No, I feel that it is a very mean way to get a point across. I remember that one time when I was a child I was standing in a checkout line with my mother. A woman and child was in front of us....the child was saying something and the woman glared at him and said "Shut up!!!" That has stuck with me to this day....I felt that she was being so incredibly mean to her child by saying that. I could never say that to my children.

Is this show freaky scary or freaky strange? The preview looked interesting. But I cannot do freaky scary. I'll lie awake at night LOL. I can do freaky strange like Fringe. I love that show.

Wow! That is awesome!! That really took some time and dedication!

Someone posted him on Facebook today....he is really good!

I feel your pain. My two are in swimming lessons last week and this week. Every. Single. Day. Plus, we have our own pool. I've started tossing the swimsuits and towels into the dryer as soon as we walk in the door from lessons. Otherwise, there are wet, dripping suits everywhere.

Always. I've been wavering on whether or not to buy Oak Meadow for my first grade. I finally went ahead and bought it when Oak Meadow emailed me the other day and told me they had a used first grade syllabus. But yes, I waver on all curriculum choices. Your child's education is such a big decision and there are so many choices out there.

If possible, maybe she could sit in the front seat sometimes. My parents used to let me do that sometimes on long trips. Front seat, cold air, Dramamine, clear soda....all of that helps me. I haven't gotten car sick in a long time though. But that's because I make sure I'm always the driver now.

You are raising her right momma! What a great heart she has!!

I think that having homeschoolers keep attendance records (as required by some states) is silly for all the reasons that you mentioned.

I like her, I think she's funny......but, her comments on American Idol just make her seem uneducated about the music industry. Which, maybe that's what they were going for. Maybe they wanted someone that wasn't familiar with the industry to share their opinion. But she looks sort of silly when the other three judges say someone was totally off pitch and she says that she loved their performance. And yes, the comment last night was totally and completely uncalled for.

I actually liked that they flashed back to the scene in the cave with Jack and Kate. I can't remember all the episodes from all the seasons so I like when they help us along a bit. But when I saw it, I definitely remembered it.

Mom2att, thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, we are going to Nemours too. It's not Dr Hunter though, it is someone else but I can't remember who they said. I think it starts with an "L." It is nice to know what to expect once we get there. Thanks for everyone else sharing your experiences as well. Sounds like hopefully it will not be as bad as I was anticipating. Although, I didn't realize that patching could go on for years. I was guessing months....years is a long time!

Wow, that episode was SOOO good! I loved learning the back story to Jacob and the MIB.....which, they never even said his name! UGH!

I agree with KateMary. My tics are involuntary, but not the muscle twitch type of way, as she mentioned. I have to make myself do it....but I must do it. It's not like I can say "Well, I just wont do any tics today." It just would not work that way.

Thanks for all the of the replies and reassurance! I'll definitely bring some distractions with us to the appointment. So if they need to do the patch with her....it's not something that she has to wear all day long? I just figured that she would have to. And your small children kept a patch on just fine?

Yes, the flapping doesn't sound like ticcing....it sounds like stimming, which comes with autism.

If I have major work to do, I ask my mom to watch them. I have been known to start cleaning projects about 10 or 11 o'clock at night.

I've noticed that my just-turned-3-year-old has a "wandering" eye. One eye will look straight at me but the other one will drift in another direction. Sometimes I have a hard time knowing if she's looking at me or past me. I took her to the pediatrician today and they referred me to a pediatric opthamologist at the local childrens hospital. The quickest appointment I could get is still over a month away though. So I'm not sure whether she has strabismus (crossed eyes....but it doesn't necessarily mean they are crossed inwards....it can mean any direction), a lazy eye, or what. I know that the first can cause vision problems. I'm just kind of wondering what to expect? Does anyone have any experience with this? The lady who set up the appointment told me to expect to be there for two hours and that they would be dialating her eyes. Ummm....that should go over well. I'm envisioning this horribly awful experience where they will strap her down and tape her eye lids open or something. How in the world will they get a newly turned 3 year old to cooperate for any of this?

Ummm....I absolutely had no idea.

We do have a playroom already. Our home is a 4 bedroom plan, but the original builders only put three rooms in....so one room is large. We use that as the playroom and eventually the kids bedroom when we put them in there to sleep. Right now they share a bed in the master bedroom with us. We have a family bedroom with two beds in it LOL. It will be really easy to take down the wall seperating the rooms....it is not a weight bearing wall. It goes not even reach the ceiling....it just goes most of the way up. Our kitchenette is really small and it would be nice to open it up a bit. We were looking at homes to buy over the past year and I LOVE the open floor plan. I wonder if theres a way we can incorporate a breakfast bar anywhere?

We were going to move....but now we are not. We've decided to put some money into our current house to make it how we want it. We just signed a contract on adding a sunroom to the back of our house. We're building a covered patio off of it. We're putting wood floors down in our house, resodding the yard....eventually we'll do a kitchen and bathroom remodel. I need some help setting up my house in order to maximize our space. We have a formal living room connected to a formal dining room. We need neither. Right now our computers are in the formal dining area. The formal living has a rocking chair. I feel like we are not maximizing this space. We also have a guest room. We don't have guests often at all. DH's mother comes and visits for about 2 weeks once (occasionally twice) a year. My dad occasionally comes and stays a few nights when DH goes out of town (yes, I'm a chicken, plus he uses it as an excuse to spend some time with the grandkids in the evenings). But that is it....no other guests. Yet we have a a king sized bed taking up an entire room. I would love to do something neat and unique to the areas I mentioned....but I'm not sure what. We don't really need a school room. The lighting in our house is not wonderful and I can already tell that we will probably do a lot of our schooling in the soon-to-be-sunroom. I actually thought about taking down the wall seperating the family room from the kitchentte, from the formal living/dining combo. Then it would be one really large room. But I'm not sure. Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Neat things they have done to their own homes?

I have tics. I have not been officially diagnosed with anything, as I do not feel it is necessary. So I'm not sure whether I have Tourette's, transient tic disorder, or what. Thankfully, my tics are rather mild....nothing extremely noticeable that will bring attention to myself. My tics come and go. I'll have one tic for a few weeks, it will taper off, I may have a period of a few weeks with no tics, and then other one will begin. And so forth. Most of mine are things like rolling my eyes, blinking, wrinkling my nose, etc. They can be painful.....rolling your eyes over and over causes headaches, eye strain, blurriness, etc. They are NOT voluntary. And yes, I CAN supress them when needed. For example, if I'm talking to someone I do not know, I can refrain from rolling my eyes while I'm speaking to them. I don't want to appear strange or weird, so I refrain from doing it. The best way I can describe it is like an itch.....you can refrain from scratching an itch but the urgency builds and builds. It gets to where its all you can think about. You need to scratch that itch to get rid of that feeling and get some relief. That's how it is with a tic. As far as bringing attention to the person doing the tic....I try not to. I know that when it is brought to my attention, I'm embarassed. I used to work with children in an after school program. Children notice EVERYTHING. They'd ask me why I was rolling my eyes or scrunching up my nose. It's embarassing to have it brought up. My daughter occasionally has a tic and I try not to mention anything about it. But as far as your original question.....yes, they can be supressed but tics are not voluntary. I know there are people out there with way worse tics than mine....there are people who jerk their arms around or make vocal noises....things that draw attention to themselves. Mine are much milder but they are still not fun to deal with.

We would be coming from the other way.....so would we want to pass New York in order to stay in CT? What about staying in New Jersey? Is there any decent, close place to stay there? That doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

I want to take a road trip to New York. I hate road trips (this one would be 16 hours one way) but I really want to see New York. Once there, where should we stay? Outside of the city, right? But I don't want to be very far....is there any good, safe places within 10 minutes of the city? Also, how would we get around? I assume taking our own vehicle into NYC is not really an option? But what about our kids riding in their car seats? I'm terrified of strangers driving....if I got into a taxi cab I'm afraid I would have a panic attack LOL. What would a 3 year old and a 6 year old enjoy in NYC? Anything in particular? I'd love to see a show or a TV show taping but can't see taking kids of these ages. Any advice for a family tripi to NYC?

It can be a pain to keep a bikini line trimmed. She could wear some board shorts over her suit.