How are you caring for it? If he's predisposed to curls, the right hair care routine can make a big difference. You need a shampoo formulated for curly hair, without all the sulfates, silicones, parabens, etc. - just a little on the scalp - and then plenty of conditioner. Detangle in the bath using fingers, not a comb, and sort of scrunch them up and let them air dry. My youngest has natural curls and they do turn wavy/frizzy when she gets a hold of the hairbrush.

Not sure if popularity is an issue for you - if so, a pediatrician friend was just saying she's seen an uptick in "Adele" variants recently, including Adalia, Adella, and just plain Dell. So you might get that association. I think it's pretty, though!

That makes sense. Thanks, everyone. We haven't had to put a school name on anything yet, so it seemed like a silly requirement. Clearly I'm not thinking ahead.

We're filing our letter of intent with the school board and have to think of a name. Was anyone else tempted to use a funny/sarcastic one? "Lastname Academy" or anything similarly serious doesn't really fit our personality.

What do they mean by "fireworks are illegal"? Where we live, consumer fireworks are fine, although you must be 18 to buy and there are ordinances for when they can be shot off. Display fireworks cannot be sold in-state, but there's no law against possessing and using them. Hence folks driving to the next state. The police even issued a statement in the paper last year to clarify. They do not care if you have them. You just can't buy them here.

They do it because the entire U.S. airline industry operates within such tight margins that it's nearly impossible for them to keep their heads above water without overbooking. It's a classic example used in business classes. Google "Porter's five forces airline industry" if you want to see how it works. (Not saying what United did was right, though)

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the joys of small-town newspapers. Ours comes once a week, in the afternoon with the mail. Typical headlines include whose kid got his first deer recently, who went on vacation and to where, etc. I especially enjoy the crime section. "So-and-so was fined $12 for disrupting a squirrel's nest." "Two juveniles were caught spray-painting a goat in the county park." One year there was a rash of garden gnome thefts that made the front page. I never understood why people hated the DMV until I moved for college. Ours has two chairs. I've never had to wait. And the post office at Christmastime. I went in to buy stamps and the postmaster stood there and helped me address my Christmas cards.

Following a conversation last night about the line of presidential succession that I wasn't aware he was listening to, DS 2.5 at lunch today arranged his grapes from largest to smallest, gave them all titles (Grape President, Grape VP, Speaker of the Grape House, etc.), then proceeded to eat them in order and "inaugurate" new grapes.

I don't know about calf circumference, but I highly recommend Ariats if you can find a pair that suits you. My current pair is just now wearing out after a decade of almost daily use. I have the paddock boots, which are waterproof and come to just above the ankle. As a farm person, they're the only brand I've tried that I can wear all day and be comfortable in. They're available on Amazon.

Easiest tortilla soup that my kids love: Box of chicken stock Jar of chunky salsa Diced chicken Can of black beans Can of corn Heat together; top with crumbled tortilla chips and shredded cheese.

I'm back after a hectic couple of weeks. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond to everyone's thoughts and suggestions. I really appreciate the advice. She's reading at about a second grade level. That's why it seems off to me...it may be normal for age three, but most of her language abilities are beyond what you'd expect for her age. This is great advice. Thank you. My older son has always done this naturally - will stop a conversation multiple times to ask the meaning of a word. My daughter doesn't seem to care about precision as long as I get the gist of what she's saying. Definitely something to work on! She doesn't usually describe what she wants; she just says the closest word that kind of makes sense and expects me to figure out what she means. Thanks for the suggestions. I think improving organization is the way to go, along with helping her be more mindful of word choice. And no, no other indication of a problem. She was an early speaker, loved rhyming and word games, and is now an early reader.

I love the words kids invent. Usually they're perfectly descriptive. DD has invented her share of terminology, and to be honest I rarely correct it because I think it's cute. No dyslexia here, though. And she is definitely ahead of her peers in language, just not in this one area.

That makes sense, thank you. We occasionally get opposite confusion, less often as she's gotten older. But mostly it's right category/wrong word. And yeah, it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She's more annoyed that I stopped to correct her. Unless I bring her the wrong kind of juice; then it's the end of the world.

Yeah, it's a red flag to me partially because her brother who is two years younger has no problem whatsoever with the same skills. I know all kids are different, and I realize it may be within the range of normal development, but for my kids, they've all three been pretty uniformly advanced, so this stands out.

Something is a little…off…with my daughter. I think. I’m trying to pinpoint exactly what it is. Background: She’s going on four, a bright child, hit all her milestones early, seems especially good at pattern recognition and seeing the big picture. For example, at 15 months she would sing, “An animal, an animal, EIEIO!†As in “I get the pattern, Mama, can we just be done with it instead of naming them all?†We knew then she was not going to be a detail person. She’s been totally scatterbrained from the beginning. Here’s the odd thing: If I ask my kids what kind of cereal they want, both of my boys will name their favorite. My daughter will insist on going to the pantry and looking. Same with juice, same with anything. If I ask her to just name the kind she wants, half the time she says the wrong thing and then has a meltdown when I bring it. She DOES know what things are called. If I supply the name - “where is x?†- she does just fine. But it seems like she has problems retrieving the word she wants sometimes. She’ll call it something similar, something in the same category but not quite right. The other day she caught a cricket and called it a ladybug. I stopped her - that’s not a ladybug; what is it really? She thought for a second and got it right. But for the most part, she doesn’t concern herself with the thinking part unless I stop her and make her think; she just says something close and that’s good enough for her. Anyone know what this is? Should I be concerned? Or is it just her personality, thinking in broad categories and not concerning herself with the particulars?

Sounds like me as a kid. One thing that really helped was hanging out one-on-one with other shy/quiet kids. Eventually I sort of realized, well, one of us has to start the conversation...

Your son showed a lot of maturity in the way he responded. I'd use it as an opportunity to invite him into your decision making process as an adult. Explain your dilemma. You won't betray his confidence, but those other parents are your friends, and you're sure they'd be concerned for their sons. If you haven't already, this would be a good time to have a talk about exactly why p*rn is such a dangerous habit - what it does to future relationships, what it does to the women in the industry, etc. I'd capitalize on the moral strength he just showed to get him good and disgusted at the whole business, to make sure he understands *why* he should avoid it, because I imagine it'll only become harder to resist the older he gets. Then the two of you could brainstorm solutions together. Telling the parents or minding your own business aren't the only two options. What about encouraging him to have a talk with the youth leader? Without naming names, he could express concern that some of his friends are starting to get into p*rn, and maybe it could become a topic at a future meeting. I'd think talking about it in a group setting with an adult other than the parents might be helpful in getting kids to be honest, and unless the entire youth group was at the sleepover, there's a high likelihood that other boys present will be of a like mind with your son.

Great list, thanks! I appreciate the details. My own list was made up entirely of books I myself read and enjoyed in early elementary. When you say "geared for older students," how old are you talking about? 3rd grade? Middle school? Thanks also for the reminder about Hatchet. I don't think Old Yeller will bother him too much since there's a logical reason the dog had to die. On skipping ahead to the classics and missing out on elementary books, I generally agree. I just want them to be good books, and I only know so many myself. Yes, I'm aware it's not PC at all. I loved that series though. My personal approach is to talk through it as we read. Read it already. He loved it. In our case, the purpose wasn't to have him read a super impressive high school book, it was to support an interest in fishing. Hemingway just so happened to fit the bill. It didn't really hold my interest either when I read it, but my son was actually upset there wasn't a sequel. It was totally interest driven. And it just so happened to be the book he and Daddy bonded over. To each his own! Yes, the language is very accessible. DS tends to interrupt and ask for a definition every time he hears a new word, so that by itself discourages us from picking anything too hard. And he'll definitely get more out of it later thematically, although he's already had some good thoughts. I agree with not skipping all the wonderful children's books, but I also appreciate the way he'll stick with something tougher like Peter Pan that keeps his brain working. My goal is to find the right balance between challenging and entertaining. Thanks everyone!

We did Misty and he loved it. Maybe some of Marguerite Henry's other books? Started Narnia with The Magician's Nephew and he objected to the uncle experimenting on hamsters and wanted to stop. He's quirky like that sometimes - no problems with killing for survival, came up with an alternate ending to Charlotte's Web where Zuckerman enjoys some delicious bacon, but experimenting on animals? Not cool. That was a year ago, though, and early enough in the story that he hadn't really gotten into it, so maybe we'll try again. Or maybe we'll start with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I'm not familiar with Little Britches. Can you tell me anything about it?

Like many country boys his age, DS5 can talk nonstop about fishing. So DH decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and read him The Old Man and the Sea. He loved it...and so did DH, who didn't have much access to books growing up and had never read it before in school. Now they want to continue reading together. DH has asked for book suggestions, particularly adventure or survival-themed novels. Here's my list so far: The Jungle Book My Side of the Mountain Julie of the Wolves Island of the Blue Dolphins The Black Pearl The Black Stallion Old Yeller Hatchet Woodsong Shiloh The Great Brain series Treasure Island Kidnapped Others I haven't read myself and would like commentary on: Adventures of Tom Sawyer Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Swiss Family Robinson Sherlock Holmes? Stuff we've already done: Little House series Peter Pan What else? Any comments on the above as far as age appropriateness? DH did a tiny bit of editing in The Old Man and the Sea - there was a reference to a fight with a Negro, and DH changed it to "a man." I recall one scene in Julie of the Wolves that would probably take some editing also. Thanks for any help!

Thanks! Above grade level is fine, even preferable.

Any cool astronomy or cartography resources out there? For a five-year-old? ETA: He's especially interested in different map projections.

A tip from my son's preschool teacher: Observe him writing/drawing with both hands and see which one has the lighter touch. That will probably end up being the dominant hand.

We're currently facing the same decision. DS is in his K year at a Montessori school, and I never thought I’d say it, but we’re considering keeping him there for the time being (school goes through 6th). Here’s a look at my thought process: Pros He’s happy and looking forward to first grade. His social skills are really developing. This is a big deal to us since we live in a rural area with few opportunities for him to be around other children. The school is really great about meeting his needs, both by letting him borrow materials from the elementary classroom as needed and by sending him to the playground when his energy overflows. It’s my opinion that the mixed-age classroom has kept him from feeling like too much of an outlier. With 30+ kids between the ages of two and a half and six all doing different lessons at different levels, it’s expected for some kids to be ahead of others. Few of them are observant enough to notice that one kid is considerably ahead in most areas. I really love what Montessori has done for his executive function. Since his intense personality makes me doubt he’ll ever stop wanting to know everything, I think one of the best things we can do for him now is to give him the skills to drive his own learning process. The upper and lower elementary classes are separated by sliding doors with a lot of going back and forth, so there’s opportunity for him to work up to five grade levels ahead next year. He’s just a little kid. Early childhood is considered what, up to age eight? Even if school isn’t totally challenging him, there are other reasons to be there and plenty of time later for “catching up†to where he could be. Cons He comes home in the afternoons wanting more, more, more. It’s almost like school is the appetizer and our afternoon time is the main course. We'll spend the rest of the day playing with new math concepts, researching something he read about but the teacher couldn’t answer all his questions, etc. I’m putting so much time and energy into him that I might as well be homeschooling already. The cost. Second child will be starting next fall, and although we can make it work, we didn’t anticipate having two there at once. It won’t meet his needs forever. He needs a LOT of individual attention. I’ve been very impressed by his teachers’ efforts, but they don’t think the way he does. So it seems like I’m delaying the inevitable, and the transition to elementary would be an easy time to make the break. Bottom line, we’ll probably keep him there for now and see how it goes. I will pull him if it ever seems like he’s coasting, but for now, he has the work ethic and the support to learn at his own pace. We are very fortunate to have our school - I can’t envision it working most places.

Thank you all for the feedback.