Pretty in Pink?

You know the drill, if its a boy everything blue and if its a girl everything pink, of course. Despite my best efforts to keep the girls clothing somewhat gender neutral in color, that annoying pink keeps flooding in the door. You know the pink I am talking about, similar to that of pepto bismol. As soon as they are born they get a pink hat and blanket, and heaven forbid someone ask if your little bald baby is a boy! People are always so quick to apologize when they realize they just called my three month old a "he." I always laugh and say "That's okay she doesn't know she's a girl yet either." And that's true! That little bundle of joy doesn't have a clue and they don't care either. As long as she has a dry diaper and steady supply of milk she could care less. My oldest daughter just turned two and this is when it starts to get interesting.

Toddlers are just learning to make decisions and are constantly pushing the boundaries. From the get go society is pushing girls into a pink world of ponies and princesses. In fact most parents are the driving force behind it. Just tonight I watched my husband grab a new purple sippy cup with hearts on it at the grocery store. I stopped him and asked him if Lyra had pick out purple one. "No, but its the only girl one they have." I held the purple cup up along side a green one with robots and bicycles on it. Lyra instantly grabbed the green one. "But I like the purple one!" my husband said to persuade her. "Its not your cup" I stopped him. We have our entire lives to be slapped around by the norms of society no need to start on our toddler right now.

For the most part I let my daughter choose what she wants to wear each day. I often have to take a shirt away explaining that she can't wear the same shirt everyday because sometimes you have to wash your lunch out of your shirt. I love seeing what she will come up with next. Children have amazing minds. So amazing they can see that a cardboard box has 10 times more wonder than any plastic toy. When it comes to gender norms folks just need to relax. Your little girl will not be damaged by wearing a blue rocket ship shirt or your boy playing with a pink princess doll. In my opinion every girl and boy should have a doll and a truck not one or the other. Enjoy watching them explore this crazy world we live in.  

One of Lyra's favorite outfits

Lyra's 2nd Birthday Party

Lyra's second birthday was last weekend, but due to a couple of our dearest friend's wedding the birthday party was pushed back to this weekend. I am proud to say we learned a few things since her first birthday.

First, our house is too small to hold parties that include friends and family. So, we held the part at Milagros Boutique in their Family Room. This turned out be the perfect size for our party. It will hold up to 40 people comfortably and cost $60 for a three hour block. For $30 more dollars they will do all the clean up for you or you can save the money and do it yourself. The room has a little play castle with a few books and toys perfect for little kids to play in. There are also fold out tables along one wall perfect for food and drinks and chairs and fold out tables for eating at.

Lyra enjoying a carrot

Second, cakes are much less work than cup cakes! Last year I made cupcakes and it was very labor intensive. This year I made two cakes. The first cake was a gluten and dairy free chocolate cake with a vegan coconut frosting.  I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix with coconut milk in place of cow's milk and earth balance in place of butter. This cake can also be made vegan by using egg replacer instead of eggs (this I forgot to do). The second cake was a chocolate beet cake with a cream cheese frosting. Before you get all weird about beets in a cake I will tell you that my husband hates beets, but loves chocolate beet cake. Beets are naturally sweet and when mixed in a chocolate cake they lose their earthy flavor and add the perfect amount of moisture. They also make a beautiful pink colored frosting! Lyra loves chocolate beet muffins, so I knew she would love the cake. 

Testing the frosting while everyone is singing

Thirdly, with a new baby at home order decorations online. Lyra loves Winnie the Pooh so we had a theme. If I only had a dollar for every time I had to watch that movie! I purchased everything I needed from Oriental Trading and Amazon. Lyra loved the Pooh party hats and made sure that everyone had one on. Including her baby sister.

Baby Etta and her Great Aunt Sherrye

It was a very fun event with friends and family. Lyra took a three hour nap to recover from all the fun. She received some wonderful gifts and now has enough dolls to distract her from "helping" with her baby sister, at least for a little while. Its hard to believe its been two whole years already. It seems just yesterday I was holding a 6 1/2 lbs little baby.

Toddler Whining!

The age of whining! They have learned enough words to ask for what they want, but still find they need to cry or whine to get it. My eldest daughter turns 2 in a week and has recently taken to crying and whining for everything, especially when I am nursing her three month old sister. The two year old is crying three times as much as the infant! Solution? Ignore it. It can make for a very long day, but the only way to break the habit is not to reward the behavior.

For example, she is allowed one book before nap time. She started whining and crying for another one and I refused and after about three days of whining she gave up and accepted the fact that she would only get one book. The thing about toddlers is they will keep trying elsewhere. If she wants crackers she whines for them. I tell her she has to say "please" and ask for them. This usually results in screaming. If I give her the crackers the whining stops, which I have done out of desperation while I try to change and nurse the infant. However, this means she will do it again and again. I must put my foot down and not let her have what she wants or it will never stop.

She has been particularly whiny this week with me and not her father. Seeing this makes me feel less guilty about not giving in, knowing that she is playing me, as toddlers will do. Three days seems to be the magic number with a toddler. I know there are parents out there dealing with the same thing and all I can say is hang in there and stick to your guns!