this n' that

it's Ask Annie Day over at Sited & Blogged - i invite you to click on the link (or wait til tomorrow, when i'll post it here) and check out this week's writing question, which is really a continuation of last week's question.

last night a combination of lightning, thunder and Beloved's snoring woke me up, and i was tired from our drive to my sister's. baby jake handled our road trip with aplomb. upon arrival, he put his head ever-so-charmingly on my sister's shoulder, laid his chubby-baby cheek on her face. then he charged into the toy room and ploughed over my far more delicately-built three year old nephew with all the dignity of a baby rhino. he gobbled his hot dog like a champion and stole alex's milk with the entitlement of a saudi prince. he's coming this morning at 10:15 because meg has a meeting at the main campus about her upcoming irish adventure. so no good deed going unpunished, baby jake is once again my guest for most of the day.

fortunately libby's coming home today... unfortunately not soon enough. katie tells me baby jake likes to pick up sticks. im thinking if this weather clears, we'll go outside and see if we can make some headway in the party house area. id love to get the outside in nice enough shape to have a get-together with the kids on mother's day.
this being earth day and all, it occurs to me to ask my mother...

a Gentle Reader asked if the herbal concoction i make for baby jake would be suitable for a child's diaper rash. i would hesitate to say one way or the other, because diaper rashes are something of a separate category of rashes in my experience. when my babies were little i diapered them in cloth diapers (and pins) and washable rubber pants - those cute lil diaper cover thingies were just being invented. the only product other than warm water and a touch of johnson's baby soap that i ever used was ammen's medicated powder. i hardly ever had problems with diaper rashes in the dozen years or so i spent diapering babies. because diaper rashes can be caused by fungus and yeast and all sorts of nasty gremlins, i'd see what your child's pediatrician or health care provider recommends. this combination of oil and herb might be appropriate if the rash were attributed to dry skin, for example. but in general, the diaper area should be kept as dry as possible... so that's why i'd hesitate to use this.

im having breakfast with laura this morning... hopefully great things will come of it. happy earth day to all my Gentle Readers... may your day be full of wonder and all good green things!

and furthermore, the war will end. blessed be.