Gaaa-faaa

http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/photography/sa-flemish.php

Now I know how to keep myself occupied on the next long flight.

DinoD

This is so worth the read: who wouldn't want a giant chicken?

Hey Lut - this riot

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06/16/photos-riots-fire-destruction-after-vancouvers-loss/

Yep, that's my city although it's hardly recognizable. It's been a bit of an issue.

DinoD

Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better

So says my son who picked up my copy of Animal Farm an hour or two ago. He's finished it and was less than impressed with the book, he followed it up with statements like "gee the sheep were dumb".

On that note, I have stepped down from committee work and as I say "I have divorced my department". The fight for ethics and professional integrity is no longer one that I'll be involved in, it's just not my fight anymore. It feels good, I should have done this several months ago.

And the whole riot thing? Mainly three groups - professional rioters, a few homeless people and a number of spoiled, bored young people. I can't get very invested in it - arrest those those you can (kudos to people giving their pix to the police), charge and fine where appropriate. Then hopefully have some intelligent discourse about what went wrong and what to do next time.

My daughter and I were playing hockey on the driveway this afternoon (yes, It's Canada, we do that sort of thing). She said we were the Canucks and that we had just won - I asked her if we should break some windows to celebrate and she gave a resounding "NO". She's almost four and already gets it (or at least understands the politically correct answer).

If you have found your way here, I hope everything is going well. Actually I hope things are going well for you even if you didn't find your way here but ..well.. you'll never know.

DinoD

Good Grief

I can't even leave a comment on Sami's blog now without having to sign in to blogger - what's with that? And my son posts far more often and has more traffic than I ever hope to have - what's with that as well?

Anyway, my musing #2 is how easy (or difficult) it is to change. I know that everyone changes slowly and it's the only constant in life and all that stuff. But how easy is it to just up and decide to be different, to do things differently, to try something else with your life?

I realize this sounds too grandiose for where I am - it's not like I'm going to up and chuck out the kids or my husband but at the same time, I'm tired of where I am.

I really don't spend hardly any time thinking of the years I struggled with infertility or the toll it took but occasionally I look in the mirror and I can't separate how I look just due to the aging process and how I look due to not taking care of myself and that started way back around 9 years ago when we started to try and have child #2.

I remember injecting, thinking that I was going to force my damn body to cough up another child and that kind of anger and hostility I kept directed at myself for a long, long time. When does that become so ingrained that you just hang on to it as trying to unravel it is just too damn hard.

I had registered for a workshop on goal setting and one of my goals was going to become a lot healthier but.... I missed it because I was sick. At least this still makes me laugh a little.

Another goal is to try to find time to write out some goals but... I haven't found the time for it yet.

And are these just more excuses to stay in the familiar rut - could someone just give me a good boot to the rear?

DinoD

Musings #1

This sounds like a threat, doesn't it? The suspense of wondering what musings #37 will be must be almost overwhelming. Okay... so maybe not.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank-you again to those of you who received my email a week or so ago requesting that you visit a certain blog (I don't have emails for some of you or I would have probably sent it to everyone). Thank-you, thank-you and ahem... thank-you. The delight was palpable even if it doesn't come across in the replies (much concern was had over the failure of wordpress to thread responses properly). And the map... the map is fantastic. So again, thank-you.

So why am I still surprised? I sent out the request without hesitating for a moment about whether it was appropriate, whether the responses would be appropriate, whether it would be obnoxious to ask, etc. And you guys were fanstastic.

On the other hand, we have kept this quiet from family members except for one and that one has not visited or even indicated they received the email.

So my musing: how come I implicitly trust people that I have never even met (y'all) and have no faith at all in family members (which seems to be justified)?

And where can I trade my extended family members?

This offer excludes my husband (cough, cough), son (sniffle, cough) and my daughter (cough, cough, vomit). The brackets indicated current sounds coming from the various members of my immediate family - sigh. Wish us luck heading into week #3 of flu/ cold/ just general malaise.

And thanks again (have I grovelled enough?)

DinoD

Privacy

I'm conflicted with writing about my son. It seems so invasive of his privacy that I start writing and then stop and then again and then stop. So, again....

He is gifted in literature but also has a nonverbal learning disability - basically it is difficult for him to make sense of drawings, images and forms. He tests at average for mathematical abilities although his anxiety during testing means this may underestimate his abilities. The problem is that he is so fluent with reading that average feels terrible to him. A psychologist used the analogy of being used to a race car and then having someone put squares blocks on in place of the tires. The discrepancy between his reading and math abilities is defined as a disability even though he is at least average in everything (except coordination, motor-visual integration and short-term memory).

I always said that I didn't want a gifted child - just someone average or a littel above as I think it's easier to be that way. And this isn't just gifted but with an added twist. But no... I'm not going to throw him back. My son has taught me about unconditional love since he was born and I am in awe of his kindness and capacity for empathy and I love his sense of humor - we'll learn to deal with the rest. And I do know that "the rest" is a part of him and inseparable from a lot of what I love about him. I wouldn't love him any less is he was developmentally impaired so I can't love him any less for this either.

The gifted part is highly or exceptionally gifted - it's something I have no experience with. I was gifted as measured by IQ alone but I wasn't anywhere near his level with language.

He read all 7 Harry Potters in two and a half weeks in the spring of grade 2 (school was in session so he only had evenings and weekends).

His reading group in school (advanced) had to describe a character in a book they were reading. The girls came up with the character being a "pig" and "gross". The other boys came up with "evil" (one of them is considered very bright). My son came up with "diabolically inventive".

He's just different. He started reading my husband's Wired magazine a couple of days ago.

But then we're all different, no?

I just worry that I don't know how to help him as he does struggle with anxiety and often feels that he isn't good enough. He is generally painfully shy (those with experience here understand the painfully part). He talks about the "smart" kids at school but doesn't consider himself one of them. He dreads sports and is in a class where the boys are sports mad.

He does have at least one good friend and he is generally well liked but I also think he's considered a little "odd". It's that being different part that's so difficult when you're a kid.

Anyway, we love the psychiatrist we are seeing now and hopefully we can navigate this and help our son find enough strength to feel good about who he is.

It seems trivial in some ways but this affects everything about him and is an issue daily. It's so much easier when all they need is a diaper change and some hugs.

Thanks for listening (if you're still here) and I wish all of you a fantastic holiday season and a wonderful 2011.

DinoD