Oh, my! I sure hope so!

ETA: And it just started snowing here.

I am officially Fried. Matilda and I had a lovely most-of-the-day, going to church (everyone, clergy and laity alike, is utterly smitten with her, and she spends the talky non-musical bits running up and down the aisles taking attendance and saying hello to everyone) and visiting my grandfather's lady friend, and everything was wonderful right up until the second when we walked in the door of our apartment and I decided, since Hec and Tom weren't back from Sweeney Todd yet and Matilda was fast asleep in my arms, to slounge down on the couch in front of the heater and watch some of the new Futurama movie that Tom had brought over and consume one of the fancy English Cadbury bars from my stocking while Matilda snoozed on my chest.

Oh. My. God. She woke instantly at the sound of the wrapper, demanded the entire candy bar, and, upon being denied, went in a matter of seconds from zero to howling, snarling, arching, punching, snot-bubbling TANTRUM, so bad that I finally had to just clear the floor of poky objects and lay her down until she'd run out of steam. Not cute or funny, just awful.

So, three earthshattering tantrums so far, two fashion (one black purse, one pair of black shoes) and one chocolate. We're operating on the tentative hypothesis that somehow I have carried and borne Jilli's spirit child. Advice gladly sought.

I don't advise giving in, JZ. Olivia does the drama queen bit and demands my cans of diet coke. With a banshee howl right in my face when I deny her.

Eventually, she will learn that her tantrum will not gain the results she seeks. However, you will hate the entire process and will break out in a cold sweat and be tempted to give in just a little bit and thus slide down the slippery slope.

What Cash said. Trying to go back up after you slipped down said slope would make it so much worse in the long run.

Turn off smoke detectors first? Because if you are going to have to deal with icky toxic fumes, it should be silent.

Anyone else alarmed that Cass jumps in with this suggestion?

Any one out there know how to navigate the insurance system. My doc prescribed Seasonale, the three month birth control pill, but my insurance is refusing to cover it. they want them to dispense it in one month increments, but it doesn't work that way, which seems to suggest that this is about money, which is FUCKING BULLSHIT. I'm more than a little pissed. Any thoughts?

Any one out there know how to navigate the insurance system. My doc prescribed Seasonale, the three month birth control pill, but my insurance is refusing to cover it. they want them to dispense it in one month increments, but it doesn't work that way, which seems to suggest that this is about money, which is FUCKING BULLSHIT. I'm more than a little pissed. Any thoughts?

I had the same problem. I think I had to make a few calls b/w the pharmacy, my insurance, and my doctor, but eventually they dispensed the first 3 months at once.

Luckily, I hated Seasonale so much that I never had to go through that again.

We're operating on the tentative hypothesis that somehow I have carried and borne Jilli's spirit child.

So what you're saying is that after I get back from DisneyWorld, I need to send Matilda a fanged bunny of her very own. I can do that.

I have no helpful advice about tantrums. I always took the tactic of ignoring (as best I could) any tantrums that my cousins or the kids I babysat threw. Well, okay, with my cousins, I would let them shriek for a bit, and then I would prove to them that I could scream louder. That usually astonished them so much that they'd forget that they were mid-tantrum.

We're operating on the tentative hypothesis that somehow I have carried and borne Jilli's spirit child.

nods, awed. and slightly appalled.

Poor you! In a totally-has-no-right-as-non-parent-but-works-with-little-'uns kind of way, I do wholeheartedly agree with Cash. I see the result of parents who let the kid take control, and, gah, it is of the bad. But you know that, and I don't mean to patronise you, 'cause obviously you won't do that. (And, bless, church sounds adorable!) I'm just sorry you've got the stress of the meltdowns! NO fun.

Dude. Did we know this?

in March 2007, self-proclaimed vampire hunters broke into the tomb of Slobodan Milošević, former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia, and staked his body through the heart into the ground. Although the group involved claimed it was to prevent Milošević from returning as a vampire, it is not known whether those involved actually believed this or if the crime was politically motivated >[link]

Dude. DUDE.

---