Valentines treats

As planned, Eve and I were up and out the door before 9.30am on Saturday morning (if you want to be able to fit a pram on a bus on a Saturday you've got to do it early), in fact it was so early that we actually arrived in Cabot Circus before any of the shops had opened.

Eve slept in the pram, so I had a nice time wandering about the shops, browsing. I didn't buy anything, but it was really good being able to spend some time looking around. By 11am Eve hadn't woken up and I was feeling a bit tired, so I headed to Giraffe and ordered myself some blueberry pancakes. As we were there early, it wasn't busy so we were given a large table. I sorted out her lunch and play paraphernalia before she woke up (good to be able to have everything ready without rushing). 

As the restaurant started filling up for lunchtime Eve woke up. I ordered her some pasta twirls whilst she got stuck into some serious fun with crayons.

Eve didn't mind the pasta but I was slightly disappointed by it, and she didn't eat too much of it. Giraffe is a great restaurant and I always enjoy visiting, but I thought the pasta was quite lacking in imagination. Just because a dish is being made for a child doesn't mean that it has to be completely bland. It was literally just pasta twists mixed into chopped tinned tomatoes with some cheese grated on top. A good tomato sauce needs a little bit more care than that.

Other than that we had a lovely time. There was lots going on at nearby tables. Eve enjoyed watching what some older children were doing. 

After a fairly successful lunch (Eve was  really well behaved, phew!) I put her in the sling and we wandered down to Jones the Boot-makers, with Eve clutching a couple of crayons that she had brought with her (she was delighted by this). 

Clarks Little Poppy First Shoes

The guy that fitted her first pair of shoes was really nice and seemed very knowledgeable and explained about sizing. Eve's feet are a size 3E (3 is the length and E is the width). Apparently she has quite narrow feet with most children of her age having the width of G). As she has such small feet they didn't have many varieties of shoes in stock that would fit her, but thankfully the pair that the chap suggested (which would support her well re the narrow width of her feet) were really cute.

Granny T kindly paid for the shoes which is great as they're quite expensive and I was told that Eve should have her feet measured every 2-3 months going forward. The pair we bought are called Clarks Little Poppy T-Bar First Shoes in colour Berry.

http://www.charlesclinkard.co.uk/girls-c23/shoes-c24/little-poppy-girls-t-bar-first-shoes-p19255/s242345?gclid=CIj6lf6a5sMCFRPMtAodbVgAfw 

The shoes have soft soles which are important for developing feet. 

The weather was good so we stopped at the swings on our way home. Sam was supposed to be going out with some friends but his plans fell through. This turned out quite nicely in the end as we had a fun Valentines evening together, watching tv and drinking White Russians.