...how to have a parenting-adjacent blog but also not dox your kids before they even understand what the internet is. Enter: Cleo and Mouse.
My five-year-old daughter's favorite stuffy is Cleo the cat. She was a gift from my brother at her first Christmas, and at somewhere around a year they became inseparable. Cleo has been on every vacation, and we may or may not have some clones stashed in a closet. As much as I want to talk about my kids ad nauseam, I also want to protect their privacy. So — Cleo will be my daughter's stand-in.
So then what about my son? My three-year-old's favorite stuffy is a mouse. He named it Mouse-Mouse, because obviously. Mouse-Mouse goes everywhere with his owner, including to school where he has his very own photo up on the class wall. So — Mouse it is.
And now I'm a parenting blogger whose kids are a cat and a mouse. Convenient. It writes itself, tbh.
If you see photos of them here, their faces will be covered with a 🐱 or a 🐭, depending on the kid. If you see photos of a well-loved stuffed cat or a floppy stuffed mouse, that's them too. By proxy.
The reason is boring and also not: they should get to decide what their internet presence looks like. They're three and five. They have strong opinions about cup colors and turn taking (or lack thereof) but not about digital permanence. So until they do, I'm keeping their names and faces out of it. Just a cat, a mouse, and a mom with boundaries.