One thing that helped my active babblers in church was to hold them close and whisper in their ears during the Mass. I often would explain what was going on or just repeat things I had heard in the homily. It didn't necessarily matter if they understood it, but there is something magical about whispering. Also, I would teach my littles to play the whispering game at home so that we would practice whispering.

To be honest, the most educational "toy" for a baby is an engaged adult. Their brains make the most connections through interactions with other humans, not toys. So, my first choice would be a book for the adult on how to interact with her child, including games to play as well as the benefits of wearing your baby and talking to him as you go through your day. However, if she wants toys - a few of my favorites: the red knobby teething toy from Discovery Toys, the DT Tangiball (ours still has the vanilla scent 13 years later.) Basically, anything mouthable with texture and color will be educational for the first 2 years.

When I read this, I was thinking " Basketball curriculum? Is that required by the state?" We call them "hoops" around here:).

Nobody. No coffee drinkers in this house:)! Now dh takes a Diet Pepsi to work every morning, so that is "Dad's coffee."

Actually, there is not a direct correlation between night nursing and dental caries. Breastfeeding may actually work to prevent dental caries. Here are some relevant links: Is Breastfeeding Linked to Tooth Decay? Study confirms breastfeeding not linked to dental caries (You need to scroll down a little for this.) I just want to dispel this myth.

My suggestions: Presents for the older boy, children's books, meals for the family, an easy-peasy baby memory book (because you know mom doesn't have the time to devote to this anymore.)

{{Heather,}} I remember those frustrating days! I don't think the bottle of formula is the answer. First of all, the wakings are not necessarilly due to hunger, so a "more full" tummy won't do any good. Also, if she is not used to formula, there could be tummy upset from it and you may get less sleep, rather than more. If you start supplementing, you may see a drop in supply, especially since she is now 4 months. Around this time, the body no longer relies on postpartum hormones to support the milk supply, but relies almost exclusively on demand. If you replace nursings with the bottle, your body will start to make less milk. Then the baby will be hungrier and you supplement more and there starts the downward cycle. Her night waking may not be a result of the pacifier use. It may be a developmental thing. It seemed that all my children went through sleep changes at around the 4 month mark. Their brains are working on new milestone and they seem to be working things out in their sleep. One book I would strongly recommend is the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She has a website has some useful tips as well. http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/ Have you tried co-sleeping? That was the solution that worked best for my last two. The whole family got more sleep this way. I would parent them down to sleep around 8 pm. One child did best with rocking and nursing until he was in a deep sleep and then I would slowly put him in his crib. I would nurse him again at about 11 and then go to sleep. When he awoke after than, I brought him into bed with us. There he would sleep better than he did when he was in his crib - he was still fitful, but that was better than crying every 15 minutes. The other did best with a nursing first then a cuddle in the sling while I would do my "hip-high" tidy around the house. She would would sleep until about 2, then we brought her into bed where she would nurse a couple times. My first slept best in his own bed. Hope this helps. Take a nap today and refresh yourself.

I, too, liked all the Judy Blume books I read. I never did read Forever, so I can't speak to that one. However, I love how she got into the minds of young people struggling with growing up. It allowed me to have a dialog (even if it was imaginary) to work out these issues because I didn't have anyone to discuss things with. They did not accelerate my sexuality, they helped answer some very human questions.

Nope! And I didn't buy a Dove dark chocolate bar and eat it in the car so I wouldn't have to share with my son! That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I need to find some options for Spanish. Ds took Spanish 1 from our state's virtual high school. I am not terribly impressed with the class. There was almost no interaction with the teacher. I can help him somewhat (I minored in Spanish in college), but I do not have the time or energy to direct a program for him. (We have 3 Spanish curriculums for younger children on our shelf that I never got to, so I have to be real here.)

Is there any place to see a comparison of high school math curriculum scope and sequence? Ds14 is in NEM 2. It is working great for us, but I want to make sure that he isn't missing anything. I have caught a few terminology issues (such as exponents which Singapore calls indeces.) Where can I look?

I don't think anyone is saying that. They are saying that CPS has not been honest, that there isn't evidence of harm, just allegations, and that the wholesale tearing of young children from their mothers is a cruel thing to do. Also, there is a complete lack of due process and an assumption of guilt without evidence. The whole thing was instigated by a phone call that turned out to be a hoax. I am not saying that there isn't any truth to the allegations, but that CPS used its power inappropriately. Are the 3yos in immediate danger? There was another thread that had a link to an article that put another light on the actions of CPS. I'll try to link to it if I can.

I noticed my first one at around 40 or 41. I just plucked them because they stuck out (literally.) However, in the past few months, I have noticed a lot more. I am almost 45. My sisters, however, started coloring for covering gray in their mid thirties. My mom was significantly gray by 30 (but I never new because she colored it.)

We've only been on 2 real vacations with our kids. (The others have only been weekend getaways.) Our absolute favorite was to Lake City CO. We stayed at a very rustic cabin. It is a very small town surrounded by several fourteen'ers (mountains over 14,000 feet.) The town is non-touristy. The people are friendly. We went on several hikes in the mountains after we adjusted to altitude. One day we rented a jeep so that we could go up into the mountain passes and spent a few hours in Silverton. It would have been cool to take the steam locomotive train to Durango. The whole trip was beautiful. A great time for family togetherness. The only preparation was to read about the history of the area and research the natural history. Our second favorite was our trip to Williamsburg and DC. I could spend several weeks in DC. That trip was relatively inexpensive because we stayed with family and friends for most of the trip. We had just finished a study on the colonial period so we were well prepared for this trip.

{{Janna}} Have that LC out to your house. Hospital LC's may be limited by appointment time or may not be experienced at dealing with more difficult problems. Since she will be spending more time with you, she will have a better idea what is going on. Mrs. Mungo and dalynnrmc have given you great advice. I am mostly reinforcing ideas said before. Here are some things that I have learned from my 14 years as a card carrying member of LLL and as a childbirth/breastfeeding educator. First - on the latch. Since your dear baby is changing the latch, it could be that the baby doesn't want that much breast in the mouth. My last baby would change the latch. I did tongue walking exercises with her. I would put my finger in her mouth and slowly walk it back on the tongue. This got her used to having the nipple further back in her mouth. With my oldest, I would have to keep my finger on his chin pulling down to keep his lower lip from getting sucked back in. 2nd - I want to reinforce that you do need to get rid of the shield. It will only cause problems in the long run. No pacifiers because it does change the way they suck. With my oldest, all his nursing problems started after the nurses gave him a bottle and a pacifier. 3rd - Reinforcing the idea that bilirubin is excreted in the stool. The longer the stool stays in, the more bilirubin is absorbed back into the blood stream and then the baby's immature liver continues to fall behind on getting the bilirubin out of the blood stream. What color is the stool? Yellow and seedy? Still somewhat brown (still has some meconium and bilirubin) Green and frothy? too much thin foremilk and not enough fatty hind milk. 4th - get that baby some sun if they won't do home phototherapy. Like was said before - a sunny window can do the trick (just don't let baby get overheated:) A good book to have on hand is The Ultimate Book of Breastfeeding Answers by Jack Newman. It is sort of a layman's Breastfeeding Answer Book (which is meant for LLL leaders and bf educators.) You will be in my prayers!

Yes! We are not the most disciplined homeschoolers and have more breaks during the school year, so we may not finish everything. We usually go to a light schedule - 3 mornings a week for my oldset and 2 for the youngers. Our plans: Ds14: Math (NEM2), Latin (LC as a warm up for h.s. latin) and Teaching Company chemistry as a warm up for a online honors chemistry. Reading for pleasure. Ds11: Math (start NEM 1), Latin (LCI), History, reading. Dd7: Math (Singapore 2A), OPGTR, FLL. These should get us caught up to where I want to be, plus prevent the "summer slide."

I don't have one but my childhood friend does ... She arrived at her wedding in a squad car!! She and her bridesmaids stayed at a hotel the night before. The limo picked up her bridesmaids and brought them to the church. J and her dad waited and waited, but the limo never came back. Some policemen had pity on her and drove her to her wedding.

My experiences with my son as well as df experiences with her 2 boys. Their website doesn't list everything because there is so much that they do. They do an extensive evaluation of all the learning "systems" to see at what level they are functioning. This is visual processing, auditory processing, large motor, small motor, hemisphere dominance, etc. Then, they design an individualized program for the child of activities to provide "input" to help the brain better utilize the information. With my son, we worked on sequences, had him listening to books on tape to train his ears, used The Listening Program, etc. These were the ones specifically for his auditory function. He had others to help with his visual dominance and subsequent tracking issues, motor issues, vistibular and sensory issues, etc. They worked with me to devise an efficient program to accomplish the most based upon how much time we had to work with him. The philosophy is that change doesn't come from requiring output, but providing input. Their mantra is frequency, intensity and duration. They use short durations and high frequency (several times a day) to increase the intensity (and effectiveness) of the activities. We have a program that takes about 1 1/2 hours altogether (not all require my participation). Most of the activities are 1 - 3 minutes in duration. Some are 20 minutes (like the aerobic activity for his circulation and attention and the listening to books on tape to develop hearing dominance.) Were you able to find a local chapter? You can attend the parent meetings to check them out. These are usually held quarterly and coincide with the evaluation schedule for that chapter.

Got to go with asking a groomer. My friend is a groomer and she deals with "neurotic" cats all the time. (Her word, not mine.)

Are you associated with a troop or are they lone scouts? If affiliated with a troop, the troop may have a library of booklets that you can check out. Also check your local library as well. Our library has tons of them.

Have you looked into neurodevelopmental approaches? I have a son (12) with auditory processing issues. The school was only willing to work on his expressive languages issues, but not the root cause. We have been working with NACD for the past 2 years. His reading comprehension improved tremendously as well as his other academic work. In addition, he can function normally in environments with lots of background noise. He still doesn't like them ;)

Harlequin romances and their ilk as well as the V. C. Andrews. books. The romance novels at an impressionable age warped my view of healthy adult relationships (knight in shining armor, happily ever after syndromes), gave me an appetite for fluff and ruined me for good literature. I am still working on developing an appreciation for literature meant for the above 14 crowd. The V.C. Andrews books were just YUK.

He is on NOVA tonight.

Too cool. Thanks so much!

Great list! Some further questions to dig deeper based upon my experience with some bad pediatricians. 1. Every pediatrician will say "Breast is best." But the degree at which peds support it will vary widely. Do they have a Lactation Consultant on staff or do they refer to one? When do they recommend weaning? How do they respond to breastfeeding problems? They easy answer is to recommend formula. However, those who value breastfeeding will be willing to look for solutions that will preserve the breastfeeding relationship and will refer out to those who have more expertise. Those who don't value it are quick to blame every issue on breastfeeding and will recommend weaning. 2. On asking about the antibiotics - the common answer is "only when necessary." The followup question is "How often do you find them necessary?" 3. I would ask how they feel about giving parenting advice. Some docs love to give parenting advice that masquerades as medical advice. Last I checked, parenting was not a course taken in med school, but may just come from their own beliefs.