Daddy's daughter

I took some photos today but, I have had to trim them on the laptop and I only have the Microsoft photos app to edit. They are shot in RAW format and when the program converts them to JPEG, it absolutely destroys the images. I will have to spend some time later editing in Lightroom instead but while my daughter is asleep in the office, this is the best I can do.

My daughter turns two years old tomorrow and she is the inspiration for much of what I do, as well as the motivation. She is inspiring because of her mind and attitude toward life, she is inquisitive and resilient and doesn't mind trying new things and then trying again when she fails. That is something I hope she never loses as a large part of success in this life both personally and materially comes down to being able to overcome all sorts of failures, to fall, get up, dust off and give it another best effort. I watch her do that every day.

She motivates me because it lands squarely on the shoulders of her parents in order for her to have the space to be able to trial and error in life and, the support required to feel safe enough to do so. She tests our limits and patience as do all children but, she also seems to have learned when it is time to listen and, when she is free to push.

We celebrated with family at our home and our wife made cakes and muffins as well as some special cupcakes suitable for our daughter. It was actually pretty cool because my wife is part of a Facebook group for allergies and asked if anyone had a recipe and listed possible ingredients. One mother spent three days trialling and erroring with mixes and cooking methods to build a recipe. she added pictures and tips and the final product was really, really good. Considering what went into it at least. Our daughter loved it anyway and that is all that really matters.

My wife also made a decent set cheesecake with lime in the core and a raspberry topping which turned out really well. Perhaps I can convince her to post the recipe sometime so people can give it a go themselves as It isn't too difficult but looks relatively good, the fresh raspberries help with that too. My wife cooked way too much considering the number of people we had visiting so I guess, the diet has to wait. I did the manual labour, I cleaned.

My daughter however was super excited about it all and loved having people coming to visit her. She also enjoyed blowing out the candles (with mummy's help) because she has seen her cousins do it and has always wanted to give it a go. Today was her day and she was really happy to see the candles burning and clapped and laughed after being sung to in both Finnish and English.

We are pretty simple people and even though my wife went to a lot of cooking trouble, most of it was low key and just coffee and chatting while our daughter played with the toys that she got. Even though presents were pre-arranged, her grandparents decided to surprise her with an extra gift that came in wrapped. I looked at the size and already knew that now, our daughter wasn't getting a present from her parents today, they had bought the same thing, an umbrella stroller for her doll. We can't return it so, we might sell or give the one we bought to charity.

What she was very excited about was the amount of new books she got as gifts. Some were new but, my friends who have a dual mother-tongue household too and much older children, gave a pile of English language books to her. I think recycled gifts are great and when it comes to books, a very valuable give because these days, quality books are hard to find in shops and, it is even harder to find English ones here. I have bought old children's books from amazon that were from closed down libraries.

It has been a long day and actually, a tiring weekend but my daughter who even though said she was tired, went to bed talking and then sung herself to sleep. She is growing up so fast and although I am looking forward to being a part of whatever she is going to one day be and do, I wish I could also hold on to these moments forever. If there is anything in the world that teaches about the march of time and the importance of both being present and letting go of the past, it is having a small child who loves to learn.

As said, she is my inspiration and motivation for many things and although every parent may feel this about their child, I think she is going to do a lot for this world given the opportunity. There are more of her out there who deserve a chance at realizing their potential and perhaps some of my work along the way will help them have the space. When it comes to a healthy community, I think it is one which is willing to do what is right by those who have no other choice but rely on them. Globally we are a long way off from this but, that can change.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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