Tori Niki

Ymmv of course, but I've used that basic equation for infants through middle schoolers with varying emotional or develop needs, & with increasing success as I improve my strategies. Just bc something doesn't result in instant compliance doesn't mean it doesn't work

A recent example w/ my toddler "I hear that you want candy corn for snack, but that's not on the menu...I see that you're disappointed. Would you like a hug?"

Validate emotions, hold the boundary, offer co-regulation, & 8/10 times we move on in just a few minutes

I see this idea all the time that gentle/responsive/reflective #parenting is giving a kid whatever they want or having an hour long emotional deep dive into every tantrum. That may be what you've seen modeled, but it isn't what most people are advocating for

The 2.5 to is very successfully eating a banana from the peel using a spoon. This is the most they've voluntarily used a utensil in weeks

Ooo! I don't actually have a copy yet and have been waiting for the perfect cover!

My darlings don't get killed, just put on ice. Annnd occasionally dissected and Frankensteined back together with some other darlings 💜

Also, it means I'm regularly haunting Beatrice, because The Midnight Bargain is a regular comfort read~

I love this idea of haunting yourself in your memories. Definitely some poetic seeds in this that I may plant 💜

Being home this summer has given me the opportunity to see that at any given moment of the day there is at least 1 or 2 butterflies in my garden. It's a small thing, but I'm very proud of it~

YouTube video by Apple TV Murderbot — The Cast Plays Bitter/Sweet | Apple TV+

The Murderbot cast plays Bitter/Sweet www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqH4...

Listen, I think if it is gonna storm every afternoon for some random amount of time it should count as automatic reading breaks. We all just stop, drop, and read. No email, no real life, just book. Seems entirely reasonable to me.

Sometimes I think about Wikipedia, and what they're trying to do, and what they could be, and compare their budget with the funding for LLM slop machines, and it drives me a little insane. We tried to build a library of Alexandria that would not burn, then tried a library of babel for profit.

That's my usual go to, and it's what kept me reading what turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year. But I feel like since my issue is the style itself I'm not likely to get engaged in the story enough to push through

I'll give it one more chapter 🤷

How long do y'all typically give a book before DNFing it? 2 chapters into my current read and I really like the concepts of my current read, but the actual writing style is not my taste at all 💙📚🪐

Great essay! As an autistic person, Murderbot was the first time I saw parts of my self reflected so clearly in media. It's desire for connection is markedly different from the "norm" but never dismissed by the narrative. The series was an important tool in my unmasking journey #audhd 🪐📚💙

So, yesterday when my scheduled night out was cancelled, I signed up last minute for an intro pole dancing class. I'm achy today, but it was SUCH a thrill to move my body for fun while also exploring the limits of what it can do. Hopefully this is the beginning of a better connection between us 💜

I've been in awe over the trust my toddler has in their own body, the fearless way they jump & climb & test their physical limits, and I realized that I don't think I've EVER had that kind of relationship with my own body.

This is your sign to kill your lawn and plant native wildflower seeds!

$1500 to the "Fungi in SFF" stretch goal!

HURRAH!

I have a friend that will do a lot of shady, morally dubious stuff, but he won't commit fraud because it's "lying on paper" which feels like a pretty valid line

I have iguanas in my compost pumpkin 🙃 One of my least favorite invasive species

@edidin.bsky.social: do you want to play in the bath for a few more minutes, or are you ready to get out?

The toddler: I’m ready

[dramatic pause]

To stay in.

... I knew she was severely burned but not the details. Hate that I know this, will pass the knowledge along as needed for people to take consumer safety seriously

My creature is 2.5, & while a lot of parenting has been pretty much what I expected, I was caught off guard by the intensity of worry I signed myself up for. I imagine it changes as they get older, but doesn't lessen ❤️

As a teacher, I am so touched when I get a gift but unfortunately a lot of them end up donated/trashed/shoved into a memory box. Really what I treasure most are personal notes and pictures, especially ones of me with my former students ❤️

The mushrooms that inspired this turned out to be a red herring, which is fine, but now I'm craving stories about fungal felonies 📚🪐💙 🩸📚

This has definitely inspired me to reflect on how I could make my death inconvenient to my nemesis, though at the moment I'm drawing a blank

A wildlife photographer joked that his wife managed to capture an extraordinary photo that outdid him: a European eagle owl, one of the world's largest, perched on his camera lens.

I've been afraid to fully accept that it's happening, but now that I'm registered for classes & signing a service obligation, I guess it's pretty set in stone

I start classes in the fall! Tuition fully covered by a grant! I'm so excited 😭❤️😭❤️