Thursday, July 14, 2011

Half man,Half machine.

Dearest blog,
I am living in exciting times! Every day now smidge is coming up with a new trick  to impress me.
Last week she discovered her hands, like really discovered her hands! Once she realised their potential she immediatly put them to good use, manoeuvring small cones that were obstructing her visual field and such like. ( damn those baby gyms and their stupid dangly bits)
Feeling more confident with the concept of cause and effect, she went one step further and shook tortoise with one hand whilst simultaneously batting plastic hanging musical teddy with the other!
Somewhat  alarmed by her own leap in progress,she turns to me with an astonished look on her face as if to say "Did I do the right thing?"
I gently clarify the situation.
 "It's half you and half 'toys'r'us', a multi million dollar corporate company trying to monopolise on your development."
 "AAh-goo" she says, understandably relieved for the explanation.
Contrary to my desire to be a modern day Earth Mother who watches her children happily snacking on homous as they play with their one wooden toy (which they very much appreciate) I have to confess to getting drawn into all kinds of marketing traps promoting overpriced  plastic tat.. Oh the shame.
Captions like 'designed in conjunction with physiotherapists' or 'supports babies physical and  social  development' have me stood in the queue purse at the ready. Why?
Is it a girl thing? A western thing? Or a need to tidy the house and this will keep you happy thing? Whatever it is it's a bad habit, an expensive and shamlessly bad habit.
However after yesterday's spend in mothercare smidge also succumbed to the wicked western ways as she revelled in the joy of her new cot mobile.
This morning I awoke not to a crying, hungry smidge but to the sounds of a happy babbling smidge gazing joyfully up at the duck,horse and bunny bobbing on the mobile as she asked the question she asks all social phenomena with eyes... 'Are you from my species?'
I look at smidge and she offers a great big gummy grin back.
Oh the joys of developing in contemporary society..
Its a minefield, it really is.

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