if wishes were fishes, we'd all be at sea

yesterday, to represent the fact that i was repeatedly reminding myself that i am nearing 31 years of age and can no longer believe in magical thinking and the power of childlike, frivolous wishing, i wore my threadless "wishless" shirt.

because wishing is absolutely fucking pointless.

so then i started pondering...in this abundant, energy and thought-filled world we live in what is the difference between a wish and an intention. must our dreams (used here to glorify the term "goal") and desires fit within certain realms of possibility? certainly not, as some may argue, then there would never be any innovation or progress for individuals or society. but we're still bound to particular matters of fact or theory, such as gravity. yes, it is times like these i wish that (haha. there i go again) i could leave the young children under the care of my teenager and run away for the day with a notebook and pen and ponder all ponderables in peace until i come to some sort of working solution for myself, until the nagging questions stop nagging.

but if wishes were fishes, we'd all be at sea.

someone once told me that, as a child. i have no idea who but it stuck with me as one of the most gentle phrases i've ever heard to convey the message that we're all basically shit out of luck when it comes to wishing.

and how.

in that strange way that all things connect and make sense somewhere, last night i was driving home with just the pea in the backseat and he, out of nowhere, says, "mama, i wish we could make wishes and they'd come true."

me, too, little one.

and to keep it succinct, i won't get into the whole warning to "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it" - i have a bit of experience with that, too. can't win for losing, sometimes.

oh no, she didn't!

yes. yes, she did.

i was flipping channels early in the morning, which i don't normally do, but i came across the CBS show the doctors and was intrigued by the question and answer format of today's episode. i'm not sure if it was a recent episode or a re-run because i've only watched about 15 minutes of the show ever.

one question came from a breastfeeding mother with a ten month old who has recently started biting her. according to her letter, he bites every time she nurses and HARD. she basically asked what she could do about this nuisance.

i was shocked when the only female doctor on the panel, dr. lisa masterson, stated the only option the woman had was to wean her son. dr. masterson explained that if an infant is biting his mother, it's an indication that the child is saying, "i'm done with you, i've had enough" or something to that effect. just wow.

i was then also surprised that a male doctor not only gave much better advice, but the advice i have used myself, successfully with my youngest two nurslings (i didn't nurse my oldest long enough to experience biting). he said that the natural reaction might be for the mother to try and pull their child off the breast as they bite, but if you've ever tried this, yeah, you know how ineffective and painful it can be so he suggessted, instead, that you gently push the baby's head towards your chest, squishing their little nose and they'll unlatch themselves so they can breathe. it's been my favorite technique and neither of my younger bite for long after experiencing that a few times. i read about it in a dr. sears book, either the breastfeeding book or the baby book, i forget which. so it wasn't all too shocking when i discovered that the male doctor that provided this awesome advice on the show, was dr. jim sears, son of the dr. sears.

while i am still somewhat livid after hearing dr. masterson's terrible advice passed off so matter-of-factly, i am very grateful that CBS has dr. sears on the panel and that he can offer a more gentle alternative to some of the things that pass as mainstream, acceptable medical advice.

sometimes i get my kids happy meals

and yesterday was one of those days.

pea was expecting a madagascar penguin toy and so he was surprised when the drive-thru attendant asked me if the meal was for a boy or a girl. because they still had the madagascar penguin signs up i had no idea which toy would be cooler and decided to be honest, and get the boy toy for my boy child.

it was the better choice, since the happy meal bag revealed that the girl toy was some iCarly crap. the boy toy (don't get me started on how mc donald's just might perpetuate inaccurate gender stereotypes) was star wars related. and as i'm explaining to my four year old that he got some sort of star wars aircraft launcher, he asks, "is that green guy on the bag a star wars character?" yes, that's yoda. "and they use life savers in star wars, right?" yes, *chuckle* that's right.


he's never actually seen star ways, mind you. but he knows all about the extendable lightsabers at target.