Attention

I'm sure many people who are a lot smarter than I am will have or already have had much to say about the NYTimes piece today on ADHD and academic success. So I'll be brief: This is news? I mean, yeah, it's sorta news that kids with behavioral issues will do well on their fifth-grade math tests whether or not their issues are treated. But, really, isn't that a waywayway side issue? I mean, I'm not pursuing help for N because he failed his first-grade science test. I'm pursuing help for him because I want him to be better able to navigate this way through the world--the worlds of social interaction, of working and playing well with others, of speaking his mind, of organizing his thoughts, of reaching his potential...It goes on and on. He's not a behavior problem, and he doesn't have ADHD (so far as I can tell), but it just feels like these studies miss the point of why we, as parents, push so hard to get help for our kids. We're thinking big picture, long-term success. Not "I want Johnny to get an 85 on his fractions test next week." Nobody gives their kid medication so that he can get an 85 on his fractions test. Or, at least, I hope not.

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As an aside, I once interviewed that story's author for a job at the university where I used to work. I knew him in that way that you tend to know most of the main players in a small specialty field--in this case, science writing--and I remember telling him I thought he could do better than the job he was applying for. So I really shouldn't be ragingly jealous that he's writing lead health pieces for the Times, while I...am not? I should be pleased for him, right? I'll work on that, I guess.

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My legs, they are restless again. When they woke me up at the stroke o' three last night, I started wondering about where, exactly, they wanted to go. I was pretty much ready take them wherever they wanted at that point, if it would make them stop feeling 'that way.'

They refused to tell me a thing. Bastards.

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I've lost about six or seven pounds in the last month, for absolutely no specific reason I can figure. This used to be my body's MO, so I'm not especially worried about it. Maybe it's all the stress. (Probably it's at least in part because of that.) Or maybe it's because I've been skewing vegetarian in my food choices of late--which is a HUGE difference from BEING vegetarian, mind you. Skewing vegetarian means I'm making myself tofu and string beans for lunch today, or choosing the veggie burrito at Los Gringos Rapidos when I stop in there for something to eat during a long walk. But it doesn't rule out Susanna's chili or Baroy's ground-beef-and-sausage-laden spaghetti sauce. Or a McDonald's hamburger, even. So, I'm not really sure how that would knock six-plus pounds off in less than four weeks. But knocked they have been. And I'm OK with that.