So...
by far one of the best things that we did when we moved house was (i never thought i would say this!) NOT putting any of our mirrors up.
Yes,you read that right.
In our old flat we had 2 full length mirrors (the one in our room made a person taller and slimmer and was basically pretty fab),one on the bathroom cabinet and another smaller one in Missk's room.
Actually its not really true that we haven't put any mirrors up-we put the small one from MissK's room up on the new bathroom windowsill because,hey! A girl's got to see to tweeze or it could just be disastrous!
BUT in it you cannot see any part of your body and none of them are in MissK's eyesight at all.

I never thought that i would relish living in a mirror free household but i have noticed (a bit like scales) if they are there,a person can become a little bit obsessed with checking in on them all the time - well at least i do,and i noticed that the little Miss seemed to be picking up on my bad habits.

I always thought that  a mirror in the house was necessary to ensure that you are presenting your best self to the outside world but I've actually come to find in the 6 months that we have been here that:
not only do i NOW present my best self to the outside world because i am free of worrying about what the outside of me looks like
But,surprisingly,i actually really do represent myself better in my clothing choices because i dont unpick myself (and my body image) once i look in the mirror. I (literally) make an instinctive choice abut which clothes i think will look best together and then i go and put them on. And i enjoy wearing them all day long.
I'm bolder in my clothing choices (because i no longer look at my reflection and think "i look ridiculous in that!").I wear what appeals to me,what feels good and what i want to have on my skin.

Even more surprisingly i dress tidier now.I 'dress up' more than i did before. I'm enjoying myself and the event of dressing more. And i am adoring my daughter no longer checking herself out on every reflective surface in the house- she has more than enough time for those worries later in life.

Not that it hasnt taken a bit of adjusting to - i think manchild (strangely) found it hardest (i was waaaayyy over mirrors the first time my stoma prolapsed) And i am SURE that i have left the house in all manner of random assortment of clothing.
But thats what i wanted to wear at that time,thats how i was feeling that day and i'm fine with that- happy even,now that i think about it.

One day last week MissK and I even wandered down to kindy in our big cat masks - me a tiger and her THE most adorable black n white oversized housecat i've ever seen.And i was fine with that too because ,truth be told, i WAS feeling particularly tigerish that day ...

my lil tiger

...Now if only i had a stripey jumpsuit with tail to match.