I just started doing exactly this! The first tip I can offer you is to learn the language yourself while you attempt to teach it to your daughter. I use Duolingo, and it has been a huge help to me. I also use Ankidroid (an app) for flashcards for myself. You can download it for free on an Android phone or tablet (costs like $25 on an i-phone), or download it for free (www.ankisrs.net) on your computer. It uses a special algorithm for making sure that you are doing the flashcards in the best way to learn them and has a huge user-generated database of flashcard decks. Both of these resources are free for me, and both extremely helpful. When you learn a new sentence or vocabulary word, use it around the house, as much as possible. You can often find a Meetup http://www.meetup.com depending on what city you live in, for foreign language conversation groups. Second, start teaching basic vocabulary to your daughter, and using it around the house. Colors, numbers, shapes, body parts, exactly like you did with English. I'm not sure how old your daughter is, but mine is 3. She has these Preschool Prep Co. dvd's (http://www.preschoolprepco.com) that she used to watch when she was learning her letters, numbers, shapes, and colors in English. Each disc also has a Spanish option, so we are going back to them in Spanish. She loves them, I don't know why, they seem sooooo boring to me. We also have the Whistlefritz Spanish dvd's, but she is more reluctant to watch those. My 9 month old loves them. Third, if you have a good public library, they often have loads of children's books in Spanish. Like board books all the way to novels. I have been putting books on hold each week to pick up for quite awhile now, so I just added one or two Spanish books each week. Forth, there are a number of free apps for Spanish flashcards for children, if you want to go that route. Try to find some Spanish language music to listen to, or audio books in Spanish. Or, like I have started doing, play her favorite children's dvd's in Spanish with English subtitles if they have that option (many do), to get her and you used to the sound of spoken Spanish. She doesn't even have to be able to read the subtitles. If she knows them well, she will know what is going on. Hulu also has a latino section with Spanish language shows. Georgia Public Broadcasting has the PBS show Salsa, which is like a Spanish Sesame Street, to stream on their website. I don't know that website. You can google it. As far as teaching vocab and adding grammar later, most children's Spanish curricula do exactly that. If you are playing dvds and reading books, and speaking to her in Spanish as you learn it, she will naturally pick up some grammar on her own, and then when she gets a bit older (again, I'm not sure how old she is) you can add in grammar via a curriculum. Classical Academic Press has a Spanish for Children program that is grammar-centered that starts, I believe, at third grade. Hope that helps! There are soooo many free resources out there that it seems a shame to spend too much to start out. As long as you can be consistent, she will learn. Good luck!

That actually sounds like an interesting premise for a novel. I do agree with you that it's heading in that direction, but will there be much of a backlash from the next generation for whom that kind of thing will be "normal"? Look at texting, for example. The younger generation who grew up with it sees it as completely normal, whereas the older generation for whom it is new often despises it. New rules of etiquette have developed as a result, ie no texting at the dinner table, or while company is over, or whatever. I imagine the same thing will happen with privacy. Something like, "Remove your Google goggles when entering a public place." Of course, not everybody will follow those rules, but they don't now, do they? Or maybe someone will invent "goggle scramblers". But probably no huge backlash.

Take pictures of them and create a photo book on shutterfly. I make one family album for every year and at the end I have a few pages with artwork. ETA: they go on sale every October-November usually 50% off. Thus our "year"is always November to November.

I'm pretty sure that a stranger approaching someone on the street to advise them on the modesty of their clothing choices ( or anything else for that matter) has never illicited any response other than disgust, offense, and irritation. As homeschoolers we are all familiar enough with the "helpful" busybody that we should know better than inflicting that on other people. Just my two cents.

I'd complain and request to return it for a refund. No qualms. As far as their resale policy, I promise you they know they are asking something illegal. They just want to manipulate people who don't know their rights or make their objections to the law known. Either way I don't trust a company with policies that are illegal.

We put down 0% and our selller paid closing costs. That was in 2006 before the market dropped. Our home value went wayyyy down. But thankfully we bought well within our means and didn't do any fancy financing. Just a straight up conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 7.1% with pmi. We had to pay pmi until we had 20% equity. We refinanced last year for a 15 year fixed rate at 3% with no pmi. We should have it paid off in the next couple of years.

Yay! Thanks again for the links. I put that book on my wishlist. It looks exactly like what I need, with the phonetic spellings. I took German in high school and college, so I'm always pronouncing things the German way. I have to retrain myself. It would probably make more sense for me to teach a language I already know, but I think Spanish is a more practical language to learn. There are definitely more opportunities for exposure here. Plus, I've always wanted to learn it, so here is my excuse. :001_smile: That's awesome you grew up in a bilingual home and that you are passing that on to your kids. Around here it's pretty rare, though not unheard of. I hope to provide something like that, as much as I am capable anyway, not being bilingual myself (I don't really count the German.)

Thank you sooo much for your help and encouragement! I feel a bit intimidated because I have no Spanish background, but I am trying not to let that show to my daughters. I don't want them to feel self-conscious about speaking in a language they are learning just because I do! So I'm just plunging right in. When I was a music teacher, we would get parents all the time telling us they couldn't sing to their children. We would tell them to sing anyway because children are naturally experimental and un-self-conscious, but they learn to be intimidated about new things from their parents. My 8 month old was laughing so hard at me yesterday because I was trying to learn how to roll my r's. My husband was too. I told him from now on I'm going to practice when he's not here. :lol: You've been a huge help! :hurray: I'm so excited about this!

Hello! I hope this is okay to post here. I am attempting to teach my daughters Spanish and learn it at the same time. I've just started. I have no Spanish background, but my husband took Spanish in highschool and has the average American's working knowledge of it. I've used Google translate to translate some commonly used phrases at our house so that I can say them in Spanish and English until we learn what they mean and then just Spanish. I am using Duolingo for myself to learn and I have started integrating more Spanish into our days with Whistlefritz, music cds, flashcards, children's books in Spanish, etc. Whenever we learn a new word, we try to use it in our everyday lives. My daughters are 3, and 8 mos. My question is for those of you who are fluent in Spanish. I know that sometimes computer programs translate phrases in ways that are not typically used in the second language, that is literally rather than conversationally. I don't have enough knowledge of Spanish to know if these phrases are translated properly. If anybody can tell me whether they are translated correctly or offer suggestions, that would be extremely helpful. I don't want to teach myself or my daughters incorrectly! Thanks in advance! Here are the phrases I am starting with: Do you need to use the restroom? ¿Es necesario usar el baño? It is time for bed. Es hora de dormer. Eat your food, please. Coma su comida, por favor. Please put away your toys. Por favor, pongo de lado sus juguetes. You cannot watch tv right now. No se puede ver la televisión en estos momentos. Please be nice to your sister. Por favor, ser amable con tu hermana. Let’s go outside to play. Vamos a ir a jugar afuera.

Bad periods run in my family. My mom had it the worst. She used to throw up and pass out every time. They had a doctor living next door who would come over and give her shots of morphine. That worked. After she had kids, her cramps/nausea went away. I was hoping it would be the same for me, but not so. I have horrible cramps and migraines. I second the PP who said take NSAIDs early. The only thing that has ever helped my cramps is iboprofen (prescription 800 mg) taken before the cramps start or as early as possible. Sometimes if it is really bad, I will also take otc Tylenol a couple of hours later. The migraines, however, never go away with that. The only thing I can do is lie down and endure. It sucks. I went on three or four different birth control pills in and after college. None of them helped and they made me crazy depressed. My migraines didn't start until I went on birth control. I was hoping they would stop after I went off, but they didn't. Now I just try to suck it up and take all the drugs I can, lol. It's worse depending on the side I ovulate from. Looking forward to menopause. :001_rolleyes: One thing that has made a little bit of difference is the DIva cup. My periods went from 10-12 days to 5-6 days after I started using it and not using disposable pads or tampons.

"Everybody should accommodate me but I need not accommodate anybody" is the attitude I'm reading from the patrons in this situation. Who wants to see or smell that? Plus have a little respect for the child's privacy. It may not gross you out as a parent to that child but it grosses everybody else out. sheesh

The only area nearby where ten acres would be available is also the most expensive neighborhood. It would be nearly or perhaps over a million. closer to my neighborhood the house without the land would be probably three-fifty.

He has every right to market his company to whomever he chooses. And I have every right to not shop there. I've hated that store for years because of their marketing tactics, and I've always been in the niche (I suppose I'm probably getting too old now). Regardless, I've never bought a stitch of clothing there. We shouldn't be outraged at companies providing a product for which there is a market. Businesses exist to make money. We should be outraged at a society that keeps these companies in business. Don't shop there. And spread the word. That's all we can do.

We are doing photo ceramic mugs from Shutterfly this year. They're on sale right now, $12 each or something like that. I'm pretty sure you can have them shipped directly to the grandmothers. We'll probably go ahead and get ones for the grandpas as well while we're at it. They have all kinds of designs to choose from.

This is good to know! Thanks! :thumbup1: I do love our library system. That said, we have paid a lot of fines here. It is what it is, and we accept responsibility. They used to not allow renewing overdue items online, in which case we would just have to make a drive out to return them, but they have changed that policy and now we can renew overdue items online. Thank goodness.

We have the Joovy Caboose Ultralight sit and stand stroller for our three year old and six month old. It does hold a car seat, and it is relatively small and lightweight, which is essential because we have a tiny compact car. We like it, although we didn't try any other double strollers. Its canopy actually provides shade which we love. We also have the Graco stroller frame that holds a car seat, but it cannot be used after the carseat is outgrown. We had that for when our dd3 was born, then when she outgrew that, somebody gave us a Maclaren umbrella stroller which we still use. Its shade canopy is useless. Maclaren has horrible customer service, fyi. The stroller had a broken axle and we couldn't purchase a replacement part because we weren't the original owners. DH ended up fixing it himself. When we go on walks around the neighborhood, we take DD6mos in the umbrella stroller or a carrier and DD3 walks. When we go to the zoo or somewhere like that, we take the Joovy. We have never used the Graco stroller frame for our DD6mos. Hope that helps!

Speaking as a musician (piano peformance degree) and a former piano teacher, I'd say go digital. Digital pianos have come such a long way, they sound almost the same (better actually than most low-end pianos), never need tuning (saving you a couple hundred a year), feel the same when you play (that is the important part, get weighted keys), and take up half as much room. I have a litte spinnet accoustic piano that was given to us for our wedding. I've spent more tuning it the last nine years than I would have paid for a digital piano. Probably twice as much. Someday I still want to get a digital piano, but I don't want to offend my in-laws who bought me the Wurlitzer. Unless you have the room and you want a nice piano for the "furniture" aspect, I'd go digital every time. Just my two cents. Hope that helps!

I'm afraid you may have to choose between holding and putting down for naps and bedtime. It is so important to be consistent so that they can learn what to expect. If you just decide the way you want it (you are the mom and you know what is best. Children do not always know what is best...think candy...and tv...) and gently but consistently impose it, your DD will adjust. Their brains are so elastic at this age, they adjust better the younger they are. You tried Ferber with your older son, how about trying it with your DD? It's fine if she falls asleep while nursing, and also okay if she wakes up when you put her down. Just calmly pat her and tell her it's night night time (or whatever). Then leave and do the Ferber thing, where you come back at intervals. My DD always falls asleep during her last feed, and wakes up when we put her down. Sometimes she fusses a bit when we leave, but usually, she just rolls over and chats a little before falling asleep on her own. Also, it may not be strictly necessary to change her at 2 am. My six month old dd goes all night and we don't have issues with rashes. Just put extra diaper cream on her. Whatever you decided to do, do it consistently for all bedtimes. Good luck!

Thanks for the responses! Sadly I waited too long to get something from amazon, so it is a trip to the real-life store for us tonight, if for nothing else than a card to put the cash in. I'm on the fence about that. Honestly, what eight-year-old wouldn't prefer cash over a gift? On the other hand, it doesn't seem very personal. Thanks again!

Hello! This is the first post that I've made on here. I have a question about Catholic first communion. We have some dear friends whose children (triplets and a sibling) I used to babysit (for seven years until I had children of my own). They have invited us to join them for dinner with extended friends and family following the triplets' first communion. We are not catholic and have never been to a first communion party. My question is, is it appropriate or customary for party-goers to bring a gift? If so, would a children's Bible or devotional be appropriate? Any suggestions? Would any one do, or should it explicitly say "Catholic"? Obviously I'm not totally clear on different church doctrines. Thanks so much in advance! Alyssa

I ordered it! :-) I won't be using it for awhile but I like to plan ahead. It seems like a great program and you can't beat $68 (if we make 50%) for two students for six grades! Oh yeah!

We don't have cable, and if we did I would discourage Disney for the same reasons as everybody else. It's junk. And FULL of advertising for things my daughter would never otherwise think to request. She watches Peep's Big World, Wild Kratts, Super Why, Curious George, and Wallace and Gromit, mostly on Netflix, DVD, or PBS. But she would rather spend her screen time playing on Starfall.

How about a regular sleeping bag? We have one on top of the fitted sheet for dd. It doesn't always stay on, but it's easy to put back in place.

Sorry, just got back in town...our open adoption agreement (which incidentally isn't legally binding or anything) includes up to four visits per year. Because we met Birth Mother before signing with an agency, we have always known each others' identifying information (the technical definition of an open adoption), we have texted and called each other from the start and we are friends on facebook. We were at the hospital when Cora was born and I was the first to give her a bottle :001_wub: . We had some issues with visitation in the hospital that we weren't expecting since we felt we knew the Birth Mom pretty well at that point and she totally reversed her original plan for what happened in the hospital, but other than that things have gone very smoothly. She has visited three or four times already (Cora is fifteen weeks old), and we are fine with that as long as Birth Mom understands who the parents are. She does. She doesn't desire any sort of co-parenting situation. She just wants to know Cora is doing fine. I think that is the case with most birth moms. She has had issues with drugs and alcohol (any person who is in a position to place a baby for adoption has made mistakes). She knows our primary concern is for Cora and she were to revert back to the drugs and alcohol, we would have to rethink visitation. I think it is important to see from the perspective of the birth mom. Once she signs over custody, the adoptive parents have no legal obligation to honor their pre-adoption agreements. That is probably very scary for a birth mother. It takes a lot of faith and trust to do that. We try to honor that, but it is up to the Birth Mother also. She has to make good choices. I hope that helps.

I think it depends on how strongly policital they each are. You might have a couple with opposing viewpoints but they don't really care all that much. I think it would cause a lot of conflict if both people had very strong opposing policital viewpoints (and not "I'm a diehard moderate," lol, but far left and far right). My dad is so strongly conservative that he almost views liberalism as morally wrong (not quite but close). He could never be with someone who was strongly liberal. I consider myself conservative, but there are times when I have to agree to disagree with my dad. My husband and I agree almost always on policital issues, but we have our occasional disagreements. He's probably more liberal than I, but we are both so moderate that it doesn't really make a difference.