:iagree: If possible you might want to see if you can get the seller to take care of at least the worst areas. Less for you to do before selling in the future.

Yes, he learned to sleep completely through the night within a couple of months time. We moved cross country and then lived in three different homes in the year between his second and third birthday and while naps were difficult the nighttime sleep remained consistent. Sometime around his third birthday I began putting him down for naps with an iFlop playing audio stories and he usually fell asleep after listening for about 20 minutes. I'm glad someone else mentioned white noise, I had forgotten to include that but it is important. I have a 20 month old dd right now and even though she is not displaying any sensory issue signs we have used some of the same techniques, especially Papa parenting at night, and it has worked well. The biggest hurdle was me. I needed to really believe in the fact that she was being consoled by someone she loves and loves her, despite the tirade I was hearing. Before 18 months I really think she needed Mama at night, but after night weaning and knowing how attached she is to dh any other time of the day, I needed to swallow my emotions and trust in them both. Again, we co-sleep, and I actually had to spend two nights in the guest bed when we made the decision to really put all the nighttime parenting on dh, but now she sleeps from about 8pm to 5am then goes back to sleep after nursing for about another hour. This has been a journey over the past few months, but it seems to have settled to routine now. As far as sensory issues, it is not uncommon for toddlers to react strongly to new sensations (sand on hands, grass under bare feet for the first time) but if the reactions are consistent you may want to do some research.

:grouphug: Sounds strikingly similar to my SID son at that age. Here are a few things that helped him. First, I began putting him down for a nap earlier, before he was showing signs of fatigue. We used blackout shades to make the room as dark as possible - really nighttime dark. For several weeks I set a timer to remind myself to go back into the nap room about twenty minutes after he fell asleep so that I was right there to lay my hand on his back to apply pressure as he was cycling to lighter sleep. (I think I read about this in one of Elizabeth Pantly's books.) He would generally then not wake all the way and cycle back into a deeper sleep for at least another 45 minutes. I also made him a weighted blanket around his second birthday and that helped as well. After just a week or two of working on naps we started to change our nighttime routine. Again, we moved bedtime earlier. We always gave him a warm bath first. We read the exact same book every. single. night. (This was somewhat tortuous for me, but we read dozens of others during the day so he wasn't deprived or anything.) We then turned out all the lights and I rocked and nursed him to sleep. If he woke at all during the night (before 5am for us) it was dh job to console him as any attention from me just escalated his activity level. (This was after he had been night weaned of course.) We co-sleep so he was in the bed with us and generally dh just had to hold him a bit and quietly repeat, "It's sleeping time." He was not allowed out of the bed except to go to the bathroom. When he awoke in the morning after 5am I would nurse him and then allow him to play with toys in the room while I dosed and dh got ready for work. We made sure the room was childproof of course and dh was there in the bathroom/closet with the door a little open so he could check frequently and ds could go in and out. Nothing worked overnight, but this routine really did lead to better sleep habits for ds within a relatively short period of time. Good luck!

I second the garlic oil suggestion, many grocery markets and pharmacies now carry some brand of garlic or garlic and mulien oil in their natural products section. However if you don't want to go out and you have an onion then onion juice works wonders. Just peal the onion and then grate a small section of it with the smallest grater you have. A microplane works well. Grate over a small bowl to collect the juice. Use a dropper to put some in your ear. Hope you feel better soon!

:seeya: Hi there! Former school teacher here as well. We plan lessons year round because it allows us to be more relaxed in our schedule. We also try to follow a set rhythm for our days at home so we often have lessons on Saturday and Sunday if the need or time arises. This way I don't fret when we have a week that is particularly busy with fieldtrips or other activities with our homeschool group, or family events that bring guests or require us to travel. It also allows us to take advantage of the special activities of the holiday season guilt free. As far as fitting in the summer activities, we follow the same line of reasoning. DS will attend a camp one or two weeks, we'll go camping, attend family events, spend days at the river, have cookouts, etc. (Reading lessons, nature journals, copywork and read alouds all travel easily by the way. Math card games are great for a rainy day in the tent. Reading historical novels by campfire can be particularly memorable.) If we have no lessons for a few days then we will fit them in on the next at home day. Also, since so many "extracurricular" classes meet only during the school year, you may find yourself with more free time during the summer than you expected. We also do not follow a 9am to 12 pm (or other single block of time) schedule for lessons. Instead our day rotates between adult and child directed times. I take advantage of my dd's napping time to do more intensive lessons/activities with my ds where dd's presence would be disruptive. I also take advantage of the fact that ds is an early riser, while I am not, to assign him work that he can complete on his own. We've had no trouble exceeding my goals for amount of work completed so far. Good luck and enjoy the journey!

:grouphug: How devastating. I'm so sorry!

:grouphug: Sending prayers

Try your local Freecycle group, often see them offered there.

DGIF biologists have decided that it is in the best interest of the eaglets to remove them from the nest and relocate them to the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The removal operation will take place at 10 a.m.

:iagree: Same here, a story about a single person that I don't know raises awareness and causes me to ask questions. If I find out this is a standard practice policy then I will act with the goal of effecting change.

Waiting for the updates as well. It would be tough to boycott, but I would certainly do it.

Ummm, maybe two-thirds. It depends on what I am making. I'm sorry, I'm not very exact in my cooking. I'm more "A little of this, a little of that" like my grandmother. Honestly I would think the well dissolved slurry step would be more important. And it isn't something you should have to simmer for long. Have your sauce or whatever pretty much finished and at the boiling point then add the arrowroot slurry and stir for less than a minute then remove from heat. It is usually thick and finished by then.

:grouphug: Sending prayers!

Do you dissolve the powder in cool water first to make a slurry before adding it to your recipes? This is what I was taught to do. Also be sure you are not using too much for your recipe, you need less arrowroot than you would cornstarch.

Oh no! We've been checking on these eagles almost every day and my son loves them. We were out most of today so missed the news. He is going to be devastated when I tell him tomorrow. :sad:

:iagree:

:iagree: Something that often confuses people is the way in which Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread are commonly referred to as the same or one observance, but in actuality they are two separately commanded feasts. I believe that understanding that point helps in studying the Holy Week timeline. From Leviticus 23 4 These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.'"

We are veterans of many extra long car trips. :auto: We do not have a dvd player. We sing a lot of songs, use finger puppets to tell stories, play games like Eye Spy and many "word tennis" games as well (choose a category and then take turns around the car naming something from that category without repeating what someone else said). I have made a number of travel packs with things like crayons or markers and a notepad, colorful bandaids and paper (the little ones unwrapping, pealing and sticking them creates a huge mess but its great fine motor work), colored lengths of yarn and a sandpaper base for "drawing" a picture, geoboards, I Spy bottles, magnet scenes, lacing beads or boards, matching cards (I make them with index cards cut in half and stickers, then I give one set to the child and hold up one card at a time from my set. They have to sift through theirs to find the match.) etc. We even made a "snowstorm" with a dollar store box of kleenex one time. This book has a lot of easy to make and take ideas. I always have a stash of new books ready for a road trip and of course lots of snacks. I also bring a disc and bubbles for rest area stops. Now that my son is older I will give him a very limited amount of time on the iPad during long trips, usually 30 to 40 minutes while his little sister is napping. I also use it to play 'audiobooks' that I recorded on my home computer - Mama needs a break too sometimes! I agree that you may want to reconsider your driving times. Are you both nightowls and usually awake until 2am? If not you may find yourselves very tired of the driving much earlier than you expected which can be dangerous and leave you needing to find accommodations in an area you hadn't planned for. Like PPs, we have found that leaving at dawn or earlier works better for us and even with stops we can still log 12 - 14 hours a day driving time if need be. If you only have one child and can arrange her carseat so that you have room in the back to join her that can make a huge difference. If you are comfortable with your driving plan but need something to do in an area that you can't seem to find any listed attractions for online, find a yahoo mom's group for that area or go on the tribal areas on the mothering.com forums and post for suggestions. We have learned about some wonderful parks, playgrounds and local museums this way. Good luck and have a wonderful trip!

Thank you both! I have been looking mostly on used curric. and classified sites so that explains why I am seeing the two versions I guess. Off to order...

I am thinking about placing an order for Singapore Math and comparing prices at a few different sites. I am seeing two different covers for the Challenging Word Problems books. Is there a difference and if so does anyone have an opinion on which is better and why? Also, are they planning to publish Intensive Practice books for the standards edition? If I just go ahead and order the U.S. edition of that one book will it match up fairly well with the standard edition of the text and workbook? I know it won't match exactly, but will it be pretty straightforward for me to find the matching sections? Thanks for your help!

Just registered! So excited! :party:

I have not heard of using raw honey for this, something for me to research, however I have used local bee pollen with good results. My niece and nephew have severe allergies and while they could not drop any medications the bee pollen still seemed to help when they bought it from a local source.

I usually forego the pie crusts and top mine with polenta. It's quicker and easier to prepare, bakes up nicer (you don't have to worry so much about the crust burning) and makes a heartier meal.

Burritos - can be individually frozen so that they are grab and go for one person (like a nursing Mama who may not eat dinner until 2am) Mexican Lasagna Chicken or Fish coconut milk curry (easy to cook some rice to serve it over) Split Pea Soup Lentil Soup Loaded Mac n' Cheese And plenty of Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip (again, for the nursing Mama!)

How about taking him to the hospital? The caps you mentioned were for out of hospital expenses but if you are paying that much a year then they must be covering something, right? So if your hospital visits are still covered then how about going to the ER and getting him admitted. I know this isn't the optimal scenario, but if he is in that much pain and it is the only way to get this figured out then maybe it is the best option.