The preparations took a lot longer than I expected and my husband being the trooper he is, had to step in to help make everything on time. Nonetheless, I am now blogging from the other side of a very successful 1st birthday and 1st proper Christmas. This time last year, I was still in hospital waiting to be discharged so our Christmas didn't take place till the 27th and it was cold Christmas dinner and crying newborns all round. I wanted everything to be perfect and although old me would have picked at little things that happened, new me thinks neither could have gone any better if they tried especially with an unpredictable toddler.
So without further ado, a run down on what I have been up to during this busy time. As you know, I had photos of my son and our family done for his 1st birthday. Unfortunately, my son was not having a very cooperative day but we did manage to get some lovely pictures including at least one of our family I would be proud to display on our wall... yay. He wasn't interested in smashing the cake at all, he tried a bit, turned his nose up and then tried to wreak havoc by running around the photographer's house with cake covered hands. That being said, we also have some fantastic pictures of when he did approach the cake and then got washed off afterwards. As you know, I had to make my skirt as apparently a reasonably priced navy tulle skirt is not something easy available on the current market, so here was my finished outfit taken after the first photoshoot.
Then there was the birthday. The rundown was basically this: Filling his room with balloons while he slept, leisurely breakfast, opening presents, getting changed, Father Christmas in his grotto at 1.15pm, lunch with the family in the Rainforest Cafe's restaurant at 1.45pm and then Kew Gardens Christmas Night Walk at 5pm. Sounds easy right? Well, I don't know how but we were still a little late for the night walk but it still worked out fine. For ease, here are the links to what we did:
http://www.therainforestcafe.co.uk/events/grotto (I know I posted this a couple of posts ago)
http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/christmas-at-kew-2015
Now the Rainforest Cafe we thought would be a great place for kids and to an extent it is but there seem to be a lot of steps/stairs everywhere and no ramps so my son being the climber he is was off exploring all of them. The staff employed there left a lot to be desired. I won't name names of the bad ones but out of the very many we encountered, there only seemed to be two who actually knew what they were doing. I also won't go into great detail about how many times we were asked how many people were in our party (despite me confirming numbers) then who were the three with allergies only to have a what seemed like endless discussion about how many high chairs and to be given food that wasn't dairy-free as the servers didn't think to ask. That aside, my son seemed to enjoy himself. He loved the decor, being sung to and trying to stamp on the projections on the floor (of fish and leaves). This is all I could have asked for and he was none the wiser about the staff and confusion thankfully.
The night walk was great, my son absolutely loving lights and the outdoors was unfortunately asleep for the first part of the walk but thankfully we managed to sneak round again when he did wake up for him to do the best bit, a light curtain. The only way I think to explain it is, if you have seen Frozen, when Anna and Kristoph are trying to find Elsa and they wander into what seems be curtains of icicle crystals. Imagine this, in lights. My son was in light heaven and didn't want to leave! I would definitely recommend it for kids although it is quite a walk round so wrap up warm and be prepared. We also had some amazing marshmallows from the Marshmallowist stand which topped it all off perfectly. My son fell asleep on our drive home content and probably exhausted from all of the excitement. His face on the night walk spoke a thousand words and I couldn't be happier he enjoyed himself.
Trying to schlep his cake across London wasn't appealing so we ended up cutting the cake the day after and he still enjoyed all of the attention. Again in an earlier post, I posted the image of the cake I was hoping to model my son's after. I will caveat now, I'm in no way a professional as you will see below but I think it turned out pretty well!
Finally Christmas day was extremely busy and full of presents and food but in the end, my son loved his new toys (only a couple of them, the rest were ignored) and absolutely loved his Christmas dinner. He got to visit my parents and my sister and had a good old play around in my Dad's house flitting from room to room exploring.
All in all, who can complain when your son is happy and enjoyed himself? Certainly not me, the mother of a toddler.
Hope you had an amazing Christmas and wishing you all a very Happy New Year.
~AB~
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