A Date with My Daughter

Last week, my 3 year old and I took a nature walk together. It was a wonderful experience reminding me to take the time to really see everything instead of rushing past focused on a task. I was also able to connect with my daughter, which was the most precious thing.

With that connection in mind, I wanted to spend some time – really spend time – with my 6 year old. The following Saturday my daughter and I went out for a “date”. I knew I was doing a good thing because when I told her about our planned date for the weekend, her eyes lit up and she threw her arms around me. This became the thing she talked about most for the rest of the week. J

Photo from Paint Your Pot 

For the date, I wanted to find something to do that she would enjoy but that wouldn’t break the bank. (We are on a tight budget after all.) The popular choices are outdoor activities, but with Saturday being stormy, I had to come up with something else. It didn’t take too long to come up with a brilliant idea. Kyleigh is a creative child who loves drawing and painting and decorating and singing and playing pretend and all sorts of crafting. Why not find a date that speaks to her creativity? There is a place nearby that allows you to walk in, choose from a very large selection of unpainted ceramic bisque pieces, bring it back to the table and begin painting it. When you are finished painting, they clean everything up and glaze and fire it for you and you return to the store 3 to 5 days later to pick up your finished piece. This place is perfect for us! J

Saturday afternoon, after watching my niece and then running errands, it was time for my date with Kyleigh. The pouring rain and dark skies did nothing to dampen our spirits. We headed out to the pottery place. I had planned on painting a piece together, but we ended up both painting a piece.

Kyleigh found a tall mug that she thought would be cool to hold her pencils on her desk. I found this super cute small cupcake plate that I thought would be perfect to hold spoons while I’m cooking.

We had fun picking out our pieces from the lots of pieces they had. We enjoyed picking out the colors for our pieces and then picking out our brushes.

Kyleigh enjoyed painting her mug and giving it polka dots with a sponge she had found. She painted down inside the mug and liked the idea of writing “all gone” in the bottom of the mug. J Kyleigh finished painting her mug before I finished painting mine so she scouted out what she wanted to paint next time. It was nice to do something together that we both enjoyed.

The following Thursday we were able to pick up our finished pieces. So awesome!!!!!!

 Oh, and Kyleigh decided her mug was just too cool to be used as a pencil holder. So she will be using it to drink hot chocolate.

J

Kyleigh wrote "all gone" in the bottom.

 

One side of Kyleigh's mug.

My cupcake dish.

I think this place may become our go-to place for when we have "dates". I'm hoping to make the dates a monthly thing. One weekend I will have a "date" with Kyleigh while Nate has a Daddy date with Abby. Then two weekends later I will have a Mommy date with Abby and Nate will have a Daddy date with Kyleigh. I am truly hoping that this will strenghthen our relationships with our kids. I want to have a good relationship with both of my girls so that they will always feel they can talk to me and that I will always be on their side, ya know?

Our awesome masterpieces, as Kyleigh calls them. :)