I'd forgo it for ebola :D but not for H1N1 (according to our workplace's CDC info sheet, H1N1 is actually generally milder than the seasonal flu, just easier to catch/wider range of victims), seasonal flu, strep, or the other traditional late-autumn illnesses. In fact, we might be doing Halloween at the children's discovery museum. There is trick-or-treating there as part of it. And other kids, touching everything. Immune building and fun at the same time ;). Oh, and we have food allergy (dairy) and intolerance (red dye 40) here, and will just be "trading" their unsafe candy for safe candy.

Awwwww. :001_smile: We are trying to pay off debt now that we are making a bit more than we were (I had a position change/raise in Jan), and then it will be easier to make things work. And we don't buy the kids much at all for birthdays/Christmas. The grandparents get plenty, lol. The kids are used to playing with something at a store and then saying, "goodbye ____" and putting it back. They don't expect to buy things or get treats everywhere. Except maybe the free balloon at the market, lol. If we want to buy extra, we try to sell something or dh donates plasma for play money. And after working opposite shifts for over 4 years, I'd rather pinch more if it means we can be together as a family. So we'll possibly/probably try to go to one income next year. Hopefully dh will get a decent raise in Jan. His boss likes him, lol. Oh, and we also pay tithing. Tithing blessings are like Christmas all the time! We were a bit underwater this last month and we paid tithing on time anyway, and then I found over $300 we misplaced two months ago. Seriously. :D

We don't make anyone else work (no shopping, movies, eating out, etc), no real schoolwork (I might read but no studying/tests/papers), try to watch scripture-related media only, go to church, spend family time, read scriptures, write to other family members.

We are a low income now but thinking about having me stay home. Eeeek! Right now we work on opposite shifts (no daycare), own a home (mobile home but with fenced yard :D), use cloth diapers, breastfeed (it's definitely cheaper :lol:), buy almost no processed foods, no pets to take care of, shop at Costco for what we can, don't have cable TV, don't really eat out... are generally cheap :tongue_smilie:. ETA: I am finishing my degree and dh will be starting school next summer.

I already ordered stuff on Monday :lol: (but still no shipping notice :glare:). I'm excited for all my loot :tongue_smilie:

Interesting posts :). I know I taught my dds almost the same way (as much as possible), and while dd1 thrived on books/songs/posters, dd2 did not seem to pick up ANYTHING taught that way. If she is moving or the subject matter is moving, then she gets it. Reading books/alphabet song/letter games/posters/etc for ABCs--nada. Signing Time ABC Practice Time over a period of two weeks--knew every single letter. She seems to be able to apply her learning in other places once she learns it, but as far as I can tell she really only learns with movement, herself moving or her instruction moving (like Starfall.com, or climbing stairs while counting, etc). She has some sensory issues but they shouldn't be the sole cause of this--her therapists were very surprised.

:iagree:This one has printable handwriting sheets and activity pages and all sorts of worksheets for I think $20/year.

If I remember right, you can be gluten intolerant but NOT have Celiac's, but if you have Celiac's you obviously can't tolerate gluten. Celiac's isn't just an intolerance to gluten (which is different and some people have that) but a whole immune response and causes other illnesses/issues, not just digestive.

Yep. :grouphug: When dd was little, she seemed to react to milk, soy, anything acidic, and corn. Most citric acid is derived from corn--and so is practically everything else in the American diet. :confused: But she grew out of most of those (one reason why we were okay to try dairy again), and now we know it was probably her uber-sensitivity to dairy that made her overreact to everything. But man, it's hard to find things with no citric acid, no corn. Bleh.

Wool here! Thirsties are huge on my skinny girls and they could all undo Velcro quickly--but drawstring waists, not so much ;). And I don't dunk anything in the toilet. Most poop will actually fall off into the toilet once it's solid. You can also use flushable liners that drop off with all the contents into the toilet.

What kind of games does it have? Would it be repetitive for someone who does know all the letter sounds?

Yup! Love Earth Balance.

My 3-yr-old learned to read with Starfall.com and lots of reading together. She HATED the OPGTR :tongue_smilie:

Re: leaky gut, at least our pedi GI said dd is so sensitive to the milk that when she gets some, her system over-reacts to anything it's the tiniest bit bothered by for about a week, which fits what we've seen. That's part of what made it so hard to say "it was the dairy," because her body then freaks out off and on all week. After being completely dairy-free for 6 months and letting her system heal, we get to trial dairy again. If she still reacts, it's probably not just the internal damage needing to heal but a long-term allergy (per the GI, anyway). I bet long-term allergy.

Werd. We did avoid all dairy for about six months after that anyway, but then started trying some and she seemed okay, just gassy. But she was on hypoallergenic formula and still had the reflux problems the entire time, so we thought the reflux was unrelated but more likely she was one of the kids who couldn't handle even the tiny amounts of milk present in it. Sigh. Gotta love hindsight.

Our allergist tested dd for milk allergy at 9 months (was negative but is very inaccurate at that age), and told us that since it looked like just an intolerance we should avoid milk itself, we should feel okay to try cheese and yogurt and see how she did. And if it got worse, she should see the pedi GI. So we did--no milk, but she ate bits of cheese, yogurt, milk baked in, etc. Then we finally went to the pedi for her horrific reflux since 2 weeks old that still made her sob and throw up on Prevacid at almost 4 where a food diary gave no ideas. She was scoped and biopsied--and what do you know, she IS actually physically allergic to milk. In fact, the little milk exposures made her throat swell so that the opening to her stomach could not close--hence the horrible reflux. Acid just splashed right out into her throat. But with the little exposures, she was basically constantly inflamed and therefore there wasn't a new reaction when she had some dairy. Now that she has been dairy free for a while, we can tell when she has even the tiniest bit of baked in dairy. Normally she's reflux free now! In retrospect it makes sense that the bits of dairy were a problem but we thought we were following the allergist's advice like we ought to, as she had no skin/breathing reactions that indicated allergy. And yes, lots of people ask if she can have lactose-free milk (NO), or give her Goldfish (sigh), etc. She wore a "no milk" bracelet and showed it to everyone and was still given something with milk in it (when we weren't there).

I like to pull out the extreme shockers for those moments--"dude, she eats broken glass." "Whoa--that's not normal!!!!!" Duh. Neither was any of the other stuff, but the physical part is harder to explain away. Then they usually stop giving the "if you'd stop being so permissive and set some rules she'd be fine, why are you allowing her to behave like that" look. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I was given two blessings in which I was promised to develop patience--and man, she is a great patience teacher :lol:.

:lol::lol::lol::lol: According to the Website, nope. You can resell them within 6 weeks of purchase if you hate them and after that, they don't want you to even give them away. :thumbdown:

I'm impressed he could he--dh has no desire to eat on Adderall. But it is FANTASTIC for his behavior and mood (after over a year of therapy he finally decided to try them, and it makes a HUGE difference).

She's also speech delayed, so once she has a better grasp on pronouncing her consonants she'll be easier to understand. "F" is also her default letter, so it was "letter I'm not sure of, letter I, milk... ooh, I want some" :lol:. Attention span is still a 2-year-old's, LOL.

Only on this board would you guys take me seriously about a 2-year-old learning to read. You guys rock :D. I think I'll wait a couple months before I look at phonics for her--I want to see if she keeps up her exponential leaps of understanding, or if she slows down at this level. Right now she knows what sounds the letters make and likes to play at sounding out words (will sound out the letters in the word but not blend them), but she doesn't know the reverse yet, what letter makes what sound. I asked her how to spell "milk" for fun after reading this thread and she started excitedly with signing and saying, "F," "I,"... then signed "milk" and asked for some, LOL. So we'll wait a bit.

Super-nut ;) but some of those aren't fair because you get only half the points for planning on doing things that you can't do yet (like "will homeschool"). So I just said "yes" for what I definitely will do, no question, even if I can't now (like tandem BF--if I was preggo, yes, I totally would. But not preggo now).

Eew, haggis :lol: I believe in ID but I think that true science will support/genuine evidence will show that God-directed evolution occurred, and a scientist writing curricula and supporting any beliefs should be accurate and up-to-date on their science/research. Otherwise they're not writing science in any form of the word--more like history (the science that was, before all these new discoveries ;)). That's kind of sad. :confused:

Nope. Dd passed her newborn test, and then flunked the mandatory hearing screen at her Early Intervention evaluation at 17 months. She had some wax buildup (mild) but when they cleared that out, the pedi found that the wax had been hiding a symptomless double ear infection (!!) and who knows how many she has had previously, as she had no symptoms at all. (Well, besides her speech/communication/receptive delays.) Dd has really benefited from Starfall.com, and she likes the Leapfrog DVDs. I was thinking about Earobics but she also has sensory issues and so it's not all about her hearing, for us. Right now she knows all of her letter sounds, but she can't pronounce most of the consonants. She's actually up for another speech eval in a few months if she doesn't improve enough. Sigh.

My only non-reader is 2 :) (but is close--knows her letter sounds and loves to point them out and say the different letter sounds throughout the words, not just the first sounds). Would it work for her :D ?