I read numerous blogs from other food allergy Moms. This morning I read about an exciting study concerning food allergies. The basic idea is that researchers have modified a protein that can alter the way a certain reactor in the intestines responds to the offending allergen. It has worked in mice to desensitize the mice toward their food allergen. They are looking into starting trials with humans soon. If this works, it could help eliminate food allergies. I know there is still a long way to go with this study, but I can't help but get excited about the study. Here's the link to the study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101001163344.htm
We've been trucking along with homeschooling. Things are going well. We've taken two field trips during the last month. The first one we went to Mountain Grove, Missouri where Missouri State has a fruit experimentation station. We all (including Josh) walked through the test gardens and through the Paw Paw grove. We were able to buy pears, apples, grapes and paw paws for about thirty cents a pound. Well worth the hour drive. I also took the boys to the annual Farm Fest at the fairgrounds. The boys loved sitting on all of the different tractors and seeing the farm animals.
The boys are learning a lot and I've enjoyed teaching them. Sometimes, the routine seems a little boring, maybe. But the boys are learning so much and improving so much that it makes it exciting. Samuel's math and reading curriculum is an advanced curriculum, but that hasn't frustrated him at all. When the material gets harder, he rises to the occasion and does a good job of trying hard and learning it. He very rarely reaches the "frustration" level, even though some concepts he struggles with a little bit.
Darius is a lot farther in his book than I dreamed. I had figured out that if he completed two pages every day he would finish a little before Samuel would finish his school work. Well, he enjoys doing his book so much that there are some days that he will complete 4 or 5 pages. He has really taken an interest in doing schoolwork and the workbook that we are going through is definitely stretching him and helping him to learn some concepts that I had forgotten about.
We have had some success with him in Cubbies. At the beginning of the year, he did really well memorizing his verses and reciting them to his leaders. Then all of a sudden he decided he would be stubborn and not recite them. For the last three weeks he would not recite them, even though he knew them. I was starting to get really frustrated with the stubbornness and trying to figure out what to do. Well, last night he finally said his verses! He even had last night's section signed off (which we didn't work on, so I don't know if he actually did say it or just repeated what he'd heard others say). Hopefully this will continue with him saying his verses every week.
Eve turned 9 months old yesterday. She has cut the two front bottom teeth and is working on others as well. She is crawling everywhere and loves to follow her brothers around, complete with a fit if they don't "include" her. She has also entered into the "I only want Mom and if she leaves the room, I'm going to scream, even if Daddy's holding me" stage of life. I hope it is short-lived, but know that both boys went through the stage as well.
Josh also received in the mail at work a hard copy of the journal that his research is published in. His research is the first one in the book. I'm so proud of him for that accomplishment, especially to see how all of that hard work has paid off for him. (We just hope its not in vain and that he achieves tenure & promotion in the Spring.)
Hopefully I won't let a new update go so long next time. Its not like I'm busy or anything. If I could just put down the bon bons and turn the TV off. ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment