pegs-and-dinos

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there's been plenty of pushback against youtube's plan to age-check users by using an AI to analyze everyone's watching habits, but amidst that, i spotted this playlist circulating among some teens:

(picture is a reconstruction to protect the kids identity)

interesting! they're trying to trick the AI by watching videos that have a primarily adult viewer demographic? well im a curious fella so naturally i have to take a look-see, and

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Belgium Chase Tag Compilation

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bitches who are introverted and have adhd see a text and are like ‘i will deal with this when i have the social and emotional energy for it’ and then fucking forget about it for a week. anyway, i’m bitches

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Okay so I’m an elementary school art teacher right, and I have this really fun game I made a PowerPoint for to teach like, emotions and intent and looking at the whole picture to first grade.

The idea is, when we count down and change slides, kids have to mimic one thing in the painting as best they can, whether it’s animate or inanimate. If there’s nothing in the shot for them to mimic (because I threw some contemporary abstract stuff in), they have to show me how the painting makes them feel. Easy enough, gets them excited to move around and vocal about their feelings regarding art, it’s very chaotic. I can tell pretty fast who’s got the emotional maturity to mimic things in a complex way, and who’s just enough of an abstract thinker to mimic inanimate objects early on in the game...

So the first picture is this:

Napoleon Crossing the Alps. My favorite reactions are usually the kids who pretend to be the freaked-out horse, but 2 memorable occasions were the one where a student immediately scrunched up to be the rock in the foreground, and the one where a pair of girls, without any communication on their parts, decided to be Napoleon riding the horse with one as Napoleon and one as the horse. Basically one of them fully tackled the other apropos of nothing, it was hilarious

I’ll add more if y’all want or if I feel like it lol I have a bunch of stories from this one game

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Baby Pastiche had a court hearing yesterday. He has a new lawyer who is fantastic and actually pointed out a lot of issues with the drug test documentation the parents have submitted. So in order to move forward, the parents are being asked to submit better documentation first. But, assuming they manage to do that, P will start spending weekends at their house and then longer periods of time assuming things appear to go well.

I'm feeling conflicted about the outcome. I'm glad there's movement, because he's basically been sitting in limbo for 14 months and that isn't okay either - for him, for us, or for his parents. But both parents have long-standing addictions. Dad shows some signs of continuing to be actively using, but he's going to submit more drug test results before overnight visits happen.

Will the drug test results be conclusive proof of anything? Probably not. I'm also concerned that even if he and mom really are currently both sober, there isn't likely to be sufficient monitoring after any further reunification to make sure they don't relapse, are continuing to access supportive services, etc. On the other hand, I feel really good that P's lawyer today actually did a lot to turn over all the stones he could. The data has at least been given consideration in court now, and I'm not left feeling like all the other court hearings in the past where everything was a shit show and no one actually said or understood anything they were supposed to. So I'm more at peace than I have been after previous hearings. It's also admittedly very refreshing to be viewed as a relevant, informed partner in the process and not an extraneous random person who clearly can't understand anything non-maternal because I don't have a law degree.

I want his parents to succeed, for their own sakes. And it's clear regardless that they both love P and are emotionally committed to him. But I also worry about P's wellbeing if they don't maintain sobriety.

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“who is linkin park?” - one shot KO by my younger coworker

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Cats getting caught doing crimes

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Yesterday, for the 4th time in 7 school days, we were called by the twins' school to pick up M early because she was having a meltdown and they couldn't handle her and were concerned for her safety.

Today, we had a 1.5-hour emergency meeting at the school with the principal, all five 2nd-grade teachers, both of the school's guidance counselors, and the school therapist. The student advocate sent detailed notes but had a previously scheduled appointment to attend.

During the same time as the meeting, we learned later, N became overwhelmed by the noise during an African dance performance in the gym, and had a 1:1 with the Assistant Principal.

So just to recap, that was 10 school staff members (plus notes from an 11th) who were all focused on the problem of dealing with just my two kids.

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ugh I jinxed it, I'm sitting at the emergency vet with the puppy right now

been a while

Hi, tumblr. Been a hot minute since I posted an update.

My twins just turned 8 last month. They're... A lot. Very smart, very strong-willed, defiant, take no shit ever, impulsive, and easily overwhelmed. N lashes out if she thinks a child or adult is treating someone unfairly (sometimes she's right about the unfairness, other times she isn't, because she's 8); laudable impulse, but challenging to deal with when e.g. she starts yelling in a teacher's face that she needs to have more patience with a misbehaving student. (Her delivery needs work, too.) M meanwhile gets physically aggressive when she feels cornered or is frustrated at being unable to achieve her desired object. M also has chronic fatigue subsequent to a bout of Lyme disease almost 2 years ago, which both SUCKS in its own right and also makes the behavior stuff more challenging because emotional regulation and executive function drop even more when she's tired, natch.

School has absolutely no idea what to do with them and I can't entirely blame them. They run rings around their classmates academically but also have meltdowns that would raise eyebrows in kids half their age. They are alternatively each other's best friend and mortal enemy and it changes on a dime, sometimes multiple times per day, and parenting/teaching them is equally challenging in both modes. They're in separate classes at school except N will roam the halls when she feels like it or pop into her sister's classroom to chat when she feels so inspired. You'd think a 2nd grader would stay in her classroom when told, but N has figured out that it's very hard for anyone to actually _make_ her do anything she doesn't want to. So school mostly lets her do what she wants so long as she's not unsafe or disrupting other children (besides her sister), and so long as she's completing enough work to be making As in all her classes.

They're lucky they're cute little white girls but they're still running out of time to get their shit together.

Baby Pastiche is still with us, he's going to be turning 1 soon. His parents are still very invested and really want him back, but they also still don't have their shit together. And the court system is still incompetent. His 4 older siblings all have permanent homes elsewhere. I have no idea where his case is going to go but I don't imagine it will be closed any time soon. People have started to ask us if we would want to adopt him if it comes to that and my answer is always that that has never been our goal. Everything is on the table right now and I just have to hope that whatever the courts decide will match what is best for Pastiche, and that what is best for Pastiche is compatible with the rest of our household's needs.

For now he's just a very cute, extremely chill, healthy, happy little baby with no idea about any of this. The twins adore him and it's truly delightful to watch their bond with him. At least there's no shortage of people who love him in this world.

We got a new puppy in January and she's snuggly and soft and fantastically uncomplicated.

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Really been mulling this over a lot lately.

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been a while

Hi, tumblr. Been a hot minute since I posted an update.

My twins just turned 8 last month. They're... A lot. Very smart, very strong-willed, defiant, take no shit ever, impulsive, and easily overwhelmed. N lashes out if she thinks a child or adult is treating someone unfairly (sometimes she's right about the unfairness, other times she isn't, because she's 8); laudable impulse, but challenging to deal with when e.g. she starts yelling in a teacher's face that she needs to have more patience with a misbehaving student. (Her delivery needs work, too.) M meanwhile gets physically aggressive when she feels cornered or is frustrated at being unable to achieve her desired object. M also has chronic fatigue subsequent to a bout of Lyme disease almost 2 years ago, which both SUCKS in its own right and also makes the behavior stuff more challenging because emotional regulation and executive function drop even more when she's tired, natch.

School has absolutely no idea what to do with them and I can't entirely blame them. They run rings around their classmates academically but also have meltdowns that would raise eyebrows in kids half their age. They are alternatively each other's best friend and mortal enemy and it changes on a dime, sometimes multiple times per day, and parenting/teaching them is equally challenging in both modes. They're in separate classes at school except N will roam the halls when she feels like it or pop into her sister's classroom to chat when she feels so inspired. You'd think a 2nd grader would stay in her classroom when told, but N has figured out that it's very hard for anyone to actually _make_ her do anything she doesn't want to. So school mostly lets her do what she wants so long as she's not unsafe or disrupting other children (besides her sister), and so long as she's completing enough work to be making As in all her classes.

They're lucky they're cute little white girls but they're still running out of time to get their shit together.

Baby Pastiche is still with us, he's going to be turning 1 soon. His parents are still very invested and really want him back, but they also still don't have their shit together. And the court system is still incompetent. His 4 older siblings all have permanent homes elsewhere. I have no idea where his case is going to go but I don't imagine it will be closed any time soon. People have started to ask us if we would want to adopt him if it comes to that and my answer is always that that has never been our goal. Everything is on the table right now and I just have to hope that whatever the courts decide will match what is best for Pastiche, and that what is best for Pastiche is compatible with the rest of our household's needs.

For now he's just a very cute, extremely chill, healthy, happy little baby with no idea about any of this. The twins adore him and it's truly delightful to watch their bond with him. At least there's no shortage of people who love him in this world.

We got a new puppy in January and she's snuggly and soft and fantastically uncomplicated.

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every time you see a headline like this

I want you to remember these ones

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One thing people often forget about the Black Death is that the plague was still a major problem after the initial epidemic. There was a time before it and then there was a time after it. And it was always a concern. The last major urban outbreak was in Los Angeles in 1925. Only 100 years ago.

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So… I got a notification from the State Department at like 8 PM Pacific that my passport was approved, and I was quietly thankful and stunned bc my legal gender in Oregon is listed as X, or undeclared, and that's what's on my passport. I'm pretty sure someone(s) worked late to get the X passports done today.

I was already really grateful to whoever in the Seattle Passport Office worked late to get these things processed on the last Friday before That Man gets back into office... and then I got a notification that my passport shipped at fucking midnight Pacific and whoever got that shit out the door so it couldn't be picked up on Monday and like, denied and shredded?

They're my fucking hero.

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Dealing With Executive Dysfunction - A Masterpost

The “getting it done in an unconventional way” method.

The “it’s not cheating to do it the easy way” method.

The “fuck what you’re supposed to do” method.

The “get stuff done while you wait” method.

The “you don’t have to do everything at once” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be permanent to be helpful” method.

The “break the task into smaller steps” method.

The “treat yourself like a pet” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be all or nothing” method.

The “put on a persona” method.

The “act like you’re filming a tutorial” method.

The “you don’t have to do it perfectly” method.

The “wait for a trigger” method.

The “do it for your future self” method.

The “might as well” method.

The “when self discipline doesn’t cut it” method.

The “taking care of yourself to take care of your pet” method.

The “make it easy” method.

The “junebugging” method.

The “just show up” method.

The “accept when you need help” method.

The “make it into a game” method.

The “everything worth doing is worth doing poorly” method.

The “trick yourself” method.

The “break it into even smaller steps” method.

The “let go of should” method.

The “your body is an animal you have to take care of” method.

The “fork theory” method.

The “effectivity over aesthetics” method.