Our Elf Isn't Watching!

So it's that time of year again. Consumer madness at its height. Kids hyped up on sugar. Frazzled parents. Empty wallets. And creepy creepy elves! You know the kind? Sent by Santa to check on boys and girls to see if they're being good and worthy of presents this year. With their creepy big eyes and vacant faces they slowly but surely take over the house causing mayhem wherever they see fit.

Yeah. We don't do that!

Now don't get me wrong, when I first heard about the elf idea it struck me as quite nice. Fostering the magic of Christmas and Santa, lovely. Thing is, I didn't look into it anymore, I took the idea and ran with it my way. I created my own elf (slight guilt as he sat in the oven baking, even more when his head feel off, yay superglue!) and set about creating our own tradition:

Our elf does come from Santa, well where else would an elf come from? But he's not here to spy, no our elf is here to learn more about our monkey and our Christmas celebrations. He's asked that every day we tell him about what we've been doing, an extension of our "what was happy today" discussion we have anyway. We don't do naughty and nice in this household. Too often what is deemed naughty these days is just a child learning boundaries and the way of the world, I don't think they should ever be threatened for that. Anyway, if the child is "naughty" am I really going to cancel Christmas? Unlikely! And what kind of message does that give?!

Our elf isn't mischievous either. Now I know, where's the fun in that right? As I look around t'internet I'm amazed at some of the elf escapades enacted by parents having a bit of late night fun. Don't get me wrong, it looks brill, but... I don't think it's acceptable for my son to cover the tree in toilet roll, to steal chocolate from the calendar, to create a big mess in the kitchen, so why would I accept it from an elf? We try very much to lead by example in this household and whilst I think there's always room for a bit of fun I don't like the idea of confusing the lines and boundaries, deliberate acts of "naughtyness" just seem too much.

So there you go, my bah humbug take on the elf! In our house Christmas is always about magic, family, friendship, thoughtfulness and care, our elf enhances that :-)

Food

I've been thinking a lot about food recently. A couple of my friends are very health conscious and I guess it's influencing me. Maybe it's a mid-life crisis or maybe it's just now I have a kid but suddenly my health, our health, matters to me. Funnily enough I'm currently at the healthiest I've been in a long long time, my ME is definitely taking a back seat right now and I'm loving it! But I still think I can do better and I think diet and exercise need to take a part in that.

I'm lucky, I've always been one of those people who can eat anything and not put on weight. Indeed my doctor often despaired as I would come in well below what I should be. Not such a problem these days, age/ having a child both seem to have levelled me out to a healthier weight and perhaps this is one of the reasons I'm feeling so much better. This luck though also has its downsides. Because I've never watched what I eat I've never noticed how bad my diet can be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a TV dinner kind of girl. We generally eat freshly cooked food with fairly wholesome ingredients. My downfall is snacks. Particularly since I've had the sprog, I've craved sweet stuff. Perhaps it's down to feeding him and my body wanting extra calories but I'm getting to a point where I think I need to start cutting down.

I think it's only once you start realising what you're putting in your body that you start to question what's available. It's scared me a bit recently seeing what actually goes into some of my favourite foods! But can we go back to basics when we're so used to what we've grown up on? Time will tell!

Habits

The other week my mum hinted that my lo (now 2 1/2) is now only feeding through habit rather than need. It was enough to make me doubt myself, you know those moments when you wonder if you're irreversibly harming your child whilst making your life super difficult (boy has it been difficult these past few weeks!).

Anyways, I researched, as I tend to do, and came across this http://m.wikihow.com/Stop-Breastfeeding-a-Toddler

It made me sad. Really sad. The pictures alone are enough to send my instinct driven, hormonal heart into a spin :-( The introduction implies that if you've got to toddlerhood and are still feeding you've already probably gone too far. It the goes on to give a step by step guide on how to stop before things get any worse.

Luckily I looked further and came across this http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/comfortnursing/#badhabit which reaffirms everything I personally believe. I love Kellymom but hadn't come across this article before.

It did make me think though. I'm pretty certain of the choices I'm making, I wobble occasionally (which is probably a good thing, it's good to reflect on the things you're doing) but I know that I'm doing what is best for my child. I know not everyone can or wants to go down the same path and that's certainly their choice to make. But is there any wonder so many mums are confused when there is such matter of fact information out there that doesn't explore other options :-(