Is he a lefty? If so, that might be part of it. When a lefty writes, they can't see what they just wrote, where a righty can. I am a lefty and wrote backwards at that age so that I could see what I had written as I went along. I have a very simple thing for the reading words http://www.piperbooks.co.uk/resources.htm Go to the notched card. This is a super simple but very effective way of teaching/training the child to read left to right.

It was on the news about local thrift stores. We have one that sells clothing for 50 cents an item. They are a charity and might be able to get away with just giving the clothing away--not sure though as they are not a private party. There is a used toy store in our town that is really nice. You can bring your toys in to sell, buy different stuff, etc. She would be put out of business for sure. Same thing with consignment shops that sell kids toys/clothing. Does anyone have any number/names of people to contact that have the power to change this?

Was he more on target before 6 months or so? Could he have some food allergies/intolerances when she started adding food? His development sounds much like my 12dd's--although she was a better weight---likely due to the steroids she was on for asthma. Anyway, she sat at 9 months, crawled at 12 months, walked at 18 months. She didn't have great muscle tone/strength. She was diagnosed with very mild CP. Now at 12 she is doing very well. It took her longer to learn to ride a bike and she doesn't have quite the coordination for sports that most kids her age have. Her endurance isn't great either but the casual observer wouldn't notice. I would see if they would consider seeing the Early On people (from the Health Department) or seeing a developmental pediatrician. Early intervention can make a big difference for some of these kids.

I would still consider taking him back in--esp. if he is pulling at the other ear, is congested, and has a stinky breath. It could be that the bug that is causing his ear infection is not responding to the Amox. It is not that he hasn't been on the antibiotics before but rather that particular bacteria might not respond to it. If there is also a sinus infection, it is unlikely Amox. would kill that. Can you at least call the doctor and ask for their opinion? Usually an ear infection will respond in 24-48 hours at the most to the antibiotic. If you are 8-9 days into this, he should be feeling totally back to normal.

How big are the parents? Is he following the growth curve or falling off? How about head size? Is that following the same path as well? Personally, I don't think it would hurt to have him checked out again. Early intervention can be very helpful. Being small is not a huge concern, some delays are not a big deal but when you have a very small baby with delays, I think that a visit to a developmental pediatrician might be in order. Do you see anything else concerning? Floppy or high tone? Vision/hearing concerns? Social interaction? What diet is he on?

You could always put a wanted ad on Craig's list and see what comes up. You can sometimes find kids cowboy boots at Target, Walmart, etc. They are not the best quality but if they will only be worn for these 4 days, they would work if you can't find used. I am sure the papers will mention this as well but you will want PANTS for riding---no shorts. Stretch jeans are great for riding. I have some that I use just for riding. I would not wear them out in public but for riding they are great. You don't want rub marks.

I just did 1 mile of Leslie Sansone's Walk Blaster. I know doing more would help me but if I can get in 1 mile of a walking DVD or 20 minutes of another aerobic DVD then I figure that is better than nothing.

If they are talking about the small cans of chicken broth, it would be about 2 cups.

I would see about an eval with a psychiatrist. They can rule out other physical/medical issues and then use medication if needed. I don't advocate just throwing meds at a child but if they are needed, they can make life so much better for the child, parents, their relationship, etc.

Check out your local thrift stores, Goodwill, or Craig's list for cowboy boots. I would NOT ride in tennis shoes or hiking boots. The rubber soles on them can stick to the stirrups if you fall or slip and can trap your foot. You also want the heel to keep your foot from sliding through the stirrup. I buy our riding boots at local Tack Sales---if horses are big in your area, ask around as there are lots of these used sales and I get my boots there---nice leather ones for $5-15/pair. You want FUNCTION over fashion for riding. Some boots have both but function and comfort should win out when riding. I would ask about chaning shoes as you would likely pay a lot of money for a good boot for riding that would work for hiking. I agree on the helmets. Even on the best, most bombproof trail horse you can fall off. My children are required to wear one in the barn or anywhere near the horses--even if they are just brushing/leading them. I wear my helmet when I am riding and doing anything more than the very basic work with them. Sounds like a fun time.

Have you had a neuropsychological eval done? It sounds like there might be more than just the sensory/learning stuff going on. Did they see any mood issues, ADD/ADHD, anxiety (I know you mention that), etc? If so, medication might be a big help. I know that it has reduced the tension in our home about 90%. It really helps my relationship with the child as well as the child's self esteem and ability to focus and learn.

Miralax is WONDERFUL. We had to play around with the dose to find the right one but my 13dd has been on it for 6 years or so now. Could she be getting too much fiber/grains? If she has trouble digesting them, it could lead to more problems.

We are actually making an offer on a house this afternoon. I think that getting a BUYER'S AGENT would be a good move for you. They have inside dibs on houses coming on the market. Ours has done a lot of work with foreclosures which can be very good deals in today's market. The home we are looking at is a foreclosure, now bank owned. We are offering 1/2 of what the home structure was valued at in 2004. That doesn't include the pole barn, garage with 2 bedroom apartment or 6.7 acres of land. Likely we will have to go up some on the price but we should steal snag a good deal. Just make clear what you are looking for and the area you want to live in. Then they can contact you when a listing comes up that matches what you need.

This is a tough one. Just in the past 2 years or so have I really been able to do this more. We have 3 kids with special needs and then have had over 100 foster children so usually our home was a hopping place. Dh would watch the kids for short bits of time but in some foster care cases we just couldn't leave him and older ds home with the females without me there. In the past 2 years though I have done a lot more and gotten out a lot. I LOVE my children and dh but I also ENJOY my fellowship time with other women without the pressures of children---or even just their listening ears. Last spring I went to Ohio for 4 1/2 days to a horse expo and dh was home with the kids---and he even went and feed the horses twice a day at my friend's house (ours are there and she was with me). Then a few weeks later I spent 2 days at a resort with a single friend of mine. Last fall it was 3 days at a horse clinic. I also go out horse backing riding without the kids once in a while. Even though our kids are 20, 13 and 12, we can't leave them home alone together. 20ds can be home alone but the girls can't stay with him (too much conflict) and they can't be home alone either at this point. I do use respite though for them when dh can't watch them. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to get away for a few hours and enjoy some fellowship with other women. I walk with friends 2-3 times a week and it is really nice to have the time to talk about adult matters without having kids sitting right there. I really appreciate that dh will take care of the house and kids so that I can get away some. I will be gone again in April for 4 1/2 days to the horse expo. He doesn't do things like I would--they eat junk food and go out a lot, but the kids remember the times with dad fondly and they won't be ruined for life.

They can build 25 feet from the property line and they came very close. I am going to look at it again this afternoon. This time I am going to take some measurements of the rooms to see how/if our furniture would fit. I will also take a better look at the property line, etc. A friend of mine that is an architech is going to meet me there to help me check out a few things. She has a great eye for things and will mention any potential problems to me--even if they are traffice flow issues, etc. We did get ahold of the building inspection reports and those looked good---it passed and was not left out in the weather long at all. This is just a lot to think about.

Right now the home/property has everything we want on it but we just don't want to have an almost 7 acre mini farm that we can't expand on in the future if we would want. Having almost NO back yard though is the other issue. There is only about 12 feet from the back of the deck to the lot line. With almost 7 acres we would like a back yard to enjoy and not have the the neighbors be SO close. We still might make a very low offer on it and go from there--then we would have some money to do some other things with in the future.

Well, I talked to a realtor (one we called) at 1:30 this afternoon for the first time. By 2pm we were meeting at the house. It is PERFECT for what we need. The house itself is brand new, never lived in with 4 bedrooms. Then there is a big pole barn with car repair area (dh is a mechanic), office, bathroom, another small car part AND a 2 bedroom apartment with appliances--even washer and dryer. The PROBLEM is that the house is on 6.7 acres but.................the house itself sits 37.5 from the rear property line. That means we could have neighbors very close behind us. Also, the township has some zoning that you can't build any structures in your FRONT yard which means all of the land is in the FRONT of the house. The realtor is calling about all of the zoning stuff on Monday. We then might make a lower offer and see what happens. If the house was better situated on the property we would make an offer by Monday.

Dh and I are in a unique situation. Right now our home is paid for and we are debt free. We have a 5 bedroom split level on 2 acres. The problem is 2 fold: 1. We would like an area so we could take our horses home with us 2. The state is planning on putting a highway through our home in the next 1-????? years (supposed to have paid us last year). I just found a foreclosed home for sale just 1 1/2 miles down the road that has 3 bedrooms (could expand in the basement) on 6.7 acres. It has 2 barns and some fencing already up. The location is wonderful for horseback riding as there are trails to state land, etc. I have called on the home but haven't heard back from anyone about seeing it. It appears to be empty right now. We live in an area with very high unemployment (one local area is 22% right now) and many foreclosures so we likely could get the house at a very reasonable price. Problem is, I don't think we could sell our home for very much right now as there are so many homes on the market and who would want to buy a house that might be torn down by a highway in the next few years. One option would be to rent out our current home as there are very few rentals that would have 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3 stall garage in a nice area in the country. We do have enough money for this other house even if we don't sell our current one but it would be a stretch. Back to the foreclosure stuff, what should I be aware of? The recording said that it was being sold AS IS but the home is only 4 year old. We would have it inspected but what else should we be aware of? Are we responsible for any back taxes that might be due? We honestly aren't in a hurry to move at all but this home does seem to meet all of our needs (except having AC which we could add) and now is a great time to buy a home in our area.

Is he going to be in a decent size town? If so, I would would focus on clothing, shoes, etc. that would be hard to replace due to his height. Make sure he has the basics for whatever weather he might encounter. Layers would well like a T shirt, sweatshirt, and a light weight coat in cooler weather vs. taking 2 coats. If he will be walking a lot outside in a wet climate a rain coat would be handy. The other stuff--personal care items, soaps, etc. he could pick up at a local store. oh, how about a few pictures or other favorite things from home that would make his dorm seem more like home? Even if they provide linens, sometimes a favorite pillow case would make things look more homey than the standard issue ones.

I like the murals, etc. ideas. Our chiropractor has 1 room done in animals and another with an under the sea theme. Then there is the I Spy thing---like count how many lady bugs you can find, how many clown fish, etc. Another peds. specialty office had an I Spy type thing where they put up pictures of various things and then had a list of them to find. I like bright, cheery colors. Could you have books in the room that go with the theme for various age kids? Like jungle type books for the jungle room, sea creatures books for the under the sea room, etc? I know though that sometime books just seem to "walk off".

Check out the I See Sam books at http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html You can print out the first one for free. http://www.piperbooks.co.uk/index.htm is the UK site that has lots of great information about the books on it. These are cute little readers that move slowly but very carefully through phonics. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Beginning-Reading-Instruction/ Is a yahoo group where you can find more samples, get some free downloads, and tons of help from reading specialists. This is an OLD program--from the early 1970s that got pushed out of the way when phonics went out of style. Some reading specialists "rediscovered" it and started using it with great success with struggling readers and younger kids. I taught my 2 girls to read using this program when NOTHING else was working. One has LDs and the other is mentally impaired. These books are FUN for kids as well as they are real BOOKS and not boring worksheets, etc.

Thanks for the ideas.

Thanks. We would buy a microwave but he works at a prision so security and rules are quite tight. They do have a microwave but being the new guy, he needs to figure out his lunch schedule (he is a teacher there) and see if it will be free to use. He doesn't want to be the new guy that hogs the microwave. I did go out today and got more veggies. That should help. He LOVES chips, crackers, breads, pastas, potatoes---basically the carbs that he should not be having many of. I want to pack stuff that is appealing to him so he won't miss it as much. If he can use the microwave that would be easier as he really likes soups, stews, chili, etc. and those I can make healthier for him.

I am now having to pack a lunch for dh each day. He has type 2 diabetes and is on meds. I need some ideas for friendly lunches. Right now he has access to a fridge but not a microwave (hopefully that will change). What is good to pack for him?

I just joined the Sparks people. Now I have to figure this all out. I set a very modest goal of 20 pounds this year. In reality, I could loose 40 and still be OK but I figure that I am more likely to stick with a smaller goal than a bigger one. I had lost 70 pounds in a year but in the past year have gained about 8-10 back. Now I need to make sure I keep that off. My biggest downfall is POP. I LOVE my Coke--so my goal for the week in only 1 pop for the entire week. I already exercise quite a bit---walk 3 miles in 45 minutes twice a week with friends and then exercise DVDs 3-4 more days a week. I also go horseback riding 4-6 days a week when the weather is good.