“I love light and space, so I have widened windows and painted floorboards to let as much sunshine in as I can.” Somali Hindmarch (@littlegoldieshop) talks home life and motherhood with Nell Card…
Sonali Hindmarch, 36, lives in north london with her husband Richard, toddler Theo, three years, and baby, Sammy, three months. She runs an online children’s shop, Little Goldie, when her children are sleeping.
Our mornings are … Loud and late! They’re a blast of fresh clothes, peanut butter, babywipes and toothpaste. Often almost all at once. Yeah that’s not a neat image, but it’s an accurate one. Almost every morning, everyone has slept in. We’re a family of night owls, none of us morning people. I hope it stays that way – if one of my children suddenly started waking at 5am, my husband and I would struggle (and it would totally become his job to get up with them!)
I’d describe our house as … I love light and space, so I have widened windows and painted floorboards to let as much sunshine in as I can. It’s too small for us now though, so we’re trying to find somewhere new. It also looks a little like Brio Junction as train tracks are wound through every room.
My kids mainly wear … I do love a hand-knit. A lady commented on Theo’s outfit this weekend “is everything he’s wearing made of wool?!” erm, mostly. I prefer leggings to ridged trousers as they’re just more comfortable to run about in, so leggings and jumpers in the winter, leggings and t-shirts in the summer. My friend Sindi Khumalo (@khumalomini) makes the world’s coolest leggings. I almost only ever shop in the sale as I can’t afford the clothes I love full price. My favourite brands are Kidscase, Engel, Plystre, Misha and Puff – and Zara for affordable basics.
I cope with clutter by … I love the basket trick. I own almost one of each of Olli Ella’s baskets!
Our favourite family meal is … Dhal and rice. I’m half Indian and grew up eating vegetarian Indian food. It’s always been my favourite. I train my kids in spice tolerance early!
I never leave the house without … Nappies! Boring answer!
When no one’s looking I … Eat chocolate. Sometimes Theo catches me and then I feel like I have to give him some too. I have googled whether you can be addicted to chocolate. You can’t, apparently, but I think I could probably prove the theorists wrong.
Having a child has made me … Seriously exhausted. Like, wow I’m so tired. Having a baby and a toddler at the same time has pushed me so far out of what’s comfortable that I constantly live with a little tension pinching up my shoulders. It’s sometimes happy tension, sometimes let-me-sleep tension. Also – I don’t think I ever stopped loving the things that nine-year-olds also love (playing outside, fancy dress, cooking) so it has also made me crazy happy. I get to relive the most fun part of life again now.
I encourage creativity … through conversation. I do love to talk and so do my kids. We discuss what we can do and make and where we can play. We talk about the games we’ll make up. Theo and I love pretending to be librarians or train drivers or inventors.
I’ll never be able to part with … I don’t think I own an object I can’t part with! Honestly, I don’t. I like my phone a little too much though: it’s my connection to my friends and my business.
Bedtime tends to be … At the moment, not too bad. I expected it to be harder with two very small children and I’m sure it will be. But for now, Theo is pretty good at going to bed (this is new). He has a bath every other day, a story, milk and then hops in bed. He recently went from a cot to a bed back to a cot again – having a little brother made him want to have a bit of extra security. He will often call us for more and more stories, often bring a toy or a book in bed, but he’s stopped napping in the daytime when he’s with me so he’s tired enough that he usually just goes straight to sleep. Sammy is still young enough that a breastfeed gets him down for bed at a fairly regular time.
When all else fails we … Go outside. It can be hot and crowded at home, and everything feels so much more diluted in the outside air on the way to the park. That or “The Adventures of Abney and Teal”!
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