Made some fuzzy little buddies for some friends on Valentine's Day.
I love these little robots and have wanted to make one for along time. You can buy them from various makers online but I found a pattern on Etsy and made my own.
Cute huh?
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Stuff I Found on the Internet.
Just some stuff to share with you all in case you haven't seen it.
The first is a funny video from Story of This Life that features a toddler helping Mom out during the day and really shows why it now takes me twice as long to get the same amount of stuff done as it used to. Of course because I work full time but still like a clean house this is all compacted into the evenings.
OK the kid in this video is way younger than Babe. Should I be concerned that she still does ninety per cent of this crap? Of course she no longer sits in a highchair but the dishwasher, the laundry folding, the drier, the windows...that's all the same three years in. The dryer scene especially really spoke to me. Babe loves to help to put the laundry in the washer and dryer, but she is so over eager to get the job done that she is constantly throwing the colours in the whites as fast as I can pull them back out and closing the dryer door every time I turn around to get more wet clothes. I guess her helping around the house is a work in progress.
She also likes to help fold the laundry. Of course, her idea of helping fold the laundry is to pull all the already clean and folded face cloths out of the closet, unfold them all and throw them on the floor and then re-fold them all. See exhibit A titled "The Face Cloth Train" below.
The second is also a video by Story of This Life which features the cliche clean freak mom and the cliche laid back mom.
I'm definitely the laid back mom according to this video. Babe eats stuff that falls on the floor, climbs all over the playground with minimal supervision and I don't think I've ever cleaned off a public high chair in my life - unless there was a glaring booger on it. Even then my go-to approach would likely be to flick it off with a stir stick.
The video is a funny little clip although I do think it kind of paints the germaphobic mother in a more negative light. Certainly the laid back mom would be more likely to be a second or third time mother in most cases. I'm of course a first time mom but because I nannied for so many little ones I guess the over-protective impulse kind of wore off. I simply can't be bothered to disinfect everything or shadow Babe's every movement and ultimately I don't think it is healthy for Babe. Of course we do end up suffering through our fair share of sicknesses, which always sucks. Currently Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is going around Babe's preschool. My attempts to prevent Babe from getting this pain-in-my-ass disease was to instruct my three-year-old to not put stuff from school in her mouth.
And to avoid the inevitable head lice infestation I have told her not to wear other kid's hats or hair bands. I'm not an idiot, I don't have expectations that my toddler will listen to my warnings and diligently remember to follow my advice...but so far, passing the responsibility onto her seems to be the extent of what I'm prepared to do to avoid these ailments. Short of keeping her out of school or away from other kids in general I'm not sure what else I realistically can do.
But there's no way she will remember my warnings and I fully expect to be hit with festering mouth sores and itchy scalps any day now. And yes, I will complain about it despite my lack of prevention techniques.
Now something a little more serious.
I read this opinion article last month and haven't had a chance to share it until now. I think it is really interesting and touched on a lot of the same things that I feel about raising children without religion.
Read it HERE.
Seriously, GO. Read it. It'll either speak to you or really piss you off, either way it'll kill five minutes. Then you can come back here and agree with me or get pissed off again.
I've thought and thought about what to say about the topic here which is probably why it took me so long to finally post it. I have strong beliefs on this in line with the LA Times article but I realize other people have strong beliefs the other way and some of those people matter to me. So for now I have decided not to say too much and to simply share the article for anyone who is interested.
I will say that my hackles do get up at any suggestion that simply because my daughter isn't being raised with devotion to a specific faith she will somehow lack a moral compass or always feel empty without His love. I am not religious but I am certainly spiritual and curious. I don't feel alone or lost without a designated faith and I don't believe my daughter will either. I do see the value of emotional security, structure and moral guidance in religion, I can see how it can give someone a sense of purpose and belonging. However I don't believe children raised without it can't have the same. We do however discuss the possibility of God and the vastness of the universe and the idea that our loved ones who have passed may be somewhere better or may have started again as babies. And for now she does seem to enjoy saying prayers at night and thinking up things to say thank you for which I see nothing but benefit in doing.
Some of you might remember a post I did back before we moved up North when I took Babe on a tour of various religious facilities in Richmond, it was an awesome day and we will do it again when she is a bit older. I recommend everyone go. I see it as my job as her parent to expose her to as much as I can. Give her as much information as I can. Have her meet as many types of people as I can. So that when she is grown she will be open-minded. Curious. A free-thinker. Thirsty to learn. Able to adapt. And accepting of others not like her. Then hopefully she will be able to make choices about the person she wants to be and what she wants to believe without feeling like she will be a disappointment to her family for following her heart. But even without the guidance of God she is still being taught every day to have strong ethics, to stand up for what she believes is right, to weigh information and the views of others, to do the right thing, to be grateful every day for her blessings, to make a positive impact on her world and that there are consequences for her actions here and now.
OK. I'll drop it for now. But there's no promises that I won't go into more detail at a later date if I feel that I am being respectful. With the stuff going on around the world with the fighting between various religious groups over everything from terrorism to women's rights to medical procedures and parenthood it's a topic I, like many other parents feel strongly about.
Hold onto your boots because I'm also considering how to comment on the great vaccination debate which appears to be really amping up this year.
PS.
Awesome Mother Moment of the Day:
It took me until 4:30 pm at work to remember that Babe put stickers on my back when I was getting dressed this morning. Perfect.
The first is a funny video from Story of This Life that features a toddler helping Mom out during the day and really shows why it now takes me twice as long to get the same amount of stuff done as it used to. Of course because I work full time but still like a clean house this is all compacted into the evenings.
OK the kid in this video is way younger than Babe. Should I be concerned that she still does ninety per cent of this crap? Of course she no longer sits in a highchair but the dishwasher, the laundry folding, the drier, the windows...that's all the same three years in. The dryer scene especially really spoke to me. Babe loves to help to put the laundry in the washer and dryer, but she is so over eager to get the job done that she is constantly throwing the colours in the whites as fast as I can pull them back out and closing the dryer door every time I turn around to get more wet clothes. I guess her helping around the house is a work in progress.
She also likes to help fold the laundry. Of course, her idea of helping fold the laundry is to pull all the already clean and folded face cloths out of the closet, unfold them all and throw them on the floor and then re-fold them all. See exhibit A titled "The Face Cloth Train" below.
The second is also a video by Story of This Life which features the cliche clean freak mom and the cliche laid back mom.
I'm definitely the laid back mom according to this video. Babe eats stuff that falls on the floor, climbs all over the playground with minimal supervision and I don't think I've ever cleaned off a public high chair in my life - unless there was a glaring booger on it. Even then my go-to approach would likely be to flick it off with a stir stick.
The video is a funny little clip although I do think it kind of paints the germaphobic mother in a more negative light. Certainly the laid back mom would be more likely to be a second or third time mother in most cases. I'm of course a first time mom but because I nannied for so many little ones I guess the over-protective impulse kind of wore off. I simply can't be bothered to disinfect everything or shadow Babe's every movement and ultimately I don't think it is healthy for Babe. Of course we do end up suffering through our fair share of sicknesses, which always sucks. Currently Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is going around Babe's preschool. My attempts to prevent Babe from getting this pain-in-my-ass disease was to instruct my three-year-old to not put stuff from school in her mouth.
And to avoid the inevitable head lice infestation I have told her not to wear other kid's hats or hair bands. I'm not an idiot, I don't have expectations that my toddler will listen to my warnings and diligently remember to follow my advice...but so far, passing the responsibility onto her seems to be the extent of what I'm prepared to do to avoid these ailments. Short of keeping her out of school or away from other kids in general I'm not sure what else I realistically can do.
But there's no way she will remember my warnings and I fully expect to be hit with festering mouth sores and itchy scalps any day now. And yes, I will complain about it despite my lack of prevention techniques.
Now something a little more serious.
I read this opinion article last month and haven't had a chance to share it until now. I think it is really interesting and touched on a lot of the same things that I feel about raising children without religion.
Read it HERE.
Seriously, GO. Read it. It'll either speak to you or really piss you off, either way it'll kill five minutes. Then you can come back here and agree with me or get pissed off again.
I've thought and thought about what to say about the topic here which is probably why it took me so long to finally post it. I have strong beliefs on this in line with the LA Times article but I realize other people have strong beliefs the other way and some of those people matter to me. So for now I have decided not to say too much and to simply share the article for anyone who is interested.
I will say that my hackles do get up at any suggestion that simply because my daughter isn't being raised with devotion to a specific faith she will somehow lack a moral compass or always feel empty without His love. I am not religious but I am certainly spiritual and curious. I don't feel alone or lost without a designated faith and I don't believe my daughter will either. I do see the value of emotional security, structure and moral guidance in religion, I can see how it can give someone a sense of purpose and belonging. However I don't believe children raised without it can't have the same. We do however discuss the possibility of God and the vastness of the universe and the idea that our loved ones who have passed may be somewhere better or may have started again as babies. And for now she does seem to enjoy saying prayers at night and thinking up things to say thank you for which I see nothing but benefit in doing.
Some of you might remember a post I did back before we moved up North when I took Babe on a tour of various religious facilities in Richmond, it was an awesome day and we will do it again when she is a bit older. I recommend everyone go. I see it as my job as her parent to expose her to as much as I can. Give her as much information as I can. Have her meet as many types of people as I can. So that when she is grown she will be open-minded. Curious. A free-thinker. Thirsty to learn. Able to adapt. And accepting of others not like her. Then hopefully she will be able to make choices about the person she wants to be and what she wants to believe without feeling like she will be a disappointment to her family for following her heart. But even without the guidance of God she is still being taught every day to have strong ethics, to stand up for what she believes is right, to weigh information and the views of others, to do the right thing, to be grateful every day for her blessings, to make a positive impact on her world and that there are consequences for her actions here and now.
OK. I'll drop it for now. But there's no promises that I won't go into more detail at a later date if I feel that I am being respectful. With the stuff going on around the world with the fighting between various religious groups over everything from terrorism to women's rights to medical procedures and parenthood it's a topic I, like many other parents feel strongly about.
Hold onto your boots because I'm also considering how to comment on the great vaccination debate which appears to be really amping up this year.
PS.
Awesome Mother Moment of the Day:
It took me until 4:30 pm at work to remember that Babe put stickers on my back when I was getting dressed this morning. Perfect.
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