on the limits of childhood empathy
Jun. 24th, 2009 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fleaMy mother called in distress - her cat Henry has swallowed a plastic object. He's had a laxative, but the odds of that working are slim. If it doesn't work, she faces the choice of $3,000 surgery, or putting him to sleep. Thing is, she has exactly this happen maybe 20 months ago, and chose the $3,000 surgery then. The plastic object then was a little piece of some thick bag, like a ziplock, which presumably he chewed into.
I told the story to the family at dinner, with a little eliding of exactly how Henry might die, but I said he might die. And Casper said, "That would be GREAT! Henry always growls at me." Well, he does, but still. She's a hard-hearted little thing.
Dillo is very shy about his birthday party, which we have begun to mention. We delivered invitations today, by hand to our neighbors. I hope he is not overwhelmed by the actual party; his level of shyness just talking about it is pretty high.
He's gotten more into creative play by himself - arranging little houses and setups. Casper was doing this at 15 months, but Dillo has always been a very different player from Casper. He has a couple of small cars, from Cars, that were originally Casper's - "little Lightning" whom Casper painted with sparkly pink paint, and a Sally car.
Am having the stress and social anxiety of trying to arrange to see peole when we are technically another's guests (i.e. next week). Can I invite my friend and her kids to my mother's house for dinner? Guess I need to ask at a time when she is not in cat-induced distress.
I told the story to the family at dinner, with a little eliding of exactly how Henry might die, but I said he might die. And Casper said, "That would be GREAT! Henry always growls at me." Well, he does, but still. She's a hard-hearted little thing.
Dillo is very shy about his birthday party, which we have begun to mention. We delivered invitations today, by hand to our neighbors. I hope he is not overwhelmed by the actual party; his level of shyness just talking about it is pretty high.
He's gotten more into creative play by himself - arranging little houses and setups. Casper was doing this at 15 months, but Dillo has always been a very different player from Casper. He has a couple of small cars, from Cars, that were originally Casper's - "little Lightning" whom Casper painted with sparkly pink paint, and a Sally car.
Am having the stress and social anxiety of trying to arrange to see peole when we are technically another's guests (i.e. next week). Can I invite my friend and her kids to my mother's house for dinner? Guess I need to ask at a time when she is not in cat-induced distress.