Cute is taking adult things and shrinking them down to kid size.
Little hockey jerseys. Little polo shirts. Little dishes and utensils.
Most kids' stuff is run-of-the-mill, middle-of-the-road cuteness. Y'know, the awwww factor. Then you have the stuff that would be popular with the Jersey Shore/ Teen Mom crowd.
Little Affliction shirts. Little Escalades. Little baby liquor bottles.
Italian designer Anna Utopia Giordano has created the reimagining of liquor bottles as formula friendly substitutes in a series called PopBottles.
The mockups of Grey Goose as Hello Kitty, Beefeater Gin as Nintendo, Jack Daniels as Fisher Price, and Absolut Vodka as Barbie are displayed alongside the slogan "Parents, please, feed your kids responsibly."
The bottles are clever and, as with all great art, are a brilliant inspiration for discussion on a number of topics:
How many brands are my kids exposed to and how young?
What kind of food am I feeding my family?
How young are my kids experimenting with alcohol?
I bet there's one more question a few are asking: "Where can I get them?" You can't. It's just an art piece.
One of the greatest experience as a parent is the experience of firsts. The first solid food. The first smile. The first crawl. The first step. The first word. You get the idea.
For a Canadian parent, one of the greatest firsts happens with two strips of steel and some frozen water.
For my oldest son, that day was in December, 2009. A few weeks before the Olympics came to Vancouver and there was a public rink at Robson Square. Outdoor ice in Vancouver doesn't happen very often so I took the chance to take my 30-month-old son out on the ice for the very first time.
He loved it. He didn't want to come off the ice. He didn't want to take a break, despite the fact my back was about to from huddling over and trying to hold him up.
As the snow is falling and the ponds are freezing on the Canadian prairies, I'm reminded my son has outgrown his helmet and skates and it's time to get another bag of gear.
He's 4 1/2 now, only 13 more years until the NHL draft. Between then and now there will be first lost teeth. First phones. First report cards. First cars. First dates. And more.
What firsts are your kids going through right now?
Have you ever been to Iceland? What about Rio de Janeiro? Easter Island?
I've visited all of those places as a member of Team Diabetes and this summer I'm back on board to complete my 5th marathon and I'm heading back to Reykjavik.
The best way to keep a resolution is to set a goal. Getting the right training apps on your phone to give you some great workouts is a good start. But when you set a goal and have a finish line, the motivation to get there is all the more pressing.
Joining Team Diabetes helps you raise awareness for a disease that affects more than 9 million Canadians. Raising awareness is important because more than 90% of people living with diabetes in Canada have Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 is largely preventable. Living an active healthy lifestyle is your best defence against Type 2. Training to walk or run a 10k, half marathon or full marathon is a great first step to committing to a healthy life choice.
You're also raising money for the Canadian Diabetes Association as you train and prepare for the event.
Those funds are important:
• $500 pays for 20 hours of world-class diabetes research, bringing us closer to a cure every day.
• $200 sends a child to one of our diabetes summer camps for one day.
• $125 allows one person affected by diabetes to attend an education session featuring guest speakers and demonstrations on effective diabetes management.
• $50 provides a full day of training for two volunteers who help educate and raise awareness of diabetes.
The Rio Marathon is in July, Reykjavik Marathon is in August and the registration deadlines are are quickly approaching.
Grab some friends, talk it over, set a goal for yourself and get ready to check off a bunch of bucket list items on the adventure of a lifetime.
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