Auxiliary parent

I agreed to be (briefly) an auxiliary parent yesterday. (I still mostly stick to my "I don't babysit" position established when my brother's family bought the house next door, though it's been relaxed a little over time and for special circumstances.) Brother and sister-in-law both wanted to go to curriculum night at Westminster, the private school where my older niece just started 6th grade. But my nephew had his first night of soccer practice for the season and the timing was such that they couldn't do both.

So, s-i-l, nephew, and I set off a little before 5, drove to the soccer field, s-i-l met the coach, and I established myself in my folding chair in the shade, book and water bottles for me and nephew at hand. Shortly thereafter my brother arrived and picked up s-i-l, and they headed off into the worst of rush-hour traffic to drive cross-town to Westminster. I watched the group of 6 kids (age range 4-6, nephew just turned 6) play various games intended to teach them soccer skills, then the scrimmage, and provided nephew with the water bottle (and urged him to drink) at each break. At the end of the hour I packed up and delivered nephew to his home and the babysitter who was already there with the two nieces.

Nephew instructed his mother to tell me how to get to the soccer field on the way there, and then as we left he asked me if I knew how to get home. Checking up on things, I guess. I recited the first couple of turns, and he was satisfied. But he was still watching: at the first turn he asked "How does the car know which way you're going to go?" So we discussed turn signals and letting others know what you are going to do, and expanded this to signaling lane changes when he noticed that, too.

I've never noticed him paying much attention to his parents' driving: don't know if this close observation of mine was due to uncertainty that I really did know the way home, or the lack of other distractions like his siblings or kid music on the radio or a CD...

Self-diagnosis via the Web

In these days (at least in my life) where you don't know the doctor or the personnel in the doctor's office well enough to call and ask about the "probably nothing, just want reassurance" stuff, the amount of good medical information on the Web from reliable sources is really wonderful.

Three days ago I noticed some twitching in the muscles around my left eye. Not constant, not strong, but definitely there. First reaction was to try to get more sleep--I thought it was likely just fatigue. When it kept up after a couple of nights of more-than-usual sleep, I did some googling.

Looks like it's myokymia: twitching or flickering of the eyelid muscles or other muscles around the eye. Causes: lack of sleep (aha!), stress, excess caffeine. I wouldn't have said my sleep pattern had changed recently, and the caffeine consumption has been fixed for years (4-cup pot made half-decaf, I drink it all), so it must be stress. Didn't really think that had changed much recently, either, but it's not impossible that my body has decided that the stress level has increased.

Anyway, the treatment is get more sleep, drink less caffeine, and reduce stress. If it keeps up for a month or more, you can go see your doctor, who'll probably tell you to get more sleep, drink less caffeine, and reduce your stress level. But at least I have a name for the condition now!