Loser.

I'm having an argument with 4yo about something at the shops. This is normal. The argument continues all the way out to the car. This is normal. I tell her that if she does not cooperate and sit in her car seat straight away I will lose my temper. Also normal. I give her reports about my escalating temper so that when I really do lose it she's had plenty of warning. Normal, normal, normal.

"I'm going to lose my temper if you don't stop asking about this."
"I can't get you want straight away so if you keep shouting at me I will lose my temper do you want that?"
"You're really on thin ice now mate, you will regret it if I lose my temper."

4yo sighs, shoves her bottom into the seat, complies with the seat belt procedure and as I'm clipping her in mutters, "Loser."

She might as well have made the 'L' shape with her thumb and forefinger her tone was so derogatory. This is so funny coming from an angry four year old that I nearly fell backwards out of the car laughing. But because she'd been so rude that wasn't aloud and I had to buckle myself up and wait until my voice was steady before I could give her the lecture. The one where this isn't a nice thing to say to someone and what do if someone says that to her... bla... bla... I'm pretty sure she listened to the first few words of it.

To her credit, she got into the car without a fuss in the end. After all, this loser Mummy is quite scary when her temper is the thing she loses!

3yo sees the light, then gives it a mash.

We have a new saying at house: "My mother makes me match my Mini-M&Ms on a Monday morning Ooooh Ahhh." Add melody, repetition and a few key changes and you have the warm up song for the actors in my 12yo's school musical. 3yo's version, which she likes to sing at the top of her lungs in the supermarket, is: "My mother makes me mash my idioms on a Monday morning Ooooh Ahhhh." Close, but no cigar.

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3yo weirdness.

I asked 3yo how she got a scratch on her cheek and she replied:

"I was riding my tricycle in the park with Mummy and Daddy and I fell off and there was lots of blood and I died."

I immediately saw the problem with that story:

"But 3yo, you don't have a tricycle."

It was intriguing how genuinely confused she looked, as though she were SURE she had one, and where had it got to? Or maybe she was just bewildered that I hadn't pointed out the fact that she wasn't dead.

I guess I'll never know about the scratch...

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Poem for my daughter on a hot sunny day.

Ode to my little daughter, who never seems to be able to stay dressed when at home. We made this one up tryin' to stay cool in the paddlin' pool.

My toddler is lovely when she’s naked and cuddly,
but things can get freaky when she’s naked and cheeky.

Times can be bad when she’s naked and sad,
and she don’t give a toss when she’s naked and cross.

Things can get hairy when she’s naked and scary,
but she needs loads of care when she’s naked and scared.

And when the day’s hot and the clothes all come off,
what is the bet, she’ll be naked and wet?

Women's Health in the North is looking for friends.

Reposted from Kathleen Maltzahn (via facebook): "Women's Health In the North is looking for friends. If we find 25 fans on Facebook, we can have a username. Once we've got a username, we can let people know how to talk to us. Can you become a fan and help us out? Search 'Women's Health In the North' on Facebook and you'll find us."

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For Claire...

This needed more than a 140 char tweet!

I found this on the Science Based Medicine blog, one commenter references breast feeding outdoors being illegal in some states. Maybe she would know?

Link to article: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3096#more-3096

Quote from comments: 

"Restaurants eject nursing women; most states won’t allow you to breastfeed outdoors, so mothers have to find bathrooms or at least pray for a mother’s room or women’s lounge; breasts are seen as sexual objects and thus not suitable for view by children; women even get asked to stop nursing on airplanes when they’re covered. It’s not good. The real problem isn’t that there’s too much formula feeding. The real problem is that we have a social taboo about it. Our society supports it as long as it isn’t seen, which is a bit like supporting equal education for blacks 50 years ago as long as they don’t actually show up at your school. Which is to say, not helpful at all."

The rest of her comment is quite good too.  I'm saddened by the fact that breastfeeding is so heavily encouraged for new mothers antenatally and neonatally, yet when they reemerge as new breastfeeding mothers society provides more lip-service than acceptance.

I'm also saddened by the fact that women who don't breastfeed can find themselves either ostracised or wracked with guilt.  Women need accurate information about breastfeeding, sure, but all the information in the world won't help them if they live in a society that implicitly frowns upon it.

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Just sayin'

Having a bit of a chat with someone about Islam on facebook. Isn't facebook a wonderful thing?  Here's a snippet:

It is my personal belief that supposedly liberated western women who will not leave the house without make-up or hairless legs/underarms or who will not stand up for their right to make their own choices regarding their healthcare (don't even get me started on that one...) or who accept the status quo when it comes to childcare and maternity provisions, are just as much prisoners of their culture as women who won't leave the house without a burka or hijab.

There are very few truly free women in the world.

Just sayin'

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