This N That

Lately Nutmeg has developed an amusing tendency toward hyperbole. If I tell her she has to stop touching my things or I won't let her nap on my bed anymore, she says, "You mean I'll have to sleep on the roof?" Yesterday we told her that Daddy would take her to school without me, and even without Pebbles. Her reply: "You mean Pebbles will be smooshed?"

Wishful thinking, kiddo.

Also heard recently from Nutmeg: "I don't like boys. Only if I know their names (do) I like them."

And repeatedly: "I love sugar! I REALLY love it!"

Which reminds me of this recent report. Sometime this summer I read one mom's anecdotal report that artificial coloring, mainly the yellow found in macaroni and cheese, gave her kid attention deficit and once they kept that stuff out of his diet, he didn't need medication anymore. This study gives some validation to that theory -- although the NPR version of the story notes that the kids who got the food additive studied only showed a 10 percent increase in hyperactivity and attention problems.

And finally, as I type our first Oak Park block party is winding down out in our street. It was fun and made us glad we moved here, despite the fact that we miss the last two places we lived. Nutmeg had a deleriously good time, running through the middle of the street, playing on bigger kids skateboards, getting her face painted, jumping in the jumphouse, and at the very end of the day smashing a pinata. There are more little children on our block than I thought, probably because some of them are in day care all day and you don't see them.