Wow! What excellent news!!! I'm so happy for you!

I agree that angels can't disobey, and yes, it's another topic :) I must read more about this more from both a muslim and jewish perspective, because there aren't a whole lot of Christians throughout history that see things the way I do when it comes to this one, so my reading options are limited. It seems Isaac Newton did though, from what I've read about him. And I strongly believe there were more Christians throughout history who believe the same, but I guess when one's beliefs are considered heretical, history tends to have them disappear.

As a Christian who doesn't believe in a fallen-angel Satan either, I find this really interesting.

:lol: Love it!

Thanks for listening to my vent. I guess I hadn't quite gotten the stress of the weekend out of my system by the time they got back from dinner, because at our Thanksgiving dinner tonight, I sort of started a whipping cream war. That felt good :)

Love it! Might just do that.

I'd agree if we hadn't just eaten lunch. This is always what they say, but he didn't notice that she left 3/4 of the egg mushed on my table!

Seriously? Whine as long as you want over a small injury? She'll go on for hours over a scrape, until someone gives her some juice or a snack. She turns it on and off like a tap and stubbornly produces tearless crying sounds until she's given what she's wanting. I can understand some kids being more sensitive, and I did give her sympathy, and piggy back ride for a while until I was sure she wasn't hurt. I tried distractions. I even phoned her Dad to talk to her if she needed that comfort from a parent, and she didn't want to take the phone. Maybe my perspective is totally wrong. Like I said, I'm probably over-reacting, but I think I'm a little oversensitive to this sort of thing as my brother is really strict with my kids. He's also been staying with me for a few days.

I think my reaction is out of proportion to the situation, so I'm pretty much just venting :) I look after my neices on occasion, when my brother needs me to or when my mom is babysitting them and I go to visit her. They're generally nice kids and mine love getting together with their cousins. The eldest, almost 7, is a bit of a challange as she had ADHD, but I know she really tries to be a good kid. The youngest, who's just 5, drives me nuts. She doesn't listen worth a darn, which is an annoyance, but what just kills me is that she goes on for ages when she gets hurt. I took my nieces and my 3 kids for a walk today, and she fell and bruised her knee. I carried her for a few minutes as she cried, then told her that she needed to walk and it was time to stop crying. She kept crying. I offered to check her knee again to make sure it was okay, she wouldn't reply. She would answer any questions or stop crying for the entire 45minutes it took us to get back to the car, and then 20minutes home. As soon as we pull into the driveway, she stops crying and is completely fine by the time we get to the door. I tell my brother she's been carrying on for an hour over a little scrape and he snuggles her and gets her some juice and a snack. He tells me that a hard boiled egg is what she needs if she gets weepy. She needed a consequence for misbehaving, and got a reward. I know if one of my kids was so poorly behaved for someone, I would apologize, and make them do so as well. And I suppose why I'm so bothered by this is that my brother is so outspoken to my children if they are out of line, and is so hard on his eldest daughter who has a legitimate behavioural challenge, but his youngest gets away with so much. I shouldn't be so irritated about this. He can raise his children how he wants, and I only look after them a half dozen times a year or so (although this scenario is repeated pretty much each time). I think I have PMS. They're out swimming now, so I have an hour to recoup before they come back! Where's my wine and chocolate?

Our dentist says we should help the kids brush until they have the fine motor skills to write decently.

Sure, that's happened to me. To not feel overwhelmed I usually pick the behaviour that I most want to see corrected (generally that starts with any respect issues) and tackle that for a solid week. Then add on the next.

I guess if one of my kids did that I'd probably send them to their room anytime an unkind word/action towards that person happened, and tell them not to come out until they could apologize and be kind. There would also be consequences like loss of privileges, like with any kind of disobedience. BTW, your signature needs updating :)

I put my feet in my armpits or under my bum to keep them warm, and it has the added benefit of keeping me flexible. :)

I think 10 is too old to even require a parent in the pool area if the kid can swim. Requiring the parent to be in the pool with them is just silly. A parent can more diligently watch their children from out of the water. And if they're not diligent at watching, it's going to make no difference where they are.

My answer would be totally different if your dd was older, but really, at 5, school doesn't need to be a big part of her day. I'd say do 30 minutes in the morning before you go to the gym, and 30 minutes after lunch before your extracurricular. And if you miss a day, do an hour or two throughout the weekend. Cut down on activities enough that you don't feel overwhelmed with all the running about. My bigger concern would be naps! How's naptime fitting in with all of this?

I read this eariler today (didn't have time to reply) and you've been in my thoughts since. Such an unexpected shock. I hope you heal quickly and find more loving support throughout this ordeal than you ever would have imagined.

Relax. She'll probably reverse stuff for a couple years yet! It's normal. Model them correctly, and remember she's still just a preschooler! You really don't need any curriculum yet.

Sounds like anxiety/phobias. I think they're too many and too extreme to be considered normal for his age.

Oh, gross.

WOW!!!!! I would love it if you'd PM me the link for Word. Amazing work. Thank you for sharing!!

I wish I could come to your house for lessons on how to use our iPad so well!

Mine definately did. And so we had a "do unto others" day. The kids have to do what the other kid asks (unless I think it's over the top). They can let it be horrible, by making each other do worse and worse things (clean my room, ect), or they can have a good day by trying to one-up eachother with their niceness, which is how it tends to go by the afternoon, when they realize it's the better way. They also have to serve eachother their meals, get eachother drinks when they ask, put away eachothers shoes. Stuff like that. You might try to give it a go. It's fun to watch :)

I'm so sorry. What a beautiful young lady.

Go. Just do it. I did the same a couple weeks ago, so I totally know what you're going through. Anxiety is so difficult to live with, and while i hated the idea of medication, it's starting to work a bit now, and it's so nice to not be in a knot all day long. Go.

My thoughts are with you. I hope you all pull through this as a stronger family unit.