dylan; darndest things

Not captured in those swing posts is Dylan's inability to judge how far back the swing will come. Sort of funny. Sort of hazardous. It's a wash, I guess.

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I am doing emergency medicine right now. I really like it, not least of which because I got to go up to the helipad the other day. The lights shine in our bedroom window and we've been watching the helicopters land for years, so it was like destiny.

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I believe "playing cards" are up for induction into the Toy Hall of Fame. Now whenever they induct stuff I am reminded of Jon Stewart's outraged reaction that "ball" was inducted after "stick" and "cardboard box." I think we can all relate to that.

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Dylan has been quite easy to date with the awkward questions about body parts/reproduction thus far for two reasons, I believe. One, I got her a book at just the right level and read it to her a bunch before she even thought to ask awkward questions. Two, she still remembers the whole "parents coming home from the hospital with Ollie after a number of months of an alarming growth in mommy's abdomen" thing quite vividly. She KNOWS how that works. What she prefers to ask endless awkward questions about is: death. We took her to the cemetery for a field trip a few weeks ago, which actually helped a lot. She's just starting to figure out to be worried about what will become of me, but so far it's been more concern with the logistics of where all those bodies go and what, exactly, they can and cannot do, rather than alarm.

Speaking of that whole Ollie's birth thing, the other day Dylan was very frustrated with me and my rules and told me she couldn't wait to be a mommy so she could make her own decisions. She meant "adult," not "mommy" because although she wants children she does not actually plan to have any because it will hurt. I told her it's her call.

She was asking me about why I don't eat meat and I explained a few reasons. Then she asked well why do you drink milk then? So then I said good point and had to explain veganism to her. I told her that would also be her call when she's a teenager and she said she does not need that much time to make a decision: she will always eat meat. So then I taught her omnivore so she would have a name too and she was happy. She certainly has her finger on the pulse of rejecting all things that are important to her mother. Her pediatrician says there's a bit of a teenage-ish stage around four.

She has also been decidedly grumpy lately, but then suddenly was less grumpy but understood phonics and can actually ride her bike pretty well (with training wheels). So I took that as a cue to let the internet teach her to read and we've been sounding out lots of stuff and it's sort of fun but I can imagine it will become tedious quite shortly.

She received a punishment yesterday, probably related to the grumpy. I told her to sit and think about what she wanted to say to me when she was done in time out and she said "okay, but it's not a nice word."

We've really been having to think about discipline more lately. I've mostly been using control things, like I get to pick out clothes or bedtime books instead of her. But then I got tired of having to come up with a punishment in the moment, so instead I use the vague and threatening "I will think of a consequence." So now consequences are like currency, and if she earns one I usually give her a chance to unearn it later, which works for everyone because it is a highly effective motivating tool because it could be ANYTHING as far as she knows yet I never actually have to come up with a punishment. We'll see how long this lasts. Ollie needs discipline too, but I mostly stick to corporal punishment with him.

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On our way home from Tully last weekend we stopped at a wildlife area I've been eying for years. It was cool. I think we'll go back and spend more time there one day when the backseat crowd is a little less cranky.

Do you know what they had all the telescopes pointed at? I will tell you. The Thruway. Not creepy at all.