ailbhe 29y6m
And a couple of days. And she's magnificent. She has just this past week or so come over all sociable and outward-looking; she goes to other people and climbs on them, asks them for things, makes them read her books. She wants our friends to open her jacket, give her crisps, or dress her dolly. She likes to sit on people's laps and cuddle them.

She kisses, a lot. Her kisses are very accomplished; they are neat, carefully placed, slightly moist, and accompanied by a little crisp "mwah" sound. She likes to put one on one cheek, grab my chin or ear to turn my head HARD, and then kiss the other cheek.

She talks, but other people don't understand her unless they know her. "Ba" means lap. "O" (sometimes "ho") means hot. "Bye-bye" is very clear. "Uz" is other. "Nyang nyang" is milk. "Yay-ya" is Linnea. "A-wa" is Ailbhe. "Eee" is Emer. "Dadada ad adda" and similar is Daddy. "Nana" is Nana, or Lucy or Mary or other adult she knows and wants us to summon. "Dada" is man. "Boo" is book. "Zhezh" is stairs, and "jeh" is chair, and telling the difference is tough. "No" is no. NO. No no no. "Na" is nah, which is a less emphatic no. "Na-na" is banana. "Bow" is bowl, plate, cup. "Ni" is knife. "Fu" is fork and spoon. "Baw" is ball. "Dough" is doll. "Ma" is nappy, or sometimes bottom. "Ba" is bath. "I" is high, or up. "Be" is bed. "Daw" is door and "Behh" is bear, though English people seem to find nothing amiss with her pronunciation of either, so perhaps it's just accent. "Uss" is puss, cat. "Gah" is scarf, and "A" is hat. "Oosh" is shoe(s). There may be others, but I haven't been taking notes this time around and it's hard to remember.

She can walk from our house to the town centre, which is about a mile ish. She can push a chair over and climb onto it and thence somewhere higher. She can almost open doors with a level handle. She likes zips and is frustrated by buttons and poppers. Mirrors are brilliant and she knows it's her in there and likes to make jokes about it. She loves jokes, though so far they're a lot more like practical jokes or cruel pranks, really. She is very gentle with the cats when she remembers.

Books and dolls and buggies are her favourite thing. She loves going out, especially walking. She has about a million favourite people and thinks people are just going to love her because that's what people do, and so far she's right. She likes going to bed for milk, and loves baths, and adores her sisters, who adore her.

We are deliriously happy.
ailbhe 29y6m
I don't know where to go from here. Their last email to me was very unencouraging. I begin to wonder whether I should spearhead a campaign, or go for something beginning WE THE UNDERSIGNED HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT or whatyouall.

"It is with great disappointment that I read Lego's responses to Ailbhe Leamy (your ref: 030231524A) because I, too, believe that the marginalisation of girls as part of LEGO's customer base is harmful and unnecessary, and not what I recall from LEGO's marketing and my own peer group's play 15/20/25/45 years ago. The increasing division between toys marketed to people buying for boys and toys marketed to people buying for girls damages girls and boys as individuals and society as a whole. The patriarchy can get along fine without you helping it. Come to the side of the Light."

You bastards.
ailbhe 29y6m

Dear Ailbhe,

Thanks for getting back in touch with us.

LEGO® sets are sold in 130 countries, so we try really hard to make sure there are LEGO toys suitable for all children (both girls and boys) of every age and from every culture. We try to show this in our adverts and catalogues by using pictures of both boys and girls playing.

Actually, Ailbhle, our research shows that boys like construction toys more than girls, so we do sometimes work with more boys than girls: but we also know that girls are now really enjoying LEGO sets. So things are changing!

Listening to what LEGO fans have to say helps us get better and better so I'm going to pass your comments on to the team in charge of Products and Promotions.

Please get in touch again on our freephone number 00800 5346 5555 if you need anything else (you'll need to remind me of the following reference number 030231524A).

Happy building!

Moira
LEGO Direct Consumer Services


If you wish to reply to this message, use the "Reply" button on your e-mail program. Please do not make any changes to the subject line, as this may lead to a long delay in responding to you. Please note that we cannot accept attachments at this time.

Does this answer meet your expectations of our service? - Click here to answer 4 questions.
http://www.econsumeraffairs.com/lsi/ensurvey.html?F1=030231524B

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I don't think they see the change everyone else does, the not-so-gradual removal of girls from where we were clearly visible before. Hmph.
ailbhe 29y6m

Dear Ailbhe,

Thanks for getting in touch with us regarding the new LEGO® Friends product line.

We know that constructive LEGO play fosters positive, lifelong skills that are valuable to any child. More boys than ever before, and many girls, are engaged with the play experience we offer, however our active household studies indicate that we have not been as successful in drawing the interest of more girls with what we currently offer. For example, of the current active LEGO households in the U.S., only 9% of them report that the primary user of the product in that household is a girl. The totals in other countries reflect a similar opportunity to appeal to more girls. We embarked on four years worth of comprehensive, global research with 3,500 girls and their moms to understand what would make LEGO play more interesting for more girls, because we want to increase the number of girls who currently try and engage with the positive benefits of the construction play pattern.

The LEGO Group is globally known for its co-creation philosophy to ensure that we deliver the best possible products and experiences. We have achieved this distinction because we have a long history of listening very carefully to the opinions and requests of our consumers, just as we are listening to the conversation that is currently taking place about LEGO Friends. We heard very clear requests from moms and girls for more details and interior building, a brighter color palette, a more realistic figure, role play opportunities and a story line that they would find interesting. The result–LEGO Friends–was made with the goal of inspiring more girls than we currently serve to try their hand at building and experience the pride of accomplishment that LEGO play fosters.

We are compelled to clarify information about what we have developed:

• Children who find the LEGO Friends theme interesting will enjoy the exact same building experience and developmental benefits as children who choose any other LEGO theme.
• LEGO Friends products do require assembly. The collection delivers the same level, scale and detail of iconic LEGO building as any other LEGO theme and products.
• Like any other set, LEGO Friends leverages the tried and true method of packing LEGO elements in bags and the exact same building instructions for which we are known.
• Pink bricks and elements have been included in LEGO sets for decades. The new colors introduced to create the LEGO Friends collection are two blues, two purples and two greens, based on global research that indicated a wish for a bolder, more vibrant color palette to create the most interesting models.
• Our marketing program for LEGO Friends mirrors the model we apply to any LEGO theme.

We want to correct any misinterpretation that LEGO Friends is our only offering for girls. This is by no means the case. We know that many girls love to build and play with the wide variety of LEGO products already available. LEGO Friends joins this global collection of products as yet another theme option from which parents may choose the best building experience for their child’s skill and interest.

We listen very carefully to the opinions and input that people share. We will continue to do so as we develop the LEGO brand to deliver the best experiences with the strongest appeal, and we will review our communications to ensure that we represent LEGO play for all children. We are proud to have developed a collection that is receiving positive feedback and reviews from parents and children who are now trying it at home, and we hope that we will engage even more girls in the skill-developing experience of LEGO play
Please get in touch if you need anything else. It's free to call our experts on 00800 5346 5555 (Monday to Friday, 8am - 5pm) or you could go to www.LEGOshop.com.

Happy building!

Daniela
LEGO Direct Consumer Services

I don't think they got my point. I didn't mention Friends at all. I mentioned the magazines, which their response doesn't. I might need to reply. I am not at all sure I want to.

Suggested response:
I responded:

Dear Lego,

Thank you for your email about the LEGO Friends product line, which I did not mention when contacting you and which was not the subject of my message. Please respond about the marginalising of girls as customers. Examples include, but are not limited to:

- Separating Lego Club magazine into "regular" and "girl" versions
- Listing "girls" as a category in the shop, with no "boy" equivalent, making all other categories "not-girl" by default
- Within "girl" category, none of the most complicated or most expensive sets, not even "Tower Bridge," which has no overt gendering. I didn't expect space Lego under girls' stuff, but architecture?
- Catalogue and box images depicting strongly gendered play - no boys playing with house sets, no girls playing with, well, anything else

This is in stark contrast to the advertising from 1981 or so, showing a girl playing in an ordinary way with ordinary Lego (featured in this blog post: http://julieclawson.com/2012/01/04/what-it-is-is-beautiful/ ).

There is no reason creating a separate range of toys to increase girls' participation in the wonderful world of Lego should mean excluding them from everything else.

Give us the pink things. But let us have the other stuff too. Please.

Ailbhe
ailbhe 29y6m
Fed Astrid and cuddled Emer for hours.
Got up.
Made bed.
Got dressed.
Lay face-down on the bed wishing it would all go away.
Brushed teeth.
Ate mini apple pie for breakfast.
Put away basketful of clean laundry.
Put on load of nappies to wash.
Helped Linnea tidy a lot of the dining room floor.
Filled and ran dishwasher.
Ate bananas with the kids instead of making lunch properly.
Made tea.
Took pills.

Need to:
Go shopping
Make lunch
Hang two loads wet laundry
Wash more laundry, or dye towels, which might be better
Make curtain tie-backs
Shorten living room curtains
Line living room curtains
ailbhe 29y6m
Dear Lego

I have been playing with Lego since approximately 1980. I have three children, and their other parent has been playing with Lego since approximately 1976. The children inherited our Lego, and we enthusiastically bought new sets for them - Duplo buckets, mixed bricks, City sets, minifigs in packets. Visiting LegoLand is an enormous treat, slightly more exciting than going to the moon in real life.

But the increasingly aggressive sidelining of girls from the mainstream of Lego customers means that I have, in spite of the heartwrenching regret it causes me, decided not to buy any new Lego products until girls are again considered as real customers and included in the huge majority of Lego products and magazines and Club literature.

Girls are people too, and boys and girls both need to know that this is true.

As soon as Lego shows it thinks that I and my children are real people, I will once again buy, with enthusiasm, from the vast, gender-neutral, enthralling selection of building toys you have to offer. For my children.

And my sisters' children.

And our friends' children.

And occasionally for ourselves, because there's no reason people over 30 shouldn't have any fun.

Yours, as part of the 51% of the global population which is female,

Ailbhe Leamy
ailbhe 29y6m
Since we last met them, they have been hurting themselves, sleeping all night, having earache, and going to the doctor.

Linnea went to bed early, thank all the little fishes, and just after I'd settled her down Astrid fell off the bench in the dining room and bashed her mouth. She cut her lip mildly and bashed her gum quite a lot, but the bleeding stopped and she moved around cheerfully climbing on Emer's head and stuff, so I tried not to worry. Rob was extra super late home so I did Emer's bedtime except for the bed part, and we watched Maisy Mouse in Dutch until he got here.

BED. Everyone slept ok until Linnea was crying and shouting in her sleep about midnight; we woke her up and it was earache, so we did fluids and hot compresses and painkillers and she got back to sleep with a hot water bottle eventually. Then everyone slept all night.

Then this morning I got a look inside Astrid's mouth and saw her blackened gums and made a GP appointment for her. The first appointment was at 3:40 pm but the receptionist spoke to the GP who agreed to squeeze her in earlier and we got an appt at 11:55 am, which actually happened at 12:25 because the thing about GPs who squeeze babies in just "before" their lunchbreak and give everyone all the time they need for appointments is that they often run late. The GP was lovely and used her fingers instead of a stick to get a look in Astrid's mouth, though even that reopened some of the cuts and made her bleed again, and said that it's nasty but needs no treatment; if we're worried over the weekend we can take her to the out of hours service but it's probably going to be fine, and since she's on breastmilk we don't need to worry about feeding her solid food unless she feels up to eating it.

Then we visited a friend, where I started up a nice migraine and had to demand short-notice coffee. And then we came home.

Also, the power supply for this laptop no longer works at all, so I need to do something about it. It's about to die.

Walking!

Jan. 12th, 2012 05:19 pm
ailbhe 29y6m
Astrid walked into town today. I carried her across some of the roads, so she didn't walk the whole mile, but she walked around town too, and up and down the ramp outside the opticians (is ramp!) and had to be forced crying into the buggy when she was so tired she kept falling over.

The others walked too. Linnea woke about 3am and so was kind of manic, so I had her run a bit, which helped. I'm hoping to have her in bed very soon after dinner, and she's not allowed up until after 7am now (a rule we never needed before) so we'll see how tomorrow goes.

We bought ALL THE THINGS in FabricLand and John Lewis Haberdashery Dept. Now I have enough pink thread, pink buttons, and pyjama elastic to repair LOTS of things. PINK things. Ah well.
ailbhe 29y6m
SEWING.

The sewing machine is one Janice left with us when she went home to Canada before Linnea was born. She brought it over from Canada to begin with, so the manual is bilingual. And never made sense to me before, but did the last time I looked, and now I can thread a sewing machine, which means...

I have repaired two duvet covers, one pair of Rob's pyjamas, one pair of Linnea's pyjamas so Emer can wear them, one of Rob's shirts, a laundry bag, and I forget what else. I am making a sewing box (slowly). I have a pile of mending which is shrinking a lot, and I am more willing to tackle it than I ever have been. I have finished TWO tubes of glue in the past week, between repairing kids' toys and making the sewing box, and I used the padding from an en-route-to-landfill carseat for the pincushion in the lid.

But I'm going to need pale pink thread if I intend to continue. And a pinking shears. (These are not related items).
ailbhe 29y6m
Thank you to Rachel & Tony for the books and elephant for the children, and to Ny for the month-to-view calendar for all of us (I'd love more information on where you got the planet notepaper and on the background to the images).

Lovely lovely Christmas, going on forever!

Yay!

Jan. 11th, 2012 01:35 pm
ailbhe 29y6m
Got up, washed rug in bath, had visitor, sorted dry laundry, hung wet laundry, washed wool laundry, emptied and refilled dishwasher, repaired torn pyjamas for Emer, made a note of decluttered items. Yay!

Photo 9

Jan. 9th, 2012 08:01 pm
ailbhe 29y6m
From Misc


Really bad mending job, but I can go back and fix it soon.

Photo 8

Jan. 8th, 2012 07:59 pm
ailbhe 29y6m
From Misc


Our front room.
ailbhe 29y6m
The cat is fine! She got an antibiotic injection, and we have cream for the itching, and she'll be fine. It's not getting any worse anyway, so that's good.

I have the BIGGEST CANVAS EVER - it's five feet by four feet and I am painting it. When I finish this one I have another huge one. I need to sell some or we'll have to move house.

So far today I've done yoga, had my pills, put on a load of laundry, swept the bedroom floor, put out the bins, tidied the dining room, got my 366 photos slightly more up to date, and opened the bedroom window to let the air in, because eurgh.

Rob has brought the cat to the vet, the girls to their swimming lesson, and now he's in the garden with Emer and Astrid on the swings and him hanging laundry outdoors on the line, which is something of a novelty.

Later today I must pack up parcels for posting, take stuff to the charity shop, and figure out my sewing machine, and Rob must go to True Food for the groceries. We probably ought to get a bit more done on the coat tree in the front hall too.
ailbhe 29y6m
For those of you who've been reading for the past eight years, I had good news on New Year's Eve and it's still good.

Presumably nerves have regrown, around where That Obstetrician took out the catheter without deflating the bulb, because I have regained sensation to the point where I can now tell when I need to empty my bladder. This is going to make an AMAZING difference to my life.