I am fully willing to admit that I am overly sensitive to this sort of thing. I have an autistic son. One year, we were out trick or treating and we went up to a house with a very scary motif set up and he didn't want to go to the house. I told him that he didn't have to do so; we could go to the next house. The adults standing in the yard saw him hesitating and said, "Awww..come on up! It'll be fun! We won't scare you!" My son looked up at me and then walked slowly up to the house. They had another adult jump out of a coffin and yell at him..and then they proceeded to laugh hysterically as my son screamed and cried so much that I had to take him home. He was four years old. He refused to trick or treat for 3 years after that, until we moved to another neighborhood. I don't understand why adults would find humor in terrifying children. To me, it's cruel and it's hateful....not that the original poster is cruel and hateful. (I hope that makes sense)

I don't find laughing at children crying and being upset as something people should find amusing. Maybe it's just me. Between adults, it's fine, but it should have had a warning label. And to then say "Aww..it's just all in good fun" is just .. low.

I'm sorry that happened to you and your children. Some of the things that people on this board find enjoyable are just cruel and hateful. :grouphug:

We don't do any vaccinations here...for flu or anything else. And we're hardly every sick.

Math-U-See was excellent for my oldest son! He really needed to visually see math and used the manipulatives to understand math concepts (although that is no longer the case now). I've also heard good things about Right Start math for special needs children, but I haven't seen it 'up close and personal'.

My two oldest will both be old enough next time! And history / political science is my 14 year old's favorite subject! My oldest missed being able to vote in this election by just 5 months.

I would at least call your doctor and explain her symptoms and tell them that she was in Mexico. Even if she only drank bottled water, if she ate anything cooked in a restaurant, *they* may have used their own water for cooking it, you know? Even rice is boiled in water. Sounds like it could be something she caught and you don't want her to dehydrate. Hope she feels better soon!!

:hurray: Well said, Meanest Mom!!! :iagree:

Uhhh...yep!! :D

Ditto. Same here. I only take them to the doctor if they're sick.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!! :party: Enjoy your new little guy!!!

I'll certainly be thinking positive thoughts for you and your hubby today!!!!! :grouphug: Please keep us updated!!!

Yes, it does! This is a hard election...tough choices to be made! My candidate lost in the primaries (poor Hillary :crying:) and it took me months to become comfortable with Obama. I'm still not 100% for everything he supports, but I align more closely with him than with anyone else running... except for dear Ralph, but, in this election, I'm going with the person who has the best chance at winning. (PS: I'm still sending you "Come on Baby" vibes!!!)

Awwww!! :grouphug: I've been there!!! It's soooo hard!!!! Hang in there, mama!! :)

CNN is reporting now that they've found the body of the little boy inside a stolen SUV. :( It's such a sad, sad story.

You should vote for who best fulfills what YOU want in a President. If more folks did that, instead of feeling as if they were throwing away their vote by doing so, you might see real political change. And...Ralph Nader hasn't been completely ignored. They did a short skit about him this weekend on SNL: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/update-ralph-nader/787202/ :D

LOL!! Those are funny!!! #9 is my favorite, though!! :lol:

If you're into scrapbooking, you could make a photo album for them. A gift certificate to a restaurant is a very nice idea, too.

Well, it depends on how clean the room is! If it's just my hubby and I, and we kept the room very neat, then $5 is what we leave on average. If we're there with all the kids (as usually happens on Thanksgiving), then we may leave as much as $10 because they'll drop cheetos on the floor or leave their wet bathing suits on the carpet, etc. We normally stay in Holiday Inn / Days Inn / Quality Inn / Comfort Inn, etc. I don't think we've ever stayed in a hotel with a bellman or a valet! :blushing: So I don't know what's an average tip for them. And we always get clean sheets every day...at least we always have. Maybe it's done differently if you're there for an extended stay? We usually don't stay more than 2 or 3 nights in a row in any hotel.

We leave money each day. We're getting clean sheets every day and we know that different folks work different days. And we usually leave $5 ... but if we've been in a hotel room with all four kids :willy_nilly: we'll leave more!

Yes!!!!! We ALWAYS leave money in hotel rooms to tip the maid service!! Some hotels have started leaving envelopes with a "I'm Terry and I'm your maid. Thank you for staying with us." or something like that in order to let folks know that you should leave a tip for the cleaning staff. Btw...*I* didn't know this until I married my hubby and he left money in the hotel room for the maids and I asked him why (silly me was starting to pick it up as we were walking out the door, thinking he left it behind accidentally!) :blushing:

My oldest is 17 and she's been a size 8 for at least 2-3 years.

I knew this because my parents owned and ran their own family restaurant for years. It's not easy work either! My husband worked as a bartender to support himself during the four years he was in college. He earned $2 an hour plus tips. The tips were what he survived on...not the wage. For both of those reasons, we tip VERY well! For good service, we tip at least 20%...if not more.

Did you take him for the private evaulation first? If you have something in writing from the private evaluation, stating that he needs services, you can take that back to the school board and try to "make them" provide services. The school has to take into consideration private evaluations in making their decisions. My 6yo daughter also has language issues / delays, and she's homeschooled, yet receives speech and occupational therapy twice a week at the local public school free of charge. Hope this helps.