The Couch - 109: CIX-Reintroduction

@@ when you say pictures do you mean drawings or photos? Pictures over here seems to have multiple meanings. Not that this unique to my part of the world.

It is pouring with rain here and a little old man is walking his dog, well carrying the dog and putting it down every now and then The bearded Collie down the road won't step over gutters when it it raining.

Public Service Announcement:

If you have a Dairy Queen nearby, it is free ice cream cone day!! Woohoo!! I feel dessert coming on.

Photos - they practically drool at the mention of them.

Thats what i like about my T we have been working with childhood photos for a while. There is such an air of reverence when we deal with them though there is a slight sense of contained excitement at first.
He can barely contain his excitement at my drawings though. Not that i have shared many with him but still that air of reverence when dealing with them

(((@@))))

The rain has stopped. I need to do washing. This means puttig on siggy shoes Wish I wasn't so poor. Will wait til after lunch see what the rain is doing.
I want free ice cream day.

No kidding about drawings. My t acted the same way with a couple of different drawings I made. She even asked to keep that last one.

My t reminds me of a hunting dog when it smells its prey. That expectant excitement but making too much noise spooks the prey (me)

A comment i made earlier made me think and it is cheaper in my country to get internet than shoes, clothing and food. This is madness.

How is that being figured? Monthly costs? Month of internet vs. one pair of shoes? Because then that's probably the case in the US too and maybe most developed countries.

i'm probably wrong.

I don't remember if I shared this or not but a couple sessions ago I told t I was taking a break and before we put it off until April, she gave me a copy of her disclosures or whatever because I pretty much don't remember what ANY of it said, that I read before that first appointment. I was so nervous, I didn't retain much of it. She has a lot of good stuff in there, the thing that sticks out the most to me reading it now, is that "the client is ultimately in charge." And y'know what? I am feeling very empowered by this statement, actually.

Why? I was agreeing with you. I don't eat much, so I pay more in Internet than groceries (though not if you count restaurants) and I definitely pay more for shoes and clothes than Internet. Because, well, CLOTHES and SHOES!

In fact sometimes I use the internet to buy the clothes and shoes.

sorry just in a really strange mood not even sure if it has a name. I feel I have offended the new neighbours but I don't know why.

The internet comes from the sky. Everything else comes on a freakin boat.

I thought food came from a magic cornucopia...?

What is this magical sky-internet? Is it from the same place fire came from?
Satellite internet is a really elite thing here.

My internet is the most important thing in my house. If it goes out cries of dismay echo from every room! It is expensive but it is our sole source of entertainment. (Don't ask me why I drive a 16 year old beater but carry a $750 phone around please!)

Clothing and shoes as consumables are much more expensive (in my opinion) because I've spent well over $750 covering my family from the elements, and none of that is on a 2 year contract with insurance! Shoes wear out quickly when you're 7. And for me, because I walk like an uncoordinated baby elephant, only less graceful!

Must sleep now couch, see you when the rooster crows!

I have this really strange pain in my back. My skin burns when I touch it but it feels like someone is stabbing my lung.

Where?...

Sort of just below my right shoulder blade.

I figure this is the most appropriate place to ask about this. OK, so this afternoon, I was outside with my 4-year-old (who is borderline on the autism spectrum, thought that's not particularly relevant to this story) in front of our townhouse, which is in a big development of townhouses. She tripped and fell on the grass (was fine), and was having a bit of a meltdown when this other girl who I'd never seen before came running up. She started talking to me, saying she was 5 but would be 6 later this year and that her parents let her walk around on her own. Said she had 2 sisters and 3 brothers. Told me her name (my daughter had calmed down a bit by then but didn't seem too interested in new girl).

Then just kept hanging around, talking to me, which was nice in a way because my daughter is behind in language and talks but doesn't really do the back-and-forth conversation thing (she recently tested at about 3 years 0 months in speech/language, even though she turns 5 next month). So part of me was enjoying talking to her and her responding to me.

But at one point, she was saying how she doesn't have any snacks in the house and was hungry, so I went in and got her a snack and a juice box. She was talking about things like how they had a dog, but it ran away, and how her mom and dad don't work, just her grandma does, etc. And I was just getting a bit of a weird vibe, like maybe something was off with her. Then at one point, shortly before my H came home, I was sitting on the steps (D was playing in yard), and the girl was standing next to me, playing with my hair, commenting on how soft it was and that she knew how to do braids. She just seemed to be leaning really close to me for someone she had just met. When H got home, she mentioned again being hungry, so I got her a granola bar, and she headed off after H and I were starting to head inside.

Of course, H said I shouldn't have given her food, which I know was probably bad because now she'll keep coming around wanting it. But I just got this weird sense, like, maybe it was just that she doesn't get much attention at home (like, they're letting their 5-year-old wander around), but maybe it was something more than that. And she was trying to reach out to me. Maybe it's just that she doesn't get enough to eat or that she doesn't get the emotional connection she needs , just because she was seeming rather clingy to someone she'd just met.

I'm someone who tends to be particularly empathic and sensitive to other people's emotional states--my T has commented on my ability to read people and sense things. So I wonder if it was something like that going on here, that this girl just needed someone. Or was I just being a sucker, and she was doing an act, and now she'll keep showing up asking for food? H was like, "Don't believe anything she says." But something jumps out at me. She was coughing right after she ate the one snack, and I asked if she was OK. And she was like "Why are you asking me that?" Like either she didn't realize it was because I thought she may have been choking or because no one ever asks her that.

I don't know, I'm going to bring it up to my T tomorrow, since she's an LCSW and might have some sense. But I just have this feeling something isn't quite right, though maybe I"m just being played. If it's the latter, I don't want to have to try to avoid this girl, since my D loves running outside. If it's the former, I don't know if I should try to contact someone, like her school, social services, etc., just to make sure she's OK. Thoughts?

OK, that was much longer than I'd intended. Short version: Met 5-year-old from neighborhood who seemed kinda clingy for a kid who just met me and who was looking for food. Is my sense that something's not right worth checking into, or am I just a sucker?

That woulld raise alarm bells with me too. But I have experienced the opposite where young child befriends my child and steals from us. But go with your gut. I meant the scenario with food etc was similar...