Now that I'm calm...

Time for a baby update. Because I'm lazy and don't wanna go into sethana right now.

Seth, as you know, stood up. He was apparently tested to get into Head Start early, and he tests at about an 18 month level (cognitively). Seeing as how he's only a little more than half that, we're all impressed. I don't know where he should be at 18 months, all I know is that he DOES play with his and Ana's toys in a very different way than Ana does... less random shaking, more actual "playing with them". And, with less exposure, he got the point of the "hit them on the head" blocks faster than Ana did. And he stacked his stacking cups correctly the first time he saw them. Lizziey's been saying for a while that he goes "baba" for his bottle and "mama" when he wants/sees his mother... have to say there may be some truth to this. He doesn't really babble as much as Ana does, mostly he goes Ah! Ah! so when he DOES babble, it's memorable. Liz and her family also think he'll be walking by Easter, as he will stand, attempt to take a step... and fall flat on his face.

When it comes to physical activities, Ana is far more careful. Seth routinely attempts to fall off of Lizziey's bed, or the couch, or the floor, but Ana does so less often. Sometimes, to be sure, but not as much. She HAS been big on "walking" with her mom for a few days, and I have to say, in less than a week, her balance has improved greatly. She actually WALKS when she does that... most of the time. She babbles a great deal, often with actual intonation: Ba? Gya nana! Ba BA ma. AND I think she understands a great deal... the other day, she was shaking her block, and I said to her "it's a mirror block, it doesn't make noise, you have to look into it"... and she did! I shook this off, attributed it to chance... but yesterday, she was banging her fist against the babygate while holding her spoon, and I stopped to say "it makes a different noise if you hit it with the spoon... you should hit it with the spoon" and she did that too! So I don't know. Am I being overeager here?

Also, if anybody is willing to proofread this, I'd be thrilled... I think it's largely incoherant, but it's too early in the morning for me to especially care.

How to troll....

I know I'll eventually regret posting this, but here it is:

1. Don't troll on a brand new account. The first thing one does when encountering a suspiciously trolly post in their comm is look at the userprofile. New accounts stand out, because one immediately asks "how did he find us so fast?"

2. If you MUST troll on a new account, invent some reason why it's new. I heard about this comm from my friend, joined livejournal, and decided to post. This won't fool anybody, but at least it'll look good.

3. Join more than one community, and have more than one interest. NOBODY is only interested in george bush, or childfree, or autism. Really. (Side question, what is up with the trollishness in asperger? You'd've thought we'd be an out of the way comm, but noooooo, that's just not to be, is it?)

4. It goes without saying, or should, that your interests shouldn't wildly vary from those in the community you're trolling. If you're trolling a community about breastfeeding, your interests shouldn't include ANYthing derogoratory towards kids or parents. If you're trolling a gay community, having something like conserving marriage as your interest is a bad idea.

5. Have a few friends and friends-of. Makes you look realistic. Make fake accounts, even. EVERYBODY has somebody on their friends list, or their friends-of list.

6. Make more than one post in your journal. Maybe two. These posts should most definitely not talk about your diabolical plan, unless your diabolical plan involves getting caught. Well, trolls do get caught, because eventually everyone will see right through them, but...

7. If you're going to back down from a fight, do so with class. Don't just wuss out and stop posting, INSULT people. We expect it. Similarly, if you're going to argue for the sake of it, at least pretend to be sensible. Randomly insulting people, no matter how well you spell it, is an immediate sign. But then, if you were going to be sensible, you wouldn't be a troll. I guess that I'm asking too much there.


Seriously, this must be troll season, they're popping up everywhere, and most of them don't even know the first thing about it. It's no FUN making fun of them if they can't even troll properly. Sheesh, I could do a better job.

If you don't know how to recognize a troll, and feel you may have encountered a particularily clever one, here are a few more hints:

Trolls like to twist your words. You say "I disagree with saying the Pledge every day" and they say "You just said you hate this country and god!!!!!" This is a dramatized example, many times it's much more subtle.

Trolls never hit the issue. You mention that a brand new account makes one seem suspiciously trolly, they keep saying "so I disagree with you, that makes me a troll?" because THAT makes you sound stupid, while your real reason doesn't.

Trolls often have bad spelling/typing skills, but GOOD trolls know this and type very well. They also pick on spelling errors, however, so do many non-trolls.

When dealing with a troll, EVERYTHING will end up being blown out of proportion. "I disagree" becomes "you are a moron". This is very amusing, because they themselves use deliberately inflamatory language. They don't say "I disagree", instead they say "this is ridiculous"... even without proof.

Trolls never feel they have to share the burden of proof. Ever. They also back out of doing any research, often not even deigning to read what you have presented as evidence.

Anything else?