Ds has always been called by his initials AJ (planned since before he was born). He used to deny that his name was Aaron! He reports that he is AOK with his name. Dd sometimes wishes she had a less common name. Guess why we named her a standard name with standard spelling? Growing up with my nonstandard name, Lawana, made me do that. Dd has enjoyed naming her dolls and animals all kinds of unusual names. Arload, for example.:001_huh: Lawana

A tote bag would be a practical next project- maybe with some embellishments.

The doll's hair needs a wire wig brush. Any other type ruins the hair. The one from AG works of course, but we picked one up at the local beauty supply store for less. Lawana

The LDS church can't be that theologically opposed to cremation as they paid for my cousin's cremation but would not pay for a burial. My cousin, a lifelong member, was being supported by the church at the time of his death. Lawana

Umm, scissors? Lawana

Can H2O2 be used with colors also or does it bleach them? Have you used regular H2O2 and if so, how? Do you put it in with the detergent? Here's hoping my clothes won't stink any more! Lawana

When I go bare legged people pull out their sunglasses- winter or summer. Lawana

We are trying to put more away each month. Dh felt compelled to pay off the mortgage a few years early which we did by taking out a 401k loan, and that's been paid off for a year now. No other debts or loans. I'd been hoping for a newer van because mine has 176,000 miles on it, but we want to pay cash of which we don't yet have enough saved. We do use credit cards for most of our purchases and then pay off each month. Based on what Leila said about credit card spending habits, I'm wondering if we could save money by paying cash for most things. Dc have been put on notice that if things get bad, dance, karate, piano and baseball would have to be reconsidered. Lawana

I have a ds9 too, but he isn't quite that silly. He likes to joke and have fun, but he can also get serious about getting school and piano done. What motivates him? Rewards? A chance to put on a show for the family after a good week of school? Good luck- he sounds like an entertaining kid! Lawana

I'm camped out at home with half a tank of gas but not wanting to use it up. We've had gas siphoned out of 2 vehicles and dh interrupted another attempt last night. Oh and we live in a middle class subdivision with 1 acre lots. Lawana in NE GA

Maybe it is rippling north. We did have gas this weekend. Lawana

How long have you been out? Our situation developed today. How extensive is this? Lawana

Very fortunately I filled up my van this afternoon at 1:30. By 6pm it was getting extremely hard to find a gas station with any gas at all- a very few have just premium. I live in a town in NE Georgia about 60 miles from Atlanta. I sure hope this situation changes soon. Lawana

What have you tried with the bobbin? Do you know which direction the bobbin should be inserted? Have your tried rewinding a new bobbin? Lawana

The way it works out in practice in Georgia is that a child enrolls in K as long as he/she is 5 by Sept.1, unless the parents opt to delay a year, which happens frequently for May-Aug birthdays, particularly for boys. Then the child is enrolled in K the following year. I have only heard of one case where a parent opted out of K, and that was a case back when the compulsory age was 7, and the Mom kept her kids home until 2nd grade. The homeschoolers I know declare their intent to homeschool the Sept. after their child has already turned 6. By the way, stating a child's grade is *not* required by law, and neither is stating their birthday. Name and age are the only things that are required by law, even though in my county at least, the declaration of intent form suppied by the local school district asks for grade, birthday, and special education status. Lawana (in Georgia)

Ds (then 8) had 2 baby teeth pulled because his permanent lower lateral incisor erupted 2 teeth over by pushing out a baby molar. xrays showed this misplaced tooth was lying diagonally, with its roots under the 2 baby teeth (eye tooth and baby incisor) but above the still developing permanent ones. If left in place the erupting permanent teeth below the misplaced incisor would have caused that tooth's roots to disolve, resulting in the loss of the incisor. He now has braces to pull the incisor into the right position. Lawana

Dh has had severe discomfort for the 7 years since his V. He profoundly regrets the procedure. Lawana

I'll weigh in on the option to sit with a child during practice because from my experience, most young children simply do not have the skills to effectively structure their own practice session. I sit with my ds9 and stay in the room with dd11. But I think your decision should be based on your goals for your child. Do you expect him to become an accomplished pianist? Is he taking lessons to try it out to see if it's a good fit? Or somewhere in between? Another way to say it may be, are the lessons mandatory for him or optional. Is it important to you that he progress rather quickly, or would you be satisfied with a slower rate. Also, the personality of the child comes into play. Does your child have an internal drive to accomplish a set goal, even if the goal is not his? I don't know many 7 year olds that do. My dd needed constant instruction to "play it again"- she would give up if it seemed hard. Ds has more drive, but for efficiency, I still sit with him to make sure he doesn't learn it wrong. (I do have some piano background.) Your needs should also play a role in this. Do you have time to sit with him? Do you want to? Are you willing to if that makes his progress faster? If the piano teacher has not already addressed the subject of how to practice, I would ask him/her for very concrete and explicit instructions about how a practice session should be conducted. The teacher should be able to give you an outline something like -figure out the rhythm, then the notes, play right hand 5 times, left hand 5 times, then together 5 times. If the teacher writes this down, so much the better. If not, you could take notes during the lesson. I think teachers vary on how involved they want the parent, but from my experience the typical young child *needs* help with practice. If you don't have piano or music skills yourself, you could still help him structure his practice, making a chart with items to check off when complete, if the teacher doesn't already provide this. You mentioned that you got frustrated when you sit with him during practice. Care to elaborate? Lawana

Dd begged and begged for rabbits so we finally got 2 supposedly female Netherland Dwarf bunnies for her 8th birthday. I'm sure you know what's coming- one was a male- had to get it fixed. Aside from that, what she wanted was a cuddly pet, and these two were fearful and shy. Dh and I didn't want rabbits with the run of the house, so we kept them in a cage in the garage, bringing them into the kitchen just for "pet time". They peed and pooped everywhere and bit through the mouse cord. Eventually, we built a 4'x8' pen outside for them. They are not friendly and are not the kind of pet dd had in mind. Maybe others have had more success with rabbits as pets. I do have to say they are extremely hardy- we've had them 4 years and they've survived everything so far. Lawana

That stage between size ranges can be so frustrating. I just wish that were my problem. What will I do if DD11 grows any more and exceeds her current Womens size 11 shoe? Lawana

The day of the week figures prominantly into DD's birth story, so I'm not likely to forget. I was 35 weeks pregnant and DH had one last out of town work assignment before I was due. He left the house Monday morning about 4:00 am to catch an early flight. At 4:30 I woke up in the early stages of labor. He always left a travel itinerary, except this time he forgot. (And this was in '96, before he had a cell phone.) So I called the airline to find out which flight he was on and was informed they couldn't give out passenger information. I had held it together admirably until then, but at the thought of not being able to get in touch with him started wailing, "But I'm going into labor!" At that point the customer service person put me on hold, and to her credit, paged DH at the gate where he was in line to board, and put him on the line, all without violating airline policy. Dh's response when I told him I was in labor, "Define labor." That's an engineer for you. Anyway, all was well and he got home in plenty of time to take me to the hospital. DS was born on Thursday. I had to figure that out- DD and DS's birthdays are on the same day of the week, and since he was born in DD's 3rd year, that puts him born on Thursday. Lawana

"What did you think about Alfred's? I'm getting that in the mail soon. Our MusikGarten teacher recommended it. I played piano for nine years (from ages 7-16). I used to perform too. Now I hardly play, but mostly by ear :tongue_smilie:" Dd only used one level (level C), so I don't really have an opinion on the series as a whole. From what I saw, it seemed to be at least as good as Bastien, which at the time seemed to be what *most* teachers locally were using. One thing about it I really liked was that it taught conducting patterns for 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 time in a supplemental book. (There are LOTS of suppl books). We have used conducting as a way of developing a steady beat, and also for my visual ds to *see* where the notes go, especially in syncopated rythms. I would not have thought to introduce conducting patterns so early. Sorry I can't be more help than that. Lawana

First off, my background. I took piano lessons as a teen for about 3 years, reaching intermediate level; took music theory in school as well as music history. Piano is a high priority for me, and something I truly love doing- reading about, improving my own meager skills, passing on to my kids. I taught both dc using Music for Little Mozarts before they went on to take lessons from a "real" teacher. Interestingly, both dd and ds followed the same developmental steps, without any intentionality on my part. We started book 1 at age 5, proceeded quickly to book 2, then reached a frustration level as soon as the notes moved to the staff. Put it away for a while, then picked back up just as they turned 7. Neither of them thought the books were "babyish" and both enjoyed the stories and animals. I'm thinking that for my dc at least, the ability to read notes on the staff corelated to their reading ability; which aligns with the "traditional" age to start piano. That said, I think learning at home with a motivated parent has distinct advantages for young children over a once a week lesson format. In order to succeed with young children, parents must be involved with practice every session, and since you are going to have to learn what to do anyway, why not just do it yourself. Given, of course, that you get enough information to teach effectively. But I'm preaching to the choir. Dd (now 11) started weekly lessons (at 7 1/2) with a teacher while she was in MLM book 3, went on the Alfreds Young Beginner series book C, switched teachers (only for practical reasons), then went into Bastien level 1. Completed levels 1, 2, and most of 3, then the teacher switched her to Fabers' Piano Adventures 3B. She has now completed Level 4 of Fabers' PA and we are in the process of changing teachers again; this time because she needs more/different motivation. Ds (now 9) completed all 4 levels of MLM at home with me, then began weekly lessons (at 7 1/2) with the same teacher as dd using Fabers' PA level 1. He is now in PA level 3A, and we are switching teachers for him, too, as I think a male teacher would be good for him. I have remained very involved with their practice, usually sitting with them the entire time. Comparing the different series they have used, I have the highest regard for the Fabers' Piano Adventures. What makes them better, IMO, is that they explicitly teach technique. Also, the musicality of their pieces is much better than other series I have seen. Often I have thought that if I had used their books when I was taking lessons, I would have had a better foundation on which to grow. I understand that more and more piano teachers are switching to the Fabers' books. If I had to do it over, I would take a hard look at the Fabers' series for young beginners, My First Piano Adventure. Their web site has downloadable teacher videos. http://www.pianoteaching.com/myfirst/index.html That said, I think dc got an excellent background with Music for Little Mozarts, I found it highly teachable, and I don't think you can go wrong with it. For dd, when she reached the point of playing with both hands, she got a little overwhelmed. I used sticky notes to cover up all but the measure or staff she was reading. That seemed to reduce the complexity or "overwhelmingness" of the new skill. Other resources that I have read that helped me be a more effective "piano teacher": http://www.artistryalliance.net/ I have a few of their books- excellent for practice methodology, rhythm teaching, and phrasing http://www.marthabeth.com/piano.html Tons of stuff here, for both teachers and parents, although she'll tell you that beginners should have only the best teacher.;) I think if we had used some of her ideas about "worm" and "snake" songs as an introduction to reading from the staff, we may have been able to proceed without a developmental break at age 5-6. http://www.marthabeth.com/teaching_notereading.html http://www.pianoeu.com/ Only if you want info on technique and can wade through non-native English. Good luck with your piano journey. Lawana

Here's one: A girl at dd's dance studio is named Holly Wood. Lawana

Is he doing the problems in his head or step by step algorithm? I think doing them is the head is desirable but if it leads to errors, it needs to be done step by step. It may be a motivational issue. He may not see any reason why he should be careful and get them right the first time. One thing that has worked for us is to use an incentive for accuracy. Assuming the work is mostly review/practice, assign a certain number of problems. If they are done with very high accuracy (I always leave room for *one* mistake) the child's assignment is done. If more than one is missed, then the next set is assigned. Good luck! Lawana