Sure, babies can overeat. Sucking is a reflex. A baby who has a bottle put in his mouth will suck, even if not hungry. Plus, with some bottles (not all) the milk will easily flow out even without much sucking. So a baby who is being fed everytime he cries could easily be overfed. The 6-8 ounces sounds ok though. Total amounts can be tricky and each baby has his/her own right amount. My first son probably took 40 ounces a day (in pumped BM) easily but didn't grow too fast.

Ok, label me a big :blushing: LOSER. You said Shakespeare. Emma is Jane Austen. I know that. Really, I do. Really....

Clueless is Emma. It's actually very good, especially when you've read Emma.

I think we're going to brave it...I was trying to decide since it's about an 1 hr drive for us. But on the weather map it looks like it will be ok by noonish. I have red hair, I'm driving a Kia minivan and have two little guys.

I'm mostly using Five in a Row. We've been using it since about February and it's been great for us. I think I did too much with him in the spring and turned him off a bit...so I'm trying to listen to the wise ladies here and relax more. :) For reading, I think I'm mostly going to just read with him and play games. I have OPGTR and like it. Mostly I use it to remind me of the sounds to teach...and also to make up games to play. I have Singapore Math, which ds likes so we'll probably do that. I also have Handwriting Without Tears.

At the NOVA convention they did have WWE. I didn't actually check exactly what books since my son is too young to use it but I did see a bunch of books and flipped through some just for fun. :)

If it's a backless booster (which I would think would be ok at your girls' age) you can take it on the plane. We just did this when we traveled in June. Ds just sat on the booster on the plane. You may even be able to take it on the plane if it's a booster with a back (and if it's thin enough to fit on the seat) ...check the airline. We alos rented a car seat for our younger son from the rental car company (this was in the US so not sure if it's different in Europe). They did say online that they don't guarantee availability but we called and they said in reality hardly anyone rents them. Then we called the night before we left to see if they had actually had them in stock. They had a bunch, so we felt pretty confident that they would have one when we arrived the next day. It was a tiny risk but worth it not to have to worry about checking his big car seat.

That's a hard one...I know my son would have been the same at 3. I made the mistake of signing him up for swimming lessons (which he was excited about) at about 3. First day, refused to get in the pool, we sat and watched with me not making a big deal about it. Second day, he says to me in the locker room "Why do I have to put my bathing suit on, I'm not getting into the pool." Third day, I gave up. He loves water and it was a class where I would sit and watch so there wasn't any good reason, but he just wouldn't do it. I've learned with him that if he doesn't want to do something it is very very difficult to make him. And I figure there are so many battles I have to fight (going to bed, obeying me, etc.) that I'm not going to fight him on stuff like lessons. Pretty much every time I've backed off and made it his choice...he'll end up doing it. My personal opinion on the money wasted is that it's just money. Not to diminish it because it is frustrating but in that kind of situation I would just chalk it up to a lesson learned...and the kids would have to beg me to go to camp the next time. :) I always figure that if they are miserable and it's creating a huge problem, it's not like I'm getting what I paid for anyway, so I might as well write the money off and move on. I would probably let the 3 yr old stay home and take any money you get back and use it to hire a babysitter. As for the 5 yr old, it would probably depend on if she wanted to do camp initially. If she did, I do think she's old enough to understand making a commitment. If it wasn't her choice but just something you signed her up for (which I certainly do with my son, so nothing wrong with that) I might let her out of it too. I think 5 is also still little and I can see where it would create hurt feelings for sister to get to stay home with Mommy while she has to go to camp.

The King Arthur books by Hudson Talbott are good.

I would see if there is anywhere you could donate it. Wedding dresses are so expensive there has to be someone who would be thrilled to get one.

:grouphug: Chris, it's going to be fine. You're a great Mom and your daughter is going to do well in any setting. I can totally understand feeling the change as a loss. I think lots of changes can feel that way even if they are good things, you grieve the loss of the old. (I felt that way a little bit when my second son was born. I loved him but felt like I had to let myself grieve the loss of the one-on-one relationship I had with my first.) I would say let yourself grieve, don't try to blow it off. But in the end it WILL be ok.

Juls- Any update? How is your daughter?

Wow! The Georgetown connection is amazing! Maybe we should do some kind of study...are female physicians who were connected at one time with Georgetwon more likely to homeschool?

The anesthesiologist is there but not necessarily watching what the surgeone is doing. During the case there is a drape between the head where the anesthesiologist sits and the rest of the body...this is the famous "blood-brain" barrier. :) Ok, that's anesthesia humor....After the case the drape may have still been up or if it's down the anesthesiologist is usually busy watching the monitor of all the patient's vital signs/monitoring the drips of mediation and documenting what happened during the surgery (from the anesthesia perspective). They are going to be incredibly focused on the patient but wouldn't be watching to see what the nurses and surgeons are doing. The assumption would be that everyone is doing their job. (Obviously, the surgeon didn't just do his job here, but there would be no reason for anyone else in the OR to be watching him.)

My kids aren't nearly old enough to take the classes but I went to a talk by Regan Barr, one of the "teachers" and founders at a homeschool convention last week and was really impressed by him. Their classes look really interesting. I went just because I think archaeology is fascinating and wanted to meet a real-live archaelogist. :) One thing he did mention is that they have 4 session workshop options that are significantly cheaper than their regular semester classes. I think he mentioned $70. The workshops were on all sorts of topics...Greek Art, Architecture, Drama, etc. That might be an option to try if you don't want to sign up for the semester long class.

:lol::lol::lol:

I think the short answer is NO. Doctors are not adequately trained in the profession's ethics. I don't know what training is these days. It very well could have changed significantly since I was in school. (I graduated in 1993.) We had one formal class in second year. One. And then sometimes we would have cases in other classes where someone would bring up an "ethical" question but it was definitely not emphasized. I went to Georgetown and I do think the Catholic/Jesuit background caused us to think/talk more about those issues than other places. Some of the professors were also priests, etc. My guess would be that the doctor in this story had very little ethics training if I'm remembering correctly that he's in his 50's. I might be wrong about that. I considered getting a degree in bioethics/medical ethics after residency so I feel like I've read more and thought more about ethics than most docs I trained with. I still subscribe to a medical ethics list-serv. But in general, I think this is an area that is sorely lacking in medical training.

Typically we don't worry about it until 16 or if they have no pubertal development by 14.

I still think this is a weird case and the surgeon was wrong.... But here's what happens when you are having surgery. You go in in your gown and with sheets and blankets. You get anesthesia and go to sleep. They take those blankets and sheets off. They aren't sterile. They rolled her over (I'm presuming this is correct, I didn't acutally see the part about operating on her back.) They possibly removed her gown depending on where they needed to reach. They prepped (placed sterile drapes, etc.) They did the surgery. They removed sterile drapes. They rolled her back over...which requires at least 2 and usually 3 people...it's very difficult in a patient who is anesthetized. Then they got her "fixed up"...did the dressing, possibly cleaned/washed her if there was iodine or blood, replaced a gown, put on warm sheets and blankets, etc. So there's going to be a normal period of time where the surgery is over and everyone is kind of fussing around the patient fixing it so they are as comfy as possible when they wake up. Again....placing a tatoo shouldn't have been done then but it's not quite like just flipping the patient over and wheeling them out of the room is the norm.

I agree that this isn't a case for a lawsuit. As wrong as it was, I don't see how she was truly injured in a way that demands monetary compensation. There is so much wrong with the medical system today because of frivolous lawsuits. (Not to say all malpractice lawsuits are frivolous at all...or that this woman is trying to be petty or in it for the money...I just don't think this meets the standard of malpractice.) But I do think the doctor acted incredibly inappropriately and weirdly. I think that he should be severely disciplined. Without knowing all the details of the case, I can't say how but there are avenues for that as Sarah mentioned above. Part of what I remember always being ingrained in us when in the OR was to respect the patient. It's impossible not to see the patient naked for many surgeries. We were always taught to be as professional as possible. We were taught NEVER to comment on the patient's body as it might be our own mother or father or child. We were taught that it was a privelege to be allowed to see and help another human being and that above all else we must respect them and treat them well. We were yelled at if we leaned on a body part during surgery. I can remember being in cases that were 8 hours long and accidentally leaning on a leg or an arm and having the surgeon immediately yell at me for not respecting the person (and also because it could cause them to wake up with a sore leg/arm). The doctors and surgeons I know were almost to a fault highly respectful of their patients and this guy just makes me mad for being one more idiot giving the profession a bad name!

He's a cutie! And a climber it appears. My younger son is like this. I thought my first was a climber. Nope. The younger one could climb INTO the crib by scaling the side at 12 months. He would get to the top and just propel himself over. He's a monkey. I have to say from experience that you're doomed. Surrender now.

I haven't read all the other replies, so hopefully I'm not just repeating what everyone else said. If a kid who misbehaves at 4 is doomed....well, I guess I might as well throw in the towel with you. Seriously, that's just ridiculous. Yes, I agree that the foundation that we lay at a young age will have influence when they are a teen. And a kid who is never disciplined when young will be much harder to get to obey as a pre-teen or teen. But the parenting journey isn't complete at 4! or 7, or 10, or 14, or 18. Every day is a new challenge. I've definitely had those public moments where ds is misbehaving and I feel judged by those around me. And for me, as a pediatrician, it always seems like both kids are completely out of control and I'm losing it as I shouldn't right when one of my patient's families walks by! That's gotta inspire their confidence in me. Either that or we're eating something really horrible for you and run into my patients. :)

They are very different books. WEM is not really about the Trivium. It's been awhile since I read it so I can't remember exactly. She may talk about the concept of the Trivium a little but it's a plan for adult/rhetoric stage reading. The first section details a plan for how to read...how to take notes and to get more out of your reading. The rest is divided into categories (fiction, autobiography, poetry, drama, history...?maybe something else). Then within those categories is a list of books in chronological order. She gives a brief synopsis of each book and sometimes mentions why this is an important book to read. I really liked WEM. I read through the first part and then skimmed the lists. I've been reading through the fiction list this year, although I read other stuff too so I'm moving slowly through it. I like the idea of having a focus to my reading, and it has encouraged me to read some things I wouldn't have probably read otherwise...like Don Quixote. I took good notes and really followed her method for DQ but then since then I've just been reading the books. For me, taking notes began to feel too much like work and I wanted to just enjoy the books. But I think if I had a book that was more challenging or a book that I wanted to teach or for some reason really understand I would go back to WEM as a resource for how to do that. At this point in my life, I'm happy to just be reading. :) ETA: I remembered as I was writing this that she does use the concept of the Trivium in how to read...you do a "grammar" stage reading, then "logic", then "rhetoric". But it's not realy to the same purpose as in WTM.

Ok, we're in! I'll bring some chips to balance out the healthy veggies and watermelon. Someone's gotta take the low road, right? I may bring a friend who doesn't frequent these boards but is a new homeschooler (like me with a little one) and I think she'd enjoy the support and fellowship. Also, I've never been to this park, will it be obvious where we meet? I'm imagining a big park and me wandering around lost with my bag of chips while elsewhere WTM hilarity is going on without us. :)