Water - whoot!

Hmm...I like that. Maybe I'll try that one GC. I've only tried short a couple times, and didn't hate it, except that one time when I was 8, but that's a whole different story!

I checked Zappos return policy. It's incredible. And now I'm looking at shoes I really can't afford, but they are so pretty.

Gloomcookie, I've only ever seen pictures of you, but with your bone structure, I think that cut would look great on you. I really like your hair as is (or at least as it was in the photos) though, too.

I might try it. My hair is driving me crazy. I have a lot of very fine hair so when it gets longish (as in past my shoulders), it gets very limp. When it's shorter than my shoulders, it usually looks better. Decisions decisions. I do like that cut.

I can't have them but I love these [link] shoes that Perkins linked to.

And I love my new haircut. I can leave with my hair wet and smooshed with some product, drive to work with the top down (35 miles of freeway), brush out the tangles when I get to work and end up having better hair days than I have in months... Some very long but still bangs and the hair not even making it to my shoulders are obviously key. And the last inch is layered so the curls, you know, curl.

I think you would look amazing with that cut, GC.

Yay for water.

I have the last 500 posts to read but I don't know if I am going to get around to it or not.

OK, this is tough for me to say, but I feel like I need to say it:

I know it wasn't intentional, but I did feel quite a bit piled-upon and bitch-slapped earlier today. That's probably partly because y'all didn't know all the details behind my calling the hotline number--the fact that I knew DH was at least somewhat concerned about her speech, too, and was therefore unlikely to have a problem with me looking into a resource about it (and he wasn't bothered at all, as it turns out), and the fact that I'd tried to bring it up with my pediatrician's office in the past and felt like they were blowing me off, making me think that calling them again would just mean more airy handwaves and dismissal.

But, dammit, I love my daughter, and I will go on loving her no matter what talents and abilities she does or doesn't have. That much is given. I hope she's smart, and, more importantly, intellectually curious, because it's just so damn fun to have a spicy brain and to know how to use it, and there's so much I'd like to show her. And, yes, part of the reason I hope she's smart and a bit geeky and wonkish with it is because I am, but I thought we agreed it's not terrible to hope your kids share something of your interests/talents/outlook on life as long as you don't try to mold them into a Mini-Me or push them to fulfill your unrealized goals. Which ain't gonna happen. I don't need to live my life through Annabel. I want her to pick out her own stars to shoot for. But my love for her is unconditional.

I know I'm more than a little neurotic, and I don't want to pass that heritage down to Annabel. One of the things that delights me about her is that she seems so mellow and so courageous--traits I actually have myself (believe it or not, there are people who know me pretty well whose primary impression of me is that I'm easygoing and can be counted on to rise to the occasion under pressure--I think the neuroses come out more in the pure talky meat environment of a board like this), but that too often get shouted down by the worry demons when I don't have the power to take immediate action and my brain gets spinning. I'd love to see her grow up with her courage untainted.

I love my daughter. I made that phone call today because A) I wanted to set my own mind at ease, and B) because if Annabel needed any help, I wanted to make sure she got it as soon as possible, and I didn't feel like the people at my pede's office cared. Turned out I was wrong about that, and got good advice from them once I made it clear that this was something I'd been thinking about for awhile, and that I need the reasoning behind an answer or I feel like I'm being dismissed. But I was doing the best I knew how to do, and I feel like I got attacked for it.

Plei - sorry you had to the bearer of badtidings - and sorry for the shock to you mom.

yay for good nurses! Sometimes I think that if you are a worrier - all you need is good informed opinion to put your brain in the right track.

and I had to send that link to the flffy green shoes to my sisters - are favorite way of wasting time is to go to places like Norstroms and find the most hidious, cheapest-looking, most expensive shoes to mock . and disolve into giggles when the shoe salesman asks if we need help.

But I was doing the best I knew how to do, and I feel like I got attacked for it.

I just read the last hundred or so posts, Susan, and I'm sorry you felt that way. I can't speak for anyone else, but what I read seemed to me like friends who care trying to help you. And that's tough when you're worried, and you sense people are telling you not to, but I think the gist is that everyone here wants you to enjoy not just Annabel, but your time with her.

My only bit of advice? As silly as it sounds, engage her in conversation. If you say, "Do you want some apple?" wait for her to respond. She won't, of course, but it can be useful to give her the idea of what a conversation is like, the give and take.

{{{Susan}}}

Sorry to hear about your mom's friend, Plei.

Given other problems discussed I know this seems petty. But I'm typing one handed standing up again. Can I just say FUCK ?