Archive for the 'Parenting' Category

Mispronounced Words…

crack me up.  How many times has your child come to you with a serious face and a mispronounced word or saying? Keeping a straight face isn’t always easy.

We’ve grinned and beared it through “appletite”, “marriage-go-round”, “teethpicks” and “boyly” but the best so far happened just the other day.  My 6 year old came to me very serious and told me that the little girl across the street had something he really wanted.  He did his typical starting his sentence over and over again as he stumbled over trying to get his thoughts across and finally spit it out.

He wants a “diarrhea book”.  A what?  I said, you want a “diarrhea book?”  “Yep, a diarrhea book” was the answer.

It took me a second to realize he was asking for a diary to write his thoughts in.  lol.

We’ve Been Hit….

with the Chicken Pox!

Connor had what we though was a bug bite on his forehead Wednesday night… some “boo boo oil” (lavender) and all was well. Connor and Owen both woke up with a fever on Thursday morning without too much else in the way of symptoms. Owen has had a slight cold all week but nothing major or worth mentioning.

Then Connor has another bug bite on his chest on Thursday during the day. And Friday morning we woke up to the motherload! 90 “bug bites” so far including a few on his scalp. He’s handling it quite well. Owen so far has no pox but has the fever and got the fever about 12 hours after Connor. This is good because we were hoping that Owen was infected by the same source as Connor and not by Connor himself, as there might have been a 2 week incubation otherwise.

CP

I’ve given Connor some Rhus Tox and Sulfur homeo remedies. He’s a little itchy but not overly so. I also read that apple cider vinegar is wonderful for helping with itch HOWEVER, I’ll add that one should expect pretty intense stinging, which we weren’t prepared for. I got that “you hurt me” look from my 9 year old. If its going to hurt/sting, they can usually handle it if I warn them! Anyhow, I made a paste from baking soda, water, lavender eo and a dash of apple cider vinegar which Connor says is helping (plus it dries so he can put clothing back on and move about normally).

I had the chicken pox as a child and have the scars to prove it. Dh thinks he never had it..so now we have to find out what to do there and possibly have his titres checked. We’ve been “meaning” to do this for so long since we knew it was inevitable the kids would get CP (and we wanted it that way) but of course, life got in the way and we never got it done. So now we’re faced with this “what do we do now” situation. So if anyone is in the same boat….go get your titres tested NOW!

This photo doesn’t look so bad, there are clusters of them in spots. What amazed me more is that my “little boy” is looking quite broad in the shoulders! Wow…how did I not notice that before?  :)

Flu Shot or NOT

We don’t do shots…period. And even if we did, we’d no doubt NOT get the flu shot for a number of reasons.

For one, mercury has not been removed from these shots (thimersol really, which is 50% mercury). Even a little bit of a carcinogenic toxin that is ACCUMULATIVE in the body, is too much in my eyes. And food for thought on all those other childhood vaccines that supposedly have mercury removed, most still retain “traces” of mercury. The difference in how the vaccines are labelled is probably related to whether or not thimersol is used as an “ingredient” or in the processing. Either way, a little bit is in there no matter what.

My question would be, before I inject my child, who is regulating the traces and determining how much all together my child will be storing up in his body? No one, you say? Okay, well then, thank you but I think I will wait until someone PROVES to me that any level is safe (which won’t happen because it isn’t a possibility).

Another thing that is really getting my goat is that I KNOW many people that have been told by their doctors to give the flu vaccine to their babies. Recently a friend was encouraged to give the flu shot to her 4 month old. According to the flu shot manufacturers and CDC last year, the vaccine is “safe” for children of the age of FIVE and up. But recently the CDC changed their flu shot recommendations.

Suddenly, the flu vaccine is safe for children 6 months and up. And suddenly, any child under 9 years getting the flu vaccine for the first time, now requires TWO doses.

After reviewing some of the pharmaceutical vaccine inserts, I’m baffled. Some state that no tests have been done to determine if “this shot works”. Okay, those are really my words but thats the premise of their convoluted statement.

So check out this CDC recommendation on the FluMist (LAIV) vaccine. Scroll down to “Primary Changes and Updates in the Recommendations”. This is one quoted recommendation;

ACIP reemphasizes the importance of administering 2 doses of vaccine to all children aged 6 months–8 years if they have not been vaccinated previously at any time with either LAIV (doses separated by >6 weeks) or TIV (doses separated by >4 weeks), on the basis of accumulating data indicating that 2 doses are required for protection in these children (see Vaccine Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Safety).

So basically, they are changing the safe to use age from 5 years to 6 months and two doses. Now check this page at the CDC out. Here is the quote from the CDC page on who should not use the LAIV flu vaccine.

LAIV is not currently licensed for use in the following groups, and these persons should not be vaccinated with LAIV:

  • persons with a history of hypersensitivity, including anaphylaxis, to any of the components of LAIV or to eggs.
  • persons aged less than 5 years or those aged 50 years and older;
  • persons with any of the underlying medical conditions that serve as an indication for routine influenza vaccination, including asthma, reactive airways disease, or other chronic disorders of the pulmonary or cardiovascular systems;
  • other underlying medical conditions, including such metabolic diseases as diabetes, renal dysfunction, and hemoglobinopathies; or known or suspected immunodeficiency diseases or immunosuppressed states;
  • children or adolescents receiving aspirin or other salicylates (because of the association of Reye syndrome with
    wild-type influenza virus infection);
  • persons with a history of GBS; or
  • pregnant women

If I’m not mistaken, these two quotes conflict greatly with one another. One states that the LAIV flu vaccine is not licensed for use in children under 5 years and the other recommends its use in children from 6 months to 8 years. I just don’t get it. Why are we using our children as guinea pigs?

And in other news….just the other day, I was at the gym and reading “Health” magazine, which I consider a fairly mainstream mag. I discovered this article on the flu vax, “Read this BEFORE you get a flu shot“.

Any comments?

Vaccination article

This is one of the best articles that I have read on the subject of vaccines.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller15.html

Crib Recall

Yikes…a MAJOR crib recall.  About a million Simplicity cribs have been recalled (voluntarily).  There are 2 known deaths and 1 under investigation, 7 infant entrapments and 55 “incidents” involving this crib.  Apparently, its very easy to install one of the rails upside down.

Here’s the CPSC press release. 

We have never used a crib but I thought it important to pass this on.  Please share it with all your friends and family who use cribs.

Lead in Toy Jewelry

Remember when this first hit a few years ago?  You’d think something would have been done about it by now.  Think again.  Toy jewelry purchased by investigators in MA found items with lead levels 1800 times higher than is considered safe. 

Lead Jewelry

Ten “To Do’s” for Discipline

Ten “To Do’s” for Discipline

  1. Tell children what to doPrinciple: What you focus on, you get more of.

    Application: Instead of saying, “No pushing, you know better than to push your brother, pushing is not nice,” say, “When you want your brother to move say, ‘Move please.’ Tell him now.” Focus on what you want your children to do!

  2. Give children useable information, especially when you are upset.Principle: When you are upset you are always focused on what you don’t want.

    Application: Instead of saying, “Why isn’t this homework done? Do you want to fail? How many times do we have to go over this?” you could say, “You can start with your math homework or reading. Which is best for you?” Continue reading ‘Ten “To Do’s” for Discipline’

Joy of Parenthood

What gives you joy in this stint called Parenthood?  

Oh there’s the usual…the smiling little faces looking up at you.   The “I Love You Mom’s” that come out of the blue.  But honestly (and I think I’ve blogged on this b4) for some reason, I get so much joy out of seeing my kids clothing MATCH.   I’ve never made a big deal of it and never really tried to get them to match but my youngest son has a knack for pulling haphazardly out of his drawers and matching perfectly!   My older son had a thing for awhile where he purposely didn’t match.   Maybe he could see the hope in my eyes during that phase where mommy direction is eschewed?   Anyhow, thankfully quite on his own he now matches perfectly too.

You know you’re having a bad week when….

My 8 year old scolded me for buying paper plates and then lectured me on the environmental impact of the purchase.

Okay, so I don’t usually buy them but we were having a birthday party and I don’t have enough plates for dinner AND cake for everyone.  I buy them very infrequently and we use them up and don’t buy them again until the next birthday.  I guess I’ll have to figure something else out, like buy an extra set up inexpensive plates. 

GROAN

So lots to report today but will have to save the biggie for tomorrow …too sleepy tonight.  Today, I was talking with my 2 boys about when they were babies.  Owen, at 5 was having trouble understanding that he wasn’t around when Connor was a baby.  So I spelled it out clearly, Connor was a baby first (no Owen), then mommy/daddy decided we wanted another baby and Owen started growing in my belly, etc. 

So my supersmart 8 year old asks me if that’s all we really had to do….”just decide” we wanted a baby and it started growing?  “No really mom, what do you have to actually DO to have a baby…to make it start growing?”  GROAN. 

I guess I just wasn’t prepared.  So I tried, “its something that adults do”, “its something that comes when 2 people love each other”  and a few others.  Honestly, I think he just got bored of me putting him off and he stopped asking.  I’ll have to discuss with dh and come up with a real answer as its not the end of it, I’m sure. 

I’m not opposed to explaining it all to him (I think) , just that its such a monumental discussion, I’d like to talk to dh first before going ahead with it.Â