You see, in France we still address each other with Madame, Monsieur and Mademoiselle — the equivalent of Sir, Madam and Miss. These terms, as far as I can tell, have completely dissapeared out of the English/American vocabulary. I really like this politeness. When I walk into a bakery I greet everyone in there with a general “Bonjour Monsieur/Dames” and when it is my turn I get told “A vous, Madame”.

There is a campaign in France to get rid of the Mademoiselle,  which makes total sense. My grandmother’s two best friends, 90 and 92 respectively, are still known as Mademoiselle as they never got married. I address them as Mademoiselle, whilst they call me Madame, and there is not a lot of logic in that. I do hope the shopkeepers will continue to call me Mademoiselle though (and not forget the wink)!

What about in your country, are women still being addressed as Senorita, Senorina or Fräulein?

- Emilie x

The illustration is of Coco Chanel, one of France’s most famous Mademoiselles, by Adrian Tomine for the New Yorker.

I love using the Velib’, but cycling around a city with kids in tow is just not possible. The arrival of the Autolib’ was announced months ago and I have been peeking down my road, to see if there were going to be any cars parked close to me. And suddenly there were 4 neatly lined up electrical cars right across the road!

I now just walk a few meters, swipe my card, unplug the car from its power socket and off I go. It’s brilliant and has already taken me all around Paris. There are not yet that many parking stations, but new ones are opening every day. For the kids, I just bring along booster seats, which are easy enough to carry.

-Emilie

P.S. Have you ever driven an electrical car? It is soo quiet!

The temperatures over here have dropped into the -0°celsius level, which is a rare occurence. When it does happen, the whole of Paris seems to go off to hiberate in their homes. Which is where you’ll find us, snuggled up in our house! Time for some crafting…

We were recently given the Paper Wonderland book and we are officially obsessed. With some scissors and some tape, you get to put together some of the coolest creatures and little projects I have seen. Some are more complicated than others (great when you have kids of different ages) but the end result is super cute and great to play with, so the enjoyment goes beyond just crafting. I highly recommend it!

- Emilie

The only time this has not worked out for me, is the other day when I was picking up my girls from school. I suddenly realised, watching the kids pour out of the school, that every boy between 5-15 was wearing the exact same coat as me, which I had picked up at GAP Kids in the boys department! Obviously their mothers and I have the same taste…

- Emilie

Do you remember reading Pippi Longstocking by Astrid  Lindgren when you were a child? It was my absolute favourite. Pippi was our superhero: an orphan with bright red hair and incredible stories to tell, who lives on her own with a horse and a monkey and does not conform to anything.

I had totally forgotten about this book (It made me a bit sad that something that had been so special to me, had slipped out of my memory), until I stumbled over a copy of it today in a bookshop. And the copy I stumbled over is pretty special. The story of Pippi, which must have been written more than 50 years ago, has been given a face lift with illustrations by Lauren Child, famous from the UK TV show, Charlie and Lola. The illustrations are super charming and work beautifully with this story. I cannot wait to read this book to my kids. Coco, who is now 6 will be captivated by the story and 3-year-old Violette will love the pictures!

- Emilie

As Coco is now navigating her way through the first year of French education, I thought that an Abacus would be actually a useful tool for her to get used to the idea of adding and subtracting. I had been given an Abacus from Ikea ages ago and it had only ever been used as a toy. It now has a proud place on Coco’s little desk, and it is really interesting how much she is enjoying adding beads together, taking some away and seeing how it all works out.

P.S. Interestingly the children here in France are discouraged to use their fingers to add and substract. I guess it is so that they learn to visualise the numbers. Is it the same in your country?

- Emilie

Something seems to have happend to Coco since she turned 6. It seems like she woke up one morning and her hand coordination and patience had suddenly increased. I guess she is not a little girl anymore! She cannot wait to use these new found skills and now there is a serious demand for arts and craft sessions in our house. I do try to come up with my own projects, but there are times when a craft kit is a life saver! A great example are the Buttonbag Craft Kits, which are perfectly catered toward eager 6-year-olds. The projects are simple and the results impressive. I particularly like the Winter Birds Kit and the Peg Doll Kits.
- Emilie

Seriously, is there anything better in the world than beating on a massive ball with a stick and, when you finally smash it open, being showered in bonbons? It’s no wonder kids go crazy for piñatas.

Piñatas had not really crossed my radar until I went on holiday to Mexico last year. But now we can’t possibly consider a birthday party complete without a good piñata bashing! Here in Paris I pick our piñatas up from a lovely shop called La Pinata, which is along the Canal St Martin (the photo above is of a pinata I picked up for Coco’s birthday last week). I have also found a ton of piñata DIY posts online, like these by the lovely Oh Happy Day blog, just in case you do not have a handy piñata shop around the corner!

By the way, it is hilarious watching the way kids react when they are picking the bonbons out of the broken pinata. Some just go crazy and try to grab whatever they can, others stand back observe and hone in for the choice pickings!

- Emilie

My children’s birthday parties must be the most exciting day of their lives. However, I am much more hesitant. I have no problems baking the cakes, decorating the room and getting the party favours ready. It is entertaining all the children that scares me! They are a tough audience, these 6-year-olds, so the pressure is on.

It was Coco’s birthday party this weekend, and I needed to come up with some games to play inside on a cold, winter day in a small flat in Paris! One of most successful games was a whole body paper cut-out, and hilariously enough, was also the simplest to organise. We got the kids to lie down on a big piece of paper and drew the outline of their body. We then drew on some accessories and the kids finished them off. After they were done, we cut out the faces and held the piece of paper up so that the kids could stick their face through it. (Apparently this was one of the funniest thing ever!)

After that we got them to dance, cracked open a pinata, ate cake, dressed up and suddenly it was time for all these little people to go home again, tired and happy! Phew, another birthday party successfully navigated!

- Emilie

I have just had my entire flat repainted. My favourite part of having builders in is certainly not living on a building site, but spending countless hours daydreaming about how to decorate the rooms. So much fun, even if only 10% of my ideas actually ever see the light of the day! I am a big fan of old stuff; I like things that are not too perfect and which look like they have been around for a while.

Rien à Cirer is a super cute little company I discovered at the Mini Vintage Fair last month. I love the way they use old furniture and give it a new life with beautiful colours and little touches, while keeping the vintage feel alive. It really feels very French to me, but with a nice twist! I picked up a little unit similar to this one to hang up in my bathroom. And how cool would this type of dresser look in a children’s room?

- Emilie

Courtney and I spent a hilarious weekend seven years ago (pre-children) at the October Fest in Munich. It was great fun: there was a lot of beer, schnapps, bretzels, German sausages, sleeping and card playing involved. I don’t think we had ever seen so many people our age in lederhosen and dirndls. It was definitely not the kind of weekend you would have with kids.

I am pretty sure that a weekend in Munich now would be very, very different, but potentially as much fun — it is a beautiful city, very traditional but also very happening. For some local insight on what Munich has to offer for kids, Mitali, a stay-at-home mom living in Munich, has very kindly given us her tips and recommendations on what to do in the capital of Bavaria. She is a mother of two (son Nilay 6 years, daughter Nalini 7 months) and the proud owner of a crazy dog, Greta. She loves travelling and has lived all around the world, but, in the end, has always enjoyed coming home to Munich. She has some great ideas of what to do in Munich!

SEE AND PLAY:

Schloss Nymphenburg – This is a beautiful castle close to Munich’s city center. It is located within an amazing park, so if you don’t want to visit the inside of the castle, it is still worth the trip to walk around the wonderful gardens. If the weather is warm, go to Prinzengarten located close to the left entrance, where the kids can play in a little creek.

Right next to Schloss Nymphenburg is the museum Mensch und Natur. This is a great interactive museum for children with quizzes, dinosaurs and varying exhibitions.  In front of the castle begins the Nymphenburg canal. In summer many people take a walk along the water, go jogging or cycling. In winter the canal is frozen and you can go ice skating or try out bavarian curling. You can rent skates in all sizes for a small fee and little booths sell hot wine and punch for children to warm you up.  If you walk towards the end of the canal, away from the castle, make sure to stop at Gruenwaldpark, a small park with a nice playground.

Tierpark Hellabrunn -  Tierpark Hellabrunn is Munich’s zoo. Apart from all the wonderful animals you can see, it offers a huge and very creative playground, a petting zoo and pony riding for kids. Unfortunately it gets very crowded during the weekend.
The zoo is located right next to the Isar, so if the weather permits, take a walk at the Flaucher, which is what this part of the Isar is called. People hang out here in summer, bring picnics, barbeque and sunbath. The vibrant atmosphere in the evenings is enjoyed by all.

Olympiapark - The Olympiapark are the old olympic grounds of Munich. There is a huge area with a big public bath, the former soccer stadium, an ice skating rink and a lake. Climb the big hill for an awesome view or to fly kites. For an even more amazing view go up the olympic tower where there is a moving restaurant! (Definately a great spot for a romantic dinner with your loved one! Go at sun set.)
In summer, an alternative festival called Tollwood is held at the Olympiapark, offering food from all over the world, concerts and crafts. Munich’s Sealife is also located at the park and is worth a visit. You can see sharks, sea turtles and other amazing creatures of the sea.  For car lovers BMW Welt is right across the street. Especially little and big boys will enjoy the world of BMW and the museum inside the very modern building.

Marienplatz –  The Marienplatz Square the centre of Munich. The impressive new town hall is located there and you can see Munich’s famous tourist attraction, the Glockenspiel. Every day at 11am and 12pm this chiming clock recounts a royal wedding, jousting tournament and ritualisitc dance – all important in Munich´s history.
You can then walk to a church called Alter Peter (Old Pete) to climb its many stairs to the top of the church tower for an amazing view of the city. Close by is the toy museum which shows old timey toys and dolls.

Don’t forget to stop by next door at the wonderful chocolate shop, called Goetterspeise.  They sell heavenly chocolates, truffles, amazing cakes, macaroons and in summer home made ice cream. You can sit out front on small tables and tiny benches and stools (perfect for kids), enjoy a hot chocolate, home made ice tea or coffee and enjoy the pretty neighbourhood.

Cafe Freistunde - Another great little cafe in this part of town is Cafe Freistunde.They have a playroom for kids, offer delicious coffee and cake, pretzels and kids cappucinos and you can also have a coffee to go to take to the wonderful playground opposite the cafe. The river Isar also isn’t far away to go explore with a coffee and pretzel in hand.

Aroma Kaffeebar – This is a beautiful cafe and store offering delicious coffee, paninis, home made cakes and croissants, muesli, rice pudding and other wonderful dishes. The food is always arranged in the loveliest way with flowers and other cute additions and the vibe there is very laid back.

Cafe Netzwerk – This café is located in the “Center for Natural Birth”. The cafe is a project where women (mostly migrants) can find work after having kids. They offer breakfast and lunch from Monday to Thursday between 9am and 2.30 pm. The friendly ladies serve amazing vegetable soup and other hearty dishes. Babies are able to sleep in one of the many baby beds that can be placed next to your table and older kids can sit in the offered highchairs. You will find no tourists there as this is a spot that is only known by locals….until now

Hirschgarten - Hirschgarten (Deergarden in English) is a huge park located about 15 minutes by tram from Munich Central Station. It offeres a couple of great playgrounds, soccer fields, a water playground, in winter you can go sledding there and as the name suggests there are deers that can be watched and fed. There is a huge beergarden there, where you can either bring your own food and sit at one of its many tables or you can buy great beergarden food there like pretzels, radish, the typical bavarian cheese spread called Obadzda, grilled fish on a stick and of course bavarian beer served in the typical big glasses. If the weather isn´t good enough to sit outside there is also a bavarian restaurant.

Hans im Glück - Hans im Glück has a very creative interiour where the tables are actually build around tiny trees. The have a small shelve with kids toys and they offer food most children like: burgers and fries. Hans im Glück has beef burgers and veggie burgers and offer a great variety of fillings, like burgers with hummus spread, or an Italian burger with antipasti. You can also order salads and desserts and sit inside and outside.

Le Florida - Located in Maxvorstadt this restaurant and bar is great for the start of a night out without your little ones. You can enjoy yummy fusion food and cocktails and listen to some great tunes. The crowed consists mostly of students as this restaurant is located close to the university of munich. Other bars are close by.

Pardi - Pardi is a Turkish restaurant that is always crowded, so make sure to book a table in advance, especially if you want to go in the evening. In summer you can sit outside on their lovely terrace, blankets and heaters allow you to enjoy even a cooler night outside. Inside, Pardi is a stylish place with a fire place and a bar. The food is delicious turkish food. I can recommend the mixed cold and warm entrees and the salad with grilled goats cheese. Children are always welcome and are greeted warmly by the staff!

SHOP:

Rasselfisch - Rasselfisch sells basically all a family needs for their kids. From stylish strollers, to bike chairs for kids, baby carriers, bags, dishes, furniture, toys…This stylish store offers a wide variety of wonderful, individual and well designed things for babies, children and their parents. Check out the website!

Thierchen - Thierchen is a small shop selling handmade baby and childrens clothes, blankets and pillows. The clothes are very indivdual and creative. They sell little t-shirts with hand embroiderd pretzels on them which make great souvenirs to bring home from your trip to Munich. The shop is located in Hans-Sachs-Strasse close to “Kaiser Otto” and “Goetterspeise”. Unfortunately the shop doesn’t have a website.
Kinderzimmer – These are really two shops. One sells furniture for babies and older kids and one offers a wonderful selection of toys, stuffed animals and childrens books. One can get lost in there for hours looking at toy trains, beautiful dolls, individual kids costumes and other gorgeous things.

Lily und Milou – Lily and Milou sells up market, stylish baby and kids clothes, Barbapapa toys and books, wonderfull dolls from Blabla Kids and Anne-Claire Petit, diaper bags and other beautiful things for kids and their mamas.

Nia Pret a Porter and Nia Chaussure - Those two shops are heaven. Leave the kids with your partner or travel partner for two hours and enjoy shopping there. Nia Pret a Porter offers mostly French brands like Sessun and American Vintage. The girls who work there are geniuses in combining clothes and accessories and can help with all your fashion needs. It is my go-to shop for almost anything. The only downside is, that it isn’t cheap and one can never leave without spending way to much on their gorgoues pieces.
Same goes for Nia Chaussure which offers beautiful shoes from Bensimon, dico Copenhagen, Dolfie, Sessun and others and also sells amazing bags and the softest scarves.
Can you tell that I love love love those stores and I am NOT getting payed to say that at all!!!!!!

Leselotte - Leselotte is Munich´s greatest bookstore for kids. They only sell German childrens books but even if you cannot speak German you might want to take a peak at their great selection. The staff can recommend the best book for every age and they also offer a lot of picture books for the smallest ones and a great little selection of toys.

Servus Heimat - Servus Heimat, located in the city center, offers a wide range of really stylish souvenirs from Munich. You can buy shirts for adults and kids, snow globes, key chains, books, diaries and more. Definately go there, if you want to bring something home that isn’t as tacky as the usual tourist stuff.

STAY:

Here are a couple of recommendations of Hotels to stay in: The Laimer Hof, The Anna Hotel, The Hotel Olympic, The Cortiina and the Louis Hotel.

A friend of mine recently referred to the way my 3-year-old daughter speaks as Creole. It a great way of describing it: she speaks an absolute mixture of French and English. Phrases like “Can you s’il te please tirer my culotte” (please pull up my undies) are very normal in our household and it is so cute I don’t want it to change! But it won’t last; she is quickly learning to differentiate her two languages.

In our household I try to only speak English at home and the children are exposed to French at school and with their friends. I myself grew up with a French mother, and an Irish father but spent my childhood in Germany, so I grew up speaking English, French and German. I actually now have a bit of an accent in every language I speak! As a child I really did not enjoy coming from a multi-lingual family as I felt I was different from my friends. My girls have the great advantage of going to an inner-city Paris school where a huge amount of the kids speak at least two languages, if not more.

So now that I am trying to bring up my kids bi-lingually myself, I have done a bit of research. I am not an expect in anyway, but here are some of the facts I thought were interesting:

• Being bi-lingual or tri-lingual has nothing to do with intelligence, people of different levels of intelligence are multi-lingual.
• Children start differentiating between languages around the ages of 2-3.
• Bi-lingual children do not usually learn to speak later because of learning different languages, as previously thought.
• One of the simplest approaches towards having bilingual children seems to be the one-parent/one-language approach. It is easier for a child to differentiate a language if one person speaks one language consistently to them.

Voila! I am really interested to hear if anyone else has tips and ideas on how to bring up kids with several languages!

- Emilie

Now that the perfect grey has been chosen, the next project is the girls’ room. I have been thinking of putting up wallpaper on at least some of the walls! How lovely is this Famille Summerbelle wallpaper? It is appropriately called: Un dimanche à Paris (A Sunday in Paris). Is it a bit exagerated to have a Paris-themed wallpaper when you live in Paris? I am not sure!

- Emilie

Nils and Happy to see you is a quintessential French label which always stikes the right note between what moms want to see their daughter wearing and what kids want to wear themselves.

- Emilie

When I found out I was going to have a daughter, I had this deluded idea that my child would only play with wooden toys and that there certainly would be no princess dresses in our house.  Oh, how naive I was! Five years, two daughters and about 15 polyester princess dresses later, our dress-up box has become quite famous with the under fives on our block. And now we have a reputation to keep!

Now, it turns out that even in the world of fake princess dresses, there are cheap and cheerful models and, on the other end of the scale, there’s Haute Couture. The dresses by Ivoy Paris fall into the later category. The taffeta, the ruffles, the lace and the elaborate cuts of these dresses are quite spectacular. They are probably what little girls imagine a genuine princess dress to be like. They do come with a certain price tag, but this is truely the creme de la creme of princess dress-up dresses….

- Emilie

A few years ago a guy called Jeremy realised that, while visiting his great aunt in her retirement home, a lot of the ladies there were bored and would love to earn a little bit of extra money on the side. The idea for Golden Hook was born! You choose a hat, a scarf or a snood and 15 days later you’ll receive a freshly made item, carefully hand-knitted. It’s kind if cool to know that your child’s hat has been made the old fashioned way, no?

- Emilie

There are so many great new baby gadgets and baby gear on the market these days that I am almost sad I don’t have a newborn to check them all out! Take the Tripp Trapp Newborn Set – such a great new invention. I always found it a bit sad not to have my children at the table when they were little babies. They were normally in a bouncy chair under the table or somewhere in a corner. I love the idea of this contraption which you assemble onto a normal Tripp Trapp chair (I think every single of us Babyccino girls have these highchairs for our kids). It means that the child can sit and be part of the family from the start. It also means that you don’t inadvertently trip over them, because you have momentarily forgotten that they have been stuck somewhere on the floor.

- Emilie

P.S. While I am at it here is another great newborn invention: a white noise iphone app that apparently calms down newborns immediately!

One of the main areas of debate is the refusal of jeans and trousers. Have these 5-year-olds never heard about the feminist movement and how hard our female ancestors picketed not to have to wear skirts? We are coming full circle! Though I am morally opposed, I do often give in, so there are a lot of little warm winter tights being paired up with dresses and skirts over here in my flat in Paris.

I love these simple, warm and comfortable tights by one of my favourite labels Ada Ada. They go with everything and are a very good backup solution to those jeans that are never going to be worn!

- Emilie

I have just started to scratch the surface of my Christmas shopping list — how did I ever manage anything without the internet?! How cool is this Kimono Doll Kit as a big stocking filler? Coco, who is now 5, is really getting into sewing and I have been a bit hesitant leaving her on her lonesome with needles. (Possibly I am being a bit overprotective? As she herself points out: If you don’t let me do it, how will I ever learn?).

Anyway, this nifty little kit comes with a plastic needle,  lots of pre-cut fabric pieces and other bits and bobs so she can go straight into crafting mode. Perfect for a post-Christmas chilly afternoon! It’s available from Alex & Alexa.

- Emilie

How cool is this toy computer by Donkey Products? It is totally designed to appeal to parents as much as to their kids, but I do love the idea: a chalk board hidden inside a laptop! Apart from looking good, it is also a really handy toy to have while you are out and about, as it folds down neatly with the chalk stashed away inside.

-Emilie