conuly

Apparently she's been stealing the fun-tac to fidget with (we'd noticed the fun-tac, but she'd managed to imply her teacher let her have it!), and she filled the inside of her desk with glue (!!!), and she put her hands on her head during play rehearsal instead of keeping them by her side.

At the last one, I can only imagine the teacher is just getting frustrated, because seriously? I don't think that deserves a note home, or even PART of a note home. Certainly not when compared to the glue...!

The teacher said she's "still having trouble with reading", and I'm not going to bore you with my opinion on that again.

I also still don't get how she can spell words mostly fine when I dictate them to her at home, but then fail on the test. She's supposed to "write the words without looking" once a week, but the truth is that I never let her look at the words. It's probably different with other children, but if Eva's copying, she's not thinking. (And what's really funny, I'm starting to realize, is she's more likely after the test to misspell her predictable "word study words" than her unpredictable "sight words"... maybe because she's more familiar with words like "know" than like "peg"? Her misspellings there are more likely to be transposed letters than skipped ones.)

But what really, really bugs me is her math test. See, the very day after this note we got a math test home. She has a perfect score. In her "open response" portion (where they're supposed to explain their thinking, the bane of Ana's existence) I actually think she did that better than her older sister does!

On one she was supposed to pick which student had measured the page correctly with buttons, and she picked the ones where the buttons went in a straight line, touching, across the page. "I think Rodrigo put the buttons on crele (correctly) becus his buttns are steratocrus (I think this is supposed to be "straight across") and do not have the spasis."

Ana probably would have said "I picked him because his go in a line. And that's the right answer. So I wrote it down." (But you know, Ana can be awfully passive-aggressive, especially when there are explicit or implied rules about how many words or sentences to write.)

So why is it we get note after note about how Evangeline "can't read" (no comment, no comment, no damn comment) but none of them mentions, even in passing, how her math is doing? When I was an underachieving kid, nobody ever held a parent-teacher conference or dragged me into guidance without first starting with "Connie is a very bright student" and spending a few more sentences talking about the particular strengths they thought I had. And THEN they talked about how I didn't do my homework or my classwork or whatnot.

The end result of this is that I cringe a little when people start extolling my virtues, anticipating the worst, but that's beside the point. Isn't it a little basic to start off with a softening compliment before you get to "what needs work"? (Even on Supernanny, the conversations with the parents all seem to start that way!)

Anyway, in other news, yesterday I told the nieces the story of how Ana, on her 4th birthday, slid down a very very tall firepole at the playground. (I can touch the platform if I stand on my tiptoes.) And I told, in dramatic tones, how when I saw Ana up there I wanted to scream and yell, but I was scared that if I did she'd just FALL, so I kept my mouth shut and, afterwards, pretended I hadn't seen her. And I reminded them that I rarely say things like "Don't do that, it's dangerous" because I want them to listen when it's dangerous, but at that age so many people still followed their kids around on the playground and it really irked me because the kids played less safely when their parents did that.

Ana: And anyway, if you follow your kids around and say "No, no, no, that's not safe", when do your kids get to have an adventure?
Eva: Yeah! And when do they learn anything? Like my classmate, his parents treat him like a baby! And they come to EVERY event at school and even tell him how to spell words!

(Maybe this is why the other kids spell better than Eva does! "Sound it out for your own self" has been the rule here since Ana was in kindergarten, followed closely by "This word is wrong. Go look it up" now that she's older! Seriously, Evangeline sounded like she was revealing that they spoon-feed him purees or wipe his butt for him, not that they help him with his homework!)

Those With Specific Tastes Play Favorites With Food
Fans Crave Cereal Marshmallows, Brownie Edges; Scooping Out Bagels

Also, bonus, 11 Eye-Opening Highlights From a Creationist Science Textbook

Originally posted by vexed_wench at Seems I Am Not The Only One....

Well, that's what the link says, anyway. I rarely buy ANY of those things with the exception of books, and most of the books I buy are used, not new. Cheaper, and when it comes to books by certain authors I like knowing I can read the books without supporting the authors themselves.

So for me, it's a bit moot. But I guess I can write to... people... anyway and pretend I *am* boycotting more substantively. Not like they'll know the difference. (Wait, are we still doing this with recent news still?)

Anyway, also here's this entirely-too-long video on the MegaUpload raid.

This was great. I like salmon just fine, but...

You know, it's almost a stereotype that autistics avoid strongly flavored foods and only like bland, safe tastes and textures. This is probably because the kid who subsists on mashed potatoes and sauceless pasta worries his parents more than the grown-up (or kid!) who eats just about anything.

However, differences in sensory processing go in all directions, and I have the opposite set-up. I love and crave strong flavors!

So to me, I love lox (eaten with lots of onions!), but plain salmon is... well, it's a mild fish. And it tastes all right, but mostly what I taste is just that it's very rich. I can only take so much of that!

The nieces LOVE salmon. At $10 a pound, they damn well better! I don't buy it very often at that price! A pound of salmon is just not as much as you might think, and they could polish that off easily between the two of them.

They didn't like the horseradish topping very much, but it was easy for them to scrape off. I think, in fact, I may have found the perfect salmon dish for us - a strong topping for me, and mild salmon for them! Except that it's going to be a while before I make it again at that price. What am I going to do to use up the rest of the jar of horseradish?

One on a dog who jumped between his owner* and her abusive boyfriend. They both got tossed out a window. The women's shelter didn't accept pets, but when she said she couldn't go without her dog, they not only made an exception but decided to add a whole new wing for pet owners, on the grounds that many women stay in abusive relationships rather than leave their beloved pets with their abuser.

*I've noticed, when buying cat food and watching the occasional TV episode live, that more and more companies are referring to people as "pet parents". If it helps them sell their product, more power to them, but I, for one, refuse. I think it just sounds silly, and the alliteration doesn't help in this case. Are people really that averse to saying they own a cat or dog or ferret or hamster or fish?

Here's an article about the tiniest frog - nay, the tiniest vertebrate - yet discovered. I'm sure it's a good article, but I didn't read it. I was too busy cooing over the picture of the frog perched on a dime, with ample room to spare.

And here's an article with a video of a sledding crow. In the comments are links to more videos of corvids playing around.

One of the comments just bugs me. The guy says that obviously the crow was trying to get food, and obviously, since crows are crows, it's not sledding, and obviously anybody saying it IS doing such a thing is anthropomorphizing with no good reason.

Now, it's possible that the crow is trying to get food. It's also possible that the crow started out trying to get food, and then through serendipity realized that this was a lot of fun. Whee! I don't know, I'm not a crow and I'm certainly not this crow.

No, what bugs me is not the accusation that we're foolishly putting a human perspective on animal's actions, but the assumption that since anthropomorphizing can lead to stunningly wrong conclusions, this means that animals are unlikely to have the same motivations as humans once you move past the basics.

Clearly, saying "Well, if I did that for this reason, it's likely that this random cat/crow/cricket is doing a similar thing for the same reason" is flawed and illogical reasoning, but can "If I did that, it would be for fun, but this is a cat/crow/cricket and obviously it must have another, less human reason for its actions" truly be any better? I don't know why crows do what they do. All I know about them is that they are clever animals and can mimic speech. But it's not that far-fetched to believe that once in a while they might do things for the same reasons we do, is it? (Which isn't to say that the crow was necessarily doing this for fun. I really don't know much about crows and am not about to hazard a guess as to this one's motivations here. But I doubt these guys know either. Yes, that includes Mr. "I've kept pet crows". A pet crow, near as I can tell, is like a human raised by wolves. They may still be clever and friendly, they may be able to survive, but I wouldn't look to them as a guideline for normal behavior.)

Starting in September, sweaters must match the dress code as well.

I've got no problem with this. It's a uniform school, the kids wear a uniform, I'm okay with the sweaters having to match the uniform. (In fact, I've never understood why the kids get to wear non-uniform sweaters all day. Why not ask them to put it in the cubby with their coats?)

I do, however, have a problem with the stated reasoning, that it's "distracting". This is nonsense. If your kids are distracted by a red sweater instead of a navy one, this is a problem with the kids, not the clothes. Why not just say "We like the way it looks" instead? That, at least, is the truth.

Also, I have a problem with the way it's all typed up, but I'll reproduce it for you in all its italicized (the whole letter is in italics!) glory.

( Read more... )

Whoever types these things up needs to have her quotes key and formatting confiscated. It's for the greater good. (Also, notice that sometimes the punctuation is inside the bold and sometimes it's not? Yeah, that's not me being inconsistent, it's them. If I'm inconsistent, I'm the only one who looks bad. When they're inconsistent, the whole school looks bad.) And don't get me started on the "Homework is essential" crap.

and they've tentatively started grooming each other's faces, but not - happily! - any other parts of their bodies.

Plus, the mama has calmed down enough to accept attention from me, and I was finally able to get the stupid cone over her head. She hasn't been licking her incision, so I didn't push the issue when she growled at me, but I feel very relieved now.

However, all of them look like they've lost weight. They aren't devouring their food (but neither are they leaving SO MUCH behind that I'm worried about that!), so I don't think they're starving, but they all look... well, smaller. Is this just because they're missing an internal organ (and it's all for the best) and now they have more skin than stomach? Or should I call the doctor?

I took the final kitten in to be fixed today. (And at the bus stop I had to listen to people being shocked that I'm not afraid to go to the dreadful Jersey Street. They'll be disappointed to know that I did not so much as witness a single murder.)

I had assumed that, like when the boys were done, the newly spayed kittens would get along pretty much fine afterwards.

Apparently not. Despite the fact that they both smell funny in the same way, Callie and Miss Tiny were terrified of the strange new cat in the room with them - and their mother is a total no-go, hissing and growling at ANYbody and trying hard to hide. (And escape. I spent a good half an hour just now coaxing her into a box so I could bring her back to the bathroom to be confined. I was actually in fear for my own well-being.)

I entered the bathroom a few minutes ago to find the kittens engaged in a tentative but firm standoff, growling and hissing whenever the other one entered the wrong half of the room while simultaneously trying to convince me to let them sit on my lap and cuddle. All this while Mama crouched under the bathtub and I tried to poo!

So there was really only one thing for it, and that's to confine each kitten to a carrier until they settle down. They are now crying miserably, but I don't have any other small room to put them in! Though if Mom keeps up with this, I may move her to my mother's closet....