Célia

Can you introduce yourself? Your first name? Where do you live? What do you do for a living? How many children do you have?

My name is Célia. I'm 35 years old. I live in the Basque Country and work in marketing and business development for a small local publishing house called Papier. I have a little boy who is two and a half.

How would you describe your life with him?

What I experience every day with him is a big mix! Everything is very intense. But in our relationship, there's always a lot of affection. Which he lets me feel through his eyes and his gestures.

Alongside this, one of the aspects I love most about parenthood is the transmission. These are the moments when we teach him things, when he discovers new experiences, whether he likes them or not. I think what thrills me most is seeing the sparkle in his eyes when he makes these new discoveries. Whether it's just me with him, or all three of us together with his.

My son craves these moments. Where we share new experiences and he sees things we like to do. At home, we love to cook, read and to tinker. He's clearly already a mini-cook, and he's already got his favourite books, which he loves to return to during reading time.

What is your favorite way to care for him ? Why? What makes you love this moment?

The first thing that comes to mind is bathing! Actually, I've come a long way on the subject of bathing. At the very beginning, I was very stressed. I had to hold him properly, bathe him at the same time, put the soap on him while avoiding his eyes, rinse him while making sure he enjoyed the moment...

This stress was also linked to the very first bathing moments we experienced in hospital. After giving birth, I couldn't get out of bed, and it wasn't me who did the bathing at the hospital. So, it was his dad who later taught me how to take care of the bath of my son.

And then things evolved a lot, because our son began to love water. He can stay in the bath for hours, even when the water is cold. It has become an enjoyable and funny moment. There are often three of us in the bathroom when he takes his bath!

How would you like him to grow up?

For us, the most important thing is to pass on our values, such as caring for one another. But also to remain curious, to like to try things out, to test things... I hope to pass on these values to him that we were taught when we were growing up. And so far, that's pretty much the case, phew!

How do you think care can contribute to this?

Bath time is a time when you are 100% with your baby or child. You're not doing five things at once. Care time, like bath time, is a time when you're together, dedicated to you and your child, playing and being fully present. In the end, there aren't so many special moments like that. At home, there are two: mealtime and bathtime. These are times when we can talk to him, tell him about our day and take care of him at the same time.

I find that we're so scattered these days... These moments of focus help to bring out different things, to create complicity and interactions that undoubtedly arouse his curiosity.

When it comes to bath time, in your family is it rather Amour or Tempête? Do you have a little anecdote to tell us?

It's really both! It can be a real storm when he doesn't want to get out of his bath. But it gets better as he gets older. The funny thing is that he usually gives us a huge hug after his bath. So, it's clear that he's feeling, he's experiencing that connection, that special attention of the moment we've dedicated to him.

Our boy loves the bath so much that he can put all kinds of utensils and objects in it. For a while, his great folly was my breastfeeding equipment. He loved playing in the bath with all the equipment: the pipes, the cone in which he circulated the water, blowing to make bubbles. That was quite creative! In any case, the bath has always been and will remain for him, I think, a real playground.

 Photo credits : @saintlouisvision  @editionspapier