Hi.

So, human brains don't really multi-task; we are not capable of actually focusing on more than one thing at a time. What most people call multi-tasking is just switching back and forth between multiple things. Sounds to me like your brain was confused because the situation was legitimately confusing with lots of different people/things to keep track of. I can only think of two ways of dealing with it: let it kind of wash over you while trying to at least fit in essentials like saying goodbye to your dd, or as a previous poster said taking command of the situation: "hey Jen, this is my friend Sally; Sally this is my cousin Jen; she's here to take Mary to .... so I'm just going to get her all squared away and then we can get back to what we were doing."

Lots going on in my own and dh's families as well. I've often thought we'd make a great genetics research project for someone; we both come from big families (my kids have more than 50 first cousins) so lots of relatives to compare.

When my kids have had school evaluations there has been a form I have signed to waive a waiting period between being informed that the school wanted to evaluate and starting the evaluations. As your school personnel seem to be a bit inexperienced I wonder if they got mixed up between a form like that and the thing about waiving the right to see results seven days early. There is so much paperwork involved in evaluations and IEP etc. stuff. Your school people do seem to be trying to work with you at this point, that is excellent and I hope something good comes of it even if it is just a clearer picture for you.

Which is why I have always opted for the IV antibiotics during labor (when I tested positive) in spite of my concerns. Babies do die from GBS.

I'm so happy for you and hope it all works out well!

I have wondered what the effect might be of so many mothers (including me!) being treated for Group B Strep during labor to prevent it infecting the baby. Seems it would also potentially prevent the transmission of a lot of the good maternal bacteria the baby is supposed to pick up in its journey through the birth canal. I'm not aware of anyone having studied this.

Apricots always bloom first out of all the fruit trees in my yard. Good harbingers of Spring 🙂

Hugs and prayers, of course you are exhausted and that makes it so very hard to think and to keep trying.

My impression is that Christmas--all of Christmas, the secular and religious aspects both--are fully integrated into the culture of the people and are experienced as such. Comfortable as celebrations of a culture that is one's own ought to be. People who originate from other cultures can be welcomed/folded into the celebrations because those are deep in the social fabric and not threatened by outsiders. Maybe part of the difficulty on this side of the Atlantic is that we are too young as a nation and too culturally pluralistic to have that kind of deep cultural roots. We're a bunch of recent garden transplants each trying to establish our own cultures and feeling profoundly threatened by the roots and branches of the various plants growing around us.

What are her state requirements like? With young kids it wouldn't hurt to not focus on academics for awhile, grandpa could read books to them and let them play. I'd consider that plus maybe math for the oldest adequate. Now, if more structure makes it easier for grandpa to take care of them that's fine as well.

I was intrigued as well and found this: https://adc.bmj.com/content/98/Suppl_1/A36.1 People sometimes think my children are speaking in a British accent but I think it is mostly because of articulation difficulties, especially with R sounds.

This makes sense. We just need to be careful about stating as fact cause and effect relations that aren't really provable. For instance, there is lots of research linking lead exposure (at any measurable level) to increased incidence of ADHD but that doesn't mean I can say my child's ADHD was caused by lead exposure and wouldn't have happened otherwise. There are certainly some cases where cause and effect are strongly supported statistically.

Apparently only mature ivy (with oval leaves) produces flowers: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lasi/resources/education/ivyvisitors

I didn't know about this, so thanks. After reading up I'm not too concerned--problems are rare and usually self limiting. A reminder to wash hands and avoid touching eyes after handling should be sufficient caution. I spent hours digging milkweed out of the family garden as a kid 🙂