We can't figure out the motivation! She doesn't want anyone else to host. She hates to cook and does it poorly when she does it, but she doesn't want other people to cook, either. She is also not open to ordering pizza or getting frozen lasagna or something.

I can imagine this happening at my MIL's house. I don't think I have ever been to a holiday meal that she hosted that there was enough food. Once she invited everyone (about 25 people) over for a holiday dinner. I asked what I could bring and she said she had it all covered, so I just brought a dessert. We arrive for dinner and she informed us that she didn't feel like cooking after all. And she didn't. There was no supper, only desserts. My DH and his siblings went through the fridge to pull out lunchmeat and leftovers from earlier that week. I think we ended up leaving and going to get fast food. After a decade of that, we now eat before we go or bring lots of sides, no matter what she says she has covered.

With my first I went according to schedule because I could take the time off work and it didn't count against me. When choosing between going to work or sitting in a waiting room reading a book, it was a no-brainer for me. With my last two I had homebirths and the midwife came to my house for all appointments. I had all appointments as recommended, even though I had no complications whatsoever. I enjoyed my midwife appointments so much! Childcare was not a problem, since I just sent the kids to another room to watch a movie while the midwife was there.

I am pretty sure it was the CELF. I am still looking for the scores, but I did want to comment on the stuttering study. I am so very thankful that we did it. I initially wanted to participate because I felt that I would have loved to have more information about stuttering for DS, so we could save others some stress and worry by participating (and DS was agreeable to doing it). From what I understand, they don't know very much about stuttering at all. This study looks at genetics and it also is a longitudinal study where they do MRIs of the subject's brain once a year for a few years, trying to gather information about why stuttering occurs, why it sometimes persists, and what can be done about it. There is also the possibility that whatever brain thing causes stuttering also causes other language problems. By participating, we got a hearing test, the language testing, IQ testing, MRI of the brain, and they did a speech sample that they used to label the severity of his stuttering. Then they sent the info in a report. And also compensated DS for his time. I will take a look at the materials on those websites. Thank you!

I requested Bringing Words to Life from the library. Thank you for the suggestion. Looking through this webpage, he has some issues with the semantics section. He does not get idioms or inferences very well. He also has difficulty identifying the antecedent of a pronoun in normal conversation. There may be some thing he has difficulty with that I haven't even figured out yet, because he flies under the radar so well. I can look more into semantics. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish if he doesn't know something because he is 7 or because there is a problem. Even with the vocabulary, I had no idea, because he can handily define "alliteration" and plays very complex adult board games (like Scythe). However, alliteration has previously been specifically defined for him and when a kids plays board games with an adult, everyone is very careful to define everything, because they assume he doesn't know.

Thank you everyone for your replies! I am going through them one by one to think about the content. I will also go find his test scores and post them. The one thing I can say off the top of my head is that he did have his hearing checked at an audiologist twice, about 6 months apart. He went once before he began speech therapy and again as part of the stuttering study. He passed both times with no problems. I like the idea of going through things thematically and just talking through things before we start the meat of the work. They don't suspect developmental disorders. I am not familiar with auditory processing disorders, but I can look into those. No one has mentioned anything, but I am willing to consider other things. I can also look into eye exams, just to cover all our bases.

I am struggling with helping my DS7 and I am not sure how to proceed. He has had articulation problems and a stutter for the past few years. He did 5 months of speech therapy over the last school year. Then the speech therapist recommended a break because he stopped progressing. He completely fixed his "L" and "TH" sounds, but did not make progress on his "R" sounds. His stutter diminished while he was in therapy, although they did not work specifically on it. At the end of speech therapy, I signed him up for a stuttering study at the local university. As part of the study, they did some language testing. We got the results, although they didn't really go through them with us. The results were surprising to me, in that his vocabulary and following direction scores were much lower than I would have expected, given the rest of his results. They were both in the 25% range, while the rest of his scores were more generally around 50% to one section that was in the 90's%. I took this as an indication we should work more on those areas, whether on the test-taking itself or on the skills. I was kind of flabbergasted to discover that DS doesn't understand so many words. I had no idea! I have always read to him copiously, which I assumed would help with his vocabulary, but it turns out he doesn't learn very well from context. We started doing Wordly Wise for vocabulary, which is going very well. I also started discussing with him more about what words mean and encouraging him to ask the meaning of words. He never asked about words before this. Now he does constantly, which is what I want him to do. However, here is my problem. It is so, so much. Now that he realizes he can ask what things mean (he didn't seem to realize that words have meaning before?), it is all day. It is overwhelming. Today, I asked him to get a paper bag out of the pantry. He didn't know what "paper bag" meant and I had to explain that bags can be made of many different materials and in the pantry we keep plastic bags and paper bags. The paper bags are brown and made out of paper. This time I didn't have to explain what a "bag" is, but sometimes I might have to. I have already defined "pantry" many times. I have to define "step" when I tell him not to step on something. Or define "shoe" when I tell him to put on his sandals and also call sandals "shoes." There is so much explaining everything. Do I keep on just explaining things as they come up? Is there a trick to working on this? It is exhausting to me to do this, although I am glad he is now learning more. I just wonder if there is a more efficient way to work on the skill of learning word definitions from context? Just as more info, he is reading at grade level and does fine with decoding words. He understands math intuitively and requires very little instruction to grasp new concepts in that subject. He also was given an IQ score as part of the study testing and it was high average. I replicated some of the "Following Directions" part of the testing to see if he needed work on that, and it appears he struggled with words in the directions. I did some exercises with him and he could accurately follow the directions... when he understood what all the words in the directions meant. Does anyone have any advice (or encouragement) for me?

I have been using Native deodorant the last 6 months or so and am very happy with it. It has even lasted this week of 90+ degree weather.

Praying

I just got a Proclick this spring and I love it! Using it makes me happy.

I am really irritated and it is made worse by the fact that my great-grandmother is probably passing away today. I just can't cope and these things put me over the edge. #1- I am doing soil testing for our garden and landscaping. I had DS get the samples and my husband was to label them while I ran errands. The kids and I went to do the testing today and DH did not properly label them. Now I have to wait for him to get home and hope he can remember what sample came from where. I am especially annoyed because this was part of science for DS and it is teaching him very poor procedures. #2- Someone from our church got us a gift card to a local teacher's store last fall. I had already bought our materials for the year, so I held onto it to use for this coming school year. I went to spend it today and the store went out of business. It was still open when I drove by a couple of weeks ago, but is permanently closed now!

I don't have advice, just sympathy. I am scheduled for a root canal on Thursday and I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I hope you are able to be pain-free soon, whatever you choose!

#1 was 13 hours #2 was 6 hours #3 was 3 hours I was not prepared for #3 to come that quickly, as that time is from water breaking (first sign of labor) to baby being born. I felt ridiculous calling my midwife after I had only had 4 contractions, but my husband made me. That birth was so intense. The baby was 9 lbs 10 oz and had an arm up, so was more difficult for me to get out. I told my mom that I had pushed a really long time and that it was just awful. Then I looked at my birthing sheet and saw that I had actually only pushed for 8 minutes. Longest 8 minutes of my life!

My little guy, who is turning one in a couple of weeks, loves his Tegu magnetic blocks. My older kids (and husband!) like playing with them, too.

In my area several schools have been closed recently because so many students were sick. Is it possible that, along with your family, many other students were also out sick? This might have resulted in the teacher not moving forward during that time. I can see just reviewing for awhile, rather than having to give make-up work to half the class.

Here is what I am thinking for second grade this fall. DS is my oldest and I still question myself if I am doing this "right"! Language Arts: FLL 2, WWE still looking into spelling, but I know he would prefer just a book of word lists, with no workbook Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 2C Math: Singapore 3A/3B History/Geography/Literature/ Science: We are using Wayfarers as a guide and doing Ancients the 2017 calendar year, beginning Medieval January 2018 Art- Daddy-led, involving painting a lot of D & D minis and drawing board games, I think. I am also having the kids do a little from Barry Stebbing's I Can Do All Things, just so they are getting some basics, too Music: I am hoping this is the year to begin piano lessons, but we will see PE: City Parks and Rec

I have loved my Radians for my 9lb and 9lb 10oz newborns. My kids rear face in them until around 4 years. They are like your kids in that they are big at birth, but not so much later. Be prepared for people to be confused about why you can't just bring the baby inside in the carseat. I've had to explain surprisingly often that the carseat stays in the car.

Our library has learning bags for the toddler-kindergarten age. They have a theme with books, music, and games. There might be puzzles in some. There were plastic bath toys in one. We checked out two or three, but then I wouldn't let my kids check them out anymore because they were so, so dirty. The bags are in high demand, which is nice, but they got worn out so quickly. It was like normal wear and tear was accelerated like crazy once the items went in the bag.

We have one that I don't know. When I was a teenager, my mom asked me if I wanted her to tell me something she didn't think I knew. I said no. I still have no idea what it was, but I haven't yet been in a place where I have wanted to invite drama into my life, so I have never asked about it. I am much older than my siblings and have offhandedly mentioned things that they didn't know about, but that I remember. I was born when my parents and aunts/uncles were very young, so I remember their wild days, while my siblings can't imagine the boring, settled older parents getting up to anything. Some of the things that have come up were a relative's two previous marriages, a relative who ran away permanently, a relative who used to be a drug dealer, and -my favorite- that Dad used to have an earring! And a perm! (Dad would really have preferred to take that to the grave!)

I am so sorry for your loss.

So many hugs to you. And so much love to that baby.

If FIL is insistent on attending when the time comes, you might consider hiring one of your DS's friends as an escort for the day. He/she could assist in getting the grandparents where they need to be at a slower pace, if you are in danger of missing something, or helping them to find seats while you and your DH park the car, etc. My small college had underclassmen volunteer to help with things like this because graduations can be so hectic and confusing. Even at our tiny campus, extended families often split up because someone went ahead to save seats, someone parked the car, someone went to the restroom, someone needed a picture waaaay over there, and so on, so a companion for the older folks could come in handy.

Many hugs to you and your boy.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your sweet baby.

I had my first in the hospital with an epidural. I had massive recovery complications, so decided to have homebirths for any future children. I figured any pain I endured during labor would be better than the terribly painful 18 month recovery from this birth. Labor #2 was a successful homebirth with pain that was manageable. It was a six hour labor and right at the end I remember looking out the window to the early summer morning sky and wishing so hard that I was out there, out of my body. I just didn't want to be there any more and would have done anything to separate mind and body. Baby girl was born shortly after that thought, with 5 minutes of pushing. She was born in the caul and I think that helped contribute to a less painful experience. Pushing with her didn't hurt at all. I felt amazing afterward. Labor #3 was also an unmedicated homebirth. I was anticipating pain similar to the previous birth, but this one hurt more. As I was in labor I regretted getting pregnant, I regretted having a homebirth, and I wanted all the drugs. The thing that made this birth a little different was that it was so short (less than 3 hours from waterbreaking/first contraction to birth) that the intensity was over whelming. Those were some serious contractions to move that 9lb 10 oz baby out in such a short amount of time. The baby also had a hand up when he was coming out and that made pushing more painful than the last time. I didn't think I could live through it and didn't think I particularly wanted to. However, pushing only lasted 9 minutes and was fewer than 5 contractions. When it was over it was such a relief. As soon as the baby was out I was telling my midwife and husband that that wasn't so bad, even though a few minutes earlier I thought the exact opposite. Everything just changed immediately, once the baby was out. I also had a great recovery, without even so much as an ice pack. For this one, even though the pain was intense, it was over so quickly in the vast scheme of things. We aren't planning any more children, but if I were to get pregnant again, I would be more dismayed at the pain of 6 months of heartburn than the pain of labor and delivery!