Mali 9 Month Milestones

Forgot to mention that 9 1/2 months old as of today Mali had her 9 month checkup last week. She was 19 lbs 10 oz, so we can legally squeeze her into the carseat for several weeks more. Even though she's dangling over the edges, as you can see.

Her weight percentile has dropped a bit (60th to 50th), which is expected with all her new crawling and standing and pointing. She's up a bit in the height percentiles, but is still a shortie like her mom. (5th to 10th).

Apparently her head circumference has increased dramatically since her last checkup. Almost half an inch in two weeks. I will check that up to distracted measuring techniques rather than the sort of dramatic head growth that occurs in many autistic children at this age, because she is acting so very neurotypical.

She is a darling baby. A funny looking baby (again, see picture), but charming. Tonight at dinner she kept smiling and reaching out to various people at the ph0 restaurant, who were all instantly enchanted. Even though she still looks like she has no eyebrows.

Her personality is still genial yet unpredictable. She is adamant about pulling off hats and socks. She turns her head and knocks away unwanted food. She is an accomplished speed-crawler now, and will not be turned away from a desired destination. Yesterday at the park she did not want to sit on the grass under the oak tree with me and Ep, she wanted to be over at the fountain with all the cavorting kids. So she crawled over there. Three times in a row. I let her go further each time, and suspect she would have crawled right into the middle of the melee had I not intercepted her.

She hadn't been eating much in the way of solids during the past few weeks, but for some reason (probably all that crawling) decided today that she was hungry indeed. Much baby-bird like demonstrations of her need, much reaching and grabbing for spoons, and squawking when the servants (us) did not attend to her appetite with the required haste.



Tomorrow is Leelo's first day back at Iron Gate, and so the first day Mali goes back into the nursery. She's been completely well this entire summer, and I worry about another cycle of respiratory ills. There will only be two other children in the nursery as opposed to the five that she hung with last year, but both the other children are old enough to want to poke and prod and grub on a baby, and both have two older germ-ridden siblings.

Oh, what the hell. Here's another pic. And mind you, it is okay if I say she is funny-looking. Say or write a like word, and your ass IP address will be banned.

Huh?

Mali just stood up, unsupported, for a good five seconds. As Iz was my witness.

Were she a first baby, I would be elated. However, this makes me suspect that she'll be walking well before Iz's 14 months. Which means she's that much closer to running in one direction while Leelo runs in the other.

Yay for Mali, but I am going to make certain we've plenty of bourbon with which to counteract upcoming stress-borne headaches.

Oh, Izzy

Spent this morning doing in-class reading in Iz's class. Every time I visit I am more impressed by the wonderful classroom, the intelligent students, the warm yet firm maestra.

However, it seems that Iz has been having lots of problem behaviors. Can't stop playing/fidgeting with her pencils/pens/erasers all day long, which is driving the maestra bats. And it's not just when she finishes her work early, it's all the time. We will have her keep her supplies in a schoolbox from now on and see if that helps.

Also our girl is having real issues coming clean in situations where she thinks she's going to get in trouble. Last week she clonked Violet in the head with a jumprope she was whipping around. An accident to be sure, but Iz was so freaked that she hid in the bathroom until the recess bell rang.

Then yesterday she and some friends found a piece of paper with the word "fuck" on it, and a list of classmate's names on the back. Iz passed it to a different classmate who doesn't yet read English and who didn't know what it meant, and so took it home to his mom. Who was not pleased, to write the least.

Since Iz was the passer, she got called to the principal's office. She protested with two or three different stories, rapid-fire, so no one actually knows what happened. At least they agreed with Iz's protestation that the word was not in her handwriting. But she has heard the word before, she knows how to read it, and she should have known better.

All this was told to me by Iz's teacher. I've not talked to Iz yet. I have my suspicions that there was peer pressure involved, but I'm not sure from which direction. It very well might have come from my daughter.

The protestation and freaking out about responsibility re: intentional or accidental wrongdoing, though, that is what the teacher is most concerned about. And that is where I'm wondering which direction to go. Obviously not the direct "What the fuck were you thinking?" approach. Hmm.

Help Directly, Now

Want to know what you can do to help Katrina victims right from your own computer? Badger will tell you how.

If you are more of a sending supplies or even helping in person person, then gracious Grace D has the directions you need.

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Update on #2--don't be stupid like me and put together a big ol' care package via targhet.com, only to be told at checkout that they are not shipping to that area due to the hurrican. For now you will need to go get the supplies in person and ship them via FedEx, UPS, or DHL. Bring the kids with you and have them help you pick out items, tell them why, have them help you package them up. Don't forget to label like items in small boxes.

Badger on the Front Lines

Nothing interesting here, folks. Check out Badger at the Astrodome instead. Then virtually kiss her feet, as well as those of all the amazing altruists she's encountering.

I Am Barfing Up Politispam

Here is the latest pass-it-on wave your hat for our president e-screed from my mom. Once again I call upon those with brains that actually function to supply me with rebuttals. Most irritating to me is that the writer isn't just comparing apples to oranges, he or she is comparing apples to zebras.

I also think it would be interesting to find out where this originated, but I don't have time this morning. On top of our regular nutso schedule, I have an interview with Leelo's third therapist candidate in 20 minutes, then a Leelo team meeting, then Iz has piano lessons, and somewhere in that mix is a needy infant.

Things that make y0u think a 1ittle........

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during January....

In the fair city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January.

That's just one American city, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq.

When some claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war, state the following...

FDR...led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman...finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,334 per year.

John F. Kennedy...started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us. Johnson...turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton...went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the years since terrorists attacked us President Bush has ....liberated two countries; crushed the Taliban; crippled al-Qaida; put nuclear inspectors in
Libya, Iran, and North Korea without firing a shot; and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 ofhis own people.

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound- That was a 51-day operation.

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy to call the police after his
Oldsmobile sank at Chapaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!

Our Commander-In-Chief is doing a GREAT JOB! The Military morale is high!

The biased media hopes we are too ignorant to realize the facts.

Mali on the Move

Five days ago Mali had a visible baby epiphany: If there is something exciting happening in a place where she is not, she can negate the not by crawling over and joining the fun. She has assumed control of her own location.

I saw the lightbulb go off over her head while I was tidying Leelo's and Iz's bear cave room. She sat up, blinked twice, and then determinedly crawled right down the hall and into the bathroom where Seymour, Iz, and Leelo were having their nightly bathtime splash-o-rama party. To much applause and cheers!

I'm still adjusting to having a smaller-than-Leelo-sized mite in the home, so it is particularly odd to witness such a tiny person moving about, and so deliberately.

She is starting to get interested in books. When she finds one on the floor, she opens it up right away to paw through its pages. Or perhaps chew on them, or try to rip them out. I might even read one to her, one of these days. Poor little thirdling.

Leelo is starting to resent her less. I swore I saw him try to give her a kiss this afternoon, and he keeps giving her little gifts (Pez dispensers, etc.). The two of them are even playing together a bit, sort of. Interested in many of the same toys and such.

Iz is done with HP2; she is well into HP3. I found out that one of her grademates is just about at the same spot in the series, and so have been encouraging her to talk with him about some of her theories and questions: Why are there only Head Boys? Why no Head Girls? Does that mean that girls don't get to be head students? I told her that in my opinion we've simply not encountered any of the Head Girls but that next year we will: Hermi0ne. She seems reluctant to talk to her schoolmate. Perhaps she's hoarding her ammo for Eliz's return from Hawaii.

She has also been reading crapitty-crap G00sebumps books, checked out from the school library. Turns out she was introduced to them at Satan's Tennis Camp this past summer, where they also let her watch What Ab0ut B0b?. How those two media items were determined to be in keeping with their ultra-Xtian agenda, I can't even fathom.

I have retaliated with more Tin Tin and Encyc1opedia Br0wn. Thing is, she won't choose between them, she'll just read them all. Sigh.

Maybe I can get her to start reading to Mali.

Heroes and Assholes

Badger is my hero because she's putting her butt where her mouth is and heading over to TX to help out Katrina's victims.

Floyd is my hero because he's on his way there, too. In his official gov't role which I can't reveal but please trust me when I aver that many, many, many peoples' situations will be made easier once Floyd (TLF's partner) is on the scene.

I consider them both my horcruxes, my spiritual stand-ins. I would be tagging along in a minute if I was in a different life situation. Somehow, knowing that good strong real people are putting in their time makes me feel less helpless.

I also feel less helpless when I support the following two charities:

• Rainbow World fund is shuttling 100% of designated donations to Katrina relief.
• Noah's Wish is helping out the animal victims of this disaster.

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Then there are the people who are so clueless and heartless, so lacking in compassion, that words fail me. I'll link to their own materials/words instead:

Witness our First Fuckwad, Laura Bush, opening up her yap and letting us all peer into the gaping echo chamber that is her brain case:

• Are disaster victims being inappropriately optimistic upon reaching Texas?
• If you're poor, you're just fucked during a natural disaster. Sorry, that's just the way it is. (Sa1on Premium blog link, might not work for everyone.)

Update: my bad, the first link is Barabara, the second is her daughter-in-law/inheritor of privileged indifference and callousness.

Then there's Unbridled, Misguided, Myopic Hate directed towards subjects that are none of anyone else's beeswax in the first place:
The Vision America conference

Did I mention that these people were assholes? Assholes.

Which reminds me of the best bumper sticker I've seen recently:

When Jesus said "Love Your Enemy,"
I don't think that meant "Kill Them."

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Okay, that's it. Back to blogging about the kiddlings.

Quiet

I haven't felt like blogging much lately, because it feels disrespectful to do so if I'm not helping the Katrina situation. (That is solely how I feel--I am not making judgments about anyone else's blogging, so pull your twisted panties out of your butt already.)

Thankfully our beloved Badger is doing a fucking amazing job compiling and analyzing. Go to her site instead. Or Lea's.

Also, I just heard from a local friend who personally evacuated her parents from the New Orleans area. She is fine, they are fine, but it sounded like quite the ordeal. If she wishes I will post more of her story when she returns to CA.

If You've Got More Space Than Cash

www.hurricanehousing.org

Via Badger y MoveOn

Local Book Lovers, Despair

Keplers has shut its doors.