I was going to join the chorus of those that picture you with darker hair, but you've already answered! Long dark brown hair fits you. :)

:lurk5: following this. Thanks for posting it. My doctor recommended a low FODMAP diet at our last meeting. Sadly, I've made no headway toward it. Hoping for some guidance/inspiration here.

Thanks!

I like that! And yes, you're on the right track with his next few years. :)

Thanks! These are all excellent ideas! I didn't give enough info, but you all gave great ideas anyway. :) Here's the info: he's male, he's ours, but he won't be moving out on his own for some time, so new apartment stuff is out. He lands firmly in the camp of a person who has everything. :blushing: I love the idea of a lifetime membership to the alumni association type things. He's in theater. There must be something for that? Any theater parents here?

No idea on the budget. :). We're not in "new car" territory. Does that help? I honestly have no idea. How much does one spend on college grad? My parents didn't do much when I graduated. I think my father and stepmom sent a small check, and my mother gave me a small gift. My friend's parents, who were close to me through school, gave me a few small things that were meaningful. Any ideas?

What did you/would you give your college grad for a grad gift? Need ideas. :)

This needed to be repeated again.

I started out this way. :) Our oldest kiddo went to college the year that DS (now 10) started K, so it was like homeschooling an only. We chose homeschooling for health reasons (severe life threatening allergies that our school district can't handle appropriately), but it quickly became for academic and lifestyle reasons. I choose curriculum based solely on kiddo's needs, and if it doesn't work - I ditch it fast. With an only, you can do more teacher-intensive curriculum, and you can tailor your day around your only kid's needs. I do think I spent a small fortune on school stuff for the first few years, and probably wouldn't have if we'd had more kids. We play a lot of games, but I find that I have to adjust them because it's the two of us, rather than a group of students. We don't do coops, because in our area they all require a statement of faith that we can't/won't sign. But we get together with friends often, play sports, hit the library, pool and playground. As DS gets older there will be more local options re: community theater, etc. Oh, and we travel. A lot. First grade, while studying ancients - we hit NYC for the King Tut exhibit, Philly to see the Cleopatra exhibit, and DC for the Terracotta Warriors. We scored. :) We go to the homeschool days in WDW and take advantage of the classes they offer, which are awesome. We live near a major city with lots of museums and great opportunities, so we do a lot during the week when the crowds are down. Some of the museums near us, and the zoo, offer homeschoolers classes during the day - so we do those, and they are great. I'm not sure it would be feasible to do all of this with more kids. Maybe. But it would definitely be more expensive! We now have a little one as well, though she didn't arrive till DS was older than yours (he was finishing 2nd when our little one arrived quite unexpectedly), so I remember those early years of homeschooling and that lonely feeling of being the only one HSing an only child. It gets easier as they grow and find their interests, and you find your niche - either a group of HSing friends or settle into your own routine if you're more introverted.

This made me snort coffee this morning! :) I learned to drive in DC area traffic, and we've got one kid down, 2 to go. It's a circus, that's for sure.

How is her stamina? If she can read small font for a time, but tires quickly - I'd definitely consider VT evaluations. Sometimes when one is working extra hard to get those eyes working together, one tires quickly. So she might do well for ten minutes or twenty, but then she starts skipping letters, adding letters, losing her place, repeating lines, missing lines, or just balks at the whole exercise. Or something else might happen, that's just what happened for DS. I would not have known about DS's vision issues if it were not for this forum. I kept it in the back of my head as we used our High Noon books and reviewed and reviewed phonics ad nauseum. And then one magical day, as we were fighting through another lesson, DS said calmly, "Mom, I just can't do it today. The words are running too much. You know how they run?" ...that was the first time he could articulate a problem for me. It was his normal, so he couldn't tell me about it before. I called that day for our appt.

This is the very best reason for record keeping. :)

When you say some VT tests - was she tested by a developmental optometrist? http://www.covd.org/ I'm not one to push VT, but she sounds just like DS. Very creative, crafty, artistic, but only able to read with a large font size and plenty of space around words. His was a VT issue. One thing that might help her progress, while you figure things out, if it's really only the font size - a kindle or a kindle app on another device. It's been a lifesaver here, as we can adjust the font size as large as necessary. Makes for more interesting reading!

Gorgeous! Congratulations!

One more suggestion: We were having the same problem in our 3 level house. Downstairs were comfortable, but upstairs was hot. Somehow DH remembered that the former owner mentioned something about a duct at the house closing (you know, because ducts were on our minds at closing! I had no memory of this at all.) ...After some thought, DH went into our furnace room and climbed on a ladder. He looked forever, but finally found a duct where the air needs to be diverted for summer differently from winter. It took some work to find the right balance, but he found the right summer setting/winter setting and labeled them. Our next door neighbors, who'd lived there for 5 years before us, and were the original owners, had no idea about this. They complained about sleeping in the living room during a heat wave, and we told them. You might want to look around your furnace room and see if you can find anything like this. Just one more idea. This reminds me we need to change our settings, it's getting hot upstairs!

Rosie, I'm so, so sorry. My heart is breaking for you.

Thank you for typing that out!!!! :hurray: I am ridiculously, disproportionately excited about this! Woo hoo!!!

Very interesting! I have never been in an Aldi, after exchanging several emails with them regarding labeling about allergens - at the time, they did not want to make any promises that their products would be labeled for possible cross contamination. They recommended shopping elsewhere for people with serious allergies. :( Have you seen the product yet? May I ask if it labels for the top 8 allergens or more? (I did read the article, and it mentions dairy, as you did, just wondering about other allergens, which it sounds like it addresses?) Maybe it's time to shoot another email to Aldi. :)

Mmmm, yum. When you perfect this diet, let us all know! We have gobs of food allergies, and dye is the newest addition. The ingredients of commercial foods are simply baffling at times. I can't believe the additions. It is truly bizarre. Read every label, every time. It's our mantra.

Why not mention to him that since it's Mother's Day, you'd like to X,Y,Z? I come from a family of people who forget birthdays, and we simply don't let each other forget. That may not be your family culture, but it sure is nice that none of us have to deal with the disappointment of someone forgetting, or the guilt that our loved ones feel when they realize they've forgotten! However you handle it, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day, and feel loved.

Seconding those who said Plimouth. We are dying to go. They even have a program for sleepovers in the houses.

Thanks. His therapist is highly regarded for teens (he started with him at 19, but he's 22 now), and substance abuse. Getting him to actually go to therapy is another story. He is sporadic at best. He goes when other family members bribe him, but DH and I have tried not to participate in bribery - we just listen, encourage, support. Not always sure that's the right route. There doesn't seem to be a perfect plan of action here, for the parents watching this play out. Is there another route, or is that the way you'd go? The bolded above... That part sank in about 3 years ago. It has been some of the hardest work I've personally ever done, to stay quiet at times. Thanks for starting this thread, and for sharing your perspective.

Thank you for posting this. I'm always interested in your responses on this topic, and have learned a lot from your posts. What is the best way to support a young adult who is struggling with substance abuse, plus a few of the co-relating issues (mental illness, family history, etc)? As parents of an adult, we aren't in a position to force anything, but is there a way to encourage him to continue seeing his therapist, taking his (appropriate) meds, and stop self-medicating with other substances?

We just bought a Kindle Fire for the immersion reading. We haven't used it for anything besides that yet, as we have iDevices for those purposes. I'd like to keep the Fire for reading only. Before now, DS has had a regular Kindle - which we bought because of the adjustable font size. He's working hard in vision therapy, like another poster's child, but the larger font size makes it so he can read longer without stress. The advantages I see are less paper (which isn't applicable to us, because we have loads of books here already); less space (again, doesn't apply); adjustable font size so it's easier on the eyes (that's what sold us); and if you opt for the Fire - immersion reading (which may not be needed, depending on your child's eyes/reading level).

I grew up in a house that had a greenhouse off the kitchen, so it was a permanent structure - a room of the house. Maybe not the same thing. :) But we used it year round. I can't think of a time when there were not plants growing in there... Herbs at a minimum. Do you have room for it year round? I'd lean toward putting it up! Fun!