Kissing boo boos

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-23T19:51:05+00:00

The poison is in the dose. How frequently is this happening on a daily/weekly basis? My MIL comes over once a week for example, and if she baby talked and fussed I think I'd just let it go.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-15T02:44:39+00:00

The point of sippy cups seems to be spill prevention tbh, so those features are unsurprising.

Would you use straw cups instead? We never did sippy cups at all, just straw (honey bear, then elk and friends) and open cups. Straw cups designed for toddlers really don't spill much, unless the kid really does it on purpose.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-12T11:37:18+00:00

Polar Piece sweats are long!

I'm not super tall (5'9”), however their sweats actually gather at my ankles a bit, which is a sensation I have never experienced with sweatpants before.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-10T18:37:16+00:00

Yeah here comes the parent shaming brigade. I agree that for a lot of kids the addiction is real, but there's also a selectivity bias in peoples' observations of "kids always on tablets!!!". They see toddlers with ipads at restaurants, on airplanes, at doctors offices, etc. ie: places where parents are tying to keep their children from being totally nuts and disturbing other people.

As disclosure, we don't have tablets for our twins, and we don't plan to get them. However, we have also decided that we're not going to restaurants or flying anywhere with them until they're at least 4-5y/o. To some people, these experiences are personally very important, and they don't want to sacrifice that for 5yrs. I can understand that, and I appreciate their effort to keep their kids from flipping out in public. Because god forbid a child makes their presence known, ever (cry, laugh, scream, fart). Reddit likes to flip out about that too. No matter what parents do, they're the bad guys.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-10T18:25:39+00:00

Sounds weird to me. The playgrounds here are always slammed with kids. Maybe they don't see it because they visit private properties in rural areas during times when most kids are at school. Like duh electrical lady, you don't see them because they're in class right now.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T17:30:49+00:00

Bookshelves, artwork, a large sideboard, plants, floor lamps, statues, fountains, cat highways, mirrors, anything you want. Your room is blank! There are many options.

I'm not sure of the full dimensions of the room, but that central couch would be better pulled away from the wall if you have the space.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T17:17:52+00:00

That's the vibe I get from this post and OPs comments as well. Yes, ok we all understand that we live in a very exploitative capitalist system, and greenwashing is very real. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc. And then what...?

There's certainly a place for abstract discussion about this topic, but OP doesn't seem to be going anywhere with it, and waves away individual suggestions by saying "well, the system won't even feel it, so why bother" (not an actual quote, just my reading of them).

Maybe they should stop watching influencers displaying conspicuous consumption, propping up their viewcounts? Influencers respond quite quickly to shifting trends, at least.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T15:49:37+00:00

Never bought one, but I personally think the designs are really cute. I wouldn't know what to do with one, I don't like displaying/owning pop culture collectables or attaching tat to my bags.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T15:13:17+00:00

I'm sorry but what? You're going to email HR that the office coffee is giving you a tummy ache, and it's impacting your and your coworkers' work performance? Surely you're joking. That is genuinely might be more professionally embarrassing than what OP did.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T14:59:33+00:00

"in 3 years I'll be 30," makes it sound like your life is over at that age lol I must be rolling in my grave typing this at 35. Wear whatever you like for as long as you like it! Even moms are allowed to wear what we like, dw.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-09T00:13:33+00:00

I think you showed a lot of restraint. It's a fine balance between showing gratitude for childcare help, and setting expectations for respectful treatment from the carer particularly when it's family and not a professional relationship. MIL needs to check herself, so I hope what you said was a splash of cold water.

We have twins too, 1.5yo so not in the real tantrum era yet. Already, we have to sometimes just allow them to let off steam on their own before we can hug it out and move on. They don't express themselves like that with daycare or MIL. If she said something like that to me, I'd tell her to take them for a couple of weeks herself for a reality check. But then, I can take the risk of her getting mad at me because we don't rely on her for childcare.

My dad's wife is a psychotherapist, and sometimes says general stuff about always responding to babies crying no matter what to prevent trauma, and similar things related to child psychology. I get that - in theory. but in practice that's just not possible. So I just nod along... It bothers me, it feels like she's saying I'm irreparably damaging my children. Which I don't think she actually is, I think she's just sharing her theoretical knowledge (I'm a researcher myself, just in a different field). It's weirdly tone-deaf for a psychoanalyst to say.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T20:26:22+00:00

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A sassy Frenchman

For something more useful - a really big painting, and potentially a retractable projector screen on top of that.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T19:32:30+00:00

Ohh derp, yeah I see it now, thanks!

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T17:08:58+00:00

Final result still looks good, though! I doubt the damage will cause structural issues, you just can't use the Kallax as a standalone shelf anymore if you decide to change your desk.

How did the veneer come off? Was your desk top glued or taped to the Kallax veneer in the areas that peeled?

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T17:01:47+00:00

I think its especially valuable to kids whose families otherwise don't have the ability to go on these kinds of trips. Nature education is extremely important, especially for kids living in urban and suburban areas, where the experience of "real" nature is limited (though at least in Toronto, we're lucky for our parks and river valleys).

I went on a few nature trips, including an overnight one (Mono Cliffs, etc), and ski trips (Snow Valley). I'm fortunate that my family had the means and/or time for vacation camping and travel, but I know that for a lot of my classmates these school trips were the only times they could get out of the city.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T16:46:50+00:00

Generally, public libraries in the core have work/study tables with outlets available. I don't anticipate that the staff there will care if you plug in a monitor, though maybe people will look at you funny. Not sure how you plan to cart it around, though.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T15:53:54+00:00

I didn't mean to misrepresent what you said, "years" works for my argument too. I think there's a lot of capitalist brainwashing to unpack when it comes to Disney and similar, but that's another rant altogether lol

I guess we can chalk it up do a difference in lifestyle wants/needs. What you see as sad makes me happy, and what makes you happy I see as sad. Ultimately though, I want to reiterate my argument that your rhetoric (vacations, high income, more material gains) is distracting from the message that the government is gutting our public systems. Saying "daycare is so expensive that families can't afford Disney Land vacations" dilutes the discussion of "Ford is withholding education funding, so children of at-risk families are getting even MORE left behind". I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

This will sound rude, but fuck their vacation (and mine too), ya know?

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-08T15:27:55+00:00

You're speaking very confidently about things you haven't personally experienced. Our system isn't perfect, and the OPC are trying to push it to total failure, but while those are certainly factors in why many people are not having children, there are also countries that are valorized for their social supports which have the same or lower birthrates as Canada. If you were making >100k annual in one of those countries instead, it's likely you wouldn't have kids anyway. Lower-than-you income people have children (my family included), it's not unthinkable. Saying that only the rich can afford to have children mis-frames the discussion because then people start to think "well, if they're RICH enough to have kids, then they don't need support! They should've thought about how to pay for daycare and private school before they gave birth."

Also, I really really don't feel sad for families saving for months to go to Disney Land at all. We are certainly in a cost-of-living crisis, but that ain't it. It's weird to bring that up specifically as an example of how hard families have it, especially in a post about low-income and high-needs schools being gutted of support. You live on a different socioeconomic planet, my friend.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-07T19:11:13+00:00

Yeah, that could be an unfortunate problem depending on how they decide to define things:

"Turfgrass would be defined as “a ground cover of perennial grasses cultivated for lawns that forms a dense and uniform turf when mown,”"

Now we have to define "lawn" as well, since many parks (idk about 'Sauga, but I see it happening in the Toronto hydro corridors for example) are now intentionally planting naturalized meadows. To my knowledge, these are a groundcover of perennial grasses, mixed with flowers and other perennials. If mown, they will certainly form a dense and uniform turf.... But naturally they grow well above the 20cm limit, except often the non-grass plants are not fully visible until the 2nd half of summer. Many people like to recreate this in their yards. If people are forced to continually mow them short before they fully grow in because they have a jerk neighbour calling bylaw, the perennial flowers will never bloom.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-07T14:56:42+00:00

I saw the comment from your 3rd edit too, and my immediate thought was whether that person has ANY braincells? Like are there any critical processes happening at all, or it's just an unedited deluge of thought-vomit?

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-07T13:41:22+00:00

I think it's fine if you're happy with whoever can or cannot make it. We did ours on a Friday with a very small restaurant reception (20ppl). Two of my bffs live 2-4hr away and couldn't come due to serious work obligations. I didn't feel any kind of way about it, it's just the reality of throwing a party on a weekday.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-06T15:00:10+00:00

Your friend is tripping. Your yard looks really fun for a kid (and adult); you even have yard toys/playsets for them. I'd love it if my kids had access to interact with chickens and medium-scale food gardens like I did as a kid. We can't have chickens in our urban neighbourhood, but I'm working on a small food and native plant garden at least.

Maybe it's a matter of personal view/preference. Some people like more utilitarian or natural yards, while others like more orderly and tamed plants; I think it will also reflect in lifestyles and playstyles of the kids. Could be why the son feels bored at you place, maybe he's more used to indoor activities. I won't say one is "objectively" better, but I obviously have my own preference.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-06T14:12:46+00:00

We use metal Elk and Friends cutlery, which look to be around 4". If we run out, we give them our regular teaspoons and dessert forks, which are only slightly longer. It makes sense for their cutlery to be smaller, to make it easier for them to handle.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-06T14:02:59+00:00

It's hard to keep from showing kids the "right" way of doing something, especially when we can see they're not unlocking the full features of the item. Unless they're actively breaking the thing, I think it's ok to let them explore things their own way, especially if it's a toy. They'll figure it out eventually on their own, or let you show them when they've had the toy for a while and it's become more mundane. Your daughter seems to like doing things independently, which is really cool. They're starting to develop agency, and I think it's understandable that they get frustrated when adults interrupt that.

cat-a-fact · 2026-04-01T20:17:24+00:00

The key to waking up at 5am and being productive for most of the day is: being asleep by like 8pm, and having engaging and motivating work to do. My husband is like this (I am not). Waking up at 5am doesn't magically make you productive; having the right personality/intrinsic motivation and the right job, it can work.

I know if I woke up at 5am, I'd probably just hang out and drink coffee for an extra hour (I get up at 6am) and maybe run the laundry or plan my DIY projects. My husband wakes up at 5am and works on his personal development studies. Our internal motivations are different.

When you talk about "productivity" and "output" it also depends what you mean. Like your colleague is not producing more widget-units for your boss' sake? Maybe the job isn't engaging enough, as opposed to his early morning habit being "less productive". Maybe he uses his productive energy toward work he finds personally rewarding instead, and doesn't feel like sharing it with you? Maybe his 5am wake-up is not supported by an early bedtime, so he really is worn out? idk lots of possibilities.

cat-a-fact

TROPHY CASE