Maybe you can sit him down right now when you aren’t currently correcting him and say something like, “Son, I know it seems like I’m constantly asking you to do or redo things lately. Running a household is a lot of responsibility and to be honest my training when I was growing wasn’t terrific. That fact has caused me a lot of discomfort and confusion over the years as I’ve tried to figure it out for myself. I don’t want that for you. I realize I’ve done a poor job of helping you learn to be an adult, and I’m sorry. I thought I was helping you by doing things for you and making your life easier but I see now that I wasn’t doing either of us any favors. I’m getting older, I’m tired, I’m disabled, and this is a lot of work I really can’t do on my own anymore. I’ve taken care of you until now, but now I’m asking you to help care for me. I’m trying to remember to help you learn to take initiative and grow into a self-sufficient man who is confident in his abilities, but I need your help. I need this to be as important to you as it is to me. It’s not something I’m doing to you, it’s something I hope we can do together as a team, ok?” You mau have inadvertently confused him with your new approach. Honesty could go a long way toward helping him understand what is being asked of him

Honestly I think that’s the case for most boys, and many girls too. Using please and would you is fine if it’s getting the job done and makes the household environment more pleasant. However, a sizeable percentage of kids (especially teens!) view a polite request as just a suggestion.

I think people tend to quote each other mindlessly in these sorts of articles. It’s rare to find an unique suggestion or an original thought. Oh, the central premise is probably original, but the details (music lessons! Sports!) are usually regurgitated. I think it’s a byproduct of the information flood.

The look on the baby’s face is priceless.

Traveling is my favorite thing. We road trip every summer, even the college kids. These are from Painted Desert, AZ, Blue Hole in Santa Rosa NM, Uranus Fudge Factory (really) in Uranus, MO, a new playground near Jefferson Memorial Arch, City Museum in St. Louis, and Ren Faire in Kenosha, WI.

Franklin is so sweet; look at that patient face. Mine acts like you want to cut her feet off.

Dooo eeet!!

And for good measure here are two of the dog. One happy, one unhappy. A study in contrasts

My son makes me laugh. Usually unintentionally. I often glance at him and think, “WHAT is is doing?” In the top photo I caught him outside the living room window munching on the cranberry and popcorn garland we’d put out for the birds after Christmas. The others are just photos I’ve snapped at various times and sent to dh, “This child came from your side of the family.”

Selfie Keira took of herself at four.

Awwwww ♥️

Yes!! I love this stuff. I thought I posted about it in this thread a week ago lol. I have the same issue but only at the end of my tailbone. It drives me mad when it’s humid.

I hate my feet. The toes are all the same size. They don’t touch. They’re like Flintstone feet ?

Bubbles are a hard one. I don’t currently have access to bubbles. I hope you guys aren’t tired of my skyline shots. I just feel so incredibly lucky to spend part of my life here. Chicago is my adopted home and my favorite city. The drops of rain on the window resemble bubbles here I think.

We use scoop away litter, hard clumping and just add on new as needed. You may want to look into these clever cat litter boxes while your cats are still young and trainable. https://www.chewy.com/clevercat-top-entry-litterbox/dp/133367?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=hg&utm_content=Clevercat&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvqbaBRCOARIsAD9s1XBP83i3SS2FMlQXxSw8fGS_Pkg_AQgXWbAOhkgnncPvoEjRUFdjYhIaAuPYEALw_wcB They do a great job of keeping both litter and smell in. The cat jumps into the hole and can do his business without being trapped in there with the smell and dust as with other hooded boxes. I second the wet or grain free food and the water fountain. Also hate tidy cat and have had good luck with scoop away. We live in an 800sqft apt in the summer and the cat box never smells, even in the summer.

Borrowed my brand new pillow. Oh well, what’s a little dog hair between friends?

I think you’re the first, but if it’s any consolation, I think your grays are such a pretty, silvery color. My hair is sort of a caramel color and I won’t be so lucky.

Quill, that’s a really cool idea! My summers are usually filled with new experiences but then I go for 8-9 months with very little novelty. I think I’ll borrow your idea for the year.

Count me in as a lego friends convert. Only one of my older girls cared anything about legos growing up and it was mostly the programmable mindstorm set she played with. My son built the sets and took them apart later to create guns and spaceships and jets. He played with the minifigs, but not along with the sets. The girls weren’t interested in building for its own set, nor did they want to play with objects. LEGO friends are great for the reasons others mentioned. You build the set and then there is hours of play value attached. My teens even bought themselves sets they identified with for display.

I really enjoy the extra information people choose to give. The photos are beautiful on their own merit but the backstories help me get to know you all a little better.

Two years next month. It’s crazy.

I’ll start a new thread later tonight and link it from here. Thanks for asking! I can’t believe how much work the rebuild was and how long it took (16 months from teardown to completion). I’d love a chance to share it with you guys.

Thank you! You can’t see in this photo but there’s a lot of craftsman style white finishwork that pulls the white slats in. I was trying to go for California craftsman feel rather than a dark midwestern look. Edit: here are a couple more from different angles. The first one is looking down the hall where the stairs end on the right.

Something new: Here are three photos of my living room, before the fire, just after and redone back to new. I still have a ways to go in the rest of the house but at least this room is starting to feel homey ?

Beckyjo, I just want to encourage you to size it if you’re leaning toward doing it. I have an old ring that belonged to my G-g-grandma and it became so worn that a piece fell out of the back. I didn’t have a choice but to fix it, and it came out beautifully. I can’t even see the repair.