JQuery :: Focus Not Working In Onblur Handler?

I have a requirement to handle dates by using three fields, a (year) text field and two (month and day) selects. I fill the selects using jQuery, which works beautifully. However, I have an onblur handler for the year field that handles filling the month select and an onblur handler for the month select that handles filling the day select. Part of this is to get the right number of days for a month (and for leap years), but part of it is also to force users to enter the data in order so that I can process it correctly.

However, I check in both the onblur handler of the year text box and the onblur handler of the month select whether or not the year value is entered (since if it isn't, there's no point in continuing to the day field). If there is no year value, I call

$year.focus();

and exit the handler.

Unfortunately, the focus when all this returns is still on the month select. Adding "event.preventDefault()" and "event.stopPropogation()" within the handler have no effect.

I have a feeling that there's something very subtle going on that I'm missing. Among the points I have realized is that calling $year.focus() in the year onblur handler may activate the month onblur handler (since the month is the next input, I assume it gets focus when the year is blurred). This should not have any effect, since both handlers check for the year value just in case - but I wanted to note it in passing.