The Fam

Zayne had his 2 month checkup recently. He weighed in at 10 pounds 13 ounces, and was 23 inches long. Not bad for a kid who made his entrance four weeks early. I was glad I missed the doctor’s appointment, however - he also got three shots. I was told he didn’t handle them very well, which means I probably wouldn’t have dealt very well. I seem to have developed some kind of hair-trigger emotional response when the kid gets upset enough to cry. (Not the “I’m hungry”, “I’m tired”, etc. cries).

We’re going to try to teach the little guy some sign language. We’ve picked up some books put out by Sign2Me, which look to be very informative. For some reason, a lot of the other techniques on the market will teach your kids signs, but they aren’t based on American Sign Language. Sign2Me is based on ASL, so given how well any of us retain it, it might be a good introduction into learning full blown ASL.

There seem to be many benefits to signing, chief of which is the fact that the little guy will be able to communicate some of his needs before he can verbalize them. Anything we can do to reduce frustration on his part or our own is certainly worth looking into.

Okay, here’s a scary story from DaddyTypes:

“Thimerosal, ever heard of it? A preservative containing mercury compounds that was used in vaccines in the US until 2003, including some of the most commonly administered immunizations given to infants and children: Hep B, Haemophilus Influenza B, and diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP)? Has an alarmingly high correllation to rises in learning disabilities and autism? Has been covered up by the FDA and CDC and all the vaccine-producing pharma companies since a secret emergency conference at Simpsonwood, Norcross, GA in 2000? Has Senate Majority Leader/HMO exec/major Pharma campaign contribution recipient Bill Frist making multiple stealth attempts to shield drug companies from liability for the injuries caused by their neurotoxin-laden vaccines? Ring a bell?

If any of this doesn’t sound familiar–and since it’s largely based on very recently fulfilled FOIA requests, it probably doesn’t–go ahead and read Robert Kennedy Jr’s long, damning article on the Thimerosal cover-up in Salon today.”

The article from Salon can be found here.

The CDC has some information about Thimerosal here.

This is a bit off-subject, since it’s not directly about the boy, but I figured it’s a good forum. The Mom and I have been trying lately to make more conscious decisions about what we buy - especially what we eat. We have been doing our best to buy organic when we can, and are avoiding companies that own or operate factory farms.

There are some really good resources available to get more information about these topics. These are some of my favorites:

• Store Wars - A look into organic foods, and the dangers that are increasingly appearing in store bought products.
• The Meatrix - Talks about factory farms, and their impact on our environment and economy.
• Farm Aid - The original. More “serious” than the previous two links, and a great wealth of information. I wear my “Stop Factory Farms” shirt with pride.
• Bad Corporation - Want to know who owns a company? Want to know all of the products a company makes? Want to know all of the things a company does that will make you not want to patronize them anymore? This is the place. Take a look at the dirt on an innocent-sounding company like Sara Lee.

Okay. Off my soapbox. Back to the regular programming.