Dora the What?

When I was a kid I loved my My Little Ponies (MLP). This is one I used to have It's kinda pony like, it's got a mane and a tail,  maybe it's a bit sappy, but you get the idea. I had a play set that went with them too, it was an apple stand, ponies like apples so that kinda makes sense. I really wanted the hot air balloon so my MLP's could go adventuring but my mum said it was too expensive for a pile of plastic that was made by child slaves. 

This morning I had kids tv on and there was an ad for a MLP. It looked like this.

That's not really pony like, unless it's a pony from the far reaches of outer space. Admittedly the MLP of the 1980s is a rather abstract interpretation of an equine creature but the MLP of the 1980s was seriously lacking in one area. SEX APPEAL. Yes that' right. The modern MLP has been SEXIFIED!  Its body is thinner, its legs are longer and thinner, its eyes are ... well they're kinda hard to describe given that they're on a pink plastic pony, but at a stretch they're sexy!

Wow! That's pretty stupid right!?

So the next ad was for a Dora the Explorer toy. 

But I think I must have missed something somewhere, because Dora is an EXPLORER, not a ballerina! And Dora is a chubby little girl, not a skinny long legged thing. Call me crazy, but isn't exploring, and going on adventures more interesting than ballet? Granted some ballerinas have wonderful careers, and ballet is fantastic, but it's not about cutesy, fluffy tutus, it's about strength, creative expression, often a tragic love story, but not frou frou.

Soooo the next ad was for some strange rodent like thing. It's probably a hamster but we don't get them in Australia as far as I know, we get guinea pigs so for the sake of familiarity I'll refer to them as such.

Finally something that's not sexified! Unless there are some sexy legs hiding underneath that fur. But! There had to be a but (or two in this case) when you look at the play sets, these are apparently SHOPPING guinea pigs! Guinea pigs who like fashion and accessorising! Perish the thought of them just living like normal guinea pigs! ALL little girls love to shop and wear fashion so it's appropriate that toy guinea pigs like it too if little girls are going to play with them. You wouldn't want to stretch the imagination would you. Adventuring guinea pigs would be uncool, no one would like them EXCEPT

BOYS!!! Boys like guinea pigs that BATTLE and have missiles strapped to them!

Yes, that's right. Angry, armed to the teeth, battling guinea pigs!!!

Gee. I wonder why there is such a high divorce rate? 

I love my tall kid!

Stylish went to bed leaving the light on in the rumpus room, so I went in to remind her to switch it off and she was writing in her diary. She invited me to sit down and she read me some entries. I was so moved when she read me the entry from the night Angus was born, it was so funny, and so joyful that I was crying happily while she read. Although I did not give her the gift of a birth, I have given her the gift of being part of a birth. I know that, should she choose to have children, they will be born at home. I'm so proud of the young woman she is, she's smart, funny, helpful, thoughtful, and she can also be the complete polar opposite of all those things but ... she's a tall kid, we expect that.

Lately she's been taking more of an interest in her appearance and her taste in clothes is quite fluid. One week she likes flowery flowing things and the next week I have to fight her to get her into anything but skinny leg jeans. I refuse to buy the hideous skinny leg things, but if she takes her pocket money to vinnies and buys them herself I grit my teeth and cope. I find myself really liking some of her clothes and really detesting other items. The amusing thing is that if we go shopping together, everything I show her is AWFUL and results in multi syllabic use of my name ("mUuUuUm, omg you're SOOOO embarrassing!") but if I bring home the same item a week later she is often grateful, and happy to try it on with 50 possible accessories.

It's funny how we love our kids little and wish they would never grow up, but at the same time we burst with pride at all their new stages.

Unlearning Continues!

I was just pondering how much we've done lately, with me being practically bed ridden with exhaust, when Stylish came in to show me the dress she is making. Yes, you heard it here first ... she's MAKING A DRESS! She found some old scrap material and draped it around herself, and is trying to find different ways to tie it on. I offered to help her sew it together this afternoon. Having never voluntarily worn a dress in her whole life this is quite a turn of events, somehow I doubt it spells change, just an afternoon activity. Times like this make me really mad that the camera isn't working!

She was very disappointed to hear that there are no tennis lessons today or next week, it looks like she's really getting into it. She even got out her racket yesterday and practiced hitting the ball against the wall out the front.

Spikee's fascination with cave people and dinosaurs continues. He spends a good deal of time in the garden digging for dinosaur bones and getting absolutely FILTHY, which I am assured is a sign of a happy child. We have swapped sleeping arrangements because it was getting too hard for me to roll myself out of bed around the side car cot, so now A is sleeping on the same side as Spikee and the cot. Spikee was extremely unimpressed by this change the first night, but last night Daddy suggested that he get some books out and they could read for a while. Spikee went to his book shelf and chose a book about cave people, and one about pyramids, and they spent ages reading them. He's fascinated by it all!

The kids are currently on the way to the shop to get a few things for lunch. We usually cut up stuff and put it in the middle of the table and then they make their own sandwiches. They quite like having a shopping list with a few things on it and going up to the local shops together. I suppose I should go and get everything out and ready for lunch!

de-schooled, or pretty darn near it!

Still no lists! 

I find myself unable to list all the ways my daughter has changed since leaving the institution. Our relationship is entirely different, and it's almost as if I have suddenly - over the course of nearl a year - acquired a new daughter! One of the interesting changes has been her interest in "girlyness" which has started to show lately. It's like she suddenly feels safe to be interested in the more socially conditioned interets of girls which she has always fought so hard to reject. For her recent 11th birthday she asked if she could get her ears pierced. She now has small purple stones in gold studs, and they're very pretty. Hearteningly though, she is not all consumed by her new "girlification", and the first set of earrings we bought her for when her ears have healed sufficiently, are small silver frog studs, they're very "her".

I keep meaning to take a photo of our gardening but just haven't gotten around to it. Suffice it to say the veggie garden is coming along ok. We've only killed the bok-choy so far, everything else is alive and well. 

We will go to the museum tomorrow. it is Stylish's Grandma's birthday, my mother, and although she's dead, I think she'd like to think of us going to the museum on her birthday. No doubt photos will follow so I must make sure to take some of the garden before updating! it's not a spectacular project, but it's satisfying nonetheless.