sun and whatever weather features we’ve had during the day. For example, these days I said, “good night clouds! Thank you for coming today and making the heat more bearable, thank you for bringing chill”; “good night, rain! Thank you for visiting us today, for renewing and refreshing the air! You are so important for plants and animals to grow healthy and happy! Good night!” I use these last moments of the day, when little gosling’s focus is on my whispers to reassure him that all these phenomena that displease him have their place and meaning and are good for us. 

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In South Africa, I enjoyed seeing children going around barefoot, at any age up to teen years and pretty much everywhere: in the supermarket, in the shopping malls, in restaurants and at terrasses. It was not a matter of lack of means to get shoes in this case or lack of good manners. It was just how things were. One expected to see children barefoot; it was one of the most common sights. The weather is, of course, very generous and enabling almost all year round. And it is very much a car-centred culture. 

Coming back to Europe, during late autumn as it was, I felt a pinch of regret at not being able to delay more little gosling wearing shoes all the time. I found it so refreshing to allow children that freedom, pleasure and communion with the surroundings and nature (we had a beautiful garden there, whereas we live in a 5th floor apartment here). Even in warm, nice weather, one does not really see children going around barefoot this side of the world. Sometimes, I spot kids barefoot at the playground, but it is not really that common. 

Very early on, I decided shoes were not an indispensable or even a desirable accessory for little gosling. At least until such time that he started walking, but possibly, not even then. I distinctly remember reading an article about things parents don’t need during the first year of the baby’s life. Shoes were one of them. I also vividly remember another article arguing that the cut of most Western shoes nowadays is only a mild form of foot binding, restricting the natural development of the foot from a very young age. This had quite an impact on me. I could personally relate to that, as well. I have a naturally wide foot and feel uncomfortable in most elegant ladies’ shoes. 

Conclusion? I delayed as much as possible getting little gosling into shoes and when I did, I did my best to find the lightest, most flexible and widest shoes possible. 

I liked our paeds in South Africa. She advised us to allow the baby to spend as much time as possible outside, in nature, in direct contact with plants and dirt, letting him crawl around the garden, walk barefoot and generally exposing him to the world as it is. Before he started walking, it never crossed my mind to buy him any kind of shoes. At best, he had socks on. He started taking his first steps barefoot and it did not seem to bother him at all, irrespective of the surface he was on. 

It took a trip home to Romania, the relentless nagging of grandparents (“How can you let him walk outside without shoes?, “He’ll hurt himself”, “What will people say? They’ll look at him funnily” …)  and chilly, rainy weather for us to get him his first pair of shoes. He was 15 months old. He got a pair of espadrilles, that I turned on all sides very carefully to make sure were wide enough so as not to constrain his little feet. Trouble is, the moment he got shoes, he resisted being barefoot again. He became very particular about wearing shoes. Wherever he was, he looked at people’s feet first, observing their shoes. The espadrilles did not make it past the first puddles :)))). 

Back to the dry South African winter, we opted for some bearpaw-like fleece booties to keep him warm, inside and outside. For the morning dew and chill (he was and still is a very early waker), he had waterproof textile booties. Luckily, the nursery policy supported our approach. Kids were encouraged to stay barefoot inside and outside, weather permitting.It was only when spring came, when he was around 17 months old, that he got something resembling normal shoes: a pair of textile sandals, wide and light, that he was very fond of. All in all, before returning to Europe, he spent most of the time barefoot or in barefoot-like shoes. 

Upon returning to Europe in November, we got him a pair of mustard yellow rubber rain boots and a pair of winter padded boots. I don’t believe he wore the patted boots more than five times; they must have felt too overwhelming and tight. He did the entire winter in the rain boots. At the nursery, parents were asked to bring slippers and we opted for thick padded socks instead, just to make sure his feet were as free as possible. We have three pairs of socks that we alternate every few days. 

I was looking forward to warm weather to encourage him to spend more time barefoot. We were lucky for an early and warm spring this year. But… it was tough to get little gosling out of his boots and accept any other shoes. Already in the coronavirus lockdown, we bought online a pair of (very) soft trainers, with the sole almost as thin as the rest of the shoe. It took him a few days to accept them; every time he saw them he got anxious and nervously, almost crying, asked me “send them back, mummy!!!”. I kept them by the door, in plain sight. Until one day, he reached out for them. He only accepted a different pair of shoes when the first one got torn (which happened in a few weeks). 

It was the same story with sandals. We had had more than two months of summer-like weather when he finally accepted to wear the sandals. Our occasional attempts to have him try the sandals on always ended in frustration on all sides. One day, when schools had reopened, I went to pick him up and found him playing outside in his sandals. I had placed the sandals in his backpack just in case… Apparently, it took no effort on the part of his teachers. He’s loved them ever since. 

One day, out of the blue, he gave up wearing socks with the sandals entirely on his own. And another day, again out of the blue, he declared he wanted to walk barefoot. And he did :)))). It was a Friday morning. We left for school with him barefoot. I did not resist his decision, I was delighted he wanted to walk barefoot. When we got to the park and he felt the gravel beneath his feet, he asked to be picked up. He went to the supermarket barefoot. The next day, we went to a nice green area outside Brussels and he loved running around barefoot. Since, he’s walking barefoot weather permitting. And I gladly indulge him as long as he wants. 

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