Dare I admit here that my Marine husband will refer to me occasionally as the Gunny? Aubrey, I have 4 kiddos stair stepping from 7 down to 21 months. There's no two ways about it, it's hard! Let's see if I can offer at least a modicum of help. Mmmm, while I was nursing I usually placed the offender on the floor right beside me, facing the couch/chair/etc. This usually helped calm everyone down. Also, as someone else mentioned, we had a gated off area where I didn't have to worry about a toddler getting into something/some place s/he shouldn't. I've used the playpen idea as well and had no problem with the child recognizing the difference between a time-out and rest time. Sometimes, though, I have to admit that I had to chase down an offending child while simultaneously nursing an infant. Let's just say that this led to some, um, interesting wardrobe malfunctions. I became quite proficient at one-armed nursing (after the wee one was past the neonate stage). Survival of the fittest seems a pretty apt description to me. I don't know that I've recovered yet and my youngest weaned himself some 8 months ago. Good Luck!

DQ (it sounds like I'm calling you a fast food joint, huh?), I read your update and am so glad your dd seems to be doing better now. I have to gently disagree with your assessment, though. Children not breathing = automatic trip to an ER (preferably a children's ER, if you're lucky enough to have one in your general area). Hopefully, there will be no next time. IF there is, honey, please get your daughter to the ER even if she seems to start breathing normally. ER's, especially the city/county/regional ER's, are required by federal law to treat patients, even those who cannot pay. And most ER's in my area are very good about setting up very reasonable payment plans (as in $5 - $10/month). Remember, this was an emergency even though your dd started breathing again, especially since there isn't a definitive diagnosis yet. As far as the doctor's office, I'm just flabbergasted at the receptionist's response to you. Please talk to your children's case worker. To say this is outrageous is an understatement. Again, I'm so very glad to hear your dd is better. Good luck to you with everything!

Can I have an AMEN?!?! My behavior/emotional state tends to depend on whether or not I'm driving the ambulance. Off duty -- I get as frustrated as the next person and am apt to perchance utter that which tender ears should not hear. (Well, I don't think my eldest ds & dd have such tender ears anymore. I recently heard my ds7 say "D***!" in just the same manner as a certain parental unit who shall remain nameless:blush:) I don't, however, drive any more aggressively. On duty -- whole 'nother can of worms. For better or worse, I get really upset at drivers who don't move.outta.my.way when I have the whoo-whoo's on. Note that I said "don't", not "can't". Or even better, those who try to get out of the way by pulling right in front of my ambulance. Yes, I can't tell you how many times I've seen (and fortunately avoided -- thank you CEVO) drivers who pulled from the right lane into the left lane. Let's just say that I'm very thankful that (a)we don't have loudspeakers where I could address the public [oh, the temptation...] and (b)the ambulance isn't bugged because I think my boss might not appreciate my (and my partner's) creative use of the English language. My partner and I have drawn up detailed plans for the type of ambulance we'd like to drive. It involves having 3-man crews instead of the usual 2. The third medic would be needed to man the gun turret which would be placed on top of the box. The tail gunner would then be responsible for shooting cars who don't obey the laws regarding yielding to emergency vehicles. Usually, these cars would be shot with paintballs thereby allowing local law enforcement to issue tickets. Sometimes, however, live fire might be used. You just never know...

Ah, I read her post as saying that Jefferson's letter discussing the separation of church and state led to the writing of the First Amendment to the Constitution. I was merely pointing out that the timeline she mentioned wasn't quite accurate. If I misread her post, then that's a whole 'nother thang.:D And I wholeheartedly agree with Mrs. Mungo regarding The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates. Very interesting insight into the founding fathers and their respective views regarding the role of the central government.

Are you saying that Jefferson's letter of 1802 directly led to the writing of the First Amendment to the Constitution? If so, that is mistaken as the Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution) were written in the 1790's as an answer to the anti-Federalist movement (especially in New York and several of the southern states). In fact, it is doubtful that the Constitution would have been ratified if the Bill of Rights were not incorporated into the Constitution, such was the contention between the supporters of a strong central gov't (Federalists) and the supporters of a weaker central gov't (anti-Federalists) during this time period (1780's/1790's).

I agree with everything Amy wrote. Has something changed or is something different which might account for this behavior? Did his attitude change start when you started school? When you started having to focus on the wee one and the upcoming surgery? Don't limit your thinking to things which might stress an adult. As you know kids can strongly react to things we grown-ups believe just isn't that big a deal. Is this behavior which occurs only when he's doing his lessons? Or does he exhibit this behavior all the time? He is six. I know it's a hard age. My eldest (now 7) was a bear to be around at six. Six was a hard year for us. Have you read The Five Love Languages of Children? This book has helped me identify ways of showing my love for my kids in ways which resonate with them. I might suggest dropping formal school right now. He won't be "behind". Focus on him as much as you can and work on repairing your relationship with him. There is nothing he has to learn today or this year which he won't learn next year or even later this year. Just have fun with him. I have 4 kids; I know it's hard to give each one individual time. I've had 2 with very serious reflux as infants (fortunately, no surgical intervention was needed). You're very stressed; your ds is very stressed; your family is stressed. One of the things I took away from the Love Languages book is that there can be no discipline without there first being unconditional love for the child. What the authors mean is that we parents can discipline (or punish - they don't use those terms interchangeably) all we want; but, if the child isn't convinced that we love them first, the discipline will simply engender anger, hurt, and ill-feelings. I'm by no means saying you don't love your child or that your love is conditional. Sometimes, though, especially when we're in a rut, the child thinks that maybe Mama doesn't love him or may not love him when he's bad. So, he tests the "limits" of your love. See, there's that funky kid-view again. Find informal times to learn -- nature walks, drawing, puzzles, reading together, active play outside. Please don't worry about the formal academics; they'll come in time. Good Luck with your son and I hope your youngest's surgery goes well.

First of all, I'm so glad your dh is doing well! It's very scary when events like this happen. I hope you had a good experience with the paramedics. If I'm remembering where you live correctly, the medics would have been from the same system for which I work. Fortunately, we are very lucky in that there are several good hospitals in this area, especially ones for cardiac care. Good Luck to you and your dh. And congratulations to your dd.

Nice to know ya, ma'am. <tipping hat>

No, really, you could have made more of an effort. We eagerly looked for you. We anticipated your arrival and planned great celebrations of your bountiful percipitation. You let us down. Not even a stiff breeze in our general direction, to say nothing of rain. You ran out of steam (as it were) before you were very far inland. What a let down. What disappointment. Back to triple digit days. :glare:

One of my dearest wishes is to be able to afford solar panels for the house and either live off the grid or (insert evil laugh) make my electric company pay me for any excess electricity I generate. We certainly have the right physical and geographical exposure for solar panels. Just not the right financial exposure at this time.

:iagree: Our house is 2 story, just under 4000 sq ft, and in Central Texas. Thermostats at same temps as above. Ceiling fans in every room. We hang clothes to dry and have propane for heating water/cooking. Our last bill was $445. I hate PEC. (ok, maybe hate is too strong a word. but I intensely dislike 'em. how's that.) Dh just ordered a radiant barrier. Hopefully, that will help a little. <Sigh> It's about time to order some more propane as well. <Huge Sigh>

I think it would depend on both your educational philosophy and curricula choices. My 2nd grader (ds7) completes about, mmm, 2 hours total of written work in the morning. We focus on Latin, math, copywork/cursive practice. Usually it's a little less. He reads to me when the younger kids are down for their naps and has his assigned (quiet) reading time after this. History and science are done in the afternoons for an hour or so (not both on the same day). Even though ds really enjoys these subjects, they don't form the focus of our school. Piano practice is generally in the evening during dinner prep. There is plenty of time for him to work out the wigglies. Mean mom that I am, I have been known to have him run down to the garden and back 2 or 3 times to burn off energy. His sister (dd5) often accompanies him and it irritates him no end when she invariably "beats" him back to the house. :D We don't start at the same time every day as my work schedule doesn't allow for that. I aim for my kids to complete their written skills work before lunch; but, well, I also have 2 toddlers and you know what they say about the best laid plans....

I've heard of this mythical substance which falls from on high, quenches the thirst of drooping flora and fauna, and generally brings with it a blessed cooling (or, at least, a temporary less hot state). I am not, however, familiar with it.

Right now both dh and I work full time. That will soon change to me working full time working ot shifts as I can pick them up. Dh is retiring at the first of the year! :hurray: This means that we'll automatically lose our "second mortgage" -- our child care payments! This is something we've wanted to do for a long time and we finally sat down and worked up a cost-benefit analysis. We realized that we would actually come out slightly ahead if dh retired and I picked up 1 (what is laughingly called) OT shift per pay period. We're both so excited. Actually, now that I think about it, dh plans on getting a 20 hr/wk PT job to work on a few of the days I'm off duty. But this money would simply be extra.

:iagree: After 40+ days of over 100 degrees (not including the heat index - that put us over 110!), we know our limits. The only time the kids can really run and play outside is before 10am. After that it is simply too dangerous to play hard in that heat. They do play indoors; but, we live in the country. That means there are no kids for mine to just play with whenever they want. As far as academics, we take breaks when we want/need them irrespective of the the formal school year. I've found with my kids that doing a little math and Latin every day (and I mean working for maybe an hour or so) helps keeps the little grey cells from completely atrophying. ;) We enjoy doing "summer things" in just about any season other than summer.

For my family of 6, we average $500-$600/mo (this is probably 90% groceries). We have to buy soy/rice/almond milk (whichever is cheaper that day) and some other specialty items as I have 2 kids who are extremely sensitive to dairy. Dh and I saved up and bought a soymilk maker to try and (ultimately) save some money. Don't have it yet, though. Let's see...we don't buy meat unless it is either on sale or about to expire (in which case the butcher will usually discount it for you). We then freeze the meat. We also have a garden which helps on veg prices. Unfortunately, because we've had 40 days of over 100 degree heat, the garden simply isn't as productive as it was last year. :glare: I also bake all the bread/goodies for the family. We rarely use paper towels; so, this saves us some money as well. We have a huge rag container for cleaning, etc. We've also begun cleaning mainly with vinegar mixed with either Citra-Solv or a few drops of Tea Tree Oil. Not having to constantly buy different cleaners has helped quite a bit, budget-wise. Hmmm - there's probably more, but I'm tired right now and not all the synapses are firing, yet. Good Luck with your budget.

:iagree::iagree: BA in Music here (vocal principle) and I completely agree. When I was at university, so many singers had such trouble with ear training and music theory classes because all they had focused on prior to uni classes was singing. Also, I knew of three young ladies who really hurt their voices because their vocal teacher assigned them the "Queen of the Night" aria... as 18 year olds. :eek::thumbdown: My eldest son (7 yo) sings with the Cathedral Boys' Choir in our area and I am completely comfortable with him doing that because I went to school with the director. In fact, I helped him out in a couple of musicology classes! He and I continue to sing together several times throughout the liturgical year.

I haven't ordered those particular courses, yet :D, but have ordered either transcripts or course guides for other history/philosophy courses. I don't think they're necessary, especially if your ds takes good notes. They could be helpful, though, especially if your ds needs to relisten to a particular section.

:iagree: Our situation as well. Dh bought the house/land before we married and then we needed to expand the house as our family expanded. Although we did most of the work ourselves (the beauty of living out in the county -- no building codes to worry about) we still ended up having to re-finance our mortgage and roll a home improvement loan into it. We're working very hard to pay down the mortgage to own the property outright! I work doubles when I can and we put the extra money (such that it is) into extra payments. But, oy vey, working 48 hour shifts is getting harder as I get older.

You bet! I inherited a complete set from my grandmother, including a spelling book, and I use them for my son to practice reading aloud to me and for copywork. I guess the language might be dated for some; but, as I'm an old fashioned kinda gal, it doesn't bother me in the least. The primer does not generally follow a modern phonics program (at least not OPGTR; I'm not familiar with other programs), so I don't try to coordinate lessons. Any words ds is not familiar with, I read to him and give him a quick lesson on the "rule". I plan on using all of the readers with my kids. As an aside, my mom and g-mom always said (usually in reference to messy hair), "Well, that looks like Ned in the first reader." Guess where that reference comes from!?:lol:

Please don't think you need to do anything so formal with a 3 yo. Really, learning a letter a day is fine. Or a shape a day. Or a color a day. Or a number a day. Just make the time to read to her. Take her outside and find pretty/interesting leaves, rocks, doodle bugs...anything that piques her interest. That innate curiosity and desire to learn new things which is so wonderful for we parents to experience can so easily be beaten down by early academics. I promise, I promise, she will not be "behind". Enjoy her being three. Enjoy your journey of being her mama. Academics will come. Have fun!

Hmmm...as one who majored in Music I both agree and, um, not so much disagree as perhaps have a different perspective on what you said. I'm not sure which website you're referring to; but, as Angela in Ohio said, a site dedicated to classical music is generally understood to encompass the Western tradition. [i'm differentiating between classical music - the genre - and Classical Music (or music of the Classical period - generally held to be most of the 18th century through early Beethoven)]. I gather a site dedicated to classical music would necessarily have to choose representative pieces which best exemplify the general characteristics of each musical era and/or which show transitions to the next era. This with well over 1000 years of music in the western canon from which to choose. Now, certainly other cultures have their own classical music traditions which are definitely worth studying. (I love the music of Japanese traditional Kabuki theatre.) I don't think most people deliberately exclude non-Western traditions from their studies. As Angela said geography studies are great for introducing and studying various cultures' artistic traditions. I don't know about the university in your area; but, the ones in my area (which includes a well regarded School of Music - my alma mater!) don't have free concerts. Granted, though, the fee really isn't all that much. And don't forget that those grad students will probably charge at least a nominal fee (I say this just to make everyone aware so you can plan finances accordingly.) But you're absolutely right about taking advantage of your community's artistic offerings. They're a great resource! I also agree that studying music theory really enhances understanding and appreciation of music history.

:iagree: My kids really enjoyed these, especially Lugalbanda.

I'll only reply to the 1st grader as my eldest is a "second grader" this year. You noted that your ds wasn't reading yet. Have you already started with OPGTR? If so, where are you in the book? Is he pretty comfortable with phonics and reading basal readers (like BOB books) fairly easily? Given the fact that you're still in OPGTR and you're using ETC books, I might consider holding off on FLL at least for now. There is some grammar instruction in OPGTR. To me it seems like a lot of grammar/reading/phonics instruction, especially if OPGTR, ETC, and FLL are done every day. Your ds, however, may really love that. That's the only thing that jumped out at me.

I beg to differ, the best folks for getting hard sticks are the ones who have to get IV's bouncing around in the back of an ambulance whilst simultaneously bracing themselves with their legs between the stretcher and the wall of the unit. :D "The veined rolled on me" is a common excuse in the medical field for missing a stick. Not that I've ever used it, you understand. ;) And, yes, 15ga is ginormous. We carry 14ga catheters on the ambulance and in 10 1/2 years, I've used it maybe 3 times.