Thursday, December 06, 2007

drama drama drama

the other nite norah catherine was screaming in her bed. this could be normal, but steph and wade and i went in there b/c it sounded a little more dramatic than a normal norah catherine thing. she was sitting up in her bed screaming and saying there was fire on her and really freaking out. she was screaming that it was burning her and telling us where, but she was not yet fully awake. (granted, a few evenings earlier she had actually caught something on fire in the fireplace, thought it was bad to have caught it on fire then pulled it out and placed the now FIREBALL onto our carpet which steph attempted to put out WITH HER BARE HAND which only swept it onto the dog then i snuffed it out with a pull-up; so she did have actual fodder for this event). upon finally waking her, she frantically details how there is fire still on her and can't we see it? it is there by her doll stroller in the corner of her room. it is burning her on her armpits and look, there it is, on the floor at her bed. see it? see it?

okay.

if you know me, i do not handle children half-asleep walking about in the nite, staring at me while i sleep, just standing in the hall when they were asleep moments ago, etc. very well. children can be utterly freaky in these terms. this is why the horror-movie industry has used this angle repeatedly. it works. it is scary as crap. so, my infant daughter screaming about her skin burning in her sleep then waking and hallucinating, actually seeing things that are not there and wondering how we can all be calm as her room is burning down and taking her with it...yeah, not my cup of tea exactly. we realized she had a pretty good fever, of which she had no indication at bedtime, and no other signs of illness. i was like, i think she just had a nite terror. i didn't even know much about that, but i like to diagnose and that seemed pretty viable as far as guessing goes. wade and steph actually did not attempt to dissuade me from my diagnosis, which is really rare, so i thought i might really be onto something. i was. this is a snippet of my research:

"Children from age two to six are most prone to night terrors, and they affect about fifteen percent of all children,[1] (although people of any age may experience them). Episodes may recur for a couple of weeks then suddenly disappear. The symptoms also tend to be different, like the child being able to recall the experience, and while nearly awake, hallucinate. Strong evidence has shown that a predisposition to night terrors and other parasomniac disorders can be passed genetically. Though there are a multitude of triggers; emotional stress during the previous day and a high fever are thought to precipitate most episodes. Ensuring that the right amount of sleep is gained is an important factor." (wikipedia)

just the kind of excitement i have been looking for as a mother living half-weeks without a husband here.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

daddy's eyes


into the wild

finished this book today. i definitely cried. it isn't as if i didn't know the ending! i realize that i am clueless about what is going on in this little world but i wish someone had told me about this book. apparently it is a movie that came out "fall 2007" or whatever that means. it must be code for "you won't even know it is a movie here in Hickahoma". one reason i will be glad to be a "texan"; movies really will come out in "fall 2007"! not that i am really going to be a technical texan. or actually that is precisely what i will be. but i won't be a texan in my heart. sorry, rambling. okay so the story of this boy is just going to be one of those things with which i am obsessed and of which i cannot let go. last nite i had stephanie on the trail to find actual pictures of christopher (the boy in the story). no such luck. there is one and only one picture that can be found and it is the one i already have in the book! so what i learned from this book:

1. i am a sucker for sad stories.
2. don't eat moldy things; you never know what could happen. especially if you are in a semi-starving condition.
3. the author (not my favorite writing per se, but the story is irrestible) has written other books that i would like to read.
4. people in alaska are bizarre. they call their state "the 49th state". that's weird. they all seem to be adventurey-type people and consider "death by the land/nature/elements" a welcome inevitability. it is going to happen. when is the only negotiable.
5. there is a lot out there happening in this country for which i don't even have the lexicon. apparently hitchhiking is a way of life for some people and it is on purpose and perpetual and not b/c they are homeless (which if they are, that too, is intentional) or their cars broke down or they can't afford the bus.

it was a weird book but i am glad to have read it.