An unfortunate series of events

Words of the day:

obtundent (ob·tun·dent) (ob-tun¢d[schwa]nt) [L. obtundens] 1. having the power to soothe pain. 2. causing obtundation. 3. a soothing or partially anesthetic medicine.

obtundation (ob·tun·da·tion) (ob²t[schwa]n-da¢sh[schwa]n) clouding of consciousness.

I haven't quite wrapped my head around how to use "obtundent" in a sentence, but I was able to determine my author was using it incorrectly. Go figure.

How about: All mothers are obtundent.

This morning I was editing a chapter on headaches in children, and it includes a table of Features Suggesting Serious Etiology for Headache, details of which I feel it is my civic duty to share with you. One of those features is "increasing head circumference in infant."

So, if you think your baby has a headache, and you see the baby's head expanding and you think it might explode, go to the emergency room.

I picked Helena up from daycare just after lunch today. We had a doctor's appointment for the post-ear infection clean bill of health. Received.

J-F left this morning for his annual fishing weekend with the guys in some remote location. Thank god he left behind his cigarettes — I meant to ask him to leave me some, but forgot — so I can fill my weekly smoking quota (one Friday night, one Saturday night, plus the occasional puff).

I was looking forward to it being just us girls. Me still feeling a trifle sickish, I thought I'd spend the weekend in bed cuddled up with baby and a cat or two, all of us singing along with The Aristocats, maybe reading The Grim Grotto aloud. But the weather was so nice today, and I've had to force myself to be out and about anyway, and Helena's way too healthy to submit to that kind of cocooning, that we spent the afternoon wandering about shops, then home through the park for some duck-watching and playground antics, and the cash in my pocket I'd earmarked for the new Lemony Snicket got spent on a handful of my favourite Polish brand "cup-a-soups" the deli happened to have in stock and a bottle of Dubonnet instead.

Mmmmm, Dubonnet. Cigarette. And the most appealing reading material in the house at the moment being the new IKEA catalogue.

I really should go to bed. (Damn this blogging addiction.) Who knows what tomorrow has in store?