Le French Bakery for a Wee One

Tory and I have been using the outdoors to learn temperature and seasons. It's pretty cute the way she says "brrrr!" when we step foot into the three-season porch in the morning to let Chloe outside as a burst of chilly fall air hits her face. Tory also has this toy with a turning sun / moon dial so we practice finding the sun during the daytime and the moon in the evening. On my SAHM days when the sun rises in the morning, I point out the window and say "look Tory, the sun is awake!" so she visually sees different parts of the day.

All of this instruction is partly education and admittedly, a selfish ploy to teach her the difference between day and night. Bedtime for Tory has always been a strict 7:00pm/7:30pm by her direction. A minute later and it's meltdown city. For the last month of so, she signs "nap" and points to her bottles sitting on the counter to tell us she's ready for bed. I'm totally fine with the early bedtime, but lately her wake-up time has crept up earlier and earlier. On Saturday morning, she woke up at 4:30am - wide awake and fussy as all get out. Andi and I tried to snuggle her in our bed for a while before we finally got up, dressed and made plans to visit our favorite area French bakery. The upside of having a toddler who wakes up at the crack of dawn? First dibs at the pastries ... oh yes we did!

The last time we visited the French bakery, Andi ate mysterious tiramisu poop. Thankfully, this trip was much smoother. Tory gobbled up her first taste of ham and egg quiche and was a big fan of the napoleon dessert, just like her daddy.

We finished our breakfast and made it back home in time for Tory's morning nap, when she willingly slept for two hours. Early mornings definitely come with the parenting territory. And as sleepy as I might have been, some of my favorite moments are times like this with my two favorite people. Oh, and croissants ... freshly baked French croissants might have been worth my lil' rooster's wake-up call.