Well done, Mom! Beautiful words! Thank you for sharing that with us, Mike... it's just beautiful! You know, I'm not really big on church or organized religion... but the realm of my gardens is the temple I go to pray in. I feel much closer there, to the spiritual side of life... and working and praying there does feed my soul. :-)

Hi lyfia! and congratulations on your baby girl. I have a 10yo dd. Both dh and I are introverts. I was painfully shy as a child. Neither of us had a lot of parental support growing up, and I think this is a major cause of our social insecurity. My DD is probably the most extroverted person I've ever met. She will go up to anybody and strike up a conversation. She went on a sleepover with a group of girls she never met last week - no fears, she said "It's another chance to make new friends!" So, your daughter is not absolutely destined to be shy or insecure. I didn't do anything special. I couldn't stand being cooped up in the house when she was tiny so we went to the park almost every day. I soon met lots of other moms (depite my shyness) and other kids her age. The going to the park and hanging out lasted for her first five years, by which time she had a large group of people she knew, and felt comfortable with the moms as well as the girls and boys. At five she started school, and that went very well for the first couple of years. She loved her teachers and got along well with the other kids. But in second grade the whole alpha girl/wolf pack mentality kicked in and she just didn't understand what was going on. The playground can be a really cruel place. In addition, she was getting tons of homework that seemed downright silly and timewasting, so we decided to pull her out of school for a break and try homeschooling. The homeschooling was my dh's idea. I felt dd was much to social to do it. As it turns out, the socializing she gets from homeschooling is far superior to that at school. DD has kept a couple of friends from school, some old buddies from the park days, and has scads of friends from dancing, science class, Girl Scouts, gymnastics, swim team, etc. - and is able to interact with them all without the kind of survival-of-the-nastiest mentality that comes when you put 50 kids of the same age onto a playground. And the greatest thing about homeschooling is that you get to stay close to your kid. When she was at school I really felt like my role as a parent was being supplanted by teachers, school administration, and most of all, by other kids. Now we are just as close as when she was younger, and I think that bodes well for when she hits the adolescent years. But I didn't mean to write an ode to homeschooling! Really, my main thoughts are: *Stay close to your daughter. There's no such thing as too many hugs and kisses. *Don't compare her to other kids. Yes, other kids will talk sooner, walk sooner, be potty trained - whatever. Let her go at her own pace. They'll all walk and talk sooner or later. *Take all parenting books with a grain (or a pound) of salt. In fact, I would minimize the reading of parenting books altogether. They make you paranoid. *Get out of the house. Expose her to lots of other kids and adults. *Let her be alone sometimes (as she gets older.) Let her learn to enjoy her own company. *Have people over. Family, neighbors - the more people she meets the more she'll feel capable of dealing with. *Don't worry about making mistakes. I sometimes think that my own concerns about dd - that she would be shy and extra-sensitive like her mama - actually helped her out. For example, I didn't want to leave her at kindergarten (the parents were allowed stay for the first day) until she finally said "I think this would be more fun if you went home." I guess what I'm saying is, let her be the one to decide when she is ready to fly solo, rather than pushing her out of the nest. Okay, this has been way too long a break from work! You are a great mom, and your daughter is going to be just fine. Amy

I haven't really dived (dove?) in full-force to this yet, but I am a new mom who just went back to work and needed to streamline dinner, too. The first things I've done so far are: 1) never make 1 of anything. If ever you are cooking something, make a double batch so you can freeze or refrigerate one for another night. Very little extra work, but a whole extra night's dinner 2) I love doing "packet cooking" in the crock pot. Put chicken breasts with some veggies and some kind of liquid (seasoned chicken broth, bottled or homemade marinade, lemon juice, you name it) on a piece of foil and seal tightly. Wrap a few baking potatoes in foil and seal tightly. Put all these foil bundles in the crock pot on low before you leave for work and you'll have a great meal waiting for you. Add a tossed salad and dinner's ready in 5 min! I also like to have "spaghetti week". I make a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce on sunday and put it in several 1-meal sized containers in the fridge or freezer. When I don't have time for anything else, I can boil up spaghetti and use the sauce, or make ravioli, or baked mostaccoli/ziti by layering cooked noodles, sauce, mozz. and parmesan cheese in a casserole and baking until cheese is melted. All your basic pasta and red sauce, but a little different each night.

Thank you all very much for the suggestions,it has helped. I am always at work so I don't have an oppertunity to speak with any of the other mothers at the school to see if they can help me out and earn a little extra money. I don't know anyone in my neighborhood to even ask around. I was even thinking of changing my daughter to a school near the babysitter's house so she could walk her to school,but the school is already packed and she might get bused to another school. I didn't think it was worth it for her to finally make new friends at this school then changing her to another school just so she could get bused to yet another. I think I am going to call the her current school and see if they have some kind of ride sharing program. Next year when she is in the 1st grade it will be alittle bit easier because I will be able to take her myself in the morning. Thank you again for all your help,I appreciate it. Lisa