A Check Up and a Recommendation:

Well, Rachel got her well-child check up this afternoon. She is 4ft. 1in., or 1.249 68 meters. She is 59.5lbs. The doctor says this puts her in the 7 percentile for height and 33 percentile for weight. When the doctor informed Rachel she would never be very tall, she responded sarcastically, "Thanks for being so supportive!" What a mouth on that kid...I don't know where she gets it! The doctor asked if I had any concerns and I told him she is physically okay, but she is an emotional basket case. She cries if you look at her the wrong way. I told her we have a phrase for her weepy behavior..."The Estrogen Anomaly". If you have ever seen the Star Trek episode with Crystalline Entity (GEEK, Check!) you will know it is something beautiful, yet destructive. I told the doctor I've never had a third grade girl before and I don't know what to do with her emotional outbursts. I was a rather private child and didn't cry much. I also had to be organized and much more self-sufficient. I wonder what is best? She has recieved reminders both days this week at school and I thought she was going to burst with the frustration, but she tettered on the brink and held it together.

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Two video recommendations that you don't have to be a home schooler to really appreciate the value:

1. Voices of Civil Rights- (produced by The History Channel)
This film contains wonderful interviews and footage of the civil rights movement. The biographical information on Martin Luther King, Jr. is well researched and presented. The audio tapes and the footage of the meetings between Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and Gov. George Wallace were fascinating. I'm proud that my son gets really angry that folks would put signs up that separated people. He wanted to know why people in authority would use their power to harm others and so we had a great discussion on that subject.
There is also a wonderful section on Justice Thurgood Marshall. Interesting to learn about his life, nomination and motivations behind his Supreme Court rulings.

2. Rx for Survival (produced by PBS)Click here for the informational website on the series.

Aaron and I have only watched the first of 3 dvds and I am amazed by the information. The first part of the film discusses how vaccines came about and the 2nd part talks about the MSRA and MSRBs. These acronyms stand for the "super bugs" that are resistant to most or all of the current antibotics. The doctors interviewed were worried that since the money is made in the diet and libido arenas that research companies can't afford to look for new antibiotics. There is one company called Cubist that is using an interesting method seeking new antibiotics. They created a strain of extremely resistant e. coli and introduce microorganisms they find from various soil samples and then put them together to see if the e. coli is effected.
Aaron kept watching me cry as they followed two doctors, Kim and Farmer, to from Harvard to Peru, while they administered strong, experimental drug treatments to people found to be resistant to every known antibiotic. They were successful in 85% of the cases. I was especially said for a young woman who could not let her son close and he thought she hated him, but she tried to explain she was trying to protect him. Her husband had left her, so he wouldn't get sick. She was in this treatment program, but her strain of TB was the most resistant and she died. Her son tested positive for TB.

I am a fan of history and I feel that the old adage is true about being doomed to repeat history if we don't learn from it. I highly recommend these two videos!