Marmee is lovely 😊

Same re the bold. I feel SO grateful to be so involved in my new grandson's life.

Oh, that's lovely. How did that come about?

Yes, our family already has Grandma, Nana, Nan. I wanted something Grandma-y, but not overlapping with other established names.

Just curious what your grandma name is or what you plan for it to be. Please share if you are willing. I'm Moo/Moosey.

One of my children (now an adult) has a chronic illness that required many hospitalisations as a child. She was ventilator-dependent until she was 5yr old and oxygen-dependent until she was 10yr old. Her longest hospital stay was about 16 months in one stretch and that was in ICU as a baby/toddler. I'm sure this sort of super-long hospital stay is a really different experience if it is a baby or a child or a teen, but what helped for us: - creating a space that felt like ours. We decorated the walls and windows and had family photos up etc. - building relationships with the regular nursing staff. This *really* helped. - getting meal tickets from the social worker - getting parking passes from the social worker - having a wider support network that helped with our older child during this time Interestingly, now many years later, I actually have plenty of really good memories from this time, along with some pretty traumatic ones, not surprisingly. @sangtarah I wish you, your child, and the rest of your family all the best.

A euphemism? Really? I thought he just wanted millions of peaches 🤔😄

I meant to come back and respond to this earlier. I detected no snark in your comment, and I appreciate your honesty and input.

If maths is one of her things, could she write a funny poem that goes with solving an equation/problem? She could have a big whiteboard and work the problem while performing the poem. Depending on her personality, she could have fun with costuming for this too. eg Nerd-chic, super-glam

Glass, ceramic, marble, granite - anything like that would eliminate my concerns about plastics, glues, resins, polishes, wood oils etc. BUT I've read that all of these destroy your knifes and sound horrible 🤷‍♀️ I'm beginning to realise that there is no perfect product.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your input.

Yep. I sit in traffic breathing in car fumes. Nearly all our food products come in plastic. There's so much we can't avoid. I just want to minimise things I can control.

Blackwood is another name for Acacia isn't it?

I've never seen silicone ones here in Australia, but maybe I haven't looked far enough. There is also glass or marble to consider, but I understand that those are too hard on the knife blades.

Thanks everyone. It's helpful to hear what you choose and why. I don't have a dishwasher, so that eliminates that factor. I would like something thin enough to wash in the sink and dry in my drying rack. I don't know how I'd properly clean a big heavy butcher-block-style wooden board. I've had plastic, but I don't like the thought of all the microplastics in our food. All those gouges and scratches - that plastic must have gone somewhere, right? I've been reading about bamboo - apparently the fibres are all glued together, so who knows if the glue is any better than flecks of plastic? I've found some that say 'food safe adhesive', but I still feel a bit iffy on it. Wood is my current top choice - maybe acacia or beechwood. Acacia seems to be a common material in wooden boards here in Australia. No idea about other parts of the world. My one concern with wood is what it has been treated with. A lot of them say 'mineral oil', which is a pretty non-specific label. I'd like to think that they are all food-grade, but it seems some are petroleum-based.

I'm in the market for a new cutting board. What do you use and why did it choose it?

@saraha Just letting you know I've sent you a PM about your daughter's travel arrangements. Our emails aren't consistently talking to each other, so I need to confirm some details. I'm looking forward to welcoming her to Brisbane 😊

@Drama Llama I've been thinking of Pop and hoping he's well and home soon. As hard as it is to feed him, I'm sure that your presence and persistence is comforting to him.

Too wary to google it. What's lume?

In Australia, it is illegal to drive without specified L (learner) signs displayed on both the front and back of the car. It is a big black L on a yellow backing, and it is usually suction or static cling or magnetic. Once the learner has passed their driving test, they then need to use P (provisional) signs for several years. So our new drivers are absolutely visible for several years, by law.

@BlsdMama Just wondering how your daughter is going?

@SeekingOne I am a Montessori 0-3 and 3-6 teacher. If you decide to go the Montessori route, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. What's your granddaughter's phonological awareness like? This is an important first step to reading. You can nurture phonological awareness with things like rhyming, alliteration, playing with syllables, I spy etc. If she can identify and manipulate sounds within words, then that's a good sign that she can begin some reading instruction.

My daughter uses a crystal litter for her cat. No dust that I'm aware of. It's a bit uncomfortable when you step on bits though. It's kind of mini lego-esque.

Oh my goodness, yes. Tang!

I don't watch K-dramas, but as you all probably know, I'm a big K-pop fan. Have any of you watched IU's new music video? It's called Love Wins All. V from BTS is acting in it. It is incredible. I knew he'd acted in K-dramas in the past, but I had no idea he was such a good actor. I have to admit that I don't really remember the song itself, because the music video was so captivating. It was like a mini movie.