Pissing in the wind

I don't normally comment on the searches that lead certain people to this blog. I don't care how people find me, I'm just happy that people  are looking at this site at all.

Obviously, quite a few people find me while looking for information on Dante's Inferno. Sensory Integration is another popular search that leads to me. If you are looking up Actifed you'll find me too.

But I feel like I have to say something for this particular search topic which seems to lead to me. I'm not making any value judgments, it's just that I think there have been a number of disappointed readers.

The person or persons who have been searching for "Little boy penis photo" have certainly not found what they were looking for. I am sorry but there are NO "little boy penis photos" here. Nor are there "child penis photographs" and although I sometimes talk about things that are "Pissing me off", I really do not have any photographs on this site of "children pissing".

I just feel like I should have an explanation for all of you who are visiting me looking for photographs of a particular "genre".

That said, I do hope you will stay to look around, no matter how you happened upon my humble blog. We do have lots of pissing going on in my house, and even a few penises now that I think about it. Just no photographs of either. Sorry.

Photo by mambo1935.

The gods of deletion

Yesterday was the Typepad day from hell for me.

On Thursday I did a little virtual housecleaning, and updated a few things.

But I also deleted a few things.

Without consulting the "Gods of Deletion".

The end result was that I wasn't able to publish anything for most of Friday. Which means that before I left for work Friday morning I kept hitting that little "save" button that usually sends my post off into the blogosphere.

Only that wasn't happening.

So I kept hitting the button.

It was like a Pavlovian experiment gone awry. And I was the experimentee.

I was positive it was Typepad's fault, so I left for work confident that by the time I got home it would be fixed.

I mean, how could this error possibly be MY fault?

But it was - oh it was.

The good news is that I fixed it. I'm not sure how, but never mind that. It's working again.

The moral of this story is -  It is better to let your Sidebar get completely clogged with unwanted Lists than to Delete wantonly and bear the wrath of the Gods of Deletion.

Actifed, wherefore art thou?

Yesterday I went to CVS.

I recently noticed that the Actifed tablets that I've been taking religiously so I can breathe are running low. Ordinarily this would be no big deal. Just go and buy another box when you run out.

But Actifed contains pseudoephedrine which has become the scourge of pharmacyland. I had to restock our supply of Sudafed last month and they rolled their eyes, pulled out a book for me to sign, made me give them my license and my address and swear on a stack of bibles that I would not set up a meth-lab in my basement. Like I could really concentrate on making meth when my nose is all stuffed up like this?!

You know, maybe all those crystal-meth-making wanna-bes should seize the opportunity here. Instead of going to all the trouble to make an illicit and dangerous substance, they should just sell the decongestant at a profit from the back doors of their homes to all of us with stuffy noses. It would be just like Prohibition! Except instead of Speakeasies they would be called Breatheasies.

So it was with trepidation that I went to buy more Actifed today. You see, I have suffered from ear-infections my whole life, and Actifed is the product that consistently provides relief and prevents the ear-infections if I take it soon enough. I really need to keep it on hand.

But of course when I got to CVS and picked up a box of Actifed, I couldn't actually remember the name of the antihistamine in it. To be on the safe side I bought the cheapest box and brought it home to compare with what I had been using.

Guess what? Only the name remains the same. Different antihistamine, different decongestant. My question is, How can they still call it Actifed?

Now with 7 tablets of real Actifed left, I am having an Actifed Emergency! I Googled, I Froogled, but there is precious little information out there on the drought of real Actifed.

This may be the issue that causes me to finally go Canadian, because the online Canadian pharmacy sites still carry honest-to-god-tried-and-true REAL Actifed. But do I really want to pay $11 for 48 tablets and then $13 shipping on top of that?

Maybe. Yes, I said it, maybe I do want to pay a total of $24 for 48 tablets ($.50 a pill!) because I hate ear infections. And when you get an ear infection you have to go to the doctor, and I don't like them so much either.

Photo by e-magic.

Family policy

I have an issue.

OK, lots of issues, but here's the one that's bugging me today.

Daniel has several therapists that he sees each week. On our last visit to one of them, he called me by my name in front of the therapist. This isn't a new behavior. He's always called my husband and I by our first names. As he gets older he calls us mom and dad more often, and frankly, we don't care if he calls us by our first names.

But it really freaks out some people. We have been lectured many times by teachers, therapists, and complete strangers on how important it is that Daniel call me mom.

But I'm pretty sure this is something that we can handle within our own family. We had a family meeting about the issue and decided that we don't care if Daniel calls us by our first names or by mom and dad.

Still, its quite upsetting to him to be lectured by an unrelated adult on what he should call his own mother.

Back to the therapist:

After Daniel called me Liesel, in front of the therapist...

She said, "What do you call her? You know the right way to do it..." to Daniel.

We both ignored her, and Daniel walked away as I finished telling her how we spent our Thanksgiving break. When Daniel was alone with her and I was waiting in the lobby, I heard her start to lecture him. I also heard Daniel try to explain our "Family policy". But of course she wouldn't listen.

Needless to say, that session did not go well.

I've been kind of fed up with this particular therapist for awhile now, and honestly, I would be happy to just cancel the next session and explain that we need a break. But Daniel wants to go to the next session so I can explain our "Family policy" to her, and make her listen in a way that he could not. (After we do that though, he said he would be happy to take a break too.)

I don't think explaining the "Family policy" to her is going to make a difference, and while I'm not crazy for her style, I don't want to burn any bridges, because we may need her help later on.  But Daniel wants to be heard. It irks him that she wouldn't listen to his explanation, and only considered her way to be the right way to do things.

What do you think?

Should I back off quietly and not make waves?

Or should I clearly explain how our family feels about the name-thing and let her know that it isn't any of her business?

Photo by smcgee.

Overheard

In the office of one of Daniel's therapists:

A dad comes in with a child of about seven, and is given a 12 page tome to fill out about his child. Dad starts stressing immediately, and calls his wife at work. She is in a meeting so he says he will hold until she gets out.

When his wife gets on the phone he proceeds to read out every question to her, so that she can give him the answer. I have a lot of information on this child, because he repeated what his wife said as he was writing it down. All the while the child is standing right there.

I was in the middle of writing a post, which is what I do whenever I'm waiting for Daniel, so I was able to get some of it down:

"It wants to know when she first sat up - no SAT upright, I don't know, 3 months? OK, 6 months.

First word? (Child pipes in, multiple times - 'My first word was cat', dad doesn't respond) When was the first word? 9 months? OK, 9 months.

Simple sentences? No, sentences. Sentences. Simple sentences. OK, 12 months.

Does she seem to be unusually clumsy or accident prone? Accident prone. You know, like falling out of trees. She does? Well, what constitutes unusual? Is once a year unusual? You think so? OK. Yes, then.

Does she seem to be sensitive to light? Well, she certainly seems to be lately. No, I think that's abnormal. Remember in the car? That's sensitive.

Does she fall without regard to safety? On purpose. Falling on purpose without caring if she gets hurt. I can't write 'sometimes', there's only space for yes or no. I can't put that in. There isn't space. OK. OK. OK.

The next part is about cognitive development...."

That's when I turned off the computer. The child had been trying to get her father's attention this whole time, and it was just too sad to watch him talk about her while completely ignoring her presence.

I hope the therapist is planning on dealing with issues of low self-esteem with this child. I can't imagine anyone feeling good about themselves after listening to your parents discuss your problems without regard to your feelings.

Photo by jemsweb.  (Identifying details have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Does this mean I can vote in more than one state?

Today is the Democratic Primary in New York. Which might be interesting to me if I still lived in New York. So why does Hilary Clinton keep calling me with her "Vote for Me" recording? I haven't lived in New York in years.

Now look, I'm clearly no rocket scientist, but you would think that they might sort the phone numbers by, oh I don't know, area code?

Maybe I'm being too rough?

Photo by Alvaro Carrilho.

Other people's kids

So, yesterday I was outside talking to a friend of mine while Daniel was playing. A kid from down the street came by with his babysitter. He and Daniel played for a bit and then the kid came up to my friend and practically sat on top of her. He started stroking my friend's arm and commented on her freckles and flabbiness. It was all a little freaky and inappropriate, especially as they had never met before. I didn't say anything, and I hope I wasn't scowling too much, but I had to speak up when he picked up my friend's cell phone and announced that he was going to call his mother.

"Not on that phone you're not." I told him.

I guess this irks me, because we've spent quite a bit of time teaching Daniel how to be appropriate with other people, respect their space and whatnot. I suppose the positive take on this could be - Look, this kid is "normal" and doesn't have a clue how to deal with other people either.

But really he was just plain annoying.

Photo by whitogreen.

And the answer to that would be....No

A little while ago my mother called me up. She still lives in a northern town and we talk about once a week. We talked about the usual stuff and then she said to me: "You know I'm really sorry that I still have to work. If I was retired, I could take Daniel for 3 or 4 months, and he wouldn't see you and then I could fix him for you." She said this in her "pretend I'm a nurturing mom" tone of voice. First I had to attend to the 3-alarm fire raging in my head. And then I told her what I thought of that scenario!  Well, I wish I had anyway. In truth I was too stunned to respond at all, so all she heard was silence.

I've always known she felt this way, that I ruined my son. That it was something I did that made him like this. Oh, and the smart thing? That is not a plus in her book. She actually told me that I shouldn't allow him to learn anything else. That it wasn't good for him. What am I supposed to do? Give the kid a lobotomy because she hates chess?!

Anyway now I have proof. And if I still had a shrink I would spend a whole session just on that conversation. But I don't, she moved to Florida. You don't think I drove her away do you?