Bumping. I'm also interested in more information about how the pieces of a MCT work, both as individual pieces and as a coherent whole.

I don't know specifically. I went in, described the yucky burning feeling in my eyes when I wore the contacts and told them it went away within 20 minutes of taking them out. They asked me a few questions to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid like not washing my hands or spitting on the contacts or something. Then they popped in a trial pair of contacts that were stored in a preservative-free solution. They had me wear them for a couple hours, I had no problem with them, and we thereby figured out it seemed to be the preservatives in standard solutions. They gave me the name of a preservative-free solution, instructions on switching my contacts over to diligently get ALL the old solution off (they were the change-once-a-year kind back then) and I was good to go. It was apparently a pretty uncommon issue, so don't worry about it. The warning was more because if you add up all the pretty uncommon possibilities, then there starts to become a noticeable, though still small, chance of some issue. Just deal with it quickly with the optometrist. My real point was that most issues are easily resolved :)

In a heartbeat. I used to do rescue work. When I started, I would volunteer to foster the pregnant cats until the kittens were weaned and all could be adopted. Then I realized how many already born kittens were being euthanized while I cared for each pregnant cat. Since then, I have always advocated for immediate spaying regardless of whether the cat was pregnant. Some vets will spay during pregnancy and others won't. You may have to call around.

I had contacts previously (I've since had LASIK). I have astigmatism in one eye, so I actually was able to do the cheap contacts in one eye and the pricier toric lenses in the other. As I recall, the difference between the throwaway lenses and the longer-lasting ones was the thickness of the lens. Longer lasting lenses were thicker, making them less prone to wear and tear. I would just wear my lenses until they tore or until there was visible protein build-up on them (more of a problem for me than the average person, apparently) and then switch them out. They typically lasted 2-3 times as long as advertised. Once I figured out what worked for me with the optometrist, I switched to ordering through 1800contacts. Much cheaper. Which I was grateful for because I was paying for the contacts myself on a teenage part time minimum wage job :) Probably a no-brainier for most reasonable folks, but if your daughter does have any issues, make an appt for follow up with the doc. I just kept my mouth shut and dealt with my contacts being painful because I didn't want to be told I couldn't wear them. Eventually coughed up the money and went to the doc and learned I was allergic/sensitive to the preservatives in the lens solution. Switched lens solutions and everything was fine.

I had planned a home birth. All the women in my family have naturally gone past due date - some well past. Due to the family history, my midwife and I agreed that I wouldn't even attempt natural methods of induction until a full 42 weeks. I then had pre-e and was induced early, but I otherwise probably would have gone to 43 weeks or more before agreeing to medical induction.

Not so much. My siblings and I do some verbal teasing, but none of the physical stuff. My DH and I will do quite a bit of verbal teasing, but I'm now trying to break the habit because my daughter doesn't "get" teasing yet and gets very upset by it.

I'm in a state that doesn't require notice. I went to the school and asked what it would take to legally withdraw a then-14-year-old to homeschool and they said they just needed a written note from me stating I was withdrawing her to homeschool so that I wouldn't be in violation of attendance laws. I asked for a sheet of paper, wrote something like "I am withdrawing ________ from public school and intend to homeschool her." and signed it. No trouble at all.

I use a shelving unit from Target, some Snapware containers (they stack well and their lids are easy for DD to work, stackable paper trays, and a couple random other things. You can see a picture of the chaos here: http://everchangingchild.blogspot.com/2013/10/homeschool-room-aka-playroom.html I try not to over-organize her crafting stuff, because I know she won't keep it organized and it's not a battle I want to fight. In our last house, which had more wall space, I used a hanging shoe organizer with clear pockets and hung it on the wall. Then I put the supplies in the pockets, with the "adult supervision" things in the top pockets. It worked awesome and I wish I still had the space for it!

Am I remembering right that you are starting to need to travel some for her contests? Is there anything that would make the travel time more fun?

The most amazingly supportive thing anyone said to me was versions of "I remember how I felt when I miscarried. I'm so sorry." Because it is so not talked about, I had no idea how many women I knew had been through this. I miscarried at 14 weeks and we had just announced to everyone the week before, so there was no "hiding" it. For those who hadn't been through it, just a simple "I'm so sorry" sufficed. I did not want to talk about it and would not have welcomed any more than that; I know there are others who are different. Jen, it is a very well written article.

Congratulations!

I kind of hate to interrupt all the baby-eating heathen talk, but throwing in my two cents in case mathmarm is still sorting through this ;-) My daughter is three. You just described a normal day here, and most people who know her and are familiar with three year olds think she is an angel. A three year old has no internal motivation to do any of the things you mentioned. Until they're old enough to develop their own reasons to do these things, supplying some motivation goes a long way. I don't know how long your niece is with you, and the strategies I've developed are specific to my daughter and come from knowing her well, so YMMV. Find her motivations. Brushing teeth - we use a 2 minute timer so that DD knows how long she needs to brush for. She really wanted to have mouthwash, so I found a children's version. She is only able to use the mouthwash after brushing her teeth, so she now brushes her teeth. Totally a win/win on this one! Getting dressed - I don't require that she get dressed unless/until we're going somewhere. She loves going, no matter where, so this is plenty motivation for her. Picking up - hahahaha. This one can be such a battle. I finally stopped making it one - anything not picked up by bedtime gets put out of reach for one week. She gets one warning on this before bed. I do help and picking up is usually a team effort. At a minimum, I make sure that I am actively doing a chore of my own during picking up time so she doesn't feel like she is the only one working. Sometimes I bribe her with use of the Swiffer. She loves the Swiffer, most young kids do. "If you pick up all your toys on the floor, I'll let you Swiffer the floor" is not only effective, but one of the best win/win situations I've found because then I don't have to Swiffer the floor! Eating - just don't make an issue of it. If she isn't eating, then she isn't hungry. We put leftovers in the fridge and usually make 1-2 meals a week "leftover meals". Even though my daughter isn't picky, on occasion she just doesn't want what we are having. No problem, it gets put up and there is one shelf in the kitchen with no-prep healthy foods like fruits and applesauce that she may have at any time. I do not prepare anything to order, but she still is able to eat if she finds herself hungry a while after the meal is cleared. If she were deliberately making a mess with her food instead of eating, I would remove her plate because she is obviously not hungry enough to eat. I do not respond positively to commands from my daughter nor do I give her commands. "Could you get dressed so we can go to the grocery store?" "Brush your teeth so we can read your bedtime books." "Help me clear the table so I can come play with you sooner." are all examples of ways I get quick compliance from her. Well, usually. She is still a three year old and sometimes has meltdowns for no apparent reason.

We have three choices around here: 1. 9:00-11:30, either Tu/Th, M/W/F, or five days per week - this is only used in families with a SAHP 2. 9:00-3:00, at two of the private schools in town, no before-care or after-care, used by SAHPs or a few people with more flexible schedules or who have someone to do the pick up and babysitting 3. Daycares that also have preschool accreditation. These are usually full time with some part time options if they have open slots for them. When both DH and I worked full time, we hired a nanny. When she was old enough, we thought of enrolling her in option #2 above and having a part time nanny for after school hours, but that would have been a real scheduling pain with school holidays and summer breaks. When I switched to part time, we found one of the daycare/preschool hybrids and enrolled her for full days on Tu/Th.

DH used to travel regularly for work and we used to have to replace suitcases yearly due to them falling apart. The one that has held together for us is a Samsonite made with lightweight ballistic nylon and spinner wheels. That one still looks brand new. Any idea where she is likely to be traveling? I did a semester in East Africa in college and no typical luggage would have served me well for that trip. Wheeled luggage would have just been a joke on the transit there. For any third world travel, I would suggest a roomy camping-type frame pack and something like a Jansport backpack.

Last house was 3/4 acre, cost was $70 per mow. Current house is a little under 1/4 acre, cost is $30 per mow. That includes mowing, weed whacking, and using a leaf blower to clear off the deck and sidewalks. I've actually never even used a lawn mower. And even in years when DH kinda thinks maybe he should buy a mower and do it himself, I know he'd never actually get to it so I just hire the same person every year and the yard gets done. I ask him to come every 10-14 days depending on how bad it looks and every time I think "huh, the yard is pretty scraggly" he magically shows up within 1-2 days and fixes it.

I designed a cage and DH built it. It was 4' x 2' x 2' made out of well-sealed 3/4" birch plywood with a hinged front door that was mostly tempered glass. With more experience with having the beardie, I would have done a sliding door - the cage was originally designed for a snake :) If you can design and build, I think think this cage cost us around $125 and was a beautiful display piece. Plus we were easily able to wire in a heat panel, light socket, and fluorescent strip light. Our cage actually doubled as our tv stand. While we don't watch a lot of tv, we watched it nightly back then and the beardie always seemed happy and healthy!

We used amitriptyline for one of our cats that seemed to have major anxiety with some resulting behavioral issues. It worked great for him, within a week or so of starting the medication the majority of behaviors would resolve and he would seem much more like a typical cat. With our vat's permission/support, we would wean him off of it after a few months, keep an eye on symptoms, and restart it when symptoms resurfaced. I would say he was taking pills probably 1/4 of his life.

A pet reptile? A Brock Magiscope? Software to make fractal art?

The game Shut the Box is great for addition facts.

There is a Montessori at Home e-book that I referred to often when DD was younger, especially for the Practical Life activities.

The downside to overalls is that they make potty training very difficult. We did a lot of dresses with Baby Legs at that age, and a lot of leggings. And once she was out of bulky diapers and into underwear partway through the winter, I even had to put a few stitches in the waistbands of all her leggings to keep them up!

Thank you! I swear I did a search but apparently not the right search.

So many great ideas! I placed a big Amazon order yesterday and when I put it all together I will come back and post links of it all and a picture of her new (and kinda over-the-top) doctor kit.

I use coconut oil, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, and VO5 conditioner. With all of this, I spend a whopping $30/year on hair products. I was so thrilled to figure this out! This is a modified version of Curly Girl, but here's what works for me: - On Sundays or Mondays, I put coconut oil in my hair. Fully saturating my shoulder length hair takes less than a 1/4 oz of oil. I leave it in for 30-60 minutes as a deep conditioner. Then I wash it out with Dr. Bronner's (diluted to half strength) but deliberately only washing enough to get excess oil. I do scrub my scalp with the soap because I find that otherwise I get buildup and am prone to dandruff. Because this doesn't leave much "slip" in my hair, I then follow up with a couple handfuls of VO5 conditioner. - Usually on Wednesday, I lightly rinse my hair with water in the shower. No additional product, the water just helps bring my curls back to life after being slept on for a couple days. - Fridays I use a couple handfuls of the VO5 conditioner, leave it in just while I shower and rinse it out at the end of the shower. I find that the coconut oil left in my hair on Mondays is enough to serve as my only styling product all week. On days that I'm not getting my hair wet in the shower (it takes forever to dry!) I just put some water on my hands and use my damp hands to reshape some of the curl with my fingers. Or I'm really lazy and put it in a ponytail.

We tried the Critical Thinking Skills workbooks for K level but didn't care for them much. They felt much more like standardized test prep than like beginning logic skills and there were few things in any of the books that challenged DD at all. My daughter does love workbooks, though, so I'm wondering if there are better options out there. Has anyone tried both CTC and the Lollipop Logic series and could tell me how they compare? Or have other suggestions? I would also love suggestions for games. I'm looking at about a 5 year old level with a fairly short attention span (more than 15-20 minutes on a game and I'll lose her!). I admit that our current games cabinet is a little pathetic; we hit this stage where she is past the preschool board games but the "good" games all seem too advanced. I'm sure there is stuff out there that I'm just not thinking of. Maybe some of the strategy games but scaled down to have a time limit?