“Did you ask Mrs. Smith if she would write your recommendation? And did you remember to pick up the unofficial transcript in the office today? You should register for SATII’s right now if you want to get a good location.”….

No surprise that your senior is avoiding you.

It’s your last year with your senior at home, dont let college applications spoil it. In order to avoid this stress trap I recommend that you Schedule two ( for some as short as 15 minutes) “meetings” each week to discuss college to do’s or questions. Ideally, one will be on the weekend and one midweek. In return for your senior promising to attend these meetings, you will promise to save all of your college-related questions for the next “meeting”. Setting up a place on the refrigerator where questions can be listed will allow you both to move on without fear of forgetting the question.
Its a great way to get your senior back, and feel that you are driving the college admission process not being driven mad by it.  Though some days it is difficult to believe that the college application process is not the center of your universe, it isn’t. Being there when a test score is disappointing or a funny thing happened at lunch may do more for your senior in the long run than never-ending reminders about his or her college applications.

PS You might wish to ask your senior if they would prefer to not have every extended family gathering include a discussion of where they are applying to college. One senior sent her final list to her family via email and promised to let them know any news as it arrived.