The US Mint is offering a Boy Scouts of America Centennial Silver Dollar. I think that'd make a pretty cool gift.

I am always tired - usually so tired that I have to drag myself out of bed even after a full night's sleep. I don't have any problem sleeping; I just don't feel rested afterwards. I also often have slight headaches and "brain fog". My blood work is all normal, including vit. b12 and vit. D (which was 40). Anyway, in a last ditch attempt to see if anything would make me feel better, I completely overhauled my diet. I wasn't eating unhealthy before, but thought I'd try increasing my fruits and veggies even further. In the process of doing this, I found I feel much better eating eggs (scrambled with veggies) than a whole wheat english muffin with natural peanut butter. The nurse at my doctor's office said that I might have a wheat sensitivity. Since then I've reduced the wheat in my diet further, and I feel great! I woke up this morning before 7:30 - without an alarm. And my head wasn't stuffy and my eyes weren't puffy like they usually are in the morning. If you have a wheat sensitivity, did you cut out all wheat? Or is a small bit okay? If I cut all wheat out, will I become more sensitive to it? I guess the only way I can tell if I need to be wheat free (versus gluten free) is to eliminate all of it and then try adding it back? Any book recommendations? Thanks for any ideas/suggestions you have!

Got 'em - thanks so much!

I ordered some for my boys from Lands' End. They have different styles, including plain, solid colors. It looks like they still have some styles on sale.

Yep, I'm going through the same thing here. My dentist also said that composite fillings are better because they actually bond to your teeth. I guess this would (in theory) make the tooth less likely to crack than if you have an amalgam filling. I don't think my dentist or ped. dentist work with amalgam at all.

I'm not sure I can help much, but this will at least bump your message to the top again. Have you read the Writing With Ease book? It explains the process and has samples of what to do throughout each of the first four years. It also has an evaluation at the end of each year that you could use to decide where to start with your son. I hope someone will be able to chime in with more advice/ideas. Good luck!

:iagree: Run, do not walk, to your local library or bookstore and pick up the Lightning Thief. My ds, now 11, has always enjoyed reading and would pretty much read anything I handed him. But this book was the first book that he read nonstop, finished in about a day, and begged me to take him to get the next book in the series. He did the same thing with the second & third books. His streak was broken when he had to wait for the remaining books to be released :tongue_smilie:. But the excitement he got from reading these books carried over to other books as well.

Our desktop is a pc. It's almost 6 years old. We've done memory upgrades, but have had no major problems (unlike my Mac with the failed hard drive after only 1.5 years). We're planning on replacing it soon, but only because dh (1) really wants to build a new computer on his own, and (2) wants more speed, memory, etc. for video/photo editing. You can only upgrade to a point :D. There's not a thing wrong with the machine. I do think that the quality of pcs varies greatly by brand.

I bought my Mac lapbook (not the Air Mac, just the standard laptop) in 2007. There's really no reason at all that they couldn't put a current (i.e., larger) hard drive in - after, we did on our own successfully. I believe that they didn't want to because it then forces you to upgrade your computer earlier (the hard drive I now have in my computer was not an option when I purchased my laptop). The worst part was that the store didn't have the smaller hard drive in stock, so they would have had to order it, but they still insisted that they could only install (replace) my hard drive with the same exact one that was in my computer. My old drive was 160 GB, my new one is 300-something :D. My point is really just that any computer can have problems - buying a Mac doesn't mean the clouds are going to part and the angels are going to sing. :D I haven't had problems with my cameras or even printers, just the wireless router for some reason. But Airport seems to work like a charm.

Well I have Mac laptop, and its hard drive failed after a year and a half. Yes, that can happen to any computer, but I've never had a drive fail that quickly - and without any warning. And - even worse, in my opinion - when we went to take it to the Mac store, they would only replace the hard drive with exactly what was in there. My dh went to Best Buy instead (as the Mac store won't sell you any parts) and got a hard drive that was twice as large for about the same amount of money. Also, we've found our Mac doesn't always "play nice" with non-Apple components. When I first had my Mac it would drop the wireless connection constantly; my dh's pc laptop had no problem. We switched to Apple airport and it has been much, much better. But even then, it'll still randomly drop the connection. I don't hate my Mac, but I do think they've lost some of the stability & quality that used to make them so great. :auto:

Kids Discover. Some issues are on history and some are on science. They are very well done with lots of good information and no advertisements. I save every issue.

Definitely Kids Discover for your science lovers. Very, very well done and covers many different and interesting topics. I don't save much, but I save every issue of these. We also like Zoobooks. My kids like National Geographic for Kids, but I think it's a bit light on information.

For prevention, you could use Body Glide - I use it when I'm running long distances to prevent chafing. It glides on and is not greasy or sticky. I think it's allatoin. If you can't find that, Johnson & Johnson makes a product called blister block which might work, but I've never tried it.

Do you like shrimp? This is excellent: Pad Thai 3 TBSP lime juice (fresh) 3 TBSP Asian fish sauce 2 TBSP ketchup 2 TBSP brown sugar 1 TBSP grated gingerroot 1 TBSP reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 tsp toasted sesame oil ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes 8 oz. noodles, cooked (can use rice noodles) 2 tsp peanut or vegetable oil ½ cup very thinly sliced shallots 2 tsp minced garlic 2 medium red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 16 oz. uncooked medium shrimp, peeled & deveined ½ cup chopped green onions ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro ¼ cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts (optional) Do all the chopping first so you have everything ready to go. Then, whisk together lime juice, fish sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, gingerroot, soy sauce, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper flakes in a bowl & set aside. Heat the peanut oil in a large, non-stick pan. Add shallots and garlic. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until shallots are tender, about 2 minutes. Add red pepper and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often. Add shrimp. Cook & stir until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. Add reserved sauce, noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, and cilantro. Toss and cook until mixture is hot, about 1 minute. Add peanuts and toss again. Serve immediately.

My youngest ds will be 6 in July. When he was 4 he went to preschool three mornings a week. I can't tell you how many times he came home with letter worksheets with barely anything on them. But now, he's doing WWE level 1, and Spelling Workout A without any trouble. What I'm trying to say is don't worry! Read, read, read to him and be glad that he enjoys it so much - the writing will come. If you do want to continue working on letters, what about trying shaving cream or play-doh?