I’ve always been respectful of M’s hair choices. Well, he’s only 4, so I really haven’t had to be that respectful yet. But I plan to be. I’m actually kind of lazy about hair. When M’s hair gets so long that it gets in his eyes and he starts to get a nervous tick going with his hand swiping his face, I know it’s time I get off my butt to cut it. Sometimes I trim it myself, but every so often I take him …

For the last year or two, I’ve been watching movies that are entirely different from the movies I used to watch before I had kids. There was once a time, seemingly long ago, when I watched movies of all genres. Serious movies, violent movies, war, action, crime, you-name-it. One of my favorite movies of all time was Reservoir Dogs (along with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Sound of Music). I had diverse interests.
I’ve been noticing a lot lately that things have changed. …

So J helps feed the cats their dry food, with M nicely supervising. However, she seemed to have reserved a small handful herself and was found 2 minutes later sitting on the couch and munching.
‘Me eat cat food.’

I’ve been a member of a local API Group – that’s Attachment Parenting International – for the last few years.  We have fabulous leaders that are committed to supporting parents in their goal to be more attached to their children.  API has always been guided by 8 “Principles” which were inspired by Dr. Williams Sear’s list of the “7 Baby B’s” which included breastfeeding and bedsharing.
Here are the original 8 Principles that API used when I joined a few years ago:

Prepare for childbirth
Breastfeed your baby
Wear your baby
Share sleep with your …

I broke out an old sketch book today to do some duck drawings and came across a list that Trish & I made several years back. It’s called Things to do differently with our children and was probably written some evening when the dream of being parents devolved into a round robin on stuff our parents did that we didn’t like. What’s interesting is that we’ve followed it almost 100%:

Non-stressful, non-regimented buffet bbqs: Some of our family have bbqs that are pretty much outdoor equivalents of proper, full-course …