The Crew - Miss Fabulous, Lil Bro, Big Sis and Mr. Man

Sunday, December 13, 2009

That's News To Me


I am having trouble deciding which way to go. I keep getting e-mails telling me that “Jamaica is waiting for me” and Friday I received a letter in the mail telling me that I “may be eligible for a scooter” you know the hover-round type. Either way it is a likely improvement from yesterday.

Saturday was a challenge. Miss M announced that she, “Misses Daddy and wants to see him.” She may be drawing the conclusion that he is being held captive somewhere, I don’t know. She talks to him on the phone daily so she knows he is still alive and well but seeing is believing I guess.

She had multiple melt downs yesterday and could not get it together to deal with playing with anyone, not even Big Sis one on one. I did a bang up job redirecting her and diverting her but she was determined yesterday and finally got fed up with all the nicey-nicey redirecting and announced that she wanted to go play with Big Sis. I was keeping her close to me and keeping her involved with a variety of activities, but the other kids were playing in another room and she wanted to go be apart of that.

She just was not able to cope with it yesterday. She could not make good choices, she repeatedly blew up at others over nothing, she would allow a sibling to come in and play littlest pet shops or ponies and then suddenly explode telling that child to “get out” and as they went to exit “don’t go” - EXPLOSION. We have not had a visit to crazy town in a while and our frequent visits there yesterday were a definite reminder that it is not a nice place to live.

None of this was surprising; we understand what is upsetting her. Still doesn’t make it easy to deal with.

Did I mention that my back up person aka Nanster has a kidney infection? Further proof that the Universe is against me. We had a plan to separate the kids yesterday and keep them busy, she’d take two and I’d take two. That clearly could not happen because she was sick with a kidney infection. So we did the best we could with what we had to work with.

It has also been rainy and over cast. Super let’s throw in lacking in Sunlight for good measure. Yes we were all packed and ready for that visit to crazy town.

Following the most major meltdown from Miss M I put her raincoat on and she and I took Daisy the Pit Bull for a walk, in the drizzle. The walk helped her. I give her markers like “that mail box” and she runs to the marker and back to me. She loves to run and it helps her. If it had been sunny we would have been outside all day.

I imagine we must be quiet the spectacle. Our immediate neighbors know about Miss M’s issues so they aren’t real surprised to see her and I out of the house in raincoats getting our wiggles out. One chubby white woman, a little brown girl and an idiot dog that is pulling on the lease as if we have signed her up to run the Alaskan Iditarod and I am sure we are entertaining to watch.

I was impressed with Miss M though in regards to managing her anger. She was clearly ready to rage and she wanted to physically assault me, I could see the debate going on in her head. She never lashed out at me, she did pick up a heavy object and throw it at the wall and scream like a banshee but that is a huge level of self-control for a child that only months ago physically attacked anyone with in her reach when angry.

Mr. C is still in “I’ll be a butt” mode. He is perseverating on various issues, aka I want my own way. This morning it was 45 minutes of I want to play with the Littlest Pet Shops. Well that would be fine accepted he doesn’t have any of his own, he chooses to collect Mario Brother cards instead. I knew that him playing with either of the girls would not go well so I said no and recommended other options. We have a whole collection of Little People and Animalville and their cars and toys that he could play with and we also have a collection of playmobil people that he could play with. He did not accept those alternatives. I recommended drawing, playing with his card collection, and play-doh.

Eventually he began playing play-doh. Unfortunately he failed to earn any Wii or computer time, bummer.

So that’s the weekend report from the Loo-Loo Crew and that’s news to me.

6 comments:

Sled Dog Action Coalition said...

Daisy pulls hard, but, believe me, she's lucky not to be an Iditarod dog. For the dogs, the Iditarod is a bottomless pit of suffering. Six dogs died in the 2009 Iditarod, including two dogs on Dr. Lou Packer's team who froze to death in the brutally cold winds. What happens to the dogs during the race includes death, paralysis, frostbite (where it hurts the most!), bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia,
ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons and sprains. At least 142 dogs have died in the race. No one knows how many dogs die after this tortuous ordeal or during training.

On average, 52 percent of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do finish, 81 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who complete the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.

Iditarod dog kennels are puppy mills. Mushers breed large numbers of dogs and routinely kill unwanted ones, including puppies. Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted for any reason, including those who have outlived their usefulness, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged, drowned or clubbed to death. "Dogs are clubbed with baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses......" wrote former Iditarod dog handler Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper.

Dog beatings and whippings are common. During the 2007 Iditarod, eyewitnesses reported that musher Ramy Brooks kicked, punched and beat his dogs with a ski pole and a chain. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing Manual, "Nagging a dog team is cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all but is effective." "It is a common training device in use among dog mushers..."

Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, "He [Colonel Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make mittens.. Or dragging them to their death."

During the race, veterinarians do not give the dogs physical exams at every checkpoint. Mushers speed through many checkpoints, so the dogs get the briefest visual checks, if that. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.

Most Iditarod dogs are forced to live at the end of a chain when they aren't hauling people around. It has been reported that dogs who don't make the main team are never taken off-chain. Chained dogs have been attacked by wolves, bears and other animals. Old and arthritic dogs suffer terrible pain in the blistering cold.

The Iditarod, with all the evils associated with it, has become a synonym for exploitation. The race imposes torture no dog should be forced to endure.

Margery Glickman
Director
Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org

Mom 4 Kids said...

Thanks SDAC! I checked out your site and it is very informative. I have to admit outside of the Balto cartoon movie, Snow Dogs and Eight Below I don't have any real knowledge of dog sled teams. I am however an animal lover and am sick to know of the treatment that dog sled teams endure. Again thank you for sharing the information.

Brenda said...

I think I do hear Jamaica calling you!

The LaBelle Family said...

Keep your sense of humor, girlfriend! You need it. Your reports are quite entertaining, I must say. I enjoy following your saga. :) It makes me feel so much better about my own!! LOL

Jeri said...

Yeah for Miss M for holding back on hitting Mama...we do tend to be the object of their anger. I rescued a pit a few years ago, Harley Marley (he had a Harley Davidson collar on when I found him)best darn dog I've ever had. Smart, sweet, but had to find a home for him because my big baby Sam beat him up. Imagine that...a pit bull not locking his jaws on another dog. Puulllleeaassee.
Hang in there, if anyone can do this it's you.

Mom 4 Kids said...

Wow Jeri thanks for the vote of confidence!

And LaBelle Family I am glad I could help you out with that! ;-)

Brenda, Jamaica is calling me for sure! And you too with all that snow!