#febphotoaday

If you are on Instagram, you know what I'm talking about. :)

For the month of February, I took part in a photo a day challenge on Instagram and Oh-Boy was it fun! I dig the challenge that a subject a day puts on you, it makes you think more creatively, look at the beauty in ordinary things and it's also fun to see what your friends posted on the same subject. You can read about the March photo a day challenge here. Are you in for March??
I am. Definitely. :D

Here are my February pics in recap. Enjoy.

1. your view today 2. words 3. hands 4. a stranger 5. 10 am 6. dinner 7. button 8. sun 9. front door

10. self portrait 11. makes you happy 12. inside your closet (maybe I slightly cheated on this one, Zoie's closet is much cuter!) 13. blue 14. heart 15. phone 16. something new (blog post!) 17. time
18. drink
 

19. something you hate to do (getting out of bed) 20. handwriting 21. a fave photo of you 22. where you work 23. your shoes 24. inside your bathroom cabinet 25. green 26. night 27. something you ate
 

28. money 29. something you're listening to <and then...#marchphotoaday>

<3, Tabi :D

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Zoie Boie

Someone I know is no longer a baby <sad face?>. She is a toddler. With a personality (wow, what a personality this one is developing), crazy moods, bossiness, dance moves, intentional cuddles and toddler messes.

Doesn't she just melt your heart??

< bottom left picture: I am so mad at you for focusing on her dress and not her face. >

<3, Tabi :D

Parenting and Censorship

One of the hardest things for me as a parent is trying not to impose my likes and dislikes onto my children. Just because I kind of hate baseball, doesn't mean I want my children to hate baseball.

I don't want mini-me's. I want to discover my kids' personalities along with them.

I do find myself from time to time (and a lot of parents do this - don't pretend you don't), when talking to the kids and giving them a choice between two items, putting a positive inflection on what I want them to choose, and a negative tone on what I wouldn't choose.

i.e. Would you like flatbread pizza for lunch ( smiley face )? Or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ( frowny face )?

i.e. #2 Do you want to wear this pink dress ( smiley face )? Or this mermaid t-shirt ( frowny face )?
NOTE: That mermaid t-shirt that used to be her all time favorite but now is getting raggedy, kind of short and has a few unsightly stains...

I'm working on that. Christopher catches me all the time.

I like to keep an open policy on shows, movies and books my children watch/read (as long as it's age appropriate and doesn't give them nightmares).  I've encouraged things they seem to get into and find it exciting to discover new things and rediscover old things from my childhood as well.

For example, we watched Ponyo a couple years back, and since then they've been into many Studio Ghibli films and even some (age appropriate, of course) anime on Netflix. I would have never suggested watching Princess Tutu before... even Pokemon is out of my range of comprehension. But Princess Tutu was very intriguing, a beautiful story and inspired many afternoons of dancing around and dramatics involving ducks.

But, I've found lately, I've had to draw the line on a few shows. We don't watch much TV and what we do watch is usually something they've found streaming on Netflix. One that sticks out is Bratz shows/movies. I've even only caught short snippets of this show and decided this is something I definitely don't want my kids watching. Those Bratz girls on the show really are brats and so superficial. I don't want my sweet little children acting like that.

Great, now I sound like one of those Moms...

And then yesterday, Christopher mentioned something about Pucca (another one of their lately favorite shows to watch) portraying Americans in a negative light. This somehow didn't bother me much, but it did him.

I'm wondering, am I... are we turning into those kinds of parents? The parents that censor their children from the really cool and popular things? Is this the beginnings of us turning our children into social outcasts?

Please leave me your feedback. 

I'd love to know where other parents draw the line in their censorship. 

 

<3, Tabi :D

 

P.S.  Don't forget to vote for me on Top Baby Blogs!! Please click on the banner below to vote for me. It only takes a second, I swear. Thanks so much. :) 

 

Five Things That Made Me Happy Yesterday (Friday)

1. My little baby girl is growing up to be a perfect 6 year old girl. It seems she gets more beautiful and more gracious everyday. (Even when she shoots me a silly face every time I point a camera at her: see figure 1 above.)
2. When the Bear's fever gets below 100 degrees. Yes, he's sick... again. :(
3. My washi tape came in!!! And on those adorable wooden spools (brought from Etsy). It's silly, but cute little things bring me so much joy. (Other examples: babies, mini cupcakes, Squinkies, kid size Poang chairs...)
4. Sharing funny little anecdotal stories about the children with Christopher at night on the couch when the house is finally quiet.
   

   Like the one where Zoie and Riley were nicely sharing the iPad and playing on one of Zoie's Fisher-Price apps, when I look over and Riley is trying to poke Zoie in the eye... I yell, "Don't poke the baby in her eye!", so he replies, "But baby Zoie just poked my eye!!" This is bittersweet because Zoie is at that stage where she knows where her nose, lips and eyes are. She was trying to show the Bear where his eyes are, but he thought she was poking him. It's funny because no one cried and he had an aha! moment at the end and shared in her excitement.

5. Dipping my strawberries in sugar. YUMMM.

<3, Tabi :D

Click HERE to read last week's FTTMMHF post.