Hello again, it’s been a while… 🙂 I don’t know how these last few months have been for you but I can tell you that being the mom of a now nearly 1.5 years old girl and being self-employed in the middle of a worldwide pandemic isn’t the most relaxing experience I’ve ever … 😉

As many other businesses, no matter if small like mine or big, the crisis has taken it’s toll. I am still lucky because the blog has never been my main source of income. It is more a project my heart is attached to 🙂 I am also very thankful to the lovely participants of my German Conversation Groups who didn’t mind changing from in-person-meetings to online-sessions. You guys are THE BEST! 🙂 This and the jobs I got as a freelance journalist helped me make it over the crisis so far. But it didn’t leave me with much time to write for the blog. I really really hope this changes for the better this year. I miss you guys! 🙂

With the blog I am in somewhat of a personal dilemma. I don’t want to write about events going on during the pandemic nor about awesome places in Stuttgart because I don’t want to promote any situation that might help spread this devil of a virus any further.

But I thought I pop in today with an update about what I’ve been up to these last few months and some ideas how to entertain a 1.5 year old child when all the childcare facilities are closed. 🙂

Daily routines with a 1.5 years old in Stuttgart during the Corona pandemic

We are following the Corona rules and regulations very strictly and prefer to be a bit more cautious rather than too loose. Better be safe than sorry, right? Plus, I really REALLY want this crisis to be over and the only way I can help dealing with it is by not getting the virus and spreading it without knowing. So no play-dates, no meetings on playgrounds, no going to crowded places for us. Can that get a bit lonely from time to time? Yes? Do I think there is any other way handling the situation? Absolutely not.

So what we do at the moment is we go out in the morning every day. No matter if the sun is shining or if it is snowing. We have a little forest close by. It is too far for the little one to walk so I put on my running cloths, put her in the stroller and we jog over there. It is a great way to include some fitness into my daily routines and it really wakes me up in the mornings. When we arrive at the forest I take a break, take out the little one and we leave the trail and go explore. And there is so much to explore!

A few days ago, when there was fresh snow, we found animal traces. I guess from a mouse and a squirrel. I was actually more fascinated than the little one, but still 🙂 She loves it when I hide behind a tree and pop out my head from time to time and shout “Guguck!” (the German version of peek-a-boo in case you wonder… :-D) She also loves balancing on fallen trees (with my help obviously :-D), making piles of fallen leaves and sticking broken branches into holes…. There is so much to explore in a forest.  This can entertain us for quite some time.

When I took her out of her stroller in the forest the first time she was not very interested. But the more we go the more she gets excited. I think she had to get used to this new, strange environment. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been talking her for walks through the forest since she was born. But at that time she didn’t really understand where she was. I noticed that at some point a few months ago she became aware of her surroundings and places that were not our house or garden suddenly scared her a bit. So with the forest I didn’t push anything.

When we come back home it’s time for some snacks: pieces of an avocado, apple slices, the leftover of her breakfast… I mix it up a bit every day. After the snack we play at home. High in demand at the moment: Dancing to the tunes of her music box “Toniebox“[Affiliate Link] which she got for Christmas, climbing on her Pikler triangle, building towers with Lego and painting.

Around 11:15 am she has an early lunch. Lunch is actually one of the topics I talk about most with my mom- and dad-friends. It can be really tricky figuring out what your little one likes. So here is a little list about what my girl eats at the moment:

• pancake, either with broccoli baked into it or with cheese and ham on top of it
• noodles with cheese and ham
• Wiener Sausage with steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, zucchini, potato…)
• Fish fingers with steamed veggies
• noodles with macarele

After lunch it’s nap time. She sleeps for around 2 hours during the day at the moment which is great. Gives me some time to work, eat, work-out and even to relax. I hope she will nap until she is 18 years old… (don’t say anything! Let me dream!! :-D)

Whereas the morning routine is mostly the same every day the afternoon routine changes frequently. Some days the grandparents come look after her so that I can work. On other days when it is just me and her we sometimes check out if the playground is empty (there is very small one that not many people know about in our neighbourhood so the chances are usually very good), we check out every corner in the garden, we take a walk up and down the street (super exciting apparently…) or we stay home and play a bit more.

We have dinner between 5 and 6 pm and around 7 it’s time for bed (which doesn’t mean that she falls asleep at that time… :-D)

And that’s pretty much it. It sometimes feels like “Groundhog day” (do any of you guys still remember that movie??) but on the other hand I also enjoy being able to spend that much time with her. She is growing up SO FAST!! So actually every day, how exhausting it might be, is something I want to treasure.

Apart from entertaining the little one most of the day, I try to work as much as possible. I am so thankful that I was able to transfer my German Conversation Groups to online meetings and it has been so much fun meeting so many of you lovely internationals and helping you mastering the German language! To another year of speaking, speaking, speaking and learning a few fun facts about Stuttgart and Germany on the way 🙂 (If you are interested in improving your spoken German in a private online class, shoot me a message to mel@living-in-stuttgart.com)

Next to the conversation groups I work as a freelance journalist again and I am also very, very grateful for that. But I also really hope that the crisis will come to an end eventually so that I find more time and new sponsors for the blog again in order to be able to write more for you guys about the life in Stuttgart. These days will come again, I am sure of it.

Until then, I try to pop in from now and then with some updates or fun facts here and there. In the meantime: I would love to hear from you. How are you dealing with the situation? How does your daily routine look like? And if you have kids: How do you entertain them every day?? 😀

Stay safe and stay healthy!