Mom & Me Two Archive

...courtesy of a shower of "liquid sunshine". In the interim, I decided to record and post a few items I recalled while digging.

1. Yesterday when we shopped at the grocery she was not only noticeably more mobile and more enthusiastic about "being out", she reverted to her 3-years'-ago behavior of not being able to keep her eyes off the sugar and attempting to fill the basket with loads of sugar products. I allowed one treat, most of which we will probably throw out after a few days as, when we're at home she often refuses occasional offers of molded sugar. I did, however, notice that the more "not a good idea, Mom"s I delivered, the more her attitude flagged. It seems the emotional pull of sugar for her remains strong while the physical pull has declined dramatically. Apparently I'm going to have to devise some sort of strategy for divesting sugar of its connections to celebration and personal satisfaction for her.
2. A piece of information that my sisters will find interesting: Per newscientist.com, the recent results of a study in Finland suggest that mothers who consume chocolate during pregnancy produce "more active and 'positively reactive'" babies.
3. I've pretty much given up on the cigarette aversion therapy I devised. Although she's dropped her consumption to about half a pack a day, we've arrived at a place where the more I "harass" her, the more likely she is to light a cigarette and handle it as she goddamnwellpleases in defiance. I'm finding it exhausting, stressful and no longer productive to interrupt whatever we're doing umpteen million times to remind her not to hold the cigarette longer than it takes to light or drag on it, pay attention to what she's doing and to point out unsafe behaviors. A few nights ago it got to the place where I realized that the aversion therapy has gone beyond its limit to help and is now encouraging her to rely on me to monitor her smoking, of which she is capable and which I have no interest in doing for the rest of her life. So we came to an agreement which she is remembering and which seems to be working better for us. We agreed that I will leave her alone about her smoking until the next event occurs that clearly puts us in jeopardy and causes me to jump to keep disaster from happening. At the next event of this sort I take all cigarettes, place them on Ellen's doorstep, and that'll be the end of her smoking. She not only agreed to this strategy but it appears to be working.

    The rain's stopped. Mom's snoring softly, sleeping peacefully. I'll give her another hour then rouse her. Back to digging and planting.