We like Song School Spanish as well. I don't speak Spanish either, and it's no problem. It comes with files you download that pronounce all of the words for you and a disk with all of the songs. I'm learning right along with my son.

We bought something like this: http://www.rei.com/product/881182/rei-kingdom-cot I'm the kind of person that if I don't sleep, I won't be able to enjoy myself, so even though these are expensive (we got them on a good sale and didn't pay that price for them), it's worth it to me to pay more for some sleep. Like you, whatever air mattress I buy, it always gets a hole in it. So, I would definitely suggest some sort of cot. Just be sure to bring some enough blankets and sleeping bags. With a cot, the air moves freely under you. If it's cold, a cot can make you colder as well if you don't bundle up.

We like the Railroad Museum in Old Town. It's probably my favorite museum in Sacramento. And Old Town is fun to explore. If you are doing the surrounding area, I really like Coloma, a gold mining town, and Placerville, just a cool small town, which are both up Highway 50 a ways from Sacramento.

When we did a geography day on Egypt I bought the game Senet for the kids to play. I also have all of the geopuzzles for each continent. Those are usually a hit. We made Chinese dumplings when we studies China. We built the Great Wall out of blocks and I bought some of those Chinese coins with the square holes in the middles. For India we made little candle holders out of clay for Diwali and bracelets out of string for the Borthers and Sisters holiday (can't remember the name of it).

Have you thought about starting a sort of swap with other writers where they read your book and you read their book. I wish I was farther along on mine and I'd swap with you, but the rate I'm going it will be another year before I'm at that point. But there are other people on this board writing books I'm sure. Maybe someone else is in the same spot you are and needing a reader.

Wow, I guess I'll be a dissenter and say that I don't think it's as important as a lot of people here think it is. My husband is significantly smarter than me, at least academically speaking. And I don't consider myself dumb or anything. I actually think I'm fairly intelligent, it's just that my husband is extremely intelligent, one of the smartest people I've met. We have a really happy marriage. The fact that we don't match up intellectually hasn't been a problem for us.

This is a good idea. I hadn't thought to mix the prune juice in with his regular juice. I will try that. Thanks

I remember when I was a kid, I started staying home by myself at age 10. I would come home after school and have a few hours in the house alone before my mom got home from work. I absolutely LOVED having that time to myself. I never got into any trouble. I would just read, watch TV, play the piano or do homework. But I got to the point where I really craved having that time to myself and almost resented when my mom had a day off work and was home with me during that time. So, depending on your daughter's personality, it may even be beneficial to her to have time alone like that.

This is a really good idea, thanks. Maybe if I have my son choose what he wants to grow he will be more likely to eat it.

I think this is a good point. He's had issues for so long, this may take years to actually resolve. I've read about bowels getting overstretched and I have a feeling that is what is going on with my son. So I think I need to remember that even if it seems like his bowel movements are back to normal, I need to keep watching it for a long time.

This is a good point. I've been focusing on fiber, but I probably need to look at other strategies as well. Thanks.

Wow, looks like you guys have a lot of good suggestions! Thanks everyone who took the time to respond. I'm going to read through these suggestions and see what may work for us.

I've read that water with lemon is suppose to be good. I may try that. I would love for him to get more movement in. Unfortunately between cold season and the weather, we haven't gotten outside nearly as much as I would like, so that may be contributing to his current problems.

He will eat nuts. Maybe I should focus on getting him to eat those more and in greater variety. I tend to give him peanuts quite often, but I probably need to think about getting him more variety. Thanks.

When you add the pumpkin to pancakes do you replace the liquid or add it in addition to the liquid? An apple or pear cake may work. I'll look into that, thanks.

I wish I could get him to eat fruit. He use to when he was younger, but around age two just stopped. Sometimes if I really push it he'll eat a slice of apple, but it's such a battle.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I may be able to sneak something like pumpkin into pancakes. I'll have to look for some recipes.

I was hoping that since I haven't gotten anywhere talking with my son's pediatrician, the Hive may have some advice. My son is six and has had trouble with constipation off and on for years. Several months ago he has started to get really bad stomach aches. I took him to the doctor and they X-rayed his stomach and they could tell he was very backed up. I started tracking how much fiber he got in a day and made sure he was getting at least 25 grams a day. We stopped going out to eat. I also started giving him yogurt every day and making sure he drank at least four cups of water in addition to his cup of juice in the morning and his cup of milk at night. After a couple of weeks it looked like it was working and his constipation and stomach aches seemed to clear up. But now it's back again, and the diet that worked before doesn't seem to be working. The doctor recommended Mira-lax. This has never been helpful for him in the past, but even if it was I don't consider it to be a good long-term solution. So what have people had success with? I'm looking for anything that may help with the constipation short term so I can get him cleaned out. Also, foods that are a good source of fiber. My son is very picky, so he doesn't eat a whole lot anyway. But I'd love to hear about plain foods that are high in fiber. He will eat a decent number of vegetables, all raw, but no fruit. I also want to try to figure out some long-term solutions. I feel like every time I think we have this problem under control it creeps up again. Also, I want to be able to go out to eat as a family. His whole life I've always brought a vegetable with us when we go to a restaurant. So even when we go out, he is always eating the peas or spinach or whatever else I've brought from home, so there at least some fiber that he is getting from that. But trying to make sure he gets 25 grams of fiber a day, there is no way he can just get three or four grams of fiber for one meal (as he would when we go out) and still make what he needs in a day. Anyone have any suggestions or advice to offer?

My husband and I both really liked Joshua Tree National Park. It's a little over 100 miles from Anaheim.

Bouncy balls, fun erasers, little plastic toys that we always seem to have dozens of that my son never plays with (like farm animals or dinosaurs - I know some kids really like them, but my son doesn't, so I've gotten rid of a bunch by putting those in geocaches). Things my son has really loved that he found in a geocache - those little Army men with the parachute attached, a yo-yo and a pink belt. Not sure why he loved that belt so much. First he pretended it was a lasso, then he actually wore it as a belt for about a month. So really you can put anything in that you like. But I find bouncy balls are nice and small and easily fit into the pocket of whatever I'm wearing. If nothing else, I'll just put a couple of quarters in my pocket. Young kids are usually excited to find a quarter in the cache.

I have the official geocaching app for my phone, the one you have to pay $10 for, and I like it a lot. We use it when we are out taking a hike or when we are traveling and have an hour or two to kill. One of the most fascinating things to me is that there are geocaches everywhere. We were visiting my mom and didn't have anything to do one afternoon so I whipped out my phone and looked for the nearest cache. It was about a 1/2 mile away. Any of the hikes we like to do in the area usually have caches hidden a long them. Some tips I have are to look at the difficulty rating and the size of the cache before you pick one. My son, who is six, much prefers finding a larger cache so there is room inside for a bunch of stuff. Getting the toy or other little treasure in the cache is the fun part for him. I enjoy the act of looking for it more, and discovering new and beautiful places in the process, and that may eventually be the case for him as well as he matures, but right now he is all about the prize. I always carry a little something we can put in the geocache with us, either in my pocket, my purse or in my car. That way if we decide on an impromptu geocaching adventure I am prepared. I would also read the recent logs to make sure that the cache is still there. Occasionally they get stolen or damaged in some way. You don't want to go to all the trouble to find the cache only to discover it's not there once you arrive.

I paid the $10 for the app and I think what it gets you over the free app is the ability to look for geocaches anywhere, not just where you are at the moment, and the ability to do an advanced search, which lets you narrow down the type of cache you are looking for. For example, when I'm with my son, I want to look for one of the easier caches and I want a larger cache size.

I was sick at the end of last week and had to cancel a bunch of plans. A friend of mine called over the weekend to check on me and see if I needed any thing. I've moved several times in the past five years and it's been awhile since I've had a good friend who thought to call and check on me. It made me really happy. So this week I'm grateful for friends. I love my family and they are wonderful, but friends make things a little brighter.

I am trying to finish up a couple reusable shopping bags made from cut up plastic bags. I am limited by the number of plastic bags I can get because each one takes over 100 bags so it has been slow going. I finished my first one last week entirely out of Target bags. I also need to make a friend of mine a sock monkey. She just had a baby and wants a multicolored sock monkey for her.

I could have written your post. We started out with Singapore in Kindergarten. It seemed like the almost the exact same program when I started the first grade program so I started looking for something else. I too picked Miquon. At first I tried to go back and forth between Singapore and Miquon. They I realized I was being silly. Miquon is a really strong program. I don't need to pair it with anything else. I do occasionally add some math drills or some word problems in, as others have mentioned. And I'm hoping to buy a few math games to add in soon as well. But the more of Miquon I use, the more impressed I am with it. My son has really learned a lot with it.