Alfie’s birthday and Christmas are fast approaching. I’ve been asked numerous times about what we presents buying him. Or what presents can he be bought for the occasions? Alfie will be two on 21st November and then Christmas is 25th December. (Just in case you’ve forgotten!) Therefore really isn’t much time between them.
Alfie’s first birthday and the following Christmas last year was chaos. We were moving, he had so many presents and toys and we had no space for them. As he’d just turned one he didn’t understand what was happening. Quite frankly, he did not want to open his presents at all. So we opened them for him.
What I’ve come to realise whilst writing my Fox Family Time posts is that sometimes you can get wrapped up in the latest toys and gadgets. You get so wrapped up in what you can get for your little ones. Consequently, you forget that all they really need is your love and attention.
Happy Children
I don’t know about your children, but Alfie would be happy as Larry in a field with a stick and some leaves to run and jump in. No money spent, no toys, no TV or gadgets, just good old fashioned fun. I had such good fun playing peek-a-boo with him being a tree trunk at Charlecote Park.
“Present not presents. Let them be spoilt with love.”
Somebody being present is all they need. Being present is being there for them. Helping them grow, supporting them, playing with them, guiding them as they learn, that’s being present.
They don’t need presents. They don’t need top of the range toys, they don’t need the latest iPad or Leap Pad gadget they just need some love. That can be as easy as sitting and reading a story with them or teaching them a nursery rhyme with some actions to taking them out for the day and watching them learn as they figure out how to do something new for the first time.
That’s one of the reasons why we are cutting back on presents this year. We know that Alfie will get a lot from friends and family and he already has so many toys. With us both working full time and still working when we get home, it makes our weekends and school holidays even more precious.
Time Together
We want the time we spend with him to mean something, for it to be a lovely time for us all and to not worry that we haven’t got him every toy there is or could be. I want to create memories that we will remember and photos that capture those happy moments forever.
We, of course, will be getting him some presents but they will be ones that we can all play with together! Dan and I are such big kids that toys of Alfie’s would be perfect for us too!
A happy toddler, a happy mummy and a happy daddy is all we need for a happy life!
Mummy Fox xx
