I am so relieved for you! I also couldn't find words having kids in this age range. I was so concerned for you and your precious son. Sending the smoothest and safest of recoveries.

That sounds SO much like my first born. Who is now chosing to live and work in his college city and still won't say he "likes" it. It is "good" and "fine" though. 🤣 Waiting with bated breath on the update!

That is wonderful @Eos what a great response from the school. ❤️ I'm glad they fixed the situation for her so fast. I know housing departments can't pivot on a dime like this all the time.

My husband must of had what Cat had. It didn't seem too bad on that end this time around for him. He slept a normal night sleep prior. You do get recommendations for diet in the days prior to fast and prep to avoid nausea. I think stopping sooner really wouldn't help or be better. The prep is what cleans you out and fasting gets you there so you aren't filling up the pipes after. If you just fast, you don't get cleaned out. Your digistive system takes a break, you will still have stuff in your system.

My spouse just did one this week. I don't know exactly what you mean by "fasting simultaneously". You do a liquid diet the day before and then nothing day of until your procedure is over. He had a late day colonoscopy scheduled which was annoying and just dragged the whole drama out. (so on that note, if you're doing it, try to schedule early in the day). And the prep you take really cleans you out. But no, I would not add any complexity onto that or stretch it out. Because plenty of people feel not great doing it as written. Another day of nothing in your system could throw things off further IMO.

I wouldn't worry about this at all. It works itself out. I would certainly not have a 5th just to "even things out" unless that were on our agenda, we were financially prepared, etc. My kids are 4 years apart, oppositite gender. They are young adults now and are super close. I will also say, you just don't know what life will bring. My brother and I are 18 months apart and were pretty close growing up. For various reasons, we aren't close at all now and if my mom died I'd probably rarely to never see him. My spouse has 3 siblings. There is a big range, they are all 4-5 years between each. And they are all pretty close. You never know how relationships are going to shake out later.

I don't know what the OP was but my kids both seamlessly went and continue to go back and forth from microsoft tools to google suite without much effort. Google Docs and Sheets are actually formatted very similarly to the Microsoft line and I have gone back and forth too. I mostly use google now because we stopped paying for Microsoft. Between both of of my kids there were 5 different educational settings involved. It really isn't rocket science. If you had a kid anxious about something like this before starting college, I'd recommend digging around for a cheap self guided course on udemy. You can typically find something on sale or a discount code, I don't think we've ever paid for more than like $30 for one of their courses. If you login, it shows much cheaper pricing. ETA - there is intro adobe classes too, but I'd be pretty surprised if campuses really expected kids to be fluent in those tools out of the gate. That may come up later for major related stuff.

Sounds like a great trip! I've had the Russian Tea House on my to do list for awhile, thanks for the review. ❤️

I know when I was buying stuff like this, I'd read ingredient lists. Like there was some frozen chicken available here that had minimal ingredients and a whole grain breading. I didn't really consider those "bad". Are the frozen fries just "potatos" that are going to be oven baked and not deep fried? We do oven fries in the air fryer, keep skins on, a spritz of clean oil, garlic and onion powder, etc . They aren't a nutritional boon, but I consider those ok. I think the problem with any of these choices is the lack of fruit/veggie/fiber. A plain burger on a whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, onion would be ok occassionally. Or pair with some raw veggies, sliced fruit, etc. a whole grain carb on the side would be better.

This just happened to my spouse yesterday. Just a bruise here, no big deal.

This actually just happened to my husband in the past couple weeks. He went somewhere, had to show ID, and they told him it expired lol. In our state, you definitely DO NOT have to do the road test again. That seems crazy. Our state typically mails out a reminder too, I am not sure what happened there because he doesn't think he got a reminder. When we were younger, we were pulling out ID all the time writing checks, etc. Now we almost never have to pull out ID. Who pays attention to that? He has done real ID. I still haven't done that yet, sigh. I'm nervous if I even have all the paperwork readily available.

Well someone in the past year or so started a craft group (all types, anything that can be carried in) at our local library. We do have a good number of regular attendees and some of us have done other social stuff together. She advertised on lots of local boards, put a flyer in the library we use, neighborhood mail lists, etc. Meet up is worth a try for starting or looking for current options that may exist.

I especially like the open ear ones walking on streets, in public places, so I can be aware and hear what is going on around me. The ones I have also have a button on the side that will pause and restart my podcast, book, music, etc so I don't have to play with my phone to get it done.

The ones that go in my ears don’t work well for me either. I have a pair of shokz over the ear. I’ve had them for a few years and I love them. I wear them working in the kitchen, walking outside, etc. I have a cheap pair of individual over the ear ones I keep near my bed. https://shokz.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh4MypVAPRKq8U16YnnFVTplPkpUeiVGM8np-n4FtFQh3T1UI7UGxFxoCvoAQAvD_BwE

That's funny, I actually edited to add this, we went there not too long ago when we went down to UChicago and did the FLW tour. We were just looking for other things to do down on the south side while we were there and this museum TOTALLY exceeded expectations. Very cool little museum if you are interested in early human history. Perfect field trip for story of the world volume 1!

I used a city pass when I was in Boston for the first time and that is a really nice option and left me with some time to wander and walk too.

I have a college freshman in Chicago this year. SO MUCH TO DO. I love it so much. I think I've visited like 6-7 times in the past 18 months or so. Art museum, field museum, planeterium, aquarium If I were picking one thing to do with a newbie, the boat tour done by Chicago First Lady and the Chicago Architecture Center is amazing. Theater district - check what shows are playing. Comedy Clubs - we have been to Second City a couple times, super fun! You can get discount offers on their mailing list (their stuff is generally rate R FYI) Walk millenium park and up Michigan Avenue. Note that the Bean has been closed, it is supposed to open sometime this spring but was closed last week yet so that might be something to check if you eally want the selfie at the bean. You can see it but can't get close. World's largest starbucks is on Michigan Ave. Frank Lloyd Wright tours - in town there is the Rookery and Robie House on UChicago campus. ETA - there are other museums down by the Robie house and UChicago's campus is nice too. We went to the Inst for Study of Ancient Cultures - WOW, amazing hidden gem if you enjoyed early SOTW 🙂 Off beat museums - Chicago History Museum, Jane Addams Hull House Museum on UIC campus, Driehouse museum, Ice Cream museum, Glessner house, I could go on all day lol. I have tagged so many I have visited or want to visit. Navy Pier Lincoln Park Zoo and conservatory on a nice day. Nice views of the city along the water trail from here. If you want the high view - Willis Tower or 360 Chicago. Definitely get tickets ahead. You can get transit apps on your phone. That is super handy and we use that all the time now. Then you can use google transit with maps and easily navigate the trains and bus. It is $15 for a 3 day pass. In terms of parking, we have stayed at hotels with reasonable parking. And I'm not sure the OP is asking about that or if it just came up. That takes some hunting. Ohio House Motel is our hidden gem hotel that I saw suggested on this board - walkable to lots of stuff and 2 el lines and parking is cheapish compared to the places doing valet. Not fancy at all and the parking lot is very tight. We prefer to NOT have a car in town. My kid's college campus does have some parking we can get a discount on when we need it for the day. You can park out near O'Hare and take the blue line in for something like $12 a day. There are metra lines that might offer similar options. We have used parking apps at times too. I like to have destinations mapped out and especially overnight parking requires planning. But again, we've done transit as late as 11:30 on the weekend after shows when lots of people out, totally fine for us. We've also used uber/lyft/taxi here and there. When we need to take a car in (like when my kid moved or after the holidays when kid had extra stuff to go back), we go in with the mindset we aren't going to use it to get around.

Well I haven't read all responses and my youngest finished dual enrolling last year and graduated. But both my kids generally had high quality classes and excellent teachers at their community colleges. I will say we are urban, those jobs are very competitive, and some teach the same classes adjunct at much fancier 4 year colleges/universities local. Both were able to transfer a lot of their credits to their chosen 4 year universities. My older kid graduated from a top 15 public U and still says some of his best teachers were at the urban CC. My younger kid had a CC teacher that went way above and beyond for her in a number of ways. They took both online and in person classes at times. I do get the feeling this can vary a lot by location and particular community college. I am sorry you are having a bad experience.

If you are leaning toward #3 and are fine with just forgoing these larger events, that is fine. I also think it is fine to continue as is, not including Sam if you enjoy those get togethers.

I think in the case of a friendly group renting a large house for a vacation desired by all, I think per person is perfectly fair with everyone using a common space and everyone having someplace to sleep. If some singles were having to double up, or someone was on a couch, etc maybe that would change the dynamic. Maybe give couples larger bedrooms/beds. In the case of hotels, if you want your own hotel room, you pay for that room. That also makes sense. Maybe the family matriarch or patriarch quietly covers a young adult or something like that. I could see that happening in our family. My oldest kid lived on a campus that had a lot of private housing options. And there were lots of crazy arrangemetns. An example is where there would be like a 2 bedroom with 2 students in one room and one in the other. How I saw a lot of families handle it was something like $1000 rent a month - 3 students in a 2 bed/1 bath $500 toward common space = $500/3 = $167 per student $500 for bedrooms. 2 bedrooms = $250 per bedroom So lone student with private bedroom would pay $250 + $167 = $417 Each student in the shared bedroom will pay $250/2 + $167 = $292 For a long term arrangement, this seemed pretty fair to me. My college age daughter was looking at a weird arrangement for this next year and if she would have been sharing a room,I would have pushed for an arrangement like this. Mercifully, this weird set up she was looking at fell apart lol. (and to be clear, I wish it were really $1000 for a 2 bed, that is just an example of the breakdown). I could see the breakdown using something like this if budgets were tighter.

A lot of grocery stores will do nice trays and sandwiches and salads for a party of 30. The food truck idea is great if you can get one. It may be easier on a Monday! Your ring security is TOO CUTE! 😍

As someone who has worked with tweens/teens/young adults including neurodiverse ones and as someone who has launched kids to college in recent history, I would just say maturity doesn't happen for a NT kid or close to NT leaning kid one day at 18. Young adults are away from their support systems for the first time, learning to navigate adult relationships, trying to build new friendships, have healthy boundaries. They may have emotional childhood baggage of their own, They may not understand the ins and outs of neurodiversity. In some of these situations, I think the expectations on neurotypical kids/young adults to be perfect with empathy and communications may be too much to expect. Being in the middle of some of these situations, I've found very different stories on each side.

What a sweet baby! Congratulations to all for the new bebe! 😍 We have an 8-9 month old kitten now I found last August. It felt karmic, it was just weeks before my youngest left for college. She is BONKERS! Always finding trouble. Buckle up! 🤣

I think introversion isn't a yes or no. It's a scale. So I happen to fall very close to the middle. When I've done Myer-Briggs, I have popped up both introverted or extrovert, but very close to the middle of the scale. So sure, you can tend extroverted, but be ready to have a break. For me, I know different settings can hit differently. Like I love small groups with good back and forth conversations, but don't love all larger events. Entertaining in your own space is a special kind of tired. I also think, covid kind of shifted me a bit though I really would love more in person interactions than I am getting.

My kid is starting quarter #3 today too. Weirdly, I am driving the 6 hours out to her next weekend alone for an off campus performance thing she wanted helped navigating. I think she would be fine if this happened again, but I am excited to have the excuse to go! She is coming home for summer and should be great! We had a really nice spring break, she enjoyed a lot of personal space and sleeping in like crazy and we did a few fun things. This week she starts the process of picking on campus housing for next year (which was up in the air for her for a bit) so I am crossing all digits that goes smoothly. She is trying to get into a campus apartment.