Smoking Babies

I've had a pack of herbal cigarettes on my desk for the past two months. I smoked a few and gave a few away, but had at least ten left in the pack the last time I checked.

I opened the box on Friday to discover one lonely cigarette remaining. Which means, someone lifted my smokes...so it is either the housecleaner, Herminia, Gioconda, or one of the boys...everyone has denied liability...except for Herminia with whom I struggle with communication, and who in all reality is not a viable suspect.

So, it is basically Gioconda or one of three boys...right? Not so fast.

Ardi Rizal is an Indonesian child who smokes 2 packs on cigarettes a day.

His mother told the media, “He’s totally addicted. If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.”

His father said,“He cries and throws tantrums when we don’t let him smoke. He’s addicted.”

When his parents are questioned about it , they say he’s been smoking since he was 18 months old . Shockingly , his first cigarette was given to him by his own father.

On a primary level this information significantly relieved my guilt in my giving Camille with a sip of Dr. Pepper a few weeks back.

Don't get me wrong I am certainly opposed to smoking toddlers...or smoking children for that matter, but the image of this little kid smoking a cig is just kind of funny..in a really wrong way.

I can't get the girls to blow their nose, how did this father possibly get this kid to inhale?

Gioconda keeps threatening to take away the pacifiers. It has become like contraband in the house to the extent I was by myself at Target today and I contemplated buying a couple of extras to break out if I became desperate, but was afraid of getting caught.

Presently I'm allowed only a very loose grip on the few remaining pacifiers, there is no question bringing anything new into the house would cause certain reprimand.

Since my insecurities in regard to my ability to parent are exploited in those occasions I do something which is not fully endorsed by the co-parent, I didn't think I could take that type of body blow today, so I skipped the new pack of pacifiers.

Granted Gioconda does know better, still there is this huge part of me that just wants to make my life that much easier, even if it is only for this minute.

Camille and I enjoy the pacifiers the most, her for reasons I can't quite pinpoint, me because its a magic bullet , you plug it in, and the screaming stops.

But this story about the Indonesian kid got me thinking...missing cigarettes..desperate babies...fill in the blanks.

Thinking back on it I thought it odd Sadie had a Bic lighter in the dash of the Disney Princess car, but now with the missing smokes, it certainly gives one pause.