I believe it's because long ago trousers were in two pieces--one for each leg, and then tied around the top. Women didn't wear underwear for a very long time... there are lots of medeival stories about lady so-and-so falling down, and revealling her bottom to everyone. It was considered very funny.

Yep! Ikea here as well... we have everything from Billy to Ivar, and after 15 years of marriage they are all still in good shape.

Yeah... I'm usually wear underwear or a ratty old t-shirt. Mmmm... love those ratty t-shirts! A couple of times a year I go on trips that require me to share a room with someone (women's retreats, church training events), and I'm always stumped when I finally pack because I don't have night wear that is appropriate for public viewing. Not a single pair of PJs!

I agree... I think it depends on the teasing. I would never allow "making fun of" in a mean spirited way, and that would be considered unkind speech and against the rules. But there is also a kind of affectionate "teasing" that is an appropriate way of interacting--sort of related to irony in conversational terms. I think that everyone needs to learn how to cope with what Laura calls "good natured ribbing". Maybe it is more common among boys, but I was an only child and my dad certainly falls into the "friendly teasing" sort of personality, and I hear my dh do this with my boys all the time. Part of maturity is the ability to laugh at oneself, IMHO.

I like bumper stickers, and we have 2-3 on each car. Political or homeschooling are the two major categories. But.... no road rage! Really--I'm a pretty passive driver and I don't even yell and swear when I'm alone. Occasionally I do use sarcasm..."Yeah, that was smart." or "Don't let the red light deter you or anything." I'm wondering if they counted "Christian fish" in their study? Hmmmm...

My older ds started with Prima Latina at 5, but he was already a strong reader. My younger ds really WANTS to learn Latin--it must be cool if his big brother is doing it--but he's 4 and not reading yet. We'll wait until at least he is reading fluently before starting. At this rate, I'm guessing he'll be 6 or 7.

Yeah! I prayed for you earlier, and I'm so glad it went well. Move those shoulders and the air will be gone fairly soon... and no more gallbladder pain! Take care and rest for a couple of days...

I've been making no-knead bread from scratch this year. It really is easy... and no kneading. I do bake it in a heavy Dutch Oven, but I basically use a combination of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe and the New York Times no-knead recipe. I make enough dough for 4 large (5 cups of flour) loaves every other week--and bake it as needed. Delicious!

Both of mine were like this... they wanted to be held all the time. Mosly we just wore them or passed them back and forth to make sure they were held--they both were fine with daddy holding them as well, so that wasn't an issue. The only thing that would substitute for a short time was a swing... at meals we would slip the sleeping baby into the automatic swing, and they would stay asleep. Something about the movement? Anyhow, you might try that!

Thanks so much! Now I'll have several to browse and decide which is the coolest! Thanks, all!

for my dss 4 and 6. They can do anything they want, as long as it is in thier rooms and quiet. The older one usually reads or listens to audio books, the younger generally plays with legos or other small quiet toys. Dh usually sleeps when he's home for quiet time, I do house work or work on the computer. But it's about as quiet as it gets during waking hours around here! Ds 6 also has a required "silent reading time" for 1/2 hour, but that is usually out on the couch with everyone reading at the same time, not alone in his room. Then he has to read, not simply play quietly.

Any suggestions? He's still at an age when Pokemon are the most beautiful things he can think of, so colorful, exciting with lots of detail would be good. I'm looking for a large poster I can purchase for his room... Thank you!

:lol:!!

I'll be praying for you too... I know it will all go soooooo smoothly. We'll "see" you soon back here!

:lol: I hadn't really intended to include "that" kind of talk...

We always use proper medical terminology--my boys know p*nis and t*sticles and scr*tum, etc. No "jimmies" or "tinklers" or anything like that around here. Women have breasts, not "ta-tas". After the thread about your least favorite words I wondered; how many around here use euphemisms? In grown up conversation, or just with your kids? You can share your favorite if you care to...

I can hardly bring myself to type it, but here goes: smegma. That is all.

"Sounds like a personal problem to me!" I also say this frequently, in response to whining or complaining, etc... My dh votes for: "Half of one, six dozen of the other." Ds 6 votes for: "To protect the world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation..." (it's a Pokemon thing). Dh and I think his favorite phrase is: "It was an accident." Ds 4 votes for: "Doo-doo dancey paper clip." Which he has never said before until I asked him what his favorite phrase is.

My oldest ds is a very auditory learner. I'm thinking about starting next year burning him a CD every week with the SOTW section, poems read aloud (probably by me, unless there is a Harp and Laurel Wreath CD?), any other memory work or literature selections. Does anyone do this? How does it work?

I'm going to be using the Prentice Hall Science Explorers Earth Science next year with my upcoming 2nd grader (he's 6, will turn 7 in December.) I picked Science Explorers because it has such great recommendations on these boards. He is PG and reads on a high school level--even so, I know it will be "good challenging" for him. There are lots of concepts that are fairly sophisticated mathematically speaking. He is definately logic stage in his thinking, or I wouldn't consider using them. They are written for 6-8th graders, but will work for us. You know your kids best!

Our rent (no, we can't afford to own) is about 40% of our income. We live on cash (no credit cards at all), but it's hand to mouth, we don't have anything left over for savings. Nada. Zip. Zilch. In some areas of the country our income would probably go farther, but here we are definately lower middle class. Prices are high. I don't make much in ministry, and I'm not willing to give up my call to make more money. My dh is a SAHD, but also permanently disabled now. Sorry, Mr. Ramsey, I'm never going to be able to live according to your "rules"! I seem to remember a comment once about clearing purchases of more than $300 with your spouse, and I had to laugh--I don't think we ever MAKE purchases of more than that! If I need to buy new underwear I call my dh and we check the bank account and usually decide the elastic can hold out a little longer... lol! Generally I skip those thread because it can be very disenheartening to read about people who have more money than I ever will talk about being "frugal". Remember the income poll? I could hardly believe the number of people who make more than $100,000 a year--a third of the board! http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19581&highlight=income+poll I know these threads aren't intended to make the poor among us feel bad, but it's hard... so I just smile and move on...

Do you sing your children as part of your bedtime routine? I often do, and as I sang tonight I realized how my repetoire is much the same as the songs my mother sang to me. My boys often have requests for particular songs, and singing for them in bed reminds me of how it was when I was a little girl. If you said "Yes!" to singing your kids to sleep, would you post your frequent repetoire? I'm interested to know what sort of songs other families sing as lullabies. My ds4's favorite lullaby is Hush, Little Baby. My ds6 usually asks for a "Jesus song"--anything from that category. When they were tiny babies, I mostly sang "Summertime... and the livin' is easy..." for them. I remember my mom singing "Turnaround", and it makes me cry to sing it every time. These are some of the ones we frequently sing-- Songs I sing that I remember my mom singing: Turnaround Sunrise, Sunset Hush Little Baby (Mockingbird) Summertime Where Have All the Flowers Gone Don't Fence Me In Oh, Give Me A Home Streets of Laredo Toot, Toot, Tootsie Goodbye Maresy Doates Over the Rainbow Today, While The Blossoms Still Cling to their Vines Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (the Frost poem set to music) Christmas carols at that time of year Rainbow Connection (we'd sing this together, but only after the movie came out, so I was a tween at the time) Songs I've added as a mom myself: Who We Are (by Sweet Honey in the Rock) We Shall Overcome If I Had a Hammer Down By the Riverside We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder John Henry All the Pretty Little Horses Lulla, Lulla, Lullabye, Sleep My Little Child The Stolen Child (version of the Yeats poem) A Cold Wind Blows over the Heather All in All (and a lot of contemporary praise songs) tons of hymns--Precious Lord, Take My Hand is my favorite

I must admit... I like watching Max and Ruby. We haven't ever read the books (and it's been a while since I've seen the show), but it's like this surreal world where Ruby vows never to show emotion, and Max must try to to destroy her with his magic word power. I guess I see it kind of like the Village in Prisoner--it has all it's own rules, and the goals are unclear. Maybe we should watch it back to back... Prisoner and Max and Ruby.

Ds (6) wants to be a chemist. Ds (4) wants to be a train driver, or a mad scientist ("Mad crazy, not mad angry"), or a Pokemon trainer.

These are children from our local area--born here in Los Angeles, English speaking, he was 6 when he was adopted. The parents found them at an adoption fair. I do believe they spent some time in the foster system, but I don't know how long they were with the birth parents (if at all). I worked hard on myself and prayed about this a lot this morning at church, and came to a decision. The best thing that I can do for this family is to be a resource for them. As much as I might disapprove of her choices, disapproval isn't going to help these kids. So maybe she will want to respond, maybe not, but I thought I'd send an invitational email (take her out to lunch?) since we "have boys the same age who struggle with ADHD". I may not make much of a difference in this particular boy's life, but perhaps by offering some support and experience to his new mom (who, based on lots of stuff like prior knowledge of her, and the tone, facial expression & things she said) I continue to believe is not dealing with this well. In the past I had found her to be an emotionally fragile person, and I'm sure she's overwhelmed... so I'm going to work hard, HARD, to not judge but to offer assistance. And maybe some alternative ideas, when that is appropriate. Pray for this family, please! Thanks all for listening...