Strider & The Ewoks

So, my daughter is quickly approaching 3 years old, and while complaining that she doesn't yet like Wolverine and the X-Men (and hoping that our Due Sept son shares my comic book passions) I realized that I have imposed many of my interests and beliefs on her. Am I wrong for doing so?

The picture here is of our most recent family addition, he is now 4months old, a Neo-mastiff, Bull mastiff, staffy cross named.... Strider, this is the name that eventually won out on a list that included such gems as Vlad, Xavier and Hagrid amoung other equally geeky names, some more obvious than others. While at the local video store (what are we supposed to call them now anyway? They clearly no longer stock videos...) We were picking out a selection of Dvds for the week (these included; Warm Bodies, In Time, The Grey, Paranorman, Cloud Atlas, The Rum Diary & One of the various Dora dvds they have available, if you were at all interested, maybe I will write some reviews, maybe not...) when my daughter says "Look Daddy, Strider!", My husband failing to look says "Oh is there a puppy movie is there?", But then catches me doing my little fan-girl giggle.... My darling daughter was pointing to Aragorn/Strider on the cover of LOTR - The Two Towers. Mummy very proud and impressed :D Daddy however while impressed she recognized the character, thinks that I have hammered it into her (if it was something he was interested in, say, Cricket, he would've been over the moon... as it is she already says "Yay, Cricket!")

So anyway, here I am questioning myself, we take our daughter to Armageddon (NZs much smaller equivalent to Comic-con) where we dressed her as an Ewok and had her photo taken with Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper, She has seen most of the Harry Potter series (except for the very scary parts) and occasionally pretends to be Hermione and casts spells on us all, she can identify most LOTR characters (occasionally calling Gandalf, Dumbeldore) including that Mummies one ring replica is either "Frodos Ring" or "The Ring of Power, makes invisible", and knows who Spiderman and Batman are... Is this too much geek culture for such a young formidable mind? Or is it healthy to teach and show our kids what we are passionate about? We certainly don't force anything on her, it just happens to be about, but should we instead clear out our posters & action figures to replace with Mickey Mouse, Barbie and Dora (which by the way she also loves)?

As parents we try to do our duty, she can say the alphabet, identify most letters, count past 20 and almost spell her name. We get complemented on her vocabulary and clarity of speech daily, and she also shows signs of being very musical. Admitadley, she is not the best behaved child (she is mostly toilet trained, but sometimes isn't very happy about using it) she has a wicked temper and can be incredibly bossy, but I guess all toddlers have their days. But is that our fault? Maybe she does watch too much TV... :(

We try to give her well rounded opinions, showing her both sides of things, for example when making Easter baskets I dumbed down the Christian story of Easter and also the Pagan Spring Celebration to versions that a young child could understand. I figure she needed to understand what the Rabbit was all about....

Ohwell, things to think about without answers, will I change my parenting technique with another one on the way, or is the impulse to buy Wolverine T-shirts and costumes too great?  

Look whose back.... back again...

Hi! Been ages! 3 years?!

So anyway, something happened that has sparked me to start writing again. After my wee spiel Ill give you a little update on me :)

A relation of mine made a comment on FB and me finding it generally likeable, "liked" it. I later hear from someone that I care about that they had found offense at the comment and wondered how I could like such a thing.... I have heard this talked about before, people generally mis-interpretting how information is meant on digital forums. I have been both mis-interpreter and mis-interpreted myself on occasions. 

I don't mean to sound egotistical, but I did like what I had to say to dear person about how I feel about said situation, and think that it may help others out there...

FB, TXTS & even emails can easily be taken the wrong way all the time. Its cos you can't hear the person saying it. I've been dealing with digital conversation for 15years now so am getting pretty good at interpretation, and conveying what I mean to say, but most people don't think about how it might be taken before they press enter. Best thing to do is take it with a grain of salt and think about the context meant. If you are really concerned, don't take offense until you ask the writer what they meant, or to clarify for you, less hurt feelings that way :D

And for everyone else, maybe we should think "how could this be misconstrued?" before we click enter ;)

Update time - 5months preggers with our 2nd child, boy due 27th Sep. We have a little puppy (currently with a pin in his leg, that is due for removal on Thurs morn). We bought our own house, and are quickly approaching 2 years in it. Daughter is quickly approaching 3 and is deff little miss independent (which causes some issues). Still have the old dog Thorne, and the Demon Kittie Leila. Hubby and I happy and going strong :D He's still working in his Dads shop, as the center of town is still dead and Christchurch is still reaping the after-affects of the quakes although we very rarely get shocks now. Im working part time for another few months as a merchandiser, but then I will start nesting for bub. But I do do a  bit of admin and marketing stuff for the Hubby & his Dads family business. 

Lets see if I can get weekly updates now... (prob Wed nights)

Itsa Big Belly!

27 weeks.

Christchurch Quake

As you would have seen from the Robo-Dog post we are ok. We were at my grandfathers funeral when the quake hit, which although harrowing was a relief to see that everyone in my family was safe.
Our only concern is half of our income, the photo is of the entrance to Nigels mall. The whole inner city is a no go zone, so we dont know when we will be able to get in there, it could be months before he can open again, if ever in that spot.

Robo-Dog

3months

Yeah thats how far along the alien in my belly is. Do u think Thorne knows?

That time of year again...