Fits of the heinous proportion

For whatever reason (I sometimes wonder if it's because of the neurofibromitosis, but try not to dwell too much on an excuse for this behavior), Bailey gets very testy after watching animated cartoons. The same does not hold true for movies with real people. I don't know if it's too much visual stimulation or what the trigger is, but she can be downright terrible.

Regardless, I sometimes allow it. We'll call it the worn-out-mom syndrome. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it does give me a break from the daily "can I watch a cartoon?" question ... It's not always worth the price though, as her attitude makes me regret it later. 

Yesterday was one of the days I gave in. Michael was napping, and there was some vaccine research and school readiness research that I wanted to get in. Depressing on all counts. As an aside, it doesn't seem possible to split up the MMR vaccine anymore. Two of the 3 places I talked to about it said it's not even an option and can no longer be ordered that way. So that puts my next task at figuring out how long he has to wait between doses so that he can start school on time. Shouldn't be too much of a task, but vaccine research leaves me feeling like no one really knows with absolute 100% certainty what's best because each child is different. I have doctor friends who assure me there is no risk to it at all, but I have my own evidence that he does not do well with multiple vaccines at a time as well as a very touching and scary first-hand experience from someone I met a couple years ago who says their child received the MMR vaccine and was a completely different child 3 days later and is now autistic. Coincidence, maybe, but scary enough I don't want to risk it. It's all very frustrating.

I digress. Last night, Bailey was in one of her moods from watching cartoons in the afternoon. It was bedtime and we were upstairs brushing teeth. She asked if she could practice somersaults when we finished with our teeth. When I replied with the negative, she started working herself into a royal fit.

Royal. Stomping-feet, arms crossed, ready to sit down to stomp harder ROYAL. As she started to sit, I said, "NoBaileyNoBailey, NO!"

Too late.

She sat right in the middle of the dog's water bowl, soaking herself and the floor around the bowl. I couldn't help the burst of laughter that ensued. I was about in tears from laughing so hard. Bailey, probably feeling foolish and angry that I was laughing, screamed even louder. Within a couple minutes, her screams turned to laughter as well and she ended up with the hiccups after Cinny came in and drank the water she had fallen into ... her "bum water" as she called it ... while I worked on cleaning Bailey up.

Another aside: yes, Cinny is in the house for now. Tony made me feel guilty about putting her back out in the cold garage after bringing her back from warm Florida. It didn't take much work on his part. She's old (12 this year) and her hips hurt her and her eyes look foggy like she can't see well anymore. Looking at the weather, though, it looks like she'll be back out in a couple days!