Something big is going on in my life….my son, (who I still think of as a newborn) is already turning two. That is just ridiculous. I seem to have entered into some sort of time vortex where days turn into months and weeks turn into years.
He’s talking now. And, I don’t know about you, but that is just ridiculous.
Babies don’t talk, kids talk. Therefore I officially have a “kid”! Crazy.
I began to pin and plan the homemade decorations and game ideas, but then it dawned on me. WHY NOT GO TO ROME FOR HIS 2nd BIRTHDAY.
You may remember from my New Year’s Eve post that one of my best Canadian friends also moved to Italy a few years ago and married her Roman boyfriend. When my son was a few weeks old she got pregnant (of course, since everyone knows pregnancy is contagious!), and her daughter is only 8 months younger than my son!
My husbands family is quite small and don’t really celebrate birthdays (sad I know, my husband has NO IDEA when either of his parent’s birthdays are and he is an only child!), and since my entire family is in Canada we thought we’d go celebrate with the closest thing that I have to a family here…… my best friend and her beautiful family!
I’ve decided to drive down with my husband on the weekend, then he’ll come back to Modena on Sunday and I will stay until Wednesday, so that we’ll have 5 full days of kid friendly Roman adventures. Now the questions is……
How to Plan a Toddler Friendly Vacation in Rome?
I’ve been o Rome MANY times over the last few years and so far we’ve taken our son two or three times. I can safely say NOT EVERYTHING IS EASY TO DO WITH YOUNG KIDS. Especially if you have a stroller. It is definitely easier navigating Rome if you are two adults with kids so that you can always have a helping hand bringing the stroller up stairs or navigating public transit.
Here we are in Rome when our son was jsut a few months in the Piazza di Spagna , Spanish steps. Needless to say we took the side streets to get to the top instead of hoisting up the stroller!
In the past we’ve done a few of the major sites but since my little guy was still really little he was also much more easy going. This time I want the trip to be about him so that he can enjoy all that Rome has to offer for families….and believe me THERE IS A LOT!
I enlisted the help of my friend Katrina who lives in Rome to help me create a fantastic list of 5 Fun Things To Do In Rome With Young Kids.
This is going to be part of a series that I’m doing on Reason to Dress, focusing on family travel in Italy. The first in the series is ROME!
One of the nicest things about living in Italy is that even if you don’t make much money you can just pick up and go to Rome for a few days! I would have never thought in Canada that a possible birthday party idea for a 2 year old would be a vacation to the Eternal City.
Here it’s no big deal! People go to Rome, Venice, Milan or Florence all the time for mini-getaways. In fact I just spoke to my husband’s cousin who is going to Sardegna to lie on the beach for 5 days as a graduation gift! I’m pretty sure I got a lunch out with the family and I was pretty happy with that.
Since I have Rome on my mind, this week I’ll be introducing you to my incredibly talented designer friend Gillian and her ridiculously creative husband Nicola. Together they have a design studio and I want to share what they came up with for their daughter’s first birthday.
I’ll also be featuring Gillian’s style tomorrow for my Real Mom Style Feature along with another stylish Roman friend I have who lives in Modena! We’ve become good friends and I just went to her daughter’s posh 2nd birthday!
You can’t talk about Rome without talking about fantastic food so I’ll share a recipe that a real Roman taught me that is so EASY you can make it at home in under 15 minutes.
I hope you enjoy meeting my Roman friends and I can’t wait to share with you my Rome Adventures with my “kid”!
Life link-ups!
Sometimes I like to link up my posts or my instagram pictures with these amazing bloggers. Feel free to visit their sites for inspiration on everything from life, recipes, photography and crafts.
