Me: Do this.
Her: Why?
Me: Because this.
Her: How do you know that? she says and puts me in place.

Our lives are full of why these days. My five year old is questioning literally everything. She wants to know facts, she wants to know why she is supposed to do the things we ask her to do, and she wants to know how we know things. Saying that you don’t know something doesn’t get you off the hook either. She will ask us to guess why we think things are like they are. The last one can be fun sometimes. Like the time she asked why dragons have tails and wings (she knows dragons only exist in fairy tales). I am not quite as thrilled trying to guess more scientific things.

All these questions make you realise how little you really know. The worst was the day she wondered if someone could have taken our car while we were at the store. I told her that it was only us that had the key. She wondered if someone else might have a key that worked. I said no, all keys are unique. Then she got me. Mom, how do you know that? Just seconds later I was doubting every single piece of information stored in my brain. I had really just been assuming all car keys are unique. I didn’t know for sure. I realised that a lot of things I know is just something someone told me at some point, I have read, or simply assumed. It could all be wrong even the things I have read in books. The Internet has taught us one valuable lesson, you cannot blindly trust anything written without cross referencing. For some reason I had forgotten to apply this knowledge to my brain backlog

It is truly amazing that she is this curious and willing to learn. There is however no denying that all these whys can be quite tiring and time consuming. I must admit I sometimes snap and tell her to just do things because I tell her to. I however don’t want to her to blindly believe everything like I did as a child. Took me years to shake off the effects of that (astrology, religion, superstition etc.) and I am pretty sure there are quite a few things I still falsely believe. Curiosity is such a valuable trait that keeps you exploring, learning and experimenting. I guess the next few years will be quite a balancing act trying to teach her stuff yet keep her questioning at a sensible level without completely exhausting myself.

That being said I still want her to blindly believe in Santa, the Easter bunny and that I have eyes at the back of my neck for few more years. That doesn’t hurt does it?

Her curiosity doesn’t make it easy for me to photograph her in the clothes I make for her. She is off exploring and unable to stand still for a second. Forget about fiddling with you camera settings! My strategy is simply to chase her around and snap and hope I will get few good shots.

I made this dress long time ago and despite it being one of the favorite thing that I have ever made for her it has taken me forever to blog about it. It is my second Hanami dress by Straight Grain. You can see the first one here. I just love that pattern. I used her tutorial to add pleats in the front which was a nice touch The beautiful fabric is Sunrise indigo metallic lawn bought from Imagine Gnats. The fabric on the sleeve is olive cotton form Stoff og Stil and was the closest I could find to gold.

I made this for her brothers naming ceremony but we had to venture outside few weeks later and take better photos. I also had to include couple of photos from her Kindergarten even if they outshine my photos by far. Utestemme really did a fantastic job taking the photos this year.

Taken by Utestemme

Taken by Utestemme

Taken by Utestemme