And because it deserves its own post, apparently today is International Fetish Day: [link] I plan to celebrate by wearing my semi-colon t-shirt and reading Batman comics.

(What? You mean that's not what it means?)

(I will not be wearing purple, mostly because I don't own purple, but also because I don't think wearing a certain color on an arbitrary day "makes a statement." Nor would it be the kind of statement I think should be made, anyway.)

(I *am* amused by the didacticism of the Wikipedia article saying that "Purple is a color widely used in BDSM circles." Uh, not that I've seen, no. But maybe Ohio is weird. We're deviant deviants.)

How does everybody else plan to celebrate their fetishes?

Lots of teachers of small kids - and I'm guessing Em's Montessori teachers are especially good at this - know that most 5 year olds can't sit perfectly still. Aside from recess, they keep the kids in constant motion even inside the classroom - from work sitting on mats on the floor, to working at tables, and back again, even jumping-jack and get your wiggles out breaks. I spent 3 hours in my daughter's public school K class last year and they didn't spend more than 10-15 minutes at a time on one activity, never mind still, the whole time. It seems like this is a pretty standard piece of pedagogy, in my limited experience.

ETA: which is all to say, I think Aimee should trust her gut, and the teachers are probably pretty good at knowing what is normal focus issues and what is something that should be addressed.

How does everybody else plan to celebrate their fetishes?

I should take a nap, is what I should do, because I imagine The Boy will enthusiastically want to, uh, celebrate tonight.

(And I am reading Batman in between posting. No surprise there.)

I really noticed something with Em last night at Daisies. We had Game Night where we played "Duck Duck Goose" (which I totally forgot was AWESOME), Compliment Tag (when you tag another person you have to say something nice about them), and "Red Light, Green Light".

Remember the girl I talked about a few weeks back who I was having difficulty with? Her and Em had almost the exact same kind of movements - almost like Tourettes of the Limbs (I'm not trying to be funny. It's almost like that - no control over their body parts). And this was after almost 20 minutes of these girls being at a full-on run. And there wasn't any imitation going on - they were on opposite sides of the room. Em was just different from the ways all of the other kids are different from each other. She can't hold eye contact, she gives up on stuff, she has huge self-doubt and says things that break my heart - "I can't do anything right." or "I do everything wrong." or "Nobody likes me."

I see medication as a tool to help her do what she wants to do, which is learn and play with her friends and be able to pay attention. I don't want a zombie sheep-child. That would totally suck. But if it's medication, then so be it. If it's medication plus working on issues, then we'll do that. If it can be helped with dietary changes, we change our eating habits. I just want her to feel better.

From the research I have done in various Psychology classes I feel that ADHD can be overdiagnosed, underdiagnosed (especially in girls), and occasionally misdiagnosed instead of something such as manic depression. Which is why it is important that people go through the proper channels for a diagnosis, which is exactly what Aims is doing.

I don't want a zombie sheep-child.

Medication won't make her a zombie sheep-child. At all.

I don't want a zombie sheep-child.

Medication won't make her a zombie sheep-child. At all.

Oh I know. I've seen the wonders it can do for kids who really need it.

Overdiagnosis of ADHD is a real problem with elementary-school aged boys. I've heard (anecdotally, so take it with a grain of salt) of classrooms where 70% of the boys are on ADHD meds - to me that's an indication that something is wrong in the school. If more than half of a classroom needs to be medicated in order to make it through the day, maybe it's not the kids' brain chemistry that's at fault.

[eta:

underdiagnosed (especially in girls)

And of course, this is the flip side. It's a tough issue.]

We are headed to Mom's beach house for a 4 day weekend, AIFG. It's so peaceful and quiet there in the winter.