Cruise control

These days Zoe cycles all the way to day care on her own, sometimes she hitches a ride in the kiddy seat on the back of my bike and very occasionally she has to walk. Needless to say, walking is not her favourite. Running to the playground is fine, jumping for ages on the trampoline too, but ask her to walk for more than 20 steps and she will whinge and whine so long you it ends up being much faster carrying her. Wonder why kids dislike walking so much. Sitting behind the steering wheel of a car on the other hand is big.

Gender bender

You've all heard plenty about Zoe's pink princess infatuations and even though I can rant on about it, I have accepted it, hoping this is just a phase she's going through and that she will never wear pink beyond the age of 5. Or maybe 11. Anyway, colour is mostly a matter of taste and really only a small part of the bigger issue. What worries me more is how little girls are already being encouraged to live the stereotype. And I don't even want to start on about consumerism or pre-teen sexualisation of girls - I'll leave that for another time. No, it's really much simpler: Zoe, like most small girls and as opposed to most small boys, gets so much feedback for her looks, for being pretty, that it is starting to be important to her. She now regularly asks us if we think she is beautiful. As a three-year old...

Best day of the week

Saturday has got to be the best day of the week, not only because Mama and Papa don't have to work and are at home, but espcially as it is ballet lesson day. That is something to get excited about as early as Wednesday, and before her first lesson several weeks ago Zoe was counting down the sleeps as if it were Christmas. There is one thing wrong with this picture, though, and it's not that it is slightly out of focus or even the funny head gear. No, Zoe is wearing a blue ballet dress, not pink. Once, and never since...