askye, I must have been more concerned about you than I realized. When I read about the infection, and the plan for taking care this issue, I burst into tears of relief. I'm so, so glad it is treatable. smishes askye.

Have fun flirting, smonster, even if he does have the misfortune to be allergic to cats.

Go, meara. It's never fun, but at least this breakup wasn't a train wreck.

Much job~ma for Matt.

P-C, I think you are making progress. If she's acting better about the situation, then it is good to respond. It's when she's being obsessive and nagging that you need to shut her down.

Getting married in a bookstore sounds cool or a library.

It does sound perfect. The one bookstore I can think of to wish to get married in, sadly no longer exists. Small shop specializing in mysteries, in the next town over from where I went to college, got to know the owner, kept in touch with her for a while after I left the area.

OK, breakup update: we did not meet for dinner. She called me back and was all "Um, have you left yet? I'm not actually hungry" and I was like "K, cool, I haven't left, I'm not really hungry either, but I'll probably go in about half an hour then" and she's all "cool, call me when you leave, maybe I"ll be hungry then, but I lost track of the time, blah blah"...and then texted me all "yeah, i want to be friends but maybe starting tomorrow". Ahem. Dude. Just say no to dinner then? But whatever, I have no place to stand, really. So, we'll see.

As peaceful as a breakup was, I do not think I could go out for dinner with the breaker the evening of.

However, I see the "just say no" factor. I mean, it's not like you would be surprised, right?

Erin, a wedding in a library sounds fantastic. (Just, y'know, stay out of the shadows. :D )

askye, I'm sorry to hear about the infections, but very pleased to hear that they know what's wrong and that it can be sorted.

Writing a book review for a journal, finishing a paper and trying to think about PhD applications this week. Overcome with self-doubt. Not the time for this. Get self-assured, brain of mine!

Overcome with self-doubt. Not the time for this. Get self-assured, brain of mine!

Can you replace Buffista-assured with self-assured? I have faith in you.

monster, not that I think you should be jumping into anything ( not that you are) but Bob is allergic to cats and he always used to take meds when he'd come visit. Since he has moved in the cat allergies have dissipated a lot. I'm just saying it doesn't need to be a dealbreaker.

Totally! Tom was the same way, and now we have 2 cats.

Askye, I am so glad they found out what was being nasty to you! I hope everything clears up and you have a much happier hoohah!!

I texted my sister this question last night but never got an answer from her. I assume because she was laughing at me too hard to properly spell. So, I am going to ask you all:

When do I get to really freak out that Emeline isn't reading? She will sound out words if pushed to, but she seems to not have any interest in really reading (at least, with Joe and I). And, to be perfectly honest, IT'S FREAKING US OUT. We're trying really really hard not to, and we certainly don't show her that we're freaking out, but HMOG it's super duper hard. We read to her every night and we have her sound out words as we read. In the car, we give her words to spell by sounding them out, but more often than not, she says, "I can't dooooiiiitttttt!! I ddoooooonnnn'tttt WAAAANNNNTTT to!!" and then Joe and I freak out at each other (not angry freak out, funny and loving freak out, mostly with facial expressions). We HEAP praise on her when she does do it, but she is just not that into it with us.

Math, on the other hand, she is all over, which is totally awesome and we encourage that, but we want her to read!! Like, two years ago.

Anywhoodle, is just turned 5 too early for a reading tutor?

Can she sing the alphabet song and draw letters?

I don't know how strict you guys are about screen time, but could she be persuaded to play reading games on the computer to help her practice?

The other thing I'd suggest would be to have her tested for dyslexia. (And maybe nearsightedness, though if she's doing well in math it's probably not that she can't see.)

Of course, I also don't know what the "normal" age is for kids to start reading - 5 seems pretty young to me.