It depends on the child. I have a builder who builds all of the time with legos and wooden blocks. He loves them and still plays with them... got them last Christmas. My non building children occasionally play with them.

My 8.5 yr old doesn't just somehow know them and we have a project coming up that assumes he already knows the months. He did seem to learn how to count to 100, tell time and various other things by osmosis but not the months of the year...or the days of the week. I think what a child "catches" depends alot on their awareness of certain aspects of life AND their particular giftings. I'm sure that down the road necessity would cause him to learn them all without ANY instruction but to what end? I see a hole in his awareness/knowledge and I want to patch it.

Wow... thank you for all of your suggestions! I definitely have several options now. To everyone that listed links and books thank you for the resource info. We have worked on the days of the week. I remembered the song I was taught in high school Spanish... so I just sang it in English to the kids and they got it. I don't have any songs to pull out of my brain for the months. Now I do! Unfortunately for my kids I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. I can already hear them, "Mom, pleeeease stop singing!" :lol:

Yep, us too. I LOVE this program!! I believe it is used in the Portland school system. I ordered this and print up worksheets through MS Word. It saves a ton of money on the workbooks... I did purchase the TM and I also have the first 4 or 5 workbooks but they are not enough practice IMO.

I am looking for any ideas/suggestions for teaching the months of the year. Songs...links...games....activities.... :bigear: What ever you've got! TIA

I LOVE my Kozy!! My DH wears.it.all.the.time!

Shelly in IL, It sounds as if you are believers.... ds was praying for the bully. Scripture gives a clear course of action for this situation if the family of the bully are also believers. Matthew 18:15-17 "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Even if they aren't, going to them is, I believe the right thing to do. I agree with other posters who have mentioned that if we were talking about adults here this would be grounds to call the police. You can't go around physically threatening people! I understand that these are children and boys specifically but you could even call the police with how it stands now... I know that sounds extreme but if your neighbor were to treat you in the same fashion you wouldn't hesitate to call the police. So why hesitate to call the bully's parents? I have experienced this very thing, though with younger children. We advised our child to punch the bully in the nose. We also told the older sibling to take care of his younger brother and step in if he saw it happening again. We talked with the bully's parents after making sure our boys knew to physically protect themselves if need be. We told the bully's parents this, right out..... "I told my ds to punch your ds in the nose if he ever does that again." I went on, without any apologies to explain that I never want my child to be victimized like that again and that I have OKed any violent response he decides to dish out. This child of mine is NOT violent and quite shy... we chose this response because we felt he needed the empowerment and validation. We may have taken a different route with a child who tends to bully.... if that makes any sense. This specific child NEEDED that response from us. Our older boy who is HUGE and tough would have gotten a different talk...something along the lines of, "Don't let him hurt you and try not to hurt him too much in the process of not letting him hurt you." These situations are tough!

:iagree:

This is what we did. We went with a urologist that does V and V-reversals primarily. I think when you have a doctor that is regularly working on that region it is a big bonus! We were also pleased to discover that his price was the same as other doctors. The doc we went with is SO geared toward men that his nurses are male too! My husband felt very comfortable with him and the staff. My dh had it done on Dec 21st last year which was a Friday and the following week was Christmas so he wasn't due back to work until the 27th which was a Thursday. He had the no-scalpel V. We were a little concerned because my dh works in construction and we didn't know if the hard physical labor would be too much. His Urologist was ADAMANT about bed rest for several days. Part of the key with bed rest is laying down so that swelling in minimal. He.stayed.horizontal. for 3 days before he even moved around and then he took it easy. Also he was told to wait a while before having an O. I can't remember how long but I do know that we waited almost twice as long just to be on the safe side. Having an O too soon encourages leakage and the granules that cause so much pain. The one friend of ours who experienced pain was definitely up and around before he should have been according to what our urologist said. Though he went with a different doc and had the regular scalpel procedure.

Aside from the initial discomfort my dh has not had any pain. He wears boxers. He had a No-scalpel Vasectomy . In our area the cost was exactly the same as the traditional scalpel procedure. I know someone who had the scalpel procedure and the doctor was PULLING and pulling on the vas deferens on one side because it was... short... and didn't rise to the surface. So he had some discomfort for awhile... a couple months post procedure... but now he is fine.

We looked into essure before settling on dh having a V. Anyone considering this should REALLY research it. They use nickel coils so if you are allergic to nickel than you are out. They work by CAUSING scar tissue to form in the fallopian tubes. And once you have them there are certain procedures that you can NO LONGER have because of the nickel. They developed it on women scheduled for hysterectomies. It is a newer method so there is only 8 years of clinical data available on long term effects. I did find a forum of women who had had it done and just reading what they had to say made me decide that I was NOT going to have it done. I put my foot down at this point and told dh if he wanted a permanent solution then he would have to undergo the procedure himself. Finally it is PERMANENT! No going back.

My dh had the no-incision V and a friend of ours had the normal one about 4 months later. My dh definitely was up and around sooner post procedure than our friend. My dh went extreme though with resting and did actual bed/couch rest for 2 and a half full days before even trying to get back to life. That may have been a contributing factor. The whole point of the non-incision is that it heals faster, no stitches needed and I believe it must because we couldn't even FIND where he had been open up 24hrs later!!!

:smilielol5: I had to call my dad for this quote!! He calls himself, "the guardian of the gene pool". The movie was awful and I was sick every time I thought about it for weeks!! That poor woman!! Of course she wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box if he was her boyfriend.

Before my dh took one for the team in December we used NFP and a condom or withdrawal the rest of the time. Ten years and no surprises. We got pregnant when we were intentionally not preventing pregnancy. My cycles are like.clock.work. So the withdrawal was only for those couple of days leading up to ovulation... to prevent the waiting around sperm and then condoms for the 3-5 day when I was really close to ovulation or ovulating. I did quite a bit of research on bc and if my dh wasn't so adamant on being done and wanting a vasectomy than I would have chosen Depo. Our personal convictions lean toward not preventing implantation if fertilization happens to occur. Depo prevents ovulation but does not have the abortificant properties of other bc by preventing implantation by affecting the lining of the uterus. It isn't a daily method (pill) or a disruptive method (condom, diaphragm). It is safe to use while breastfeeding. Bone-density is a factor but depo can be used for 2 years before it is suggested another form of bc be used. A lot of teenagers choose depo and so a lot of the concern was for these young women never acquiring good bone density in the first place...link. You can do things to help your bone-density and studies have shown that Depo-Provera's effects on bone density appear to be largely reversible...link. Two years isn't a very long time in the scheme of things but it is a good cushion of grace. It's a hard one and I can relate.

NOT true... unfortunately. My friend and next door neighbor got pregnant with the paraguard copper IUD! Thankfully her doctor was able to safely remove the IUD and she was able to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery... now they have Emma.

In our home we expect our children to answer with "yes, mom/dad" when they are given instructions. We start this very early... as soon as they are physically able to follow instructions and speak. We took a parenting class years ago that explained that a young toddler who is choosing not to follow instructions will often immediately do so once they have said "Yes, Mom/Dad." If I remember correctly this works because of how the brain develops. At that window age they have to follow through with what they have said because they have not matured to a point where they can say one thing and do another.... not sure I am explaining it well.... This is always my first line of advice to a new mom with a toddler that won't follow instructions. Anyhow, this has worked with all 3 of our children and we will start with Asher when he is a little older. We have several family friends that took the class with us and those families have success with it and all of them still use it. It has been one of my favorite parenting finds! Now with my older children...like others have said.... it simplifies and underlines respect for authority.

My big toe *still* hurts from stubbing OFF my toenail!! Does that make sense... stubbing off?

ME TOO!! Except I have *not* heard of them until now.... Do I live under a rock???? My kids have no online time and I really don't want that to change just yet. So I will not be running out to buy 1 or 19.. lol

My dh LOVED it and I thought it was okay. I know that this is probably heresy to some......but I stopped watching Lost a while back. I got really angry at the sex scenes that were just totally unnecessary. Both my dh and I stopped watching for awhile. He couldn't stay away and picked it back up. He does say that it hasn't been too bad. I never wanted to catch back up... to much energy and time to do so.

I've had a long road wrestling with this very thing. How many children? Do we let God decide? Is it a sin to prevent conception? Why would anyone refuse a blessing? I have Luke, Mark, Olivia and Asher. When Mark was born we had to make a decision. Both of us came from a family with only 2 children. I really wanted to try for a girl but more than a 2 child home was foreign to both of us. So I started praying and asking, "What does God say about it?" I came across the magazine Above Rubies and subscribed to it. I also read about lots of Christian families online who let God govern the fertility in their homes. I approached my dh with this info and he was open and willing to not worry about a number. A couple of months later Luke was lying in my bed and telling me, "Mommy, I want a baby sister." I told him he would have to ask Jesus. So right there he prayed and I conceived that month. Olivia came and what a blessing it is to be entrusted with a girl! But now we were outnumbered. My dh was a lot less sure about more children. After Olivia my dh was done and really expressed concern over providing for another child. I submitted to his decision and.I.grieved. But as #3 got older the odd number of children really became a burden in our family structure. There is always someone left out. My 2 older would fight over whose turn it was to play with Olivia. It was tough. Then my dh broke both of his arms in a dirt bike accident and was home for 6 months recovering. He got to see first hand how uneven our home felt. He agreed with me that someone was missing in our home. So I became pregnant with Asher. My pregnancies are especially difficult I am sick for most of the time. I had such a hard time caring for my other children. I decided during this last pregnancy that I was ready to be done too. I had to plead for baby #4 as it was. And the reality of children is a whole lot different than any idealist notion I had. It was during this time I realized 2 things. 1.) The families that follow God in this way are called to it. In the same way one is called to be a pastor or missionary. Because of the shear size a family can become when fertility is left to the Lord it IS a ministry and BOTH husband and wife must be called to it. 2.) I will grieve the passing of my fertile years no matter when it comes. It is a right of passage that EVERY woman must walk. I was reading an Above Rubies magazine one day during my pregnancy with #4. One of the articles was from a mother of 13 children. She was sharing about her desire to have just one more baby before the change of life moved her beyond her fertile years. She was sharing her grief over moving on past fertility. I realized in that moment that my grief was NORMAL. That no matter how many children I have that when the last one comes I WILL GRIEVE. My husband had a vasectomy in December '07. Our youngest was 6 months. I was able to have peace. I have no idea how I will feel in 5 or 10 years from now. I am still young, only 29. I do know this though. We did not make the decision lightly and I really examined my heart before hand. My husband can be a push over and I am sure with enough pressure I could have made him budge but the consequences of that could be terrible indeed. I pray that in the future when/if this issue comes up I can look back on the Pamelia I was at 28 and trust her to make the decision for Pamelia at 35 or 40. All of that to say I believe your grief is normal, a right of passage if you will. If a woman with 13 children will grieve than we all will grieve.:grouphug:

:ohmy:..... I can't even imagine going through this more than once! It is so painful and I am not the wimpy kind... Had 3 babies at home, had a compound fracture at 18yo, gallbladder attacks before having it removed.... This rates right up there with those!! The constant pain is just amazing! Plus the kids just can't seem to STAY AWAY from it!!!:glare: I need to be more consistent with taking Advil or something for the pain. I have been hoping that it will just toughen up ALREADY!!! So I slept with it uncovered last night for the first time and it was dry this AM but that did not bring the relief I was hoping for. You know how when you cut a finger nail too close or get one ripped to short and it feels like the whole tip of your finger is tender.... Well that is how my whole big toe feels. My ankle and the top of my foot ache from walking funny.:crying: It is extremely unpractical for me to sit and keep it up with 4 dc running around and school to do!!! Plus my dh is working 10 hr shifts plus a 2.5 hr commute right now so he is beat when he gets home and just grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!! Okay.... what doesn't kill me will make me stronger, right???? I just needed to vent. And SpyCar thanks for the fungus warning I did look that up. I'm hoping the nailbed is totally undamaged and so there will be no pockets for fungus to take root. Plus I am a SAHM so I hardly wear shoes. Most of the day I am in flipflops, hopefully that will help. *sigh*

On Sunday I was mopping the floor on my hands and knees. I was backing up and caught JUST my toenail on a seam in our linoleum and ripped off the nail on my big toe. It was only hanging by one side. The nail wiggling hurt so bad that I finally just pulled the whole thing off with needle nose pliers..... I know, I know it's just awful!!! And BIZARRE!! HTHeck did that happen?!?!?!?!?! Anyway my question is.... Has anyone ever had this happen? If so did you have trouble with the nail growing back funny? How long did it take? It isn't infected and I am keeping it clean. My dh is working a job right now where he is getting home at 6:00 PM so going to the doc would be a pain in the butt with 4 kids in tow. I know it isn't infected... I called my Mayo Clinic nurse and got all the advice I could wring out of her. But she wouldn't give me any real info on how long and what it might do when it grows back. She just told me to go to my doc. Well, I can't do that until Friday when my husband is home unless I want to drag all of the kiddos.

I really had no idea.....:001_huh: I haven't followed your links but will. It is weird and bizarre to me that it enters before the egg is formed..... I just always thought it was an outside the egg thing... not even sure where I got that info... I'm sorry for the inaccurate info!!!:o

The salmonella is on the egg shell, not IN the egg. Just wash your eggs throughly before you crack 'em. If you eat or cook it the same day it's fine... if you can't then freeze it in balls in a freezer bag.

Got married 10.5 years ago in Hawaii at 19 and 20 yrs old! We lived there for a year before moving back to the mainland. It was like a really long honeymoon!;)