My ds was very different even as an infant, too. I do think that The Explosive Child would still be very valuable to read, even if she isn't explosive. The dropping the glass of water seems to me to be the same type of behavior. The book really deals with trying to break the cycle of the child getting so frustrated, and stopping the acting out behaviors. And a lot of it goes against the grain of "you're not supposed to let your child speak to you that way" (or act that way, etc). It may seem that the author is advocating letting the child get away with disrespectful behaviors, but if nothing else is working, I really urge you to give it a try. And tagging onto a PP about getting her on your side, this book does help with that. At this point, your dd probably sees you as trying to make her upset and frustrated and truly doesn't understand that you are on her side and not just trying to make her life miserable. I really didn't understand my son's perspective about that - that he thought I was just out to get him, wanted to make him frustrated and upset, and just didn't understand that I was trying to help him. Neither one of us had the right tools to work well together.

I've felt this way many times in trying to raise my ds. All the common sense parenting techniques have *never* worked with him. He was getting strong enough when he was 4 or 5 that there was no way I could make him do anything by force, and the battle of wills with giving him a countdown to respond or obey just made him more volatile and angry. I was very worried about what I'd be facing when he got to be a teen. Long story short, the two things that have made the most difference were the books Transforming the Difficult Child and The Explosive Child. I read Transforming first and it really helped change our relational dynamic, but he was still having meltdowns over things and I had no clue why. I wish I had read The Explosive Child at the same time, but didn't get a copy of that for a few more years. That was the puzzle piece we were missing. He's still not an easy or compliant child, but I'm also not worried about how he's going to be as a teen anymore :) (he just turned 12). After I read The Explosive Child, I explained some of it to him and how I wanted to help him through his frustration and that I wasn't against him or trying just to frustrate him (which he really thought I was). So although he still gets worked up about stuff, he's much, much quicker to calm himself back down and we don't have hours or days where he's raging around.

I don't have a big family, but I try to do all of our laundry on the weekends because the electricity is about 1/3 the cost, so I do a lot of laundry in 2 days. One of the best things I've found is to fold dh's and my laundry as I'm taking it out of the dryer, and put the folded clothes into a laundry basket. That way it's folded and won't get all wrinkled, but I can take a couple days to put it away. I would do that for the kids' laundry too, but they're in charge of getting it folded and put away as soon as it's done. The bath towels get hung back up right away and the only laundry I leave in a pile (in a basket) is the kitchen towels and hand towels.

We've been using it this year with my 4th and 6th graders, and will finish it next year. I've been using it as a read aloud only because we stop and discuss where the places are, etc., but both of mine could easily read it on their own. They both seem to enjoy it. I would have to go back and look to see if there was anything overtly YE - I don't remember anything, but wasn't looking for it, either.

If you want to implement a reward system, I highly recommend reading Transforming the Difficult Child. It lays out the whole framework of how to go about it and how to respond to the child. I had tried a simple reward system w/ my ds before I got the book, and it really didn't work. It took a couple weeks to work through the steps in the book to get to the reward system in it, but once we put down the groundwork, it was so much more successful.

I would say you should see Old Faithful - we currently live about 2 1/2 hours away and try to go to Yellowstone every year. It's not something you can quickly drive into the park and see and quickly get back out - traffic in the park can be very slow and driving in it takes much longer than you think by looking at a map. I'm not sure about North Platte - I'm from Nebraska, but don't remember ever going to NP except for a rodeo once. Kearney now has the arch across the interstate (I haven't been to it, though) and Grand Island has the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and that part of Nebraska is very flat too :tongue_smilie:

I'm not sure if ours is acrylic or fiberglass, but it's a one piece (including tub) that was installed by the builder. We have them in 2 bathrooms and have been in this house 11 years. Both of them still look very good, and we haven't had any issues with them. I think tile looks better, but I really can't complain about our shower surrounds. The one in the master bath looks better than the one in the kids' bath, but that's mainly because dh usually wipes ours down w/ a towel after showering and the kids don't. But for cleaning, I just use Bon Ami (or a Mr Clean sponge) and it cleans up easily. The biggest issue w/ the kids' shower is hard water buildup from not drying it out.

My kids do not drink milk, although they would like to :) I'm the one who doesn't think it's a good beverage, but do use it in cooking (and dh does have a glass sometimes). In the past when ds has had some, it seems to make him much more stuffy, and I've never been sold on drinking it for calcium. We also buy organic, so it's probably a good thing we don't go through that much of it or it would get very expensive very quickly! When ds was little, I'd buy rice milk occasionally for him, and they sometimes will use their own money to buy the chocolate rice milk, but it's not a regular thing. Our main beverage is water.

I does depend on the dentist, but we decided not to go with a pediatric dentist (and started taking our kids to our regular dentist) because of that policy. Ds had (has?) sensory issues that were much worse when he was little and there was no way I was letting him have his first dentist appt w/o dh or I present. Our regular dentist is great, has been great with the kids, and doesn't bat an eye that we want to be present during appts.

My first child is like this (it scared me enough I was afraid to have a 2nd!). It's been a long road (he just turned 12), but the books Transforming the Difficult Child and The Explosive Child were the most helpful to me out of all the "strong willed child" books I read. I used a modified token economy discussed in Transforming (which we just stopped using last year). The book provided a good framework for me which none of the other books had - a needed some type of system to try to implement because my bits and pieces of techniques weren't effective longterm. And I don't think you should focus on "cracking" his strong will. If he's anything like my ds, he would rather die on whatever issue than give in if he's worked up. It's not cracking his strong will but learning how to help him channel it in a positive and constructive way.

I agree. I've been suffering with monthly migraines for about 8 years, and didn't know who to go to (I didn't want someone just prescribing something w/o really knowing about migraines). Recently, I found a neurologist who specializes in migraines - he has been a lifesaver, and also has a list of supplements to try to see if they reduce migraine frequency. I'm currently taking Sumatriptan (generic Immitrex) when I get a migraine, but he has a whole list of things to try if one medication or treatment doesn't work. In the case of hormonal migraines, he said they are difficult to treat because they tend to keep coming back over the week, and may have to be treated with meds each time (I always thought I was just getting one very long, horrible migraine).

I order these too and really like them but get them from Tropical Traditions (haven't found any local source here). Sometimes they have a free shipping coupon: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/organic_tomato.htm It's nice to have the glass jar because you can use part of the jar and put it in the frig to use later w/o having to transfer it to another container.

You can - I would even use the glass jars but just not get the wax too hot. I remember when I was about 6 my dad and I made sand mold candles out of a bunch of old candles. We put damp sand in buckets and made shapes, put in the wicks and then poured in the wax. I think we even added a few crayons to the mix for color.

Dh and I have gotten comments especially from waitstaff at restaurants about how polite our dc are. It's not often, because we really don't eat out that often :tongue_smilie: but I remember one waitress commenting that she never had a child thank her before (my dc will say thank you when their drinks or meals are brought).

We're planning on going to the zoo on the 20th - we'll already be back home by the 30th :)

I agree.

I usually wash my wool sweaters (including cashmere) in lukewarm water, and rinse in the same temperature, with very little agitation. I've done felting on wool items, too, and the trick for felting that I read was using hot water and lots of agitation and then rinsing in cold water (the temperature change helps with felting). So if you *don't* want shrinkage or felting, it's important not to do those things :)

The KA does get very hot when grinding grain. I used to have the mill attachment, but it was hard to grind very much grain at once because of the overheating potential, and it never ground the grain fine enough for our tastes. So I sold it and bought a Nutrimill, which I love! It grinds wheat very fine so I can make a light wheat bread (not heavy and dense like with the KA).

That's one thing we stress here - even if you *hate* what's being served, you don't make rude comments or show an ungrateful attitude. Someone made an effort to put food on the table and you shouldn't be disrespectful about it. And while I don't usually allow my dc to have a different meal than what is being served (I do make an exception rarely, if there are leftovers that child wants instead or for some other special reason), they are allowed to leave one thing out (it's been things like the pieces of onion, tomato, or green pepper in the meal, if it's a detested vegetable, they either have to eat a small portion or sometimes may have a salad instead). Over the several years we've had that policy, they've gotten better about not having to pick every piece of that item out, or to the point where they don't bother anymore.

I also use acupuncture for my allergies - I haven't had to use any OTC meds for them in 7 years and before that I was taking a decongestant almost daily.

If you're just viewing online (and not via Amazon Prime free videos) you have 24 hours once you click the button to watch the video, and I believe you can only watch it once.

I signed up last year sometime for an educator's card and could never get it to accept it online. I emailed several times with customer service, no help - they said I'd have to go back to the store and talk with them about it. I never have - it's not someplace I go regularly, but would have shopped online with them if I could have gotten the discount.

I'm so sorry!! :grouphug: :grouphug:

Yes, I'd continue it (and did w/ my two dc). Ds, especially, didn't have the fine motor control to do any of the writing when we started the books, so I'd just have him trace as best he could with his finger and we did the rest orally. I stuck with the series all the way through and was very pleased with it.

You might check into a raw diet for him. From what I've read, many cats with pancreatitis do very well on a raw diet. I was having some issues with my 15 yo cat (she would go through bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, and then wouldn't eat 2 or 3 times a year it seemed, for a couple years), and I switched her back to a raw diet (I'd fed my pets raw a number of years ago). She has done much better since switching back.