Is it true that working puzzles helps keep Alzheimers at bay?

Dunno, it wasn't brought up. But while cognitive skills such as memory, concepts of time, language, planning and judgement are lost, things like enjoyment and response to music, sense of humor, and ability to read non-verbal emotional cues are not lost. Alzheimer's patients can get to the point where the mirror their caregivers' feelings. So if you are in a stressed out rush, you get a stressed out, frustrated Alzheimer's patient. If you can stay calm, easy-going, and ready with the humor, it will come back to you from the patient/client/resident/whatever-term-is-appropriate.

I bought some chocolate hemp milk. It's interesting. The chocolate mostly covers up any hempy taste, but there's a sort of weird undertaste.

I tried that, Hil, and it didn't pass muster as cereal milk. I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying straight soy milk, but I have to make sure the cereal is as unsweet as possible.

I haven't found any non-dairy milk that I like in cereal. Unsweetened soy milk will do, but it's not great. If the cereal is already sweet, then plain rice milk is OK, but the rice milk tastes too sweet in unsweet cereals.

But, does it make me evil to think "I wonder if Burrel is snapping pics to blackmail her son with later in life"? I know my family would have.

Sorry I couldn't chat today, I was too busy. But I wanted to reply. I do take pics because he's too adorable to pass up, but my intention is not blackmail. My brother used to play dress up in girl clothes too, but somehow he has since renarrativized it as we were forcing him to wear the clothes so we could laugh at him (so not true!). I'm hoping that, as Isaac grows out of this phase, he won't feel obliged to reject all things girlie like my little brother did. But part of that requires that I don't make him feel bad about it, and frankly using the pics as blackmail might do that.

Posting this [link] only because it illustrates that some people have even worse management skills than those referenced in here, sometimes.

A manager fired an employee for giving what amounts to a single "donut hole" to a toddler. Total retail worth? 16 cents.

And on that note, and a lot of what we were saying earlier, there's a second piece on transgender kids on NPR.

And sensibly, it seems to explain the option of hormone-blocking puberty, so that kids can then decide at like, sixteen, whether they still feel strongly about being transgender. If it was a phase, they can go ahead and go through regular puberty for their born gender. If it's not, they can take hormones for their chosen gender, and be a heck of a lot more able to "pass" as an adult. Which is awesome, if you want your kid to have a better life, right? And so much easier to believe your kid really means the choice by that age than at five or ten.

Which is awesome, if you want your kid to have a better life, right? And so much easier to believe your kid really means the choice by that age than at five or ten.

Wow. I hope that that works as well as it sounds like it could. That would sure take a lot of thinking, if I were ever in that position - because I would be wondering about the long-term health effects of mucking about with the hormones like that. But then again, if the kid would be doing it for sure as an adult, anyway.... May there be the Highest wisdom for people facing these decisions (and I'm sure glad it's not me, today).

{{{Jilli}}}

{{{vw}}}

continued health~ma for KT (cuz, ya know, pneumonia! Shit don't go away fast!)

But part of that requires that I don't make him feel bad about it, and frankly using the pics as blackmail might do that.

There was more. So much more. Tired. Long day. I did go see "Iron Man" this evening. When I got out, the car next to mine had a Nevada plate with "BUFYNGL" and I had to think, "are they Buffy & Angel fans?"

Total retail worth? 16 cents.

still stealing. I've had to fire someone for eating a pretzel they swore they were going to pay for later.