<p>Ack, well, there goes the bid on anonymity… lol. I am pemanently signed in on my phone. I intended to totally switch to my new username for privacy purposes though. I’m sorry for the confusion, but I will make sure to use my new name only from here on out if that’s ok.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve made ridiculous posts here in the past and didn’t want my attempt to actually fit in here to be marred by that.</p>
<p>many people want to start fresh after high school (change their nick-name at college, for exampple); I think you get to do so as well, PhysicsMom.</p>
<p>Thank you. I feel rather annoyed at myself at the moment for thinking I could start anew without telling anyone and without messing it up. Ah well. </p>
<p>I am at the bookstore for a mom’s night out and going to purchase a few books for PB. That should cheer me up. One of them has a mirror sort of thing on every page (like a frog body but a mirror for the baby to look into being the face) and PB LOVES seeing herself in the mirror, so that should be good.</p>
<p>PhysicsMom - sorry about that. I just loved shopping for books for my kids when they were little. I still do ::). Have a great time!</p>
<p>Physicsmom, both my kids loved “Pat the Cat” and “Pat the Bunny.” In fact they loved them so much the books disintegrated into a pile of semi-pages. We renamed one “Beat the Cat into Oblivion.”</p>
<p>Hi Physicsmom, welcome to the board and good luck with your studies! Let me also put in a plug for “Pat the Bunny” for PB, and “Goodnight Moon” is a classic. :)</p>
<p>Welcome…I think we must be cousins or something!!!</p>
<p>No, as I’ve admitted to in the past, my name is only me living vicariously through my D…(sophomore in college now)! Best wishes to you and Physicsbaby!!!</p>
<p>Welcome, glad you are here. If you need to relax after a trying day with the baby, stay away from the political threads it will make you crazy. Hope I can be of any help to you. I started here when D was waiting for her acceptance/rejection letters in March and I have been hooked/addicted every since. Sometimes I have to just walk way from CC just to get my head straight… But all in all I have learned and appreciated so much from being here. best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Welcome, PhysicsMom. This is a very welcoming group here and you’ll always get answers to questions/advice/encouragement. Hope your book shopping trip for PhysicsBaby went well - another vote here for Pat the Cat! I am about an hour south of Boston - how do you like this weather tonight?? Hanna has arrived!</p>
<p>How could I have forgotten Pat the Bunny! Each of my sons destroyed one. </p>
<p>Welcome, PhysicsMom, from a physicist mom. I am a physicist, my husband is a physicist, my older son is very probably on the path to becoming a physicist, and my younger son is not interested in physics. This is a great place for general parenting advice. My kids are still nowhere near college age and I am here all the time for all kinds of reasons unrelated to college. For example, I just learned from marite on another thread about an exquisite piece of music.</p>
<p>^What was the part about daddy’s cheek? Fuzzy?</p>
<p>welcome!</p>
<p>One of D2’s best friend had a baby eight months after high school graduation. She had time to take classes at community college before he was born, took a semester off, and is returning this semester. It’s hard work, but wanting to provide the best for her baby is one of the biggest motivating factors. You will do fine.</p>
<p>
As long as you have picked out her preschool already, you’re on the right track.</p>
<p>just kidding</p>
<p>I love physics, but I’m pretty sure it is not, regrettably, where my main aptitude lies. I still want to explore it in college to see if I’m wrong, but I think I am probably better at other things. I can at least hope I get a sciencey baby and decorate her room with the following science-based nursery art!</p>
<p>[Science</a> art and baby gifts for nerds teachers geeks labrats](<a href=“http://tiffanyard.com/]Science”>http://tiffanyard.com/)</p>
<p>Hee!</p>
<p>Speaking of competetive preschool craziness, I’m glad I don’t live in NYC. I joined a message board called Urban Baby, and a lot of the NY moms there are freaking out over whether or not their kid will get into a “top tier” preschool with good “exmissions into ongoings.” I can’t believe I know these things. </p>
<p>I did read the recent thread here about the benefits or lack thereof of preschool with much interest though. I never went to preschool or kindergarten. I didn’t even know pre-k existed at that age, but I feel like I really missed out (socially speaking) by not going to k. All the other kids knew each other already in first grade, and I felt sort of left out. I want PhysicsBaby to have more social interaction with peers so she doesn’t end up being one of those kids who can talk easily to adults but not to other kids, like I was.</p>
<p>Welcome, PhysicsMom! So glad you are here and have provided us with this " “positive” thread! I am envious of your baby…enjoy your time with PB; it does fly by! Though I can certainly relate to what you said about one of the baby’s grandparents as I just recently found out I am going to be a first-time grandmommy myself :)</p>
<p>Best to you!!!</p>
<p>Congrats churchmusicmom - what wonderful news!</p>
<p>PhysicsMom - nursery school and pre-k are great for developing social skills. So are things like taking your kids to the playground and mommy & me classes. Not only will that give your baby some social interaction, but it will give you some as well. </p>
<p>Oh, and another vote for Pat the Bunny and Pat the Cat - both of my kids loved those books.</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap - I believe it was Daddy’s scratchy face…lol.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>When S1 was born, we lived in NYC, so I started paying attention to the fact that pre-school had competitive admissions. When S1 was two years old, Daddy got a job in CT, so we moved here before S1 was ready for pre-school. I was thrilled that we didn’t have to deal with that, but I do remember – after I enrolled S1 for his pre-school in CT – thinking, “You mean, they just accept anybody?” Sort of like, I don’t want to be a member of any club that will have me.</p>
<p>Pre-school is great for social development. Getting used to being in a group, waiting your turn, doing what the group is doing and then moving to another activity when the group does (ie. transitioning between activities), etc. Pre-school shouldn’t be about academics. They can do a little with numbers and letters and recognizing your own name, but that shouldn’t be the main focus. Pre-school is about fun, making friends, and learning to like school.</p>
<p>Of course, if it turns out that PhysicsBaby is in a well-run day care, she probably wouldn’t need a formal pre-school - or the program would have pre-school built in.</p>
<p>Yes, I am pretty sure she’ll go to preschool. Partly for her social development and partly for my and PhysicsDad’s sanity. I use to think it was kind of mean-spirited for parents to be thrilled when their kids went back to school, but now I know better. It’s just about time to take care of oneself and/or get things done.</p>
<p>Re: Pat the Bunny. I bought a copy, and then we were also given a copy, so one is at her paternal grandma’s house. Haven’t gotten Pat the Cat yet. When I was still pregnant, the first books I bought her were as follows:</p>
<p>Goodnight Moon
Olivia (that one about the pig-little-girl)
The Snowy Day</p>
<p>I got them all in the board book form. She also has things like The Poky Little Puppy, some Dr. Seuss… The thing is… I don’t know which books come between Dr. Seuss and Harry Potter. I don’t remember ever reading anything between those two levels. </p>
<p>churchmusicmom: That’s wonderful! I am sure you’ve got lots of fun baby time before you. </p>
<p>VeryHappy: There are some competetive preschools in Boston too, but from what I gather, it’s not even close to NYC’s level. Boston Magazine did an article on notable preschools here, and some of them sounded pretty fun. One listed is on an apple orchard and has the kids spending a lot of time outside.</p>
<p>PhysicsMom,</p>
<p>As it happened, our son was not a fan of sleep. I mean, REALLY not a fan of sleep in the first year of life. So, I used to read all of the newspaper and the newsmagazines out loud when he was an infant. It seemed to engage him, I got my information fix, and I learned later that the exagerated inflections I used probably reinforced his early understanding of language. </p>
<p>So it really did not matter what I read, but that he was in my lap and I was reading!</p>
<p>I do love kid-lit however. We read a good deal of that, too!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Goosebumps. Hatchet. My Side of the Mountain (my favorite). LOTS of good books – look for the Newberry Award winners. </p>
<p>But you’ve got lots of years before you need to worry about that.</p>
<p>Make sure to make friends with other women whose kids are the same age as PhysicsBaby. That’s how you learn all those things.</p>