Counting Our Blessings.

[IWMP]

I tried to reply yesterday but it refreshed and I lost what I wrote.

You really are amazing and brave. That sounds like it would have been terrifying. It's nice that your people were there. I will share these things with my friend. See if he has any food related connections. He called the other day and I didn't hear any pausing in his speech during the call this time. So it does sound like things are improving. He has decided to retire on medical grounds.

How is your tummy doing? Had the antibiotics continued to help?

I just did a small update on that thread you can read. It would be interesting if you could ask your friend if he has seen any connections with food or eating if you think he won't start obsessing about eating. I truly feel so bad for him and how his medical was handled or mishandled. At the very least they could have put him on a blood thinner right away and it doesn't sound like they did that. Stroke is the number one risk with afib and anticoagulants can help prevent that. I hope he's experiencing improvement like you said! It's amazing how our bodies can recover.

Yes that first episode was so scary and I felt so good that my kids showed up. I'm sure they were worried that I was having a heart attack. It was our younger daughter who has a medical background who reassured me that the shock was going to be okay. I suspect she had seen or knew about the procedure. I remember asking the doctor if the shock would hurt like hell so I could be prepared. He smiled and told me they put you out for it. Newbie that I was! How would I know I never did that before.

Aww. I wouldn't have known they sedate people either. I will probably meet up with him in the next couple of weeks and chat properly about it. He wasn't given anything. I don't know if he has serious eating issues. He seams to have piled weight on. But he hasn't been able to cycle or do much anymore. He goes to work and sits in his livingroom.

[IWMP]

Went to a secondary school open day. Oli was talking to a science teacher about bonds. The teacher praised him and said that was higher GCSE level knowledge. Which is about 16-17 year olds. GCSEs are split into foundation, general and higher levels. Scary that we are thinking about secondary schools. Phoebe really enjoyed the science experiments. I wonder if she would excel if we guide her that way.

[drumdude]

Our daughter is becoming so smart, she asked the other day where airplanes in the sky go. For a toddler, her ability to abstract ideas and take them to a logical conclusion is really impressive.

[IWMP]

Our daughter is becoming so smart, she asked the other day where airplanes in the sky go. For a toddler, her ability to abstract ideas and take them to a logical conclusion is really impressive.

Awww. So cute. I think the younger years, they have so much wisdom. They seem to have less as the get older lol. I do have one regret with my kids. I regret letting them watch YouTube. I had thought I was monitoring it well because I'd only let them watch certain things but the actual watching it itself has caused issues. We banned it because they got addicted (or so it felt), they'd have meltdowns. And that was even with time limits. They didn't want to do anything else. Even really fun things. My son's eye sight is not good which I thought was screen at the time but even with dramatic screen reduction they still deteriorated. So not screen related but it was one of the reasons we banned it. (We have him on a myopia management thing where he has myosmart glasses which are supposed to reduce the change, fingers crossed, he's at Rx -4 and -3.5. December is when we find out if they are working. They first suggested myosmart glasses when he was at -3. But he refused the eye drops and eventually after trying to convince him they said they can't do it without them. He has had glasses since he was 2, so he is well aware of how the eye drops feel and it was point blank NO. Then next eye test. 3 months later, it was -4 and they decided to do it without the drops). Feeling chatty tonight.

[drumdude]

Our daughter is becoming so smart, she asked the other day where airplanes in the sky go. For a toddler, her ability to abstract ideas and take them to a logical conclusion is really impressive.

Awww. So cute. I think the younger years, they have so much wisdom. They seem to have less as the get older lol. I do have one regret with my kids. I regret letting them watch YouTube. I had thought I was monitoring it well because I'd only let them watch certain things but the actual watching it itself has caused issues. We banned it because they got addicted (or so it felt), they'd have meltdowns. And that was even with time limits. They didn't want to do anything else. Even really fun things. My son's eye sight is not good which I thought was screen at the time but even with dramatic screen reduction they still deteriorated. So not screen related but it was one of the reasons we banned it. (We have him on a myopia management thing where he has myosmart glasses which are supposed to reduce the change, fingers crossed, he's at Rx -4 and -3.5. December is when we find out if they are working. They first suggested myosmart glasses when he was at -3. But he refused the eye drops and eventually after trying to convince him they said they can't do it without them. He has had glasses since he was 2, so he is well aware of how the eye drops feel and it was point blank NO. Then next eye test. 3 months later, it was -4 and they decided to do it without the drops). Feeling chatty tonight.

We’re keeping them away from Cocomelon and any channels like that which are just crack. But I don’t know how you can raise a kid without YouTube at all these days. You shouldn’t regret something that is a basic part of modern life, you’d have to be Amish to avoid it.

-4 is slightly high, hopefully they’re able to stabilize it!

[IWMP]

Awww. So cute. I think the younger years, they have so much wisdom. They seem to have less as the get older lol. I do have one regret with my kids. I regret letting them watch YouTube. I had thought I was monitoring it well because I'd only let them watch certain things but the actual watching it itself has caused issues. We banned it because they got addicted (or so it felt), they'd have meltdowns. And that was even with time limits. They didn't want to do anything else. Even really fun things. My son's eye sight is not good which I thought was screen at the time but even with dramatic screen reduction they still deteriorated. So not screen related but it was one of the reasons we banned it. (We have him on a myopia management thing where he has myosmart glasses which are supposed to reduce the change, fingers crossed, he's at Rx -4 and -3.5. December is when we find out if they are working. They first suggested myosmart glasses when he was at -3. But he refused the eye drops and eventually after trying to convince him they said they can't do it without them. He has had glasses since he was 2, so he is well aware of how the eye drops feel and it was point blank NO. Then next eye test. 3 months later, it was -4 and they decided to do it without the drops). Feeling chatty tonight.

We’re keeping them away from Cocomelon and any channels like that which are just crack. But I don’t know how you can raise a kid without YouTube at all these days. You shouldn’t regret something that is a basic part of modern life, you’d have to be Amish to avoid it.

-4 is slightly high, hopefully they’re able to stabilize it!

It's very high for a 9 year old. It's kind of interesting though... The eye ball grows backwards to compensate for normal glasses which focus at the centre of the retina but the outer visual field focuses behind the eye. So it's like the eyes know they need to be further back to see better and so they elongate over time. The myopia management glasses have a small circle which they line up with the pupils with the correct prescription and then around are tiny hexagons that deliberately focus the light in front of the retina so the eye stops growing backwards. The only problem is that the glasses have to be adjusted a lot by the optician because anytime he bumps them they potentially are misaligned. But I find it fascinating that eyeballs try to fix the problem by growing. It makes me wonder if people are quick to wear glasses. I need glasses but the texture of the world overwhelms me when I wear them and it's like all this stuff is coming towards me, like there is visually too much noise.

My kids were too old for cocomelon.. my daughter was probably young enough but she gets stuck on things so when I became aware of cocomelon she was already watching paw patrol over and over and over and refused to watch anything but. For years. Then it was power rangers which she appears to be finished with. Now she has a little variation, she likes monster high, my little pony, and some bread barber thing which I'm not too keen on her watching. Aww just remembered. Before paw patrol was roli police car. She loved vehicles with faces. And that year she wanted to dress up and a yellow school bus. Which I think I managed to achieve. Got a t-shirt with a bus face on front and a yellow hat with a light in it lol. This is the first year that my son has made an actual decision about a Halloween costume. He is dressing up as a banana. He did say he didn't want to dress up but then was like actually I want to dress as a banana. So he now has a banana costume lol. He doesn't like dressing up. Even in school plays he ends up with roles that allow him to not have to wear a costume. So it's exciting. The past few years he has wore a onesie.

My son did watch a kids science video on YouTube today. Think it's called quartz kazard. I'm like 90 percent sure I spelled that wrong lol. But only because he was off school. He's got spots but he saw a Dr today so he is good to go back to school. But I think since we banned it he has watched something on YouTube twice, origami and today.

[drumdude]

We’re keeping them away from Cocomelon and any channels like that which are just crack. But I don’t know how you can raise a kid without YouTube at all these days. You shouldn’t regret something that is a basic part of modern life, you’d have to be Amish to avoid it.

-4 is slightly high, hopefully they’re able to stabilize it!

It's very high for a 9 year old. It's kind of interesting though... The eye ball grows backwards to compensate for normal glasses which focus at the centre of the retina but the outer visual field focuses behind the eye. So it's like the eyes know they need to be further back to see better and so they elongate over time. The myopia management glasses have a small circle which they line up with the pupils with the correct prescription and then around are tiny hexagons that deliberately focus the light in front of the retina so the eye stops growing backwards. The only problem is that the glasses have to be adjusted a lot by the optician because anytime he bumps them they potentially are misaligned. But I find it fascinating that eyeballs try to fix the problem by growing. It makes me wonder if people are quick to wear glasses. I need glasses but the texture of the world overwhelms me when I wear them and it's like all this stuff is coming towards me, like there is visually too much noise.

My kids were too old for cocomelon.. my daughter was probably young enough but she gets stuck on things so when I became aware of cocomelon she was already watching paw patrol over and over and over and refused to watch anything but. For years. Then it was power rangers which she appears to be finished with. Now she has a little variation, she likes monster high, my little pony, and some bread barber thing which I'm not too keen on her watching. Aww just remembered. Before paw patrol was roli police car. She loved vehicles with faces. And that year she wanted to dress up and a yellow school bus. Which I think I managed to achieve. Got a t-shirt with a bus face on front and a yellow hat with a light in it lol. This is the first year that my son has made an actual decision about a Halloween costume. He is dressing up as a banana. He did say he didn't want to dress up but then was like actually I want to dress as a banana. So he now has a banana costume lol. He doesn't like dressing up. Even in school plays he ends up with roles that allow him to not have to wear a costume. So it's exciting. The past few years he has wore a onesie.

My son did watch a kids science video on YouTube today. Think it's called quartz kazard. I'm like 90 percent sure I spelled that wrong lol. But only because he was off school. He's got spots but he saw a Dr today so he is good to go back to school. But I think since we banned it he has watched something on YouTube twice, origami and today.

I’ve heard that about the eye, some adults even claim with the right therapy you can improve your vision. I’m skeptical though, it makes more sense in a growing child. I got glasses when I was in 2nd grade, so almost my whole conscious life.

Your kids are probably lucky cocomelon wasn’t around. There’s videos of kids going into a weird trance watching it- it’s like the ultra tasty processed food in video form.

A banana is super cute. Our toddler is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween, and we’ll be the big pumpkins lol.

[IWMP]

Aww cute. Costumes have arrived. My daughter has worn hers twice already lol.

Hope you all have a fun Halloween. Your toddler is at the age where they can start to enjoy it.

My kids like trick or treating but it's not as big here as TV shows. We only go around maybe 4 or 5 streets but there are only like a handful of houses that participate on each street and some have none. But we've been here long enough that I have a good idea of where to take them that isn't too far. They always have too many sweets by the time we get home anyway. We only go to decorated houses that have lights on. If it's just pumpkins we don't go. I did discover that there is a place that has like a street of amazingly decorated houses last year and they kind of compete with each other. So I think I'll take the kids on the bus and check that out this year.
We have the tooth fairy visiting tonight. I nearly forgot. My son still believes it seems. I never believed in the tooth fairy and even in my earliest memories, I am pretty sure I didn't believe in Santa either.

[IWMP]

It's the holidays here and we are visiting my MIL, tomorrow I set off with the kids on an 8 hour journey so I really needed them to settle tonight and they were a bit hyper. I was repeatedly asking them to settle and reminding them we are up very early tomorrow. Then suddenly I asked them if they wanted to pray. I never ask them to pray and I don't pray out loud. I generally pray in the night but they did and it was the sweetest thing. It gave me an insight into their thinking. When I pray I'm often praying for safety and I repeat it over and over because generally I am scared at night. They both were saying things they were thankful for. Like thank you for food, my youngest said thanks for clothes and bedding and for loving her and I thought that was adorable. They didn't pray asking for anything. But it calmed them down and put them into a different mindset.

So, I guess I should encourage them to pray more often.

[drumdude]

That’s really sweet. I’m probably going to add family prayer into our sit down to eat routine. There’s nothing wrong in my opinion with being a practicing non believer. I’m all for my kids making their own choices, and family prayer is a very familiar cultural touch stone for me and my wife. If morning else it’s good practice to be mindful and thankful even in a secular way.