Tried and tested: cute labels for your kid's stuff

Baby Pingu recently started going to daycare, in view to my imminent return to the office world. At Belgium's childcare centres, they typically provide the nappies and meals and you need to foresee to provide the formula, bottles, extra sets of clothes, pacifiers, creams for nappy rash, etc, all dutifully labelled with your bundle of joy's name.

In the past, I've resorted to just writing into the labels of the garment in question and sticking a regular paper label onto the bottles. Regardless to say, the process needs to be repeated rather often, as the labels peel off after a couple of washes and the "permanent" markers are not so permanent after all.

I was therefore looking for a more lasting solution. I had seen nice plastic labels, some with cute designs, on the clothes and items of Bibu's friends, but never found out a place to it. That is until a few weeks ago, when one of my friends showed me her kid's labels from Lovely Labels and told me it was super easy to order them online.

Source: homepage Lovelylabels

I went to their website and ordered the "paquet combiné", which consists of a combo of labels for textile, two different sizes of plastic labels and a luggage tag for your kid's school bag for about 20 EUR. You can choose the font, colour and a variety of cute designs (you can also choose not to have any design) and pick one of a several designs for the luggage tag. I ordered the textile labels and the big plastic labels for Bibu and the small labels for baby Pingu, which are more handy for example to stick to his pacifier (just about the perfect size). They also make custom ID bracelets -which can come in handy on holidays-, and round and special shape labels.

I made the order on a Sunday evening and by Tuesday morning the pack had arrived. The items arrived as I had ordered them, so no nasty surprises. So far I have used the plastic labels on a number of items but still have not tested the textile ones, although they look very pretty too.

I'll definitely re-order!

Dinos and bagels

On Friday, I decided to make the most of the last day of the Krokusvakantie and the fact that baby Pingu was at daycare to take Bibu to his favourite museum: the Natural Science museum in Ixelles (a.k.a. the dino museum)

We have been there a few times already and it's funny to see how each time is like the first time for Bibu, albeit with the already acquired knowledge on how to best navigate the museum and the best perks of the visit.

We arrived to an entrance hall full of parents and kids in similar states of excitement, mostly Flemish. For some unfathomable reason known only to the high powers of the museum and the two grumpy ladies behind the ticket desks, the museum was still shut at 9:45am, when it states in their website that it opens at 9:30 on weekdays. So, a word to the wise, better arrive 10-ish.

We did the grand tour, Bibu happily inaugurated the sand box where you can "dig a dino" and we visited the museum shop (and managed not to buy anything) When the the time came around lunchtime, I already knew that the musuem cafe was really a no-go. It's small, the offer of food is terrible (dubious hot dogs and soggy sandwiches) and one look at the enormous queue that had formed had Bibu and I going for the exit in search of a more human place to eat. I knew that there were plenty of places around Place de Luxemburg, so we headed there.

We ended up going into Karsmakers, which is one of those places I intended to go to for some time but never quite found the time. It specialises in coffee and NY-style bagels. There was a bit of a queue at the door (you need to order first and they bring it to your table) but we stayed and hoped for the best. Bibu ordered the ham, tomato and creme cheese plain bagel and I had the poppy "bagel of the month", which consisted of a roast pumpkin, ricotta and pesto filling (de-li-ci-ous!). Luckily, we found two empty spots at the sofas in the back and settled there (quite cozy, but one of the tables with regular chair would be easier for a kid to eat from, provided they are available).

VEREDICT: It was not an obvious choice to go with small kids: I think quite ok for a 4-year old but more tricky with babies or toddlers, specially at lunchtime when the place is packed with with Euro-interns. The service at the counter was very efficient and quite fast and the waiter that tended to us was a Spanish-speaker and very nice (he even reminded us I was leaving my umbrella behind). The toilets were nice and clean and even had a folding changing table, but you had to go down a flight of narrow stairs to get there. I would definitely go again but sans les kids, or maybe on a Sunday with Mr M and the kids for a late breakfast.

Welcome to Brussels with Kids!

Good morning everyone!

This is the first ever post in the blog and I am very excited about it. I have been living in Brussels for over 10 years and, after having my two sons. I have quickly realised how little info there is out there to help new parents around in this big-small city that is Brussels. This I find quite baffling, but, hey, this is why I feel this blog is needed.

I am no native Brusselaar, though. I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is far, far away. But I do know what moving around with small kids in a big city is like. Dealing with public transport and restaurants that not always care about their smallest customers are just a couple of the daily challenges that all parents must face , not to mention finding a restroom where both baby and parent can use when using a buggy (a tricky one ) or where, indeed to buy (or re-sell) that precious buggy that looks and costs just like a brand new car.

In this blog, I would like to share my personal views on places, things, activities and shops that cater to parents of young kids in Brussels. I want to stress it's my personal view and that by no means there will be "sponsored" posts or any such thing here. I will talk about what I see and what I have experienced first hand.

Reader's comments are very much welcome and I imagine there will be times when some will disagree with my opinion. After all, everyone experiences things in different ways. I will definitely encourage healthy debates and information sharing, as it's the best way of improving the info and getting an even better "Brussels with Kids".

Anyway, hope you find useful info here that will make your outings in the "heart of Europe" a bit more relaxed and fun. Enjoy the reading!