This makes some sense, but I would say that we tend to get mini-surges when the opposite direction is getting a big one with big pauses between little and big surges. It's not as clean cut as the article suggests. Our numbers are rising now after Easter/prom, etc., and they will do so again after fall holidays while waiting for the Big One from Thanksgiving through mid-January. We're right between north and south in SW Ohio.

What bothers me about this stuff is that people know they aren't going to have symptoms or show positive for days--why don't they just PLAN to use a mask in the meantime? But then again, WHY am I expecting people to be reasonable? It's been proven they won't be. We won't eat with people indoors unless they've been masking everywhere for ten days ahead of time and have also not eaten indoors with anyone not in their immediate household. We won't be able to do that next year, and I think that's going to be where we end up contracting it. DS will be going to school next year, and he has to eat. (DH has to eat at work, but he is pretty much always able to find a place to eat where no one has their mask off simultaneously.)

That's an unexpected windfall! I am glad your grandfather was okay with insurance, but I can't imagine watching my life's work drown like that. There is a good documentary about it's effects on Elmira, NY put out by a PBS affiliate. I don't know if I can find it or not. Oh, here it is: https://www.pbs.org/video/wskg-public-telecommunications-agnes-flood-72/ My experiences of hearing about the flood are hit and miss on facts but long on hearing the collective trauma of people when subsequent flooding (even when localized) is a threat or happens, even though flood control is so much better now. There is also just something different about being able to see high water marks indicated on buildings in almost every mid-sized or large town within a couple hours drive of home--it was so, so widespread. I had relatives that were okay during Agnes, but IIRC, they were stuck. In their retirement years, there was flooding at their home again due to winter melt on frozen ground, and they panicked due to Agnes trauma, and they they drowned in their car when the road washed out. It was quite shocking, though I didn't know them well (really big family). IIRC, their neighbors were pretty traumatized (and stuck in their homes). Disaster trauma is real. I went to college where there had been a big tornado in the 70's, and every time we had severe weather where people had to take shelter, one of my profs gave a history lesson on the tornado the next day--that's how she coped. She was not a history professor. On a major anniversary of that tornado, there was another one, and she lost trees in her yard. It was less devastating where it happened to hit, but she got interviewed by their local paper.

They are official insane and very busy, lol! Every year there are more and more and more cars. It's so different than even a decade ago.

https://twipa.blogspot.com/2022/05/hurricane-tropical-storm-destructive.html?fbclid=IwAR1hC57I2dFBQgGI4KlIreKeKx9eYAvi19sCyNNx1ftDeNPnBGas0bOYif0 This looks like it will be an interesting series for people who like to learn about archaeology and historical disasters. Some background for those not from the east: I grew up near dams constructed because of this storm and near a town that no longer exists as a result of that storm and a subsequent dam, but I thought others might be interested as well.

North of Cincy.

I have no suggestions about New England (listening in), but this sounds like a more realistic time estimate to me (I live in SW Ohio and have family in PA and NY).

Reposting in case this helps. It's updated weekly, but might be better than nothing. She posts to a Covid-cautious FB page I follow (Christians Against Covid Denialism). https://redemptivehistorytheology.com/florida-statistics-what-is-really-happening-archive/

I feel like it's hard to know if something is a cold or COVID, but if you're not being terribly careful or are being careful but still doing something really vulnerable (traveling), then I don't understand why people are surprised! Ugh. We are so, so careful. We don't unmask around anyone except the four of us who live together and sometimes when we're outside (if not crowded, etc.). We don't eat around other people. We don't sing around other people. Heck, my DH works in healthcare, and he's only had symptoms once (and it turned out to likely be norovirus--two negative Covid tests later, one PCR). If I get allergy symptoms, they probably are allergies. That said, I am really concerned about what to do when my son is in the hospital next month for surgery. If the weather is nice, we might be able to take food outside to eat, but he'll be eating in his room. I don't think you're supposed to sleep in a mask, so if that's the case, he'll be likely unmasked to sleep and so will the person staying overnight with him. Ugh. Do we just test every couple of days for kicks? I really don't want to pick up something there and give it to my other son at home or to my parents who are coming to support us. (They will mask everywhere and with everyone for ten days before they come.) I hate it when doing the right thing stinks, and everyone else claims to be doing the right thing but isn't actually being realistic. I want credit for it, lol!!!

I agree that this is the case with articulation, but I thought I'd mention that some therapies do show permanent gains because they aren't about practice but about changing something in the brain, such as integrating primitive reflexes. Even my older son's language therapy (not for articulation), he learned concepts that he just uses naturally now. His workarounds for what was missing were clumsy and difficult to maintain; what he learned is more natural by far. I usually agree with this. So, my son uses his good speech if he's with strangers because he's socially motivated for them to understand him. It's tiring to use it at home 24/7. Something like muttering might go away if he's wanting to be understood. (If not, then I would go back to Lecka's advice.) I agree with your whole post, but especially this. (Also, there are different methods of speech therapy, and one might connect better than another with any particular kid). Does anyone else remember how Michael Phelps the swimmer talked vs. how Michael Phelps the commentator talks? HUGE difference. I think he got speech therapy.

My kids used to take Nordic Naturals.

Yep. Same here. I think they have a room for when you first get them put on or they have to do something particularly special, and that's it.

I am sorry. This is how the orthodontist has been for months. DS has to go at this point since it's his last appointment this week before surgery and for two months afterward. They have three offices, and they assigned us to the one that they designed during Covid to have a (lot) more space, but I am still pretty upset that won't mask up front or require masks. Our dentist is still masking and requiring masking, and you wait in the car.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/strauss-israel-announces-voluntary-recall-certain-confectionery-products-because-possible-health

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You might try another kind of allergy eye drops--there are several. I assume that like Allegra, Claritin, and Zyrtec, some work better than others on an individual basis. I find that ketotifen works pretty well (several brand names use that ingredient). If you don't take a daily non-drowsy oral antihistamine, you might try that--it can take up to two weeks for it to fully kick in. Change your pillow cases regularly. Consider showering and changing clothes after you come in from outside. Think through whether you might be getting exposure to something new that you hadn't yet noticed.

We had varying levels. Never a lot once the mandate was dropped, but at least some stores were still having employees mask, which makes a difference. I also usually avoid stores at peak times but have been less able to do so lately. I think when I was going at off-peak hours I was seeing more masks. I've never found the level of masking here to be very reassuring, lol!

We are at substantial transmission, and virtually no one is masking. I might need to start going back to grocery pickup, but it's hard to go back to planning that way now that I've become more comfortable ducking in for this or that while I'm running errands.

That was an interesting read.

I don't know for sure what will work, but some things that might take the pressure off: Write about something after she's done the legwork for a presentation. The presentation will help her whittle it down to the essentials, so it's like a first draft. Same information but a new format. Plan/brainstorm some factual papers that she doesn't have to fully write. Let her choose among the roughed out plans and finish just one. Have her do parts and pieces of the planning, paper, etc., and you partner with the rest. Then the next paper, change up which parts she's responsible for (if you have the time). She gets the experience of doing the parts and pieces, but not all at once. If she's slow, that's one thing (just take more time, do fewer papers, etc.), but if she's swirling the drain, then I think she needs supports that take part of the mental load off strategically. I think it can be hard for kids to get the big picture of writing when they are worried about citations or millions of other tiny pieces, and then they swirl. Other kids really just need to plow through, and then the light comes on. As a student, I know a lot of people found using note cards and such to be intimidating and overly nit-noity, but I found it to be concrete and hands-on when I understood the big picture. It let me deal with the facts by rearranging them endlessly one card (one idea) at a time. I could keep physically moving ideas around until they settled in the right place, and then it was just typing from there, and the citations took care of themselves because they were all organized with a code on each card. So, if the organization is overwhelming, maybe multiple methods to find one that works for her. I also think that some ideas/organization work better for a factual paper with citations and some ideas/organization work better for a paper where you are asking a student to think on paper.

Thanks! We just bought some this week. Ugh. Some might be eaten already though!

Not disagreeing. If the ER = SLP evaluation, I would never promise they'd get a hearing evaluation at that ER. But then we're back to where we started. 🙃 I do think a school district will do hearing. I think in some places, it's actually required at certain ages--at various times, we've been required to go in for a hearing eval for my kids' 3 year eval for their IEPs, but other times, we haven't been.