Thursday, April 30, 2009

cognitive enhancers?

My semester is over, so I am done with course work until the fall. Now, I can concentrate on my research. I need to finish my proposal and work on a couple of papers. I hope these things get done this summer. Sometimes, I enjoy my role as a graduate student, and I am so glad that I can stay home with Olsen. But other times, I wish I was solely a stay-at-home-mom. I can think of a lot of things I can do with the time I use for school work, like sleeping, cleaning, exercising, thoroughly filling out Olsen's baby book, reading, organizing all of Olsen's inherited clothes...I get overwhelmed sometimes when I think of the things that I need to try and find time to do. 

If I wasn't breastfeeding, I would be tempted to take Adderall or modafinil. I'm just kidding - the side effects of all drugs tend to freak me out. But I read an article a couple of days ago about the rise of people taking drugs like Adderall as a "cognitive enhancer." I found it interesting and disturbing. The article raised the question of how this use of these types of drugs can lead to "cosmetic neurology." In the future, will people who refuse to take these drugs be at a disadvantage? Does the use of these drugs, limit creative thinking, and are we teaching our young people to learn in only certain kinds of ways? The author of the article feared we would be raising a generation of very "focused accountants", hee hee, that makes me laugh (not that there is anything wrong with being an accountant). Of course, the other side of the debate was discussed too. Could the use of these drugs as a cognitive enhancer level the playing field for those not as fortunate to have a good education? Can we really look down on people who use these drugs when they still have to be motivated to finish the task at hand in the first place? For me, I get a little concered when I think about how this fast-paced life doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. While the use of these cognitive enhancers might help people get more work done than they may have been able to do without it, I think that there will just always be more to do and more demands on our time. For now, I'll just do the best that I can. 


Friday, April 10, 2009

teeth!

Thurday, I saw two little white slits in Olsen's lower gums. Teeth are coming! It is a little bittersweet, because while it's always exciting to see evidence of Olsen growing up, I will miss that toothless smile. However, according to Mariann, it can take up to two weeks until his teeth are totally out, so we still have more time with gummy grins.

Olsen has officially graduated from physical therapy! His torticollis is resolved and he has full range of motion in his neck. I think his physical therapist was a little sad to see him go. He has certainly come a long way, from crying a lot during PT to happy and playing instead. She said that she will always remember little Olsen.

At 8.5 months, Olsen:

crawls everywhere in a super quick manner.

pulls up to standing.

gets really mad when I try to change his diaper.

eats a small variety of solids.

babbles with consonent sounds.