Maternity Monday: Evelyn Peplum Maternity/Nursing Shirt

What back to school clothes are you buying your early elementary girls? Taking my daughter in person clothes shopping tomorrow and looking for inspiration.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what mattress to get for a 3 year old’s first big kid bed?

I gave birth in November. Stopped BFing in late Feb. I’m still losing LOTS of hair. It’s regrowing, so that’s nice, but I feel like with #1 I was not losing this much hair by now. Does this sound normal?

I recently had a hospital stay for pneumonia and when I was brushing my hair the (seasoned/experienced older) nurse suggested I get my thyroid checked when I was feeling better because even she observed the mass of hair I had coming out throughout my stay. I said I was 8 months postpartum and she still suggested it might not be a bad idea.

Thoughts? Also, for “getting your thyroid checked” – what does that actually mean? I’ve done plenty of blood panels done that have thyroid function in there, but I’ve also read there may be a much more comprehensive blood panel I could request? I know I have a small nodule on my thyroid that I have an ultrasound on every two years and no one seems particularly concerned about it, fwiw.

Has anyone here sent their child to Montessori past age 6 and willing to share thoughts? We are definitely keeping LO in for the age 6 “culmination year”, but trying to decide whether to consider other school options or keep her there for Elementary (ages 6-12). So far Montessori has been a great fit for her, and she is learning a lot. They are very rigid about following the Montessori approach and the educators seem good. The approach can be wonderful for teaching how to think independently, but it feels a little tricky as a parent in terms of knowing whether traditional milestones are being met (like, do they have age appropriate math skills that would meet testing requirements?). We live in a place with failing public schools so our main alternatives would be trying for a charter lottery or a different private school.

When did reading “click” for your kids?

We did the 100 Easy Lessons book with my incoming first grader over the summer and she made progress and has become pretty good at sounding out words but still can’t read fluently and labors over every individual word. I feel like she’s lacking visual memory. She doesn’t recognize words (except a few very short sight words) even if she just sounded out the same word in the prior sentence. Her first grade teacher is not worried and says about half the class is still not reading, but I’m becoming slightly concerned due to the fact that we know she’s very bright (excellent CogAT scores) and that she’s been working hard for months with a phonics-based program. I’m wondering if there may be some kind of learning disability in play here, because it seems like a smart kid who is working this hard should be able to read by now. But maybe I just need to wait for it to click. Would appreciate any anecdata.
Fwiw, she will turn 7 in late January so is right in the middle age-wise (district has an August 1 cutoff)

Post-kids, what makes a vacation feel like a vacation (i.e. relaxing vs doing life in another place)? Sometimes trips can seem pointless: why go somewhere else when we could have gone to the zoo/aquarium/museum/water park/etc. in our hometown? But while staycations can be nice, I need to get on a plane at least once of year for my soul to be happy. DS is still young (<6 years). I do tell myself, "this is a trip, not a vacation," as a reminder of my season. But just curious if others have found a way to make trips more vacation-like with young kids.