My son used to have chronic mild diarrhea. His g.i. doc recommended that he take a daily dose of probiotic containing lactobacillus reuteri and bifidobacterium infantis, as well as l. acidophillus. She said that these first two strains of probiotic seem to be especially beneficial for IBS and Crohn's Disease patients. She recommended a particular brand, but I can't remember the name. Upon researching it, I found that it is cultured in cow's milk, and my son is allergic to milk protein. So I did some more research, and found that Nature's Way Primadophilus Reuteri is a good substitute for us. It's done him a world of good. It comes in capsules and loose powder that can be sprinkled on food or in a beverage. I buy it at a health food store.

I thought of a carrot. I feel so horribly mundane and boring. :D

I be Cap'n Short Jane Pewter of the dread pirate ship ChickBoat, and I didn't need no stinkin' website to think this up for me, either!

I also had a Snoopy.

At our ped's recommendation, we kept our son out of school for an extra year to give him some time to grow, mature, and develop. In ps 1st grade, they taught him absolutely nothing, and passed him. We pulled him out to homeschool, and had him repeat 1st grade to learn what he had missed. So now he's 9yo and working on a 2nd grade level. He is absolutely not an independent worker. This is largely due to delayed maturity. I understand that. This will take time. I understand that as well. But his performance tends to be considerably below what I know he's capable of. Some days he manages to focus and do his work without me watching every stroke of his pencil and constantly coaching him. But most days he just refuses. He has a learned helplessness thing going on, and I can't get people to stop babying him. Does anyone have any tips for getting him to perform at the level he's honestly capable of, on a more regular basis? Thanks.

The American Woman's Cook Book, copyright 1947, taught me how to cook and bake. I've looked over many other books, and I keep coming back to this one. I just really like the recipes and teaching information. In addition to the recipes I actually use, it has historical value as well. It includes recipes for partidge, quail, grouse, squirrel, oppossum, hot dog and hamburger buns, and marshmallows. People use to make their own marshmallows?!

I've been concerned about this for awhile, but can't figure out what to do about it. My 7yo daughter is constantly getting in other people's faces looking for attention. I think it's partly because her brother is medically complex, and gets attention for being alive. Literally. But I don't think that's the entire root of the problem. I've tried setting aside special time with her, making sure she gets her fair share, and looking for opportunities to praise her. But it's just never enough for her. She will ask for compliments over and over for the littlest things. ("Isn't it amazing that I remembered that? Are you shocked?" about something small.) Her appetite for attention and praise seem insatiable. I'm starting to notice other kids her age give her the "What's your problem?" look, and then shrug and ignore her. They're not aggressively rude. They just don't acknowledge her presence any more. And I don't really blame them. I pointed this out to her last night after dance class, and she didn't really see that she'd done anything offensive. She just thought they were being mean for "no reason." How in the world do I get it through her head that she's not the world's axis? And how do I curb this hunger she has for accolades?

Husband and son are home safe. Son has a miserable, *miserable* rash and fever. He's allergic to something they exposed him to, but we're not sure what yet. Immunology guy is investigating. He also blistered under some tape in his groin area and on his thighs, and the tops of the blisters came off with the tape. Skin is raw and oozing. But he's home safe, and it's over. Just needs his skin to heal up. So thanks for the kind thoughts, prayers, etc.

*Strictly in private* my 9yo son is Mr. Bumbletweaks, and my 7yo daughter is Bessie Bumble.

No. Certainly not. My high school was pro busy work. By the time I finished the pointless rubbish, the last thing I wanted was to pick up another book.

I voted other. I have a thick Maine accent that I can turn off and on at will. I also have a thick East Boston accent that slips out when I'm excited, or around cousins. Most of the time, I speak with "correct" American diction, courtesy of a year and a half of speech therapy in childhood. But I live in NC, and the locals often look at me like I'm a freak or an alien.

Best wishes for your vacation. I grew up in Maine, and miss it sometimes. (I'm in eastern NC now.) For the record, I always thought of Freeport as "down South."

We are Meliora Academy.

I use a flat iron, and it hasn't damaged my hair. But I also use a silicone product first that protects the hair from heat damage. Sometimes you can actually see a little smoke when I'm doing my hair, but it's the silicone smoking, and not my hair.

That's when we move, and I finish decorating, and she walks in and asks when I'm going to start decorating, and then starts rearranging things the way *she* likes them. Or she walks in and starts folding my laundry for me, and I tell her politely that I'd rather she didn't, and she thinks I'm just being polite but really like it, and she says, "Oh, I don't mind!" Which really means, "But I want to. You should let me." And I can't figure out how to politely get it through her head that I was just being polite, but really don't like it, and I really just want her to stop inspecting my bra size, put my underwear down, and get. the heck. away. from the basket. :cursing:

Yes, we had our special dinner, and we are continuing to special things each day. She even had me out in the kiddie pool with her for a little while yesterday. :blushing:

My 9yo son had a balloon angioplasty this morning in Boston. My husband just called to say that they're finishing up now. They got enough benefit to hold him for a while, but not as much as they had hoped. The arteries that come from the lungs into the heart join together and enter the heart as one. They form a Y shape. He was born missing these arteries. He had some extra tiny arteries between the lungs and heart that were misplaced. The surgeon took the two largest of these, joined them, and made an artificial conduit to form the trunk of the Y. The conduit has absorbed calcium and hardened. (We were actually expecting this.) The conduit is approaching the end of its usefulness, and will need to be replaced within the next two years. That event will be his third open-heart surgery. Thank you for your prayers, kind thoughts, and concern. If all goes well from here, he should be released from the hospital tomorrow and on his way back home to NC.

Oh, yeah. "Hey, let's split up into two teams, and see which team can throw this bouncy ball through that hole way up over our heads more times!" Ugh.

My high school chemistry teacher had a high school diploma, and a few college science courses under his belt. He was the school janitor. They were desperate for a teacher, so they dumped him in our class. (No one who was actually qualified would accept what they were willing to pay.) The essence of teaching is the communication of ideas, and that guy could not communicate. That was the only course in which I ever scratched in the dirt for a C. His teaching approach was, "Don't worry about understanding the concepts. Just memorize the formulas, and you'll pass the test." For years I thought I was a moron who was incapable of understanding chemistry. Then I started to study baking and soapmaking for fun, and realized I can do it. He just couldn't teach it.

My father grew up outside of Boston. He also is allergic to final r's. Many years ago, he was a truck driver. He was making a delivery in New Jersey, and he drove past a car that had gone off the road into a ditch. A mile or two up the road, he saw a gas station, pulled in, and asked the attendant to call a tow truck because there was a "cah" in the ditch a mile or two back. "A what??" "A cah." . . . "You want me to call a tow truck because there's a cow in the ditch?!" "No, a cah. A C-A-AH!!" :lol:

I found something to be utterly hilarious once, and meant to tell my husband that it was a gut buster. Instead, I declared it to be a "butt guster." Another time I remarked, "Oh, it's as easy as falling off a bike! You never forget!"

I can't tell you what's best for your particular child. But my daughter was terrified of the potty. Not just the big one, even the little one. She refused to use it. at. all. Until I took away her diapers and put panties on her. She was three. She flooded her panties, her legs, and the carpet, only once or twice, and pooped her panties once. Every incident broke out in hysterical screams. Then she decided the potty wasn't so scary after all. It sure beat facing the reality of bodily functions standing up. And that was it. She was potty trained. It just took her a while to get the hang of getting there in time. Two weeks, tops.

Hello, and welcome!

I can't draw. And I'm not even all that disappointed. I write. My gift of creativity lies in the realm of words. That's just who I am, and I'm at peace with it. Most of the time.

I've been posting here for a few weeks, but haven't properly introduced myself yet, because I tend to be somewhat reserved and guarded. But the time has come. I've been married for 15 years, and we have two children. My 9yo son is medically complex and has educational issues that we're still sorting out. My 7yo daughter is healthy and precocious. We were leaning toward homeschooling when I was pregnant with our son. After he was born and diagnosed, we decided to definitely homeschool. But by the time he was school age, I was burned out from the medical issues, and we put him in public school. He did homebound for kindergarten, and classroom for 1st grade. Our daughter also went to ps for kindergarten. Ps was a miserable experience for our entire family, and was just what I needed to realize that, exausted as I was, even *I* could do better than this. And that actually gave me a second wind. So we've just started our second year of homeschooling, using TWTM as our guiding star. My son's medical and educational funkinesses were caused by a genetic deletion. He's missing some genes on chromosome 22. This condition is known by several names: 22Q11 Deletion Syndrome, Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, and sometimes DiGeorge Syndrome. If you're curious about this, please see http://www.vcfsef.org/ . He is scheduled for a balloon angioplasty this Wed morning at Boston Children's hospital. So if any of you wouldn't mind praying for his proceedure, and safety travelling back home to NC, I would appreciate it. My daughter and I stayed home this time, and we're taking the week off school since brother isn't here. We had a nice candlelight dinner together last night, to make this time special. We roasted a pair of rock cornish games hens, made chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and sipped our milk from stemware. It was very cool. Nice to finally "meet" all of you. ETA: For those of you interested, 22Q Deletion Syndrome / DiGeorge causes a particular facial "look." It's not as obvious as Downs Syndrome, but it's there if you know what to look for. http://www.22q.org/ has pictures of a number of 22Q kids. Some of them look like they could be my son's siblings.