How big is she? Smaller dogs sometimes have more kid issues than larger dogs. We have a routine for introducing strangers/visitors to our guard dog. Initial meeting is done by the guest making no eye/voice/physical contact with Max. He is allowed to sniff while the guest and we greet and chat. That usually only takes 10-15 seconds. That routine has several reasons---one, it is the signal the guest is allowed into the house/space. It allows the dog the greeting period dog s have developed as part of pack behavior. It gives guests a chance to see that a 'mean' looking dog is not necessarily mean.It also can be used to get children to calm down a bit. You may be creating a response by crating her when smaller kids come over. You migh try putting her on a leash instead----for the first 10 or 15 minutes. And have the kids all be calm as they greet her, as you allow her to greet each one individually as above. Dogs sense humans emotions---human excitement causes canine excitement. Puppies do need to learn how to play with other dogs and children----having her on leash for that training will allow you to actually do some correction----correction impossible when she is crated. Kids also need to learn about dogs. Some dogs do not like sudden moves, or loud laughter, or jumping/running kids.

MEMA, I really feel for you. For a while we thought my oldest had Asperger's but he never received that "diagnosis" - it turns out he has sensory integration disorder. He's getting OT for it. Here is what I've found. He just finished 1st grade. When he was in kindergarten, his teacher kept telling me he had adhd - but I knew she was wrong. I think teachers tend to call all kids adhd who aren't 100% average! Anyway, once found out just what he has, I talked to the school district (we live in a very large city school district). They couldn't offer him any help because his grades were at least average and his behavior didn't distrupt class. We've been taking him to a hospital Occupational Therapist once a week for therapy and doing daily therapy at home and it's made THE WORLD of difference. In only 7 months, his reading level has jumped from kindergarden level to 3rd grade level & he's only 7. We took him to private speech therapy, too, but once he started OT we could only afford one, so we insisted the school provide speech therapy, which they agreed to do. He also qualified for one-to-one reading tutoring at school for the first 1/2 of first grade because he started with such a low reading level. It didn't help much until he started OT. Now, here are my conclusions. DON'T EXPECT MUCH FROM THE SCHOOL. The schools are set up to deal with the 90% of kids without any special needs. If you know what you child needs, be prepared to make sure they get it yourself. That might mean taking them to private therpists, paying for it yourself, or doing it yourself. Don't sit back and expect the school to provide what your child needs. And, what they do provide, remember "you get what you pay for" The difference between private speech therapy and what he gets at school is night and day. When we were paying $40 for 1/2 hr, he got one-on-one, intense therapy that did him a lot of good. At school, he gets 20 minutes of speech therapy with a group of 4 kids and one therapist once a week, and that's considered GREAT - most kids only get it once a week! It hasn't helped at all, but it is keeping him from loosing the gains he got from the year of private therapy, and at this time he's getting a lot more out of the OT, so that's where our limited $$ has to go. Luckily, he is in a "normal" classroom so I haven't had to deal with special education - I'm sure that would be a mess, too. You hear constantly that you must be your child's advocate. When your child has special needs, it's almost your full time job to be his or her advocate. Also, make sure the Aspergers diagnosis is the correct one. Sensory Integration Disorder has a lot of the same manifestations - have you read "The Out Of Sync Child" - it's like the "bible" for SID. Even with the "battles" I feel that school is the best place for my son. I know I could not provide what he needs at home, and I feel it's important that kids have "cultural litteracy" that school provides. It gives us all one common experience. Good luck to you - you've got a tough row to hoe! It sounds like you are up to the battle, and I'll keep you in my prayers.

M, So great to hear your take on form following function. I think we share a practical streak. On the one hand, I'm not a preservationist, on the other I do want to be true to the spirit of the house. I'm not aiming to make it something its not, and I don't want to "over improve" either. I agree that its entirely possible to "design a modern functional home and have the original vintage design-spirit prevail". In fact, thats precisely the balance I'm striving to achieve. In my situation, honoring the vintage design spirit means keeping certain elements intact: --the cottage windows --the china cabinet --the built-ins in the living room flanking the fireplace I'm not as attached to keeping the kitchen and breakfast room spaces separate as my partner is. In the spirit of cooperation and domestic harmony ;-) I've solicited feedback on how we could fit everything in the footprint of the kitchen proper, and posters to this thread stepped up admirably (THANK YOU!!) Reading the comments here has allowed me to feel more comfortable with merging the kitchen and the breakfast room--that this might be the right place to "modernize". Considering the two spaces as one is beginning to feel…well…more practical to me. Your point about it being possible to botch both the form and the function strikes a cautionary note---Sheesh, that would be awful. Aiming to avoid this, on both counts! Thanks so much M, for your always incisive comments.

My GF's family loves Wysocki puzzles...I've been intrigued with puzzles that have a mystery to them and solving the puzzle gives you clues to solving the mystery in the accompanying story. I too tend to select based on the image as I'll be looking at it a long time. But most of the brands mentioned before are fine puzzles...ravensburger, springbok...I look for 100% interlocking as I don't like puzzle pieces that just rest on each other and need other pieces to lock them in place.