Sueb, my pediatrician said the same thing about my dd when she was 11. Her well visits are always in May around her birthday. She'd had body hair since she was probably 10, but she is very hairy anyway thanks to my Italian heritage. But he looked at her development, breast buds, etc and predicted she'd get her period about a year from then, which would have been at the start of summer that year. I also have a May birthday and got my period the summer I turned 12. Well, that summer came and went for her. She didn't get her period until the end of last summer, when she was 13, a full year after the pediatrician predicted. I was shocked as I know that girls get it earlier these days. I kept thinking maybe she was keeping it from me somehow (she HATED talking about anything puberty related with me, although now she has no problems discussing that stuff with me). When she eventually did get it, she waited nearly 3 days to tell me! I was in the process of getting ready for a trip to Ireland with dh and she said she didn't want to bother me. Fortunately, she knew all about it already and I'd already made sure she had supplies - I'd given her a variety of items the year before when she went off to camp just in case she got it there. Back to the OP, I think the earlier you talk with your dd, the better. I've found that some girls just shut down once they kind of understand that it's going to be a "sex talk" b/c they get embarrassed, think it's gross, etc. By talking to her now, I think you can have an easier time discussing it (at least that's my experience based on my dd and the things her friends' moms told me). Coincidentally, I have an 8 y/o dd too and am a little concerned about her possibly having early onset puberty. She too has hair under her arms already. She has always been tall for her age, especially compared to my other kids (my other kids have always been average/below average), and then when I saw the hair under her arms, I started to get concerned. She didn't have it at her well visit in February, so I've been thinking of calling her ped just to see if I should get her checked out. Since she's always been high on the growth chart since birth, that didn't worry me (except found it odd since we are a family of short/average people), but the underarm hair thing does. no puberty hair yet though. That said, my kids are not big milk drinkers and I only buy organic, hormone free mik products anyway, so I don't think there's a link there for her. I'd be interested to hear what your specialist says if you don't mind sharing once you meet with him/her. And BTW, I also highly recommend the American Girl books. Love them for my girls.

Dr. Landrum Shettles and David Rorvik, who wrote "How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby", claim the Shettles method is 75 percent effective. Because Y-chromosomes (for boys) move faster but don't last as long as X-chromosomes (for girls), Shettles says it makes sense to have sex as close as possible to ovulation if a boy is what you want. If you try to conceive two to four days before you ovulate, you'll most likely have a girl. According to Dr. Ravnikar, the Shettles method, and others similar to it, is scientifically sound in suggesting that couples try for a boy baby closer to ovulation since Y-chromosome-bearing sperm is lighter but more fragile than those that carry X-chromosomes. But as with other techniques, you're not promised the boy or girl baby you want

I very much enjoyed the series "Call the Midwife." I have watched up to season 3. It was so refreshing to watch a show that doesn't overlook the hardships that women have faced, and to some degree still face. I live in Canada, and have seen a lot of US/Cdn TV which usually features wealthy and perfect conditions, beautiful movie stars, with little to no reality, and without touching on female perspectives. I saw a mention earlier about the lack of slums in Canada. I can only speak to the history of western Canada, which was mostly rural. In the 1950s, Western Canada enjoyed a high standard of living where there was ample food, although, my father did say that if you spent all your money on frivolous things you could starve. Before that, especially during the Great Depression, my grandfather had a sister who died because the family couldn't afford the medicine for her, and his mother saved for years after to pay the hospital for her daughter's death there. They lived in fear that the bank would take their house, but almost every house was in foreclosure in their area, Vancouver BC. My grandfather had a dairy cow he quite liked, and a garden, so it seems that western Canada was quite rural, even in the cities at that time, possibly with the exception of Chinatown, where the Chinese Canadians there had things quite rough. Today in Canada there seems to be a greater divide between rich and poor especially in the larger cities. Some of the issues in the book and movie still go on today, for example, abuse of women, children, losing a child, (although not as common today) being judged by others, mental illness after pregnancy and the great love we as mothers have for our children. I found it interesting that Jennifer Worth said most families lived near their parents, brothers and sisters, usually moving two streets away from where they grew up at most. Here in Canada we don't seem to have that closeness with family. Also there is a lot of privacy here and I think many mothers can feel isolated or suffer in silence. I don't live near my family because the housing prices and lack of jobs paying over minimum wage makes it very difficult to live there. Worh had another comment on the older people being rehomed to better living conditions, but that many of them died because they missed their friends and family and they didn't have that support. I found it interesting, and I think nowadays here in Canada, people's values are more about money than relationships which is sad too. In that way, the community of East London seemed to be better.

Wow!! Carol, I'm happy for you. Heel to toe for 8 steps takes a lot of coordination, and YOU DID IT. When my kid was 4 years old, she would be so happy when I lost weight on the scale ... health for my friends cheer me up more than roses. I'm elated when I heard Garran home & healthy, and I'm happy about rain for Jess & no more thorns in her toe. I am happy when my daughter is happy. I'm sure that's how God, our Father in heaven, feels .. He's happy when His children (us) are happy. My kid has a friend came over today (same age). The friend was on Ensure (canned nutrition with soy milk) .. her skin was clean this past summer. I did research on soy milk and thyroid disorder, yes, there's a slight link, esp. with carrageenan added. So I e-mailed this teenager info., and her nutritionist switched this gal from Ensure (soy-based) to Kefir (fermented cow-milk). Fast forward today, this friend gets pimples on her face. I feel bad since the bad news about dairy didn't come out until this year. I google thoroughly when I switched my child from soy-milk to cow milk .. could not find a link between cow milk and acne until recently. But I learn something: always look at how many people are involved in any study. The thyroid & soy link are just a few personal testimonies, versus the below: " The famous Nurse's Health Study examining health habits of 47,000 nurses found that those who drank more milk as teenagers had much higher rates of severe acne than those who had little or no milk as teenagers. In other studies of over 10,000 boys and girls from 9 to 15 years old, there was a direct link between the amount of milk consumed and the severity of acne." Today I'm back to the diet that I was on when I was skinny: soy milk (new formula without carrageenan) & high fiber cereal ... I feel so much better & more energy. My kid loves her cereal & soy milk. She could NOT handle cow-milk either .. she's lactose-intolerant. I checked on soy milk again before I switch back: if the soy-protein is concentrated, like soy Isolate in faked meat, then it will screw up the thyroid. If the soy is concentrated and made on aluminum equipment, like tofu, then that will UP the risk of Alzheimer's. But soy milk in low dose with cereal, isn't bad ... at least it's freed of hormones, antibiotics, feces, and pus like in cow's milk. Soy milk is easier to digest, plus zero cholesterol. What I like the most is: it smells clean, NOT strong like cow-milk.