Just echoing blonchen. RightStart sounds like it might be a good fit. It does spiral, and I skip ahead as needed when my son doesn't need the repetition. I love the breadth of topics introduced. My 7-year-old is in Level C, and his last few lessons included basic fractions, drawing stars and triangles in polygons with with drafting tools, four digit addition, a subtraction table, measurement, perimeter, and mental two digit addition.

I know someone who lives in a $850,000 house a few blocks from the beach, just bought (outright) a condo on an island, and leases a $200,000 car and yet doesn't consider himself affluent. He has friends who own mansions on the beach and employ staff, so by comparison he sees himself as not that well-off. At one point he was paying his ex $5,000 a month in alimony while still living in style in a fancy high-rise. That $5,000 doesn't even include the child support he was paying. He owns his own business and works long hours to make it thrive, but I still think he's out of touch with what affluence means to most people.

Firstborn: 22 months. I was ready to be done, and he weaned pretty easily. Second born: 12 months. I had to have a major emergency surgery that took me away from her for a week, plus a couple days of getting drugs out of my system. I had pumped and dumped in the hospital, but when I tried to resume nursing afterward my milk was mostly gone, though she got some comfort from the little bit I had for a few days. Understandably my body was prioritizing my healing, though it was emotionally rough for both of us.

Costco has a bagged salad that's shaved Brussels sprouts, kale, and purple cabbage mixed with poppyseed dressing, dried cranberries, and pepitas. It's super tasty and I've replicated it myself with those ingredients.

My parents wouldn't buy me an AG girl because they didn't think I'd play with it enough as I had too many varied interests. So when I was 14 I bought myself one :). I found it too hard to choose between Samantha and Molly (I'd been given the books by my third grade teacher while recovering from a playground accident), so I bought an "American Girl of Today" that looked like me and collected accessories for her that matched my childhood toys, like a mini Care Bear and such. When I was 17 my school had a history fair, and I wrote a backstory for her (mill worker, inspired by Nellie of the Samantha series) and made her a period dress. My teenage niece sent my DD3 her childhood doll (Kit). I'm saving it for when she's older. When Molly was retired DH bought her for me, knowing I'd always wanted her. I'm getting Truly Me #53, who resembles DD3, for Mother's Day this year. I hope to save for Logan (first AG boy doll) who resembles my son. I have a Walmart Our Generation boy doll for now, but I'd prefer the AG one. I'm actually planning to start reading the Kirsten and Addy books with DS7 soon, as they match the timespan of our history curriculum for this year. He's been really enjoying the Little House books and making pioneer era crafts, so I'm thinking about helping him make some items sized for the boy doll we have. When DD is old enough I'm hoping to find ways to integrate activities with the dolls if she is interested.

Echoing this as a possibility. Those symptoms sound like they could involve your spinal cord. Based on my own history I'll just add the very rare "zebra" of a spinal tumor compressing your spinal cord, which could also be seen on an MRI.

We have some good friends who've never seen P&F so we're compiling a playlist. The S.I.M.P. and junkyard rave episodes are definitely on the list. It's especially amusing to us because their grandparents live in Danville, CA :).

Kim Possible!

Gilmore Girls Little House on the Prairie The Avengers (1960s British show, only the ones featuring Emma Peel) The Pretender E.R. Law and Order (only the original series, no spin-offs) Psych Phineas and Ferb Fullmetal Alchemist Avatar: The Last Airbender

When I was 10 I went skiing for the first time and discovered that there were people who were prejudiced based on race. When we were told to get a partner for the lift, I noticed one girl standing alone, looking upset, and four others pointing, giggling, and saying they wouldn't go with HER. I was not one to tolerate bullies, so I skied over and asked her to be my partner. On the lift I asked her why those other girls didn't like her. Were they classmates who didn't like her, or what? I was stunned and then horrified when she explained they were strangers and were mocking her because she was black. I was an Air Force brat and had grown up in DOD schools with kids of all races and had not encountered that before. It was eye-opening.

I use RightStart and Beast Academy with my mathy 1st grader and he loves them both. He adores games especially, so the RightStart card game plus Prime Climb, Rack-o, and S'Math make him very happy.

What Makes a Rainbow? (emphasis on colors, ribbons inside are creatively rigged to stretch out join the rainbow each time you turn another page)

Yes, these! 10 Little Monkeys has been a huge hit with both of my kids.

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes If Christian content is desired: God is Watching Over You (sweet rhyming text of little sheep's day ending and going to bed with the line "God is watching over you" ending each page) Bible Basics Board Book from http://www.catechesisbooks.com/ (beautiful rich illustrations, counting book of Bible basics 1-God, 2-Natures of Jesus, 3-Persons of the Trinity, etc.

I don't let my 7-year-old buy candy with his money, but there is always candy in the house and he gets it often enough that he doesn't feel deprived. When I was growing up I wasn't allowed to buy candy. But Monday was "candy day", on which my mom bought us each one regular-sized candy bar/bag/box of our choice. We could eat it immediately or savor it throughout the week. We didn't buy other candy except for holidays. It worked well for our family. It reinforced that candy was an occasional treat but we didn't feel deprived. ETA: Sometimes I'd ask for the 50¢ instead of the candy, and my mom was happy to oblige.

With DD, I only used them for a very brief period when she was newly potty trained but not good about getting to public restrooms in time. So I'd put her in one when we were running errands outside the house but still treat them like underwear, taking her to the potty regularly. She never purposely peed in them, but they saved us from a few public accidents (but not that one time at the library...). With DS, pee control was earlier, but bm control took longer. He was often unable to articulate this need until it was urgent and didn't always make it in time. Pull-ups were totally worth it for this. Personally I only found them useful for a child who is already pretty much trained.

The library in my grandma's small town was a house about four doors down. When my sister and I visited for the summer the librarian would just let us borrow books and knew who we were :).

Not a good thing, but my mom was allowed to buy cigarettes at age 10 because the shopkeeper knew she was fetching them for her stepfather and mother who were likely out in the truck. She never tried smoking even once, but she certainly had opportunity.

When my mom's cousins were about 6 & 8, they wrote a letter to their grandparents who lived in the same rural Idaho town. They mailed it without help from an adult, so it was addressed simply to Grandma and Grandpa from Robin and Reid. It arrived with no delay :).

A brother and sister I knew tried to steal some candy and toys from a little store when they were 10 and 8. The shopkeeper called the sheriff's office to come and talk to them and contact their parents. The deputy who showed up happened to be their uncle, so he decided to teach them a lesson by locking them in a cell for an hour. (He called their dad, his brother, to get his blessing). It made a big impression on the kids and they told the story with a mixture of awe and amusement when they were 14 & 12.

Our local soccer league keeps them on file and it's a requirement to play. It's required by our regulating organization because sadly there are always those hyper-competitive people who would lie. I'm not worried about it.

I got ambitious and baked homemade chicken pot pie and cheesecake so DH is happy :). The kids are getting new books, chocolate, and Pokemon cards.

This is so sad :(. My boy would be in trouble all the time, as this would be his natural response too, and he finds a lot of things exciting.

I was kicking myself for being so dumb afterwards, but I took a knife to a public school once. My AP Chemistry class was making liquid nitrogen ice cream and we were supposed to bring ingredients from home. I brought fresh strawberries, a knife, and a cutting board in a small ice chest. Since I was dual-enrolled, I was in the hall at off times. Just as I got to the classroom door, I realized if I had been stopped in the hall I might have been in big trouble. But I made it in without incident and once I was in the classroom the teacher was OK with the knife and would have taken the heat. It seemed particularly silly to be worried about a steak knife while surrounded by Bunsen burner, glass, and caustic chemicals, but you know how it is! I went straight to my car after and was careful not to do it again! Also at my main (private) school we had free use of the kitchen including knives and stove, so being restricted from those items at 18, even in a school setting, didn't even occur to me.

When my husband was in first grade, each child had a dedicated set of gym shoes on a shelf in the classroom for P.E. class. Several children often left theirs on the floor, prompting the teacher to make the empty threat of throwing them away if they were left out again. As he was leaving one day, DH saw a pair of shoes on the floor so he "helped" the teacher by throwing them away. The next time they had P.E., one child was missing his. The teacher asked the other kids to help find them, and DH matter-of-factly told her what he'd done. She was angry, and called a conference with his parents. They explained that he wasn't used to empty threats—they carried out theirs—so she should reconsider that approach and only say what she meant. They also explained empty threats to him and told him not to "help" without asking.