Interesting Article on Motherhood

There was an interesting article in today's Washington Times (the best newspaper out there!) entitled Motherhood ensures moms do know best: Having kids makes women smarter .

"Motherhood can be tremendously strengthening to you as a person," says
Katherine Ellison, author of "The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter."
Mrs. Ellison's book, which is grounded in scientific studies, finds "five
attributes of a baby-boosted brain." Motherhood, she writes, appears to be
linked to enhanced perception, with greater sensitivity in smell, vision,
hearing and physical contact. "Mom radar," as Mrs. Ellison puts it. Mothers are
also likely to become efficient and resourceful multitaskers who are strongly
motivated to set and fulfill goals. Other hallmarks of motherhood are improved
social skills and emotional intelligence, which allows them to reduce stress and
encourage resilience.

The article goes on to talk about how almost all mothers, however, feel that their brains have turned to mush after having children. Here is Mrs. Ellison's answer to that:

There have been attempts to analyze "porridge brain," as maternal ditziness is
called in Britain. In 2001, British neuroscientists Matthew Brett and Sallie
Baxendale wrote a paper on a new disorder they called "gestational memory
impairment." Other studies have found that pregnancy can temporarily shrink a
woman's brain, and pregnant women and new mothers can be distracted or falter on
memory tests. In addition, there is ample anecdotal evidence that pregnancy and
new motherhood bring difficulties in concentration, deterioration of expressive
language skills, mental fogginess, forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation and
poor concentration. But Mrs. Ellison says scientific evidence suggests that
these changes are not evidence of a loss, but signs of a transformation into a
better brain. Mothers' brains not only return to their normal size within months
of birth, but have enhanced capacity, she writes.

Well, I can certainly see both sides on this one. One the one hand, there is a lot of stuff just to keep track of around here--how much clean underwear everyone has, whether or not there is extra toilet paper in the garage, when Anna ate last, when Jonathan peed last, what we're having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and whether we have all the ingredients, etc, etc., etc.--and I think I do a fairly good job of that. I can smell a poopy diaper from a room away, and I can generally tell when people are up to no good in far off places (increased sense of hearing?). I'm picking up Latin fairly well, making me wish I had uninterrupted time to concentrate on it. But I certainly do not feel as "sharp" as I was when I was sailing through college. My brain often does feel like porridge, especially when I am suddenly asked to figure out something, like the most cost-efficient size of canola oil at the commissary. And I have a degree in math! Also, I NEVER left my credit card on the counter before I had kids. I often have to read things more than once to remember them. That drives me crazy. Later in the article, they do blame sleep deprivation, but my babies have all been good sleepers, so that doesn't really hold water for me (Anna slept from 10:30 until 6:30 last night!!!!). Some other scientist says, "Any cognitive lapses are a tradeoff for a better functioning and focused brain later on." Hmmm. Well, I'm still waiting for that! When exactly do I get this new, improved brain?!