Bringing Up Bobbin

It works for me

I have found repeatedly that if I take my meds (OTC & perscription) with a glass of sparkling water (Talking Rain does as well as San Pelligrino) instead of regular water.it makes my Ambien pill kick in about 50% faster. It usually does the same for pain killers like tylenol for me too. Unclear of what drinking fizzy water will do for Zoloft. It's the Ambien that has my eyes too crossed right now to even attempt to look it up in a meaningful way on the internet.

Sarah - what's the explanation?

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It's 5 am; do you know where your mind is?

Mine keeps wandering off down random pathways and I'm having trouble keeping up with it. If you come across it, please tell it to slow down until I can catch up. I'm a little tired. Thanks.

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Insomnia rears its ugly head yet again

Recent weeks I've started having increased difficulty sleeping so last week my doctor prescribed a sleep aid since it worked so well last time I had this problem.

It is working great this time too. At least in terms of helping me fall asleep initially. And if it happens to be a night uninterrupted by Tim's snoring or Bobbin's need to go potty at 3am, I actually stay asleep the entire night and wake fairly rested around 6 or 7am. More often than not though, one or both of these interruptions occur and once I'm awake I'm unable to fall back to sleep, despite my ambien-heavy eyelids and fuzzy brain. My mind just starts going over the problems that I had deferred by taking the ambien to get to sleep the first time, and there's no getting me back to sleep the second time.

I have 2 problems at work that I'm feeling some angst over. Neither of them are ones I'll discuss here. Those are usually the things my mind wanders to and starts churning over when I'm awake.

Other stuff will pop up too - like what's behind Bobbin's acting out at school lately - is she just testing the boundaries as any 3 year old is wont to do? Is she just honing her manipulation skills? is it a cry for attention? If the latter, my mind starts racing about how I might have been inattentive. Or is it a way of her acting out her anger at my schedule? It's the same schedule I've been keeping for several months now but she seems more upset by the prospect of being picked up by Tim on Mon and Wed than she had been in the past (until he actually picks her up; then she's fine). This train of thought causes my mind to start racing through all the guilt channels - should I be working full time; is that the right option for Bobbin despite the fact that it is the only option for us as a family from a financial perspective. Is it the recent unpredictability in the morning at school as to whose classroom she's going to end up in? Is it angst over some of the ways in which she's leaving babyhood and toddlerhood behind for good and she's not sure she wants to let go of some of those things? She's been focused a lot on turning 3 in August, what it means to be 3 - giving up her bottle; eventually moving to the big preschool class. She's completely out of pullups including night time, the latter being true for the last 3 weeks. The first two weeks she was in underpants she stayed completely dry through to morning, as she had for the months before while she was still wearing a pullup to bed "just in case". For months now she's always woken up to go pee even in the middle of the night. But in the last 6 days she's had two nighttime accidents and I'm not sure if I need to be worried about that - if she's going through something - or if they are just cases where she literally slept through the signals because she was too tired. Today for example she didn't nap at school.

Tonight it was a potty accident that got me (and Tim) out of bed. I got Bobbin changed and comforted while Tim changed her bed, and now everyone is sleeping soundly and snoring happily. Except me. To be fair, I don't think it 's the snoring alone on this night that is keeping me from falling back to sleep. My mind is racing with all of the above. But regardless, it appears that Ambien only has one kick to get me to sleep initially, and I'm on my own if for some reason I'm awakened before my time.

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I thought I was past this; is this my fate?

Insomnia. Rarely had it pre-pregnancy. Lots of stuff was different then. I exercised for about 2 hours a day every day - got the stress out and made me tired. I ate big lunches and tiny (if at all) dinners. Didn't go to bed completely full.

When I took my time off a couple of years ago the doctor prescribed a sleeping aid. Ambien. It worked GREAT. Probably too well. After weaning myself off it several refills later, I had a short bout of insomnia and then was able to get back to sleep. Slowly though, as months past, I have returned to the full-blown inability to fall asleep again. I long for that sleep aid I gave up. But it pisses me off that I can't get to sleep any other way.

I have some vacation coming up soon; maybe I'll use it to kick start me back into some good habits. Like eating better and exercising daily. I usually attempt this with any vacation with marginal success. Most of the time I end up whittling away my vacation with household chores. Day 1: The 6 piles of laundry I've been letting build up. Day 2: Wash the floors so I don't stick to them; scrape off the 3 inches of gunk that have accumulated since my last vacation and floor washing a year ago. Day 3: clean out the closet. Day 4: my god, it's almost over - better get out and do some kind of exercise. Day 5: sleep in because I haven't crossed that off my vacation list yet and maybe go to the hair salon and get those greys coloured. Then it's Saturday which doesn't change regardless of whether I've been on vacation the previous week or not. And Sunday is spent getting ready to get back into the grind.

I've been having wacky, and very telling dreams lately too. Like last night - I dreamed that Tim had left a surprise in the form of a plane ticket to visit my parents. The note with the ticket said that Tim would meet me there in a few days. I got so excited I jumped in the car right away still wearing my towel from having just showered and my bathrobe to cover the towel. Feet were bare. Got to the airport to discover I actually had 5 or 6 hours to kill before the flight but was glad just to be free so decided to go shopping and have a nice lunch. Looked down and noticed I was actually not dressed and determined I'd better fix that. Found myself in one of those airport souvenir shops that sell over sized sweatshirts and boxers with an emblem of whatever the town you're in is famous for. I picked out some pink and yellow fleece lined with terrycloth. Fashionable. Found some flip flops to match. As I was walking up to the checkout counter I passed through the children's section and that made me realize I didn't have Bobbin with me. I panicked. Was I supposed to take her with me or was Tim going to bring her? What if I was supposed to pick her up at daycare and take her with me? What if I wasn't actually getting a 2-day head start ahead of Tim and Bobbin? And why was I feeling angst about it? Did the fact that I assumed I would be traveling on my own that mean I don't love my daughter enough? I searched my pockets for my cell phone to try and call Tim and clear up my confusion and realized I had left it at home. I glanced at the clock and I had just enough time to drive home, get dressed, pick up Bobbin, and get back to the airport before the plane left. I was running madly through the airport trying to find the entrance to the parking garage when I woke up.

I have about 6 interpretations of this dream, but it all comes back down to me feeling stressed and guilty. The endless cycle - I get stressed; I act stressed; I regret acting stressed because invariably I'm acting stressed with people I love; I feel guilty for succumbing to stressed behaviour and stressing out my loved ones in the process; I feel inadequate for feeling guilty and for not having better management of my stress; I feel stressed about being inadequate. And so on.

It's 1am. I promised Bobbin we'd go to the parade with Miss E in the morning. We're even going to take the bus. Bobbin's never been on a bus so she'll be pretty excited. Tim is working the fireworks show but we'll pop by to see him in the afternoon. We're going to have fun. If I can find a way to get a bit of shut eye so I'm not tired in the morning. Because being tired makes me... stressed.

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The toilet ring of potty training

If a "silver lining" is the metaphor for an unexpected glimmer of hope from a seemingly otherwise gloomy situation, then the ugly grey ring around a toilet bowl that has seen more than its fair share of use between cleanings is the metaphorical equivalent of an unexpected negative from the otherwise positive benefits of a potty trained preschooler.

A lot of current parent literature tells us that using the phrase potty "training" is no longer socially acceptable because it invokes some sort of negative imagery of toddlers as lower life forms being conditioned into using a potty in the same way lab rats can be trained to push a lever to get a treat. It says instead that we should use the phrase potty "learning". It's somehow more accurate and less demeaning. Whatever. Saying "Bobbin is potty learned" sounds a bit weird. And I wouldn't know whether I should actually pronounce learned in this context as "learn-ed". Which just makes me giggle. So instead I'll say that Bobbin has learned ('learnD') to use the potty every time she needs to go. No more diapers except at night time and even that is "just in case" these days as she almost always wakes up dry.

This is a good thing, right?

Yes, it is. No argument from me here. No more diaper pails. No more diapers. No more space consumed by changing tables, changing pads, diapering accessories and supplies. No more accidents to mop up. No more soiled underpants coming home from daycare in plastic bags with the "evidence" still attached to them. Which brings up another question: Why do they send the poop home with the kid? Do they think we parents won't believe them if they simply write a note that says "Bobbin had a #2 accident today in the playground"? It's not like the poop is the diarrahea variety. It's solid chunks. Shake the pants over the toilet before popping them in the baggy and voila - poop fragments all gone. I promise I'll believe it happened if you tell me it did. But I digress.

Yes, the fact that Bobbin now puts all her #1 and #2 in the potty all the time is a very very good thing. She is proud. We are proud. Life is easier. Life is cheaper. Life is good.

But there is a grey toilet ring around all this goodness. It's not dark grey. Just a mild discoloration. And it is the fact that as a result of her mind being so attuned to her bodily functions, she is waking up at 2am and 5am, like clockwork, every night, because she has to pee. Despite the fact that she still wears the nighttime pullups "just in case", her body has gotten to the point where it recognizes the signs and wakes her up before it happens and she must use the toilet. And after her body wakes her up, she wakes me up.

"Mommmmmyyyyyyyy.... I have to pee mommmyyyyyyyy I feel my pee pee coming MOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY! I have to pee mommyyyyy I have to pee my pee pee is COMING"

And so I get up and stagger into her bedroom and mumble praises that she woke up in time to use the potty and ddn't have an accident and how proud I am of her. I think I mumble these praises out loud. I hear them in my head. And I hold her hand and blearily escort her to the bathroom and help her onto the potty and sit on the floor in front of her and wait for her to finish.

I have to remain semi-conscious during and after her pee in order to be able to help her back to her bed and tuck her in. She on the other hand confidently collapses into my arms in a sound slumber immediately after she has completed her business. There she will be, slumped forward into my arms, eyes closed, mouth open, snoring, still sitting on her potty with her pullups around her ankles. I have to get her all put back together and tucked back into her bed and empty the potty in the toilet and wash my hands before I can go back to my bed. And invariably, as I said, within 3 hours I'm doing it all over again.

Yes - using the potty is a good good thing. Pleased as punch we've arrived at this stage of life! But I'll be even happier when her bladder is large enough that she can make it til morning without having to pee, OR she starts getting out of bed and going on her own without waking me up :-)

Yes, I want my cake and I want to eat it too. But not at 2am. Or 5. At the more civilized hour of 7, if possible. But I'll take 6:30 if I have to.

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Insomniac minds want to know: What's up with the geico gecko's accent?

Yes, I've hit a new low in my current bout with insomnia. This is the question that has been plaguing me tonight. Ok... plaguing is probably too strong a word. "creating intermittent curiousity" is probably a more accurate description.

My main questions are:

1) Didn't the Gecko used to have a different accent?

2) If so, why the switch?

3) Is it actually cockney or australian?

Naturally, I turned to the internet. And of course, quickly found the answer to all 3.

1) Yes - the Gecko did have a different accent in previous years. In fact, according to Wikipedia, he used to be voiced by Kelsey Grammer.

2) According to the Gecko himself, as well as his creators, it makes him more interesting, or at least memorable. In my opinion, it also makes him more irritating.

3) Well, although the Gecko acknowledges that it could be either, he seems to sway in favour of it being more of an East End London or Cockney accent than Australian, but does not go so far as to confirm it. Wikipedia reports that the agency that created him acknowledges it is Cockney and the current voice is done by a British Actor. So I think that I'll stick with Cockney.

The main little nugget of interesting information I found that I did not know (and there really aren't a whole lot of interesting nuggets of information about the Gecko because, well, he's annoying and not real) is that his first appearance in 1999 was during the Screen Actors Guild strike that prevented the use of live actors.

I did also learn that the Day Gecko (which is the actual species of Gecko that the Geico Gecko is modelled from) is native to the islands of the south-east part of the Indian Ocean - primarily around Madagascar with some related species found on neighbouring island groups and the coast of East Africa. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, they can also often be found on the Hawaiian Islands.

A gecko with a Hawaiian accent selling car insurance... now that'd be interesting. And more scientifically accurate. If a gecko could talk, of course.

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Insomniac minds want to know: What do I do with all those other dresses?

I spent 45 minutes with Bobbin this Sunday, in her room, in front of her closet, trying on every single dress she owned one by one, so she could see how well it "spinned".

This is, apparently, a very important characteristic in a dress. A dress with too little spin is destined for the back of the closet, to be shunned at every occasion, regardless of any other decoration or attributes it may sport. The mere sight of it may even induce a dreaded toddler temper tantrum. The amount of sparkle, colour, pattern, type of fabric, and number of adornments, while all important factors in determining the toddler-appeal a dress may have, doesn't even come close to the importance of the "spin factor".

While Bobbin owns several quite pretty dresses that at an earlier age (as in a couple of months ago) she found quite appealing, now that she has entered this more fashion-concious state of development she has but one dress hanging in her closet that she will actually wear. The rest have been set aside for lack of "spinningness".

Spinningness is essentially how close one can get one's dress to appear as a perfectly flat 2-dimensional circle centered at one's waist, while one is spinning around in a circle at full toddler speed with arms outstretched.

Spinningness is not to be confused with poofiness. Poofiness is an entirely different characteristic, and not at all an appropriate substitute for lack of spinningness so don't even try.

If you think of a circle whose radius is the length of the skirt as the desired goal, the closer one gets to achieving that goal with one's dress while spinning, the better the dress. I,e:

For a dress to have even moderate spin appeal, it's radius while spinning must be greater than it's height during spin. Using the above chart as a guide, a dress should have a Spin Quotient of at least 0.75. Anything less and the dress will be deemed unspinnable and thus not suitable for wearing. The closer to 1 you can get the better. Dresses that have been labelled as unspinnable may, however, be determined to be suitable attire for stuffed animals so don't completely discard it.

And of course, next week, it may come back in fashion and she'll be asking for it explicitly and no other dress will do. You just don't know, do you.

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Insomniac minds want to know: Whatever happened to the playground merry-go-round?

I have NO idea where this question came from... those dark, still-dizzy recesses (pun intended) of my mind, no doubt. But I realized at some point today that it'd been years and years since I'd seen a merry-go-round in any parks or playgrounds.

Almost every playground I played in as a child (and I played in many; all over Ontario and many more in Europe) had a merry-go-round. It was my all-time favourite thing to do at the playground. But I haven't seen a merry-go-round in a playground since (and I've been to just about every one within a 30 mile radius of our house, I'm pretty sure). I wonder why? It's not like they're any more dangerous than a swing or climbing structure.

Teeter-totters are becoming a rarity too but I know of a few playgrounds close by that have them so they're not extinct yet. Merry-go-rounds, however, I have yet to find.

I thought I caught a glimpse of one once, in the park near where our friends Rich and Jenn live, but I couldn't get close enough to find out because of all the druggies hanging out on the steps.

What's to become of this newest generation if they are deprived of the ability to spin for free, in a publically and socially sanctioned manner, until they make themselves vomit and their eyes roll back in their heads?

I did some internet searching thinking that perhaps I'd find some all-but-forgotten news headline about some senator or city council member's child suffering irreparable brain damage as a result of a merry-go-round related mishap, but I turned up nothing. It seems they've just simply gone out of style. (Yet they are still apparently sold wholesale online. Gotta love the internet.)

So sad.

Oh, hey, Dave - that reminds me: Where did you find your film-noir merry-go-round? Is it in a playground somewhere local? I may have to make a trip with Bobbin (in the daylight, of course, and in full living colour ;-) provided it isn't in the playground frequented by the heroine addicts near J&B's place. I never did find out whether or not what I saw was an actual merry-go-round.

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Insomniac minds want to know: why do sweet foods increase toothache pain

At my last dentist appointment a couple of months ago I was diagnosed with "Cracked Tooth Syndrome", was evaluated for root canal and was subsequently scheduled for a crown, which is scheduled for July.

The affected tooth originally was just sensitive to extreme cold and also to extreme pressure. Nothing else bothered it. But lately it's started to ache when I have really sweet food. When I'm done eating the sweet food, the pain goes away instantly. So it's not like I eat something sweet and I'm in pain for a while - which if that had been the case, I probably wouldn't have questioned, figuring that the sweet food had more sugar, that caused more decay. But it's only while I'm in the process of eating sweet food - and only sweet food (not salty, not spicey, not sour) - that it hurts. Which made me wonder. temperature and pressure sensitivity I get, but how can sweet food cause pain?

The trusty Wikipedia turned up empty, and Webmd.com only got me so far:

"To reduce pain and swelling of a toothache, use an ice pack on the outside of your cheek; do not use heat. Avoid very hot, cold, or sweet foods and drinks if they increase your pain."

My next stop on the internets was to a site I'd never heard of called medicinenet.com. They were a bit more informative, explaining

"Tooth sensitivity occurs when the underlying layer of your teeth - the dentin - becomes exposed as a result of receding gum tissue (the protective blanket that covers the tooth roots). The roots, which are not covered by hard enamel, contain thousands of tiny tubules leading to the tooth's never center (the pulp). These dentinal tubules (or channels) allow the stimuli - for example, the hot, cold, or sweet food - to reach the nerve in your tooth, which results in the pain you feel."

But I still didn't really have my question answered. What about sweet food causes the pain? I can feel temperature and pressure, but I can't feel sweet food. Why would sweet food make my tooth hurt more while I'm eating it? Why wouldn't it just be ALL food?

I hunted around on the site a bit more, and found this:

"Certain bacteria in the mouth convert simple sugars into acid. The acid softens and (along with saliva) dissolves the enamel and dentin, creating cavities. Small shallow cavities may not cause pain and may be unnoticed by the patient. The larger deeper cavities can collect food debris. The inner living pulp of the affected tooth can become irritated by bacterial toxins or by foods that are cold, hot, sour, or sweet-causing toothache. "

but it still didn't explain to me why foods that are sweet would cause my tooth to ache.

A visit to one of my other favourite reference sites, howthingswork.com, turned up basically the same information as the previous site.

Likewise, for the ADA web site. More of the what, and how, but not why.

I found this tidbit on my next stop on the internets, 21stcenturydental.com:

"Cracked tooth syndrome (CTS) is a very common problem that affects teeth that have large fillings in them, although the syndrome can also occur in teeth with no fillings at all. Typically, CTS may involve either of the following:

- a tooth with a large restoration where the crack runs under a weakened cusp (that raised part of your tooth)

- a tooth with minimal or no filling material where the tooth has been subjected to heavy biting forces or grinding - After grinding for years, you can wear down your canines (eye teeth), which function to protect your other teeth when grinding. As this occurs, your teeth will be at an increased risk for CTS.

- teeth that have suffered trauma

Why does your tooth hurt when biting? Assuming this is due to CTS, your tooth is flexing, which microscopically stimulates the nerve in the tooth. These hairline cracks open when biting down, and then close upon releasing your bite. This movement applies pressure on tubules that run down the nerve of the tooth causing fluid to push and pull on the tooth's nerve, resulting in pain. Additionally, the nerve in the cracked tooth is being exposed to bacterial toxins, which can allow infection to spread to the nerve and bone tissue underneath, resulting in an abscess.

What symptoms should you be aware of? Pain upon release of biting pressure is the most likely, although simply biting down (especially when biting on grainy foods) in “just the right spot” can be the first sign. Temperature changes that create this “zinger” can also be something to watch for, as well as sweet sensitivity."

Good info about my cracked tooth but alas, still no why, regarding the sweet sensitivity.

So I reconsidered the question. The question was really about what causes a nerve to be stimulated by sweet food; or what about sweet food stimulates nerve endings?

I decided to search on nerve stimuli and found myself back at the trusty wikipedia site.

The wikipedia article I had found was about "Free nerve endings". It sounds a bit like a slogan on a sign for an anti nerve ending enslavery march. But it's entirely different.

"A free nerve ending (FNE) is an unspecialized, afferent nerve ending, meaning it brings information from the body's periphery to the brain. Free nerve endings are unencapsulated and have no complex sensory structures, unlike those found in Meissner's or Pacinian corpuscles. They are the most common type of nerve ending, and are most frequently found in the skin. They penetrate the epidermis and end in the stratum granulosum. These nerve endings are responsible for detecting temperature, mechanical stimuli (such as pressure), pain (nociception), and information about touch. Some FNEs can also detect stretch stimuli."

Ok - so temperature, pressure, and stretch are all ones that I understood and have since the onset of this quest for knowledge. What about sweet foods is a stimuli for nerve endings...

About an hour and several wiki articles later, I found myself learning about the somatosensory system, which again talked all about pressure, temperature, and pain.

So while I now am much more knowledgeable about the human nervous system and the leading causes of tooth pain (as well as several home remedies, several of which sound quite dubious) I still have no answer to my original question.

After finally heading to bed and trying unsuccesfully to sleep (seems I've got another cold and the usual annoying sinus congestion that accompanies it), I got up and attempted one last search: "dental nerve stimuli". Among the results was an article about Dentin Hypersensitivity.

Having already become quite knowledgeable about dentin,the dentinal tubule, and the pulp, as a result of my previous research, this information seemed to be leading me a bit closer to a thorough explanation:

"Hypersensitive dentin is characterized by transient pain in response to evaporative, tactile, thermal, or chemo-osmotic stimulation of exposed dentin in teeth where no other defects or pathology exist.

Exposed root surfaces are prone to abrasion from aggressive toothbrushing, erosion from contact with acidic substances, and hypersensitivity from exposure of open tubules to the oral environment. The dentinal tubule is the portal through which stimuli gain access to the pulp. The odontoblasts and associated nerve fibers are able to detect dentinal fluid movement. Apparently very little is required to disturb and, in some cases, actually move odontoblasts and their associated pulpal nerve fiber endings into the proximal ends of the dentinal tubules.

The hydrodynamic theory, which was proposed in the 1950s, focuses on the movement of fluids within the dentin and pulp, which stimulate the nerves causing pain. This increased flow, in turn, causes a pressure change across the dentin. The pressure excites the nerves in the tooth, which transmits signals to the pulp where the sensitization is registered by the same depolarization neural discharge mechanism that characterizes all nerve activity. External stimuli result in hydrodynamic changes affecting the pulpal balance and can elicit pain."

The movement of fluids within the dentin and pulp is, according to this theory, what stimulates the nerves causing pain. So what about sweet foods stimulates the movement of fluids within the dentin and pulp and why is fluid movement not stimulated by other tastes (or maybe it is, but it is not sufficient enough to cause the pain?).

The lightbulb went on when I read the first sentence: "Hypersensitive dentin is characterized by transient pain in response to evaporative, tactile, thermal, or chemo-osmotic stimulation of exposed dentin".

The "sweet" stimulus would be such a chemo-osmotic stimulation. Reflecting back on high school chemistry, I know that osmosis is the tendency of a fluid to pass through a semipermeable membrane into a solution where the solvent concentration is higher, thus equalizing the concentrations of materials on either side of the membrane. So perhaps the fluid movement that stimulates the nerves and causes pain is in response to the high concentration of sugar in the food that I was in the process of consuming that had leaked through the crack of my tooth and through the dentinal tubule to the pulp. As to why no salty foods? Maybe the amount of salt I eat isn't enough to initiate this fluid movement. I don't eat high concentrates of salt. Similarly for bitter or sour foods. And it isn't all sweet foods that causes this pain. it's only the sickeningly sweet foods (like really sweet icing) that cause it. If I tried eating something that had a high concentration of salt in it maybe I'd feel the same pain. Having an aversion to pain, it's not really an experiment I'm likely to conduct. But it seems like a reasonable conclusion.

Still, I'm hoping once again that the sis can step in here, and either validate my conclusion or shed some new light.:-)

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Insomniac minds want to know: The nutritional value of watermelon

Insomniac minds want to know: The nutritional value of watermelon

The question came to me last night, but I forced myself to stay in bed... not that it worked. I still didn't sleep very well.

Bobbin loves watermelon. She'd eat them by the truckfull if we let her. When it's not in season I've found I can still get it at the Whole Foods grocery store down the street. So I always stop there on the weekends to get some as a special treat for her. She'll easily consume 3 or 4 cups of cut up up watermelon.

I've always thought of watermelon as being rich in... water... but not much else, except maybe for whatever vitamin or mineral gives it the pink colour. And so as I watch my daughter gorging herself on the stuff, I've often wondered as to the nutritional value of watermelon besides its hydrative properties, and whether her filling up on it is at the detriment of getting more vitamins and other goodness in her.

As it turns out, I need not worry. According to Wikipedia, they are ripe (pun intended) with lots of goodness. While it is true that

"Watermelon is 92 percent water by weight, the highest percentage of any fruit",

it is also true that

"A one-cup serving of watermelon will provide around 48 calories. Watermelon is an excellent source of vitamin C and vitamin A, with one serving containing 14.59 mg of vitamin C and 556.32 IU of vitamin A. Watermelon also provides significant amounts of vitamin B6 and vitamin B1, as well as the minerals potassium and magnesium. Pink watermelon is also a source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene."

I double-checked these facts at a couple of additional sites, to be sure. When it comes to the nutritional value of foods, I don't like to mess around :-). According www.dietaryfiberfood.com

"Watermelon is rich in carotenoids. Some of the carotenoids in watermelon include lycopene, phytofluene, phytoene, beta-carotene, lutein, and neurosporene. Lycopene makes up the majority of the carotenoids in watermelon. The carotenoid content varies depending on the variety of the watermelon. Depending on the variety, carotenoid content in red fleshed watermelon varies from 37 � 121 mg/kg fresh weight, where as lycopene varies from 35 � 112 mg/kg fresh weight.

Carotenoids have antioxidant activity, free-radical scavenging property. Several researches have reported an association between dietary lycopene consumption and lower incidence in diseases such as prostate and oral cancers. Lycopene may also help reduce risks of cardiovascular disease."

The site also provided the following handy-dandy nutritional value table (source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19 (2006))

Nutrients��	Units�	�Nutrient content per 100 grams��
Water�	g	91.45
Energy��	kcal	30
Energy��	kj	127
Protein	g	0.61
Total lipid (fat)�	g	0.15
Ash�	g	0.25
Carbohydrate, by difference�	g	7.55
Fiber, total dietary�	g	0.4
Sugars, total�	g	6.2
Sucrose�	g	1.21
Glucose (dextrose)�	g	1.58
Fructose�	g	3.36
Lactose�	g	0
Maltose�	g	0.06
Galactose�	g	0
Starch�	g	0
Minerals��
Calcium, Ca�	mg	7
Iron, Fe�	mg	0.24
Magnesium, mg	mg	10
Phosphorus, P�	mg	11
Potassium, K�	mg	112
Sodium, Na�	mg	1
Zinc, Zn�	mg	0.1
Copper, Cu�	mg	0.042
Manganese, Mn�	mg	0.038
Fluoride, F��	mcg	1.5
Selenium, Se��	mcg	0.4
Vitamins��
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid�	mg	8.1
Thiamin�	mg	0.033
Riboflavin�	mg	0.021
Niacin�	mg	0.178
Pantothenic acid�	mg	0.221
Vitamin B-6�	mg	0.045
Folate, total��	mcg	3
Folic acid��	mcg	0
Folate, food��	mcg	3
Folate, DFE��	mcg	_DFE 3�
Choline, total�	mg	4.1
Betaine�	mg	0.3
Vitamin B-12��	mcg	0
Vitamin B-12, added��	mcg	0
Vitamin A, IU�	�IU�	569
Vitamin A, RAE��	mcg	_RAE 28�
Retinol��	mcg	0
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)�	mg	0.05
Vitamin E, added�	mg	0
Tocopherol, beta�	mg	0
Tocopherol, gamma�	mg	0
Tocopherol, delta�	mg	0
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)��	mcg	0.1
Lipids��
Fatty acids, total saturated�	g	0.016
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	g	0.037
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated�	g	0.05
Cholesterol�	mg	0
Phytosterols�	mg	2
Amino acids��
Tryptophan�	g	0.007
Threonine�	g	0.027
Isoleucine�	g	0.019
Leucine�	g	0.018
Lysine�	g	0.062
Methionine�	g	0.006
Cystine�	g	0.002
Phenylalanine�	g	0.015
Tyrosine�	g	0.012
Valine�	g	0.016
Arginine	g	0.059
Histidine�	g	0.006
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Aspartic acid�	g	0.039
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Serine�	g	0.016
Other��
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Caffeine�	mg	0
Theobromine�	mg	0
Carotene, beta��	mcg	303
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Cryptoxanthin, beta��	mcg	78
Lycopene��	mcg	4532
Lutein + zeaxanthin��	mcg	8

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Insomniac minds want to know about Ringo & Thomas

Bobbin is a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan. She has a whole little wooden set constructed on our living room coffee table. Truth be told it was Tim and I who put the tracks and roads together, but nary a day goes by when you don't hear Bobbin "Toot toot"ing and banging and shouting exclamations of "Uh oh! Bidge out! Wheh'd it go?!" as you hear the clatter of a wooden tunnel hitting the floor and the sound of a tiny train chugging around the corner and then flying off the table in the absence of track.

Her cousin is a big fan too.

So when we had some of the family over for dinner this past weekend, the subject of Thomas invariably came up. Thomas wasn't really big when the rest of us were growing up. at least not in the US. But I remembered watching Thomas when I was 13 or so on TV. I think my sister used to watch it with me. Only I didn't remember any of the trains having voices. And I remembered Ringo Starr narrating.

Or did I? No one else recalled any connection between Thomas and Ringo. Was senility setting in early? I had to know. So of course, I turn to Wikipedia, and found all of the answers to my Thomas the Tank Engine questions, and many more interesting tidbits.

The series was first broadcast in the UK in 1984. I believe it was first broadcast in Canada at the same time. I can't imagine being older than 13 or so and still voluntarily sitting through an episode. And as it turns out, my memory hadn't failed me. The first two seasons were narrated by the Ringo Starr, and none of the characters themselves actually had any voices. The TV series was based on a series of books called "The Railway Series" that were created by Reverend Wilbert V. Awdry, who first invented the characters and stories in 1942, to amuse his son Christopher while he was ill with measles. It was his son that bestowed the name of Thomas upon the stories' starring engine.

Other narrators of the series after the first two seasons apparently included the likes of George Carlin and Alec Baldwin. But Ringo's voice is the one permanently associated with Thomas in my Canadian brain.

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Tonight's question: Adenoids: Where are they, and what are they good for?

I pondered this question as I listened to Bobbin snoring, and recalled the conversation with the doctor yesterday at the possibility that Bobbin may need her adenoids removed if she continues to be a virus-magnet even as cold & flu season starts to wane.

The related question I had, not having ANY kind of sense of anatomy beyond the major organs, bones, and muscle groups (the latter two I can only point to with any accuracy and not actually name with their official medical nomenclature) is whether adenoids were anything like tonsils, given their propensity to be recommended for removal upon repeated diagnoses of upper respiratory illnesses.

And so, after being forced out of bed to comfort my fussing Bobbin (who, it turns out, also has a bad case of gas which is what I think is probably the main cause of tonight's restlessness and discomfort, as opposed to the snoring, which is probably something she's become somewhat used to by now) I came out to the kitchen to find the answers.

And so also, shall I share with you, the answers that I found.

According to the ever-so-trustworthy wikipedia:

"Adenoids (or pharyngeal tonsils, or nasopharyngeal tonsils) are a mass of lymphoid tissue situated at the very back of the nose, in the roof of the nasopharynx, where the nose blends into the mouth.

Normally, in children, they make a soft mound in the roof and posterior wall of the nasopharynx, just above and behind the uvula."

In terms of what are they good for? As part of the immune system, adenoids trap infectious agents - bacteria, viruses - and produce antibodies.

The main reason one would want to remove them is if they were chronically infected and the infections did not clear up with repeated use of antibiotics.

Some articles suggest another reason for removal is if they become so enlarged that they started obstructing airflow enough so that breathing through the nose requires an uncomfortable amount of work, and inhalation occurs through the mouth instead.

Enlargement is usually caused by infection. And infection can happen when the bacteria and viruses that they are supposed to trap get lodged within it and survive.

However adenoids also enlarge with age, usually reaching their greatest size by 5 years of age and then atrophying to microscopic size by around 7 years of age. So the conclusion seems to be that snoring/breathing problems alone, unless they also interfere with one's ability to take in sufficient amounts of oxygen or unless they had a cancer or abscess or something of that nature, would not be a reason to remove enlarged adenoids in children since they are likely going to decrease in size as the child gets older.

As for whether or not there is any relation to tonsils - as apparently anyone with even remotely more anatomical sense than I have (which is probably almost everyone who attended a high school biology class, now that I've read up on this subject... and here I was thinking I was so smart for making the connection) will tell you - yes, yes in fact there is. Tonsils are also lymphoid tissue and as such also act as part of the immune system to help protect against infection. Palatine tonsils (which is what is usually being referred to when people use the generic term "tonsils", as opposed to pharyngeal tonsils, a.k.a adenoids, or lingual tonsils) are located (and yes, even I knew this) in the back of the throat.

The new question that arose as a result of this research was "If adenoids produce antibodies and serve to fight infection, what happens to one's ability to fight infection if they are removed?" The answer is that, like any good security system, our immune system contains multiple layers of defenses to protect us from infection. And the lymphatic system, which is the layer in which the adenoids and tonsils are located, is made up of multiple lymph nodes. And while I couldn't find a definitive answer to that specific question, I assume that the main reason adenoid and/or tonsil removal has little if any effect on one's ability to fight infection is because there's still lots of other stuff in the body that can continue to do the job sufficiently without these two parts. I am quite sure The Sis can provide a much more specific answer though, which I'd love to hear!

As for whether or not we'll remove them; I hope not. And it's not something we would know right now, with us still being in the midst of cold and flu season. But if she continues to contract every cold or flu that comes within a 10 mile radius of her by mid-summer it is probably something we're going to have to consider. We'll see. We're still within that "the first 2 years are the sickest one, and then it starts getting better" window and I really would prefer to avoid having to put her through this if we don't really need to.

And now armed with my new-found knowledge, I feel much more at ease and better capable of making the decision if/when it comes to that. I also have another chapter for my ever-growing mental encyclopedia of medical conditions.

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Tonight's insomnia question: Does Bobbin have croup?

I like to think I would be sleeping relatively soundly were it not for Bobbin's barking cough and hourly demands for "baba".

Poor munchkin's been coughing this deep barking cough ever since she went to bed at 8pm. When she's not coughing she's snoring, and her nose whistle has returned. She's been waking hourly asking repeatedly for her "baba" (bottle) and so far she's downed two full 8 ounce bottles in the last two hours.

Bobbin's had croup before - just under a year ago, which is the first time I ever heard the trademark barking cough that is the main symptom. I rechecked the symptoms on webmd, and am pretty sure she has it again now, which means that the few days ago when she started doing the whole nose whistling thing and I was worried it was because of the honey-nut cheerios, it was actually, as my sister suggested, likely just a minor upper respiratory infection.

According to webmd, "Croup symptoms often develop a few days after the start of what appears to be an upper respiratory infection (URI), such as a cold. Unless the illness is severe, a child with croup is usually alert and active and doesn't appear very sick". That's certainly true with Bobbin. Symptoms include:

- Normal temperature or a slight fever. (Check. She's slightly warm, but not running a fever)

- A loud, barking cough. (Check)

- A raspy, hoarse voice. (not yet, but I'm betting by morning)

- Varying degrees of high-pitched crowing sounds when breathing in. (Check)

- Some trouble breathing as a result of swelling in the windpipe.

About the only thing you can really do for mild Croup is use a cool-air humidifier to add moisture to the air to help with the breathing... we bought one last time she had it. I guess I better haul it out.

Man I'll be glad when the warm weather and sun are here to stay.

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Zed for Zee

Last night's semi-insomniac musing was "When did Zed become Zee?" and the follow-on question of "Was it because Zed doesn't rhyme with "V"?"

However I must be making some progress because instead of feeling compelled to get out of bed and research the answer right then, I was content to lie in bed pondering the question until I drifted off. Which near as I can tell was sometime around 11:30. A good sign.

However this morning the question lingered, so I browsed to my favourite trusted source of trivial information, wikipedia.org, and right off the bat, found the answer in a detailed article covering the history of The Alphabet Song.

In short, I was right. According to wiki, "In the United States, Z is pronounced zee; in most other English-speaking countries it is pronounced zed, which spoils the final rhyme. (This is also the case when it is sung in French, where "y and z" becomes "i-grec, zed".) Generally the absent zee-rhyme is not missed, although some children use a zee pronunciation in the rhyme which they would not use elsewhere. Variants of the song exist to accommodate the zed pronunciation."

The whole article, although listed under the category "Wikipedia articles needing factual verification", is actually quite interesting. I wasn't expecting quite that much information when I initially came up with the question :-)

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Insomniac quest for knowledge

I've stopped taking my ambien. My perscription ran out, and after taking them for 3 months straight I decided before I go and ask for more I should see whether or not I can get to sleep without it.

I'm not entirely sure if the insomnia I've experienced almost every night in the 5 days since is the same as or worse than before I had been taking it, nor am I sure whether or not the cause is the same or just simply a matter of having developed a dependancy (whic is a risk with most sleep aids, I've been told) on them.

Nonetheless, I lie awake at night in bed, as random questions fire through my tired-yet-unable-to-sleep brain. So I thought I'd start keeping a log of them all and also of what answers I find.

Tonight's random question is:

What are the symptoms associated with nut allergies?

The question came to me as I lay in bed listening to Bobbin snoring on the baby monitor. She's developed a nose whistle the last few days, and has been snoring at night but with no signs of a cold or congestion evident during the day. I'm wondering if perhaps it's related to the fact that she's also taken to sneaking my honey-nut cheerios out of my bowl at breakfast which are, as the name suggests, laced with nuts. Almonds to be precise, from looking at the ingredients list. The first time I caught her doing it I was too late to stop her as she had already put a handful in her mouth and had chewed and was in the process of swallowing. I watched her like a hawk the entire day and listened half awake (I believe, in fact, that was my first ambien-less night too) the entire night. She was fine. So the next morning when she wanted some from my bowl I let her eat them. And the next, and so on.

According to WebMD.com,

"Food allergies can cause many different symptoms. They can range from mild to serious. If you eat a food you are allergic to:
1) Your mouth may tingle, and your lips may swell.
2) You may have cramps, an upset stomach, or diarrhea.
3) You may have itchy skin with red, raised bumps called hives.
4) You may have a stuffy nose, wheeze, or be short of breath.
5) You may feel dizzy or lightheaded."

WebMD also says "Allergic reactions do not always occur the first time a person is exposed to an allergen. A person may become more sensitive to the allergen with each exposure."

She hasn't been acting like her mouth has been uncomfortable, she has no swelling, no itching, no hives, no cramps, no pain, no diarrhea. Her appetite has been fine, she is not short of breath, nor does she appear to be dizzy or lightheaded. She seems to be congested at night, and does have a nose whistle, but that's it. All the same, I've decided I'll stick to toast for breakfast in the morning until I can find a cereal I like that doesn't contain nuts(she will not eat plain cheerios from her own bowl and I can't stand the taste of the plain ones) and will mention it to her doctor when I take her in for her ear followup this week.

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