I have almost regained not-sick. Probably.

[thanate]

I am semi-seriously considering printing up cards to hand people with "Please do not be creepy at my toddler" advice, if I can figure out how to frame it so that people will read all the way through. Most of you are fine-- most of you reading this actually know me, and so the rules are different. But here are the things that are really not ok:

*Ok anything more than a smile or wave with the parent first. Don't try to have a long conversation with my pre/early-vocal child while ignoring me, especially if I happen to be holding her at the time.

*If you're not on terms to touch me (and if I have to tell you this, you're not) it is not ok to touch my child. With the exception of high-five or shaking hands as ok'd with me first (see above.)

*If you don't know me, you don't need to know my child's name. Slightly older kids have been socialized not to tell their names to strangers for at least 30 years. Just because you (think you) know you're not the problem doesn't mean you get to train my kid that this is ok. (Ok, I'm totally going to teach the Megatherium to tell people she doesn't trust that her name is Zoltara, Destroyer of Worlds or something.)

That's the ranty version, and can probably be pared down, but seriously, people. Ugh.

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In more cheerful news, we have returned to the land of home and blueberries (I've harvested about a pint of the things since we got back, and the Megatherium has eaten two thirds of that-- in a couple years we may have enough to store & bake with) and are reading a couple of the Jane Yolen/Mark Teague Dinosaurs books obsessively; I've put several more on hold at the library. The child is as fascinated by the pets and parents as with the dinosaurs, and I hope we are not inadvertently going to give her the idea that she might one day end up with a dinosaur for a little brother.

Also, in new frontiers of the unexpectedly painful, I highly disrecommend having a small child stand on the top of one's bare foot for a little added height, and then lean slightly so that you've got her full 20 lbs pulling the skin sideways.

Comments

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

These days, you have to be particularly careful of creepy people. They seem to be everywhere!

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Most of the kinds of creepy I've been running into are the sorts that were always there-- and are mostly people acting like they're in a small town sort of environment where we all know each other, except we're not and they don't, therefore it's creepy.