He doesn't seem to. In fact, he's so generally normal that I only stumbled on the problem in the middle of our battery. *sigh* So much for this year's test.... Thanks, EKS and showelott. I was kind of thinking along the same lines, but I didn't know there was an actual name for it or that their ears would catch what their eyes didn't. This helps immensely! Thank you.

I was sick all 9 months with every child. It was fun. During that time, the only thing that helped me was having dh rub my feet -- he'd hit the pressure points for nausea and it would diminish. The only problem was that once I got up and walked, the nausea came back. Ick. Since my last child was born, I have come across Young Living's essential oil blend DiGize that helps a lot with general digestive issues, including nausea. I haven't looked into safety during pregnancy, though.

Dd is on the swim team, plus she has my frizzy hair. Not a good combination. She's tried a lot of different "no poo" things, but her favorite is coconut oil. She puts a LITTLE (she used too much at first.... BIG mess....) on her wet hair when she showers, lets it rest awhile, and then rinses it just like you would conditioner. She said you have to use hot water to rinse it out because cold just doesn't do as well. She also wears a swim cap to protect her hair from the pool water. HTH!

Ds10 is an auditory learner (and worker), so he struggles with the quiet, still, read-silently format of standardized tests. His scores do not reflect his knowledge -- he almost always does better with oral questions than with written questions. Is there any way to help an audio-related student do better on standardized tests, esp the ones given in high school like the ACT or SAT that parents can't give at home? Thanks!

When we bought our first house, the sellers paid us for the taxes they would owe through the date of sale, then we had to pay the regular tax bill. We were a little confused until we got that tax bill, then it all made sense. If you escrow your taxes with your mortgage payment, your bank may have different rules -- you'll just have to ask (and ask and ask again until you completely understand their policies).

I checked the food she got at the pet store. It is specifically betta fish food and it does have brine shrimp and krill in it -- does he need even more than that? They didn't say anything about raw meat at the store. :confused:

I had to laugh at this. My dd12 is an assistant karate instructor, very talented, and coordinated on the mats, spars very well. She's an above-average softball pitcher, plays tennis very well, and can shoot a basket with the boys just fine... and still runs like a toddler. :001_huh: She's just not very fluid with that particular motion -- but she is very fluid with all the rest of them, so I don't worry about her.

:iagree: Grandparents and other family members can be a good source, too. My mother pays my kids a few dollars every payday to come over and help her out for an hour -- things a 70-year-old can't do so easily but small children can, like pick up the nuts that fall from the tree, weed the flower bed, and crawl behind the bed to pick up whatever fell back there.

Eeeeew! I guess cannibalism would be a big clue they're hungry, eh? Thanks for the info!

Our kids now have four goldfish and a beta (in different bowls). I'm finding conflicting advice on how often to feed them. The amount seems consistent -- no more than they will eat in a few minutes -- but I'm reading we should feed them anywhere from once every couple days to multiple times each day. Any experience? Thanks!

This is exactly why I can't volunteer either. I would be miserable leaving any dog there when I went home.

:grouphug: There's a big difference between being ready for college academically and socially/personally. I completely understand -- I was definitely not ready socially! But I made some good, trustworthy friends who helped me through and God took care of the rest. I don't know if my mom cried or not -- it would have made it harder somehow, I think, had I known she did.

Anyone?

Good for you! Just as a thought, I think "no, we're not available" is enough explanation. You don't have to tell her why.

I woke up this morning with one tonsil swollen and painful to the point that it hurts to swallow. But that's all. It's not red, angry, white, or patchy. The other tonsil and the throat are perfectly fine. I do have a little bit of stuffiness, but that's not unusual for me first thing in the morning. Thoughts? Thanks!

She sounds like she's ahead academically, and that's wonderful. However, at her age, I would still lean heavily toward the play-learning approach rather than a bunch of worksheets in a book. We really liked Sing, Spell, Read, & Write for the music and games aspect of it. I think it has too much writing for a 4yo, but she could start learning words and blends with their games and songs very easily. MUS with its blocks might be good, but there's an awful lot of worksheet-ed-ness for a 4yo. I would play, play, play. One idea is to get one of those underbed storage boxes and fill it with sand or rice. Use your fingers to write whatever you like: math, words, whatever. Gross motor skills and literacy too. Do you have access to a computer for her? Jump Start Math might be good. I don't know about anything else... we only have one computer for such things so I tend to shy away from them.

:iagree: At 11, she needs to shower regularly. As for the hair, I can't help you with that one. I used to work for a boss who didn't think it necessary to shower regularly. You could smell her from down the hall. It made me very uncomfortable to be around her, despite the fact that she was, dispositionally, a very pleasant lady.

I voted no, I wouldn't complain.... but.... I assumed that meant a "Can I talk to your manager right now" scenario. I would seriously consider filling out a comment card, though.

Thank you!!! While I hate that you're dealing with this too, I'm happy that it's not just me being overly sensitive. Sounds like you and I are dealing with exactly the same problem. If everyone would just follow the rules and laws, none of this would be an issue.

Plan something big, fancy, or time consuming that you don't want to change for the evening. That'll do it. :)

I would take out the bolded sentence (obviously :) ) and say exactly what you've said in the rest of this paragraph. It focuses on you (as opposed to pointing a finger at your sister) and your situation (as opposed to her kids or whatever else she wants to spin it into) without any specifics that they could argue with or drama they could latch onto. Just the facts, ma'am. :hug:

:lol:

Around here, the statement that "it is the vehicle driver's responsibility to watch out for ..." has been taken to the extreme imho. Car drivers are expected to yield to anybody, where ever, when ever that anybody else wants them to. I have had pedestrians look me in the eye and mozey out into my lane, almost daring me to challenge them or expect them to at least mozey a little faster. Bicyclists don't seem to care when there are multiple cars piled up behind them -- they simply don't move over so cars can pass. I've seen car drivers stop mid-block with little warning to others to allow people to jaywalk -- to me, that's extremely dangerous. When I was growing up, I was taught to be careful around cars because they can hurt you. That's not the attitude that folks around here have today at all. This is what I believe "sharing the road" should look like: cars respect bicyclists (or joggers or walkers or people pushing strollers), and bicyclists respect cars. Unfortunately, that's not my reality. As a driver, I'm always on the lookout not only to avoid injury, but just as much to avoid lawsuit.

We're both introverts, so neither one of us is big on going out on a weekly basis. We do on occasion visit friends, but neither one of us is depressed if we're "stuck" at home on a Friday night. Generally, we'll watch videos (we don't have broadcast TV, cable, satellite, that sort of thing, so we have a very limited selection). I'll do a bunch of work on the laptop during that time too -- buying used curriculum, researching whatever topics I need to learn about for school, chatting on forums, getting Swagbucks, that sort of thing. Then we'll read before bed.

Oooooh, a woman after my own heart. Watch me try this one on our karate instructor. He always suggests we bring brownies to carry-ins! :lol: