I've done WWE and FLL with my accelerated 8 (just turned 9 year) old who sounds a lot like your daughter. She also just liked workbooks, so we did the whole Explode the Code series earlier even though she didn't strictly need to and now she does Spelling Power workbooks as well - they're almost like Suduko books for her, word games. I schedule it where she does 4 days of WWE, 2 days of FLL, 2 days of whatever other workbooky language art work. She doesn't always LOVE WWE, but I think they are good training and will pay off in the end. She does these workshops monthly, so that requires her to be reading a fairly hefty classic in addition to whatever else she wants to read. I feel like this is plenty... like you said, from all the reading, I think a vocab program isn't necessary really, but I remember actually enjoying my vocab books when I was younger, because I love words. So I might grab some vocab books to have around when we finish the current LA workbooks we are doing, or maybe get some of those English from the Roots Up cards. Really more as enrichment, but I think it would be intersting. Have you seen the Royal Firework Press LA stuff? That looks interesting as well, but I've never tried it.

Ballet Body is hardcore!!! I also find her voice hypnotic, like a snake who is about to eat me. I don't know where I got that imagery, but it always comes back to me. I am a fruitcake.

My husband said the same thing - "did she Roofie up that drink?!?" Where would she get that? lol!

Back to doing Barre3 3x a week - started last week and my legs are appropriately sore...

Mine are kind of weird - they are hazel - green background but a gold starburst mostly covering the background, so they look mostly gold. Sometimes they look almost the same color as my eyes, which is a little nutty. Sadly, none of my kids have red hair. :( I have three blondes and a brunette. But they all have red highlights. I hate the extreme cold, but also the extreme heat. I love where I live now in northern coastal CA, where its basically 60 degrees year round. Don't hate me.

I did with with two of mine, it was no problem, in fact really just what they needed. Just keep an eye to the pace.

How about Jim Weiss stories or other book on cd for the big girls while you are putting dd3 down? I know you want them to be read to before bed, maybe that would be a good compromise...

I remember the first lactation consultant I had telling me that because I had red hair I would have a lower pain threshold with nursing - I was never quite sure if I should believe her, but it helped get me though the beginning anyway... also, really interesting about being more sensitive to heat and cold!

Oh, I just thought of the book _The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers_ - I haven't read it (sorry, this sounds like a lame recommendation I know), but I used her book for babies and really appreciated it. It might have some more good ideas for your 3 year old. I know I've seen it at my library - it might be worth checking out and flipping through.

I would try reintroducing nap time for the 3 year old - she sounds like maybe she's overtired and that might causing her to be nutso - that's at least how my kids act when they haven't had their nap/quiet time for a few days for whatever reasons. Do you allow them to have a little light (I have these from ikea)to look at books? I let even my little ones do this once they are in bed. As long as they are quiet and calm, the small light can stay on and they can look through picture books until they fall asleep. If they are crazy and jumping around, the light goes off. I also have had issues with all of mine having nightmares and wanting to sleep in my bed. I keep a sleeping bag at the foot of my bed and have an open door policy that once they go to sleep in their own bed, they may come get in the sleeping bag at any time in the night that they want. They all eventually grow out of needing it. But mine have never had what I would call night terrors, so not sure if that would be as helpful. :( In our house we start the bedtime routine an hour before bed - around 7 pm - assuming they don't have to take bath, if they have to do that we add another hour, since there are four of them and they take forever. They brush teeth and get jammies on, then with whatever remaining time we read. I'm usually alone too, since dh works late a lot. Then its into bed, and they can read with their little lights on until they fall asleep, as long as they are in bed and quiet. Often time he comes home right as they are getting into bed, so he will chat with them a while when they first get into bed. I had to make the rule that they stay in bed when he got home since I would feel like everything would fall apart when they heard the door jangle at 8:15 and daddy was home! Arrgg! For reference mine are 3, 5, 7, and 9. They all still have a 2 hour quiet time/ nap time in the afternoon as well.

Recent North Face is always better quality in my opinion than Lands End, at least for their soft shells and real hiking jackets. In general I've been pretty disappointed with Lands End in recent years - things keep literally falling apart on me - zippers breaking, seams unravelling, that kind of thing. They still have a great guarantee and will still take stuff back, but its a pain. I grew up wearing Lands' End so have kept buying it, but have gotten really annoyed with their deteriorating quality. I've never had anything North Face unravel within a month of wearing. I also like Merrell - my husband's soft shell jacket that he wears everyday is from them and he left it on a plane recently and immediately went out and bought an identical one, he couldn't stand another one. Sierra Trading Post is a place to look for these brands - they will have the last season's styles, but way cheaper than REI type stores. That's where I get a lot of our jackets, especially for the kids.

How about fragrance free Curel? Its just about the only thing I can use on my super sensitive skin, aside from straight coconut oil. It can be a bit tricky to find, but usually target or drugstore.com has it. I use it on my face even though its not specifically for it and it works very well.

(I know some of these are repeats, consider them second votes :) Parenting Without Borders Christine Gross-Loh Quiet Susan Cain (this is super cheap on kindle right now) Happier at Home Gretchen Rubin The Read-Aloud Handbook Jim Trelease Dad is Fat Jim Gaffigan (this literally had me crying with laughter) In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Michael Pollan An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules For Everyday Foodies Tyler Cowen The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism Kristine Barnett

My husband and I are D&D people, and have been playing Mice & Mystics with our kids very slooooowwwly with our kids - they are 8 and under, so we do a chapter at a time. We play Forbidden Island, but it gets messy quick. They also love Catan Jr and can play that on their own, which I like.

My oldest is just like this. Its really a daily struggle. I think coming to the understanding that she is best described as having an emotional overexcitability (as well as many other overexcitabilities) has been really helpful to be in being able to approach it compassionately. Someone I heard speak on it said to think of Overexcitabilities as "OE" - original equipment - they are just like this - its not their fault, they are not trying to be difficult, its just their nature. Its a subtle thing I know, but just really internalizing that was important to me. A couple books that really helped me: The Explosive Child ( really practical too with that idea of realizing that this kid is doing the best they can, also very practical steps to avoiding meltdowns - it also made me thankful that I was addressing these issues when my child was young, as some of the examples in the book are with older teens) Raising Your Spirited Child (really practical advice for dealing with "spirited" - the author's term which could be substituted for gifted or kids with various overexcitibilities) I've also found the tips here really helpful: http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10438.aspx There are also lots of great articles on SENG : http://www.sengifted.org/ There are many others but these have been the most nuts and bolts practical for me so far. Good luck! I know its exhausting. Mine is 9 and its still a struggle, but it has gotten easier. I find that the more I try to be patient and tell her things like, "I'm on your side," and give her hugs, and just be really calm and reassuring, even when she freaks out it really helps. And wine. For me, I mean. :) <hugs>

Its just the PJs for us on Christmas Eve!

All the East Coasters are posting all kinds of comments on facebook and have piqued my interest - I didn't even know it was happening - but NBC won't let me see it streaming online until 8 pm pacific. BOO! Internet police! I don't see the point of this - Carrie Underwood is no Julie Andrews, that's all I'm saying.

Some of the things I love about our library: - No limit on books checked out - reasonable fines - children's materials fines are lower than adults which helps us - I wish there were none like another poster said! But I think of it as a donation when I pay them - excellent curated collection - just about every time I look for a book suggested from a recommended reading list, they have it. We use the Story of the World Activity for the booklists and when I check to see what coordinating literature and history resources our library has, they always have anywhere from 50%-100% of the titles suggested - great online system - super easy to reserve online books and have them ready for me to pick them up without me having to find everything with kids running around - ease of suggesting new titles - whenever I look for a title and my library doesn't have it, I submit a request for it via their online system, and they purchase it and put a hold on it for me - it usually comes in within a month or so. When I made a comment to a librarian about how impressed I am by this, she was super excited by how much I was using it and said, "keep those suggestions coming! And if you notice even a general area that you're studying that we don't have much on, let me know and I will try to beef up that area!" I just love her for that! I posted something to this affect on my library's facebook page around Thanksgiving, and they were very appreciative. :)

I wish my library would allow cards to be linked. As it is my kids all have cards because they love the *idea* of having library cards, but I only use my card because I keep track of all our books using the online system, and its much easier with everything on one account. It only works because they don't have a limit on books checked out though, we usually have over 100 items at a time.

I bought the books it to have around, but am not using it as a spine, just a supplement to our science books. I think they are great resources as such. I assign a few chapters a week for my oldest (8.5) who is accelerated and usually wants more to read on science topics. She reads them on her own, narrates/ dissusses with me and might do a notebook page on what she read or put something on her history timeline if appropriate. I agree that they are a bit more textbook-ish than narrative than I'd like, but at least they are secular and its not terribly boring, or super expensive. I do believe they are trying to be narrative, if that makes sense. My library had all of them so I was able to check them out first to see if we liked them. Most of what I've read online says that the workbooks are not worth using - not well related to the text, more suited for classroom use, and generally lame - but I have no personal experience with them.

We are an Ocean Grove family, not too far from her in Monterey, if she needs any info on that! :)

I have an older ceramic Remington, similar to this. The most important feature is adjustable heat, that way you don't fry your hair unnecessarily - not everyone needs the super hot settings. You don't need an expensive one honestly. A $20 model will do just fine. Money better spent would be to take her to a nice salon to get a trim and specifically ask to have a nice stylist show her how to blow her hair out. That's the real skill in making your wavy/curly hair smooth and straight. The flat iron should just be a finishing touch. If you use it to fully straighten, you will damage your hair. So she will also need a round or paddle brush, which is a nice stocking stuffer. :)

Just to add, we also have the Loving Family Dollhouse - it was actually the second dollhouse they had - the first I had bought when my oldest daughter was only two - it was a "my first dollhouse" style but was too small for two little girls trying to play at the same time. If I had to do it over again, I wish I would have bought the Pottery Barn Kids dollhouse that I originally wanted. I would love to get them this one I recently discovered if a pile of money dropped into my lap. :) Maybe gone in with Grandma or something. Expensive, but I have a feeling it would have been an heirloom sort of purchase. We definitely have gotten our money's worth and more out of current dollhouse!

I'm not usually into mysteries, but I read The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King and proceeded to binge read the rest of the series (I love when I discover a series a decade or so after its written so I don't have to wait for new books). The idea is that when Sherlock Holmes is older, into middle age, he meets a similarly gifted orphaned teenaged girl who becomes his protegee and eventual partner. It sounds like it would be awful, but its really very good.

I have an ipod touch that I let my kids borrow. I have parental controls set on it using a passcode that only I know. You could set that up on it and that would make it such that she could not have access to certain apps. I don't let my kids on the internet without supervision yet though, so for us the parental controls are mostly to keep kids from accidentally buying stuff, deleting my apps or blasting their eardrums out listening to music too loud - but you can do a lot with them. There are videos online that can walk you through it step by step.