Anna

As it is International Women's Day there was no other subject for my blip today. Though I wasn't necessarily expecting this.

Normally these sort of things pass me by but thanks to SooB's blip yesterday it was front of mind this morning. Couple that with the short-term challenge to the smooth running of life that an ill child brings and the slightly longer-term challenge of shifting work patterns when both kids are in full-time education and the personal definitely feels political today.

Face-painting is nearly always the answer to the "what do you want to do?" question for Anna. As I knew I wasn't going out again I agreed that she could paint my face. I love the concentration on her face in this shot. If you have a strong disposition and want to see the result it's here.

I find it ironic on IWD that Anna should choose to be a tiger as she is now a walking, growling reminder of the children's book, "A Tiger Came for Tea" - the concept of which I loved but was never quite comfortable reading to the kids - all that, "daddy's beer" and "daddy's supper" and being all helpless until daddy comes home to sort it all out. Before the kids could read I would often play around with it a bit, adding in "mommy's wine" and making it mom's idea to go out for dinner. (Though actually I think they may even commit the heinous crime of going out for 'supper' but can't get started on that today). Anyway, I'm going to resist the urge to either rant or moan about "wimmin's issues".

Instead this blip is to celebrate my beautiful daughter, hope for her future and commit to doing all I can to equip both my children to be world citizens of a fair and equitable society.

Lesley x

This feels unrelated but possibly it is. It just fascinated me. Jackson's breakfast cereal of choice is Special K. This morning he said that he wasn't going to eat too much of it as it made you lose weight and he knows that he needs to be growing. Great chat about marketing that lead to!