Yep, this sounds like a mom I very much like who is probably overwhelmed by her life right now. It's hard to know how to help in situations like that. I can't think of a way to offer my help without coming across as judgmental, especially since she is aware of her failings and is bothered by them.

Last year we hid Legos in plastic eggs. It was very well received, and practical, too - as far as these things go. Each kid had an egg color to find (we have hundreds of plastic eggs accumulated from the years), so the kits didn't get too mixed up. In their baskets we put the instructions for their Lego kit, a small chocolate rabbit, and lots of shredded paper so they didn't look too empty :). We'll probably do it again this year.

Absolutely by first grade. I had a run-in with the school librarian about what books I could check out. I wanted to check out Charlotte's Web. I had to read the first page to her to see if I could. I remember getting past the first paragraph before she said OK. I later went back and read the book to my class. The best part was sitting in my teacher's rocking chair. That's not necessarily *gifted* as much as *precocious,* although the two are linked, for me at least. I was just thinking about GATE education, and about how I was so well served by it in some regards and not in others. Our school had a pretty extensive GATE program that started when I was in second grade. Full-pull out for math AND language arts, every day, with a very small class size (probably around 15 students with a teacher AND an aide.) I don't think a program like that could survive today. Later, I realized that I was very out-of-step with my peers. I articulated it as "not speaking the same language." A salient memory from elementary school was not being understood by my peers. It wasn't until high school, and then college, where there were enough kids that I could find a peer group and feel comfortable. I'm thankful I went to a 3500+ student high school - without it, I may have continued to struggle to find my place.

We use a credit card with perks (cash back on purchases), and we have kept our credit limit low. I like that it is separate from our "real money," in case of fraud. We recently had some suspicious transactions and the credit card company texted me (very odd, BTW, I never receive texts), and then called 5 minutes later, when I didn't reply right away. It felt very safe. Because of our perk, we pay almost all of our bills with our credit card, too, so we get an extra 3-5 percent back on our gas, water, internet, etc.

We're coming up on this decision soon (7yo boy, 5yo girl, 3yo boy, infant), so I understand the dilemma. So much has to do with the personalities of the kids in question, plus your general house dynamics. For us, the oldest two are 15 months apart and have a very close relationship, so that even though they are different genders, they have a strong preference to be together, especially at night. Also, I don't like toys in bedrooms, so we would have to come up with another playroom-type option for our house if we moved to two kid bedrooms. I really like the idea of having a bed room and leaving the rest of the space for living, but again, this comes from our personal experience where we don't use our bedrooms for anything but sleeping. If our family had a culture of retreating to bedrooms for quiet time, etc, then perhaps I'd value two sleeping spaces.

My first thought is Lyme. Have you been tested for it? When you say the tongue is non-fungal, you mean to say that it's not candida?

We have a thrift store in town that supports our local homeschool/classical academy. It's a GOLD MINE for homeschool curriculum, supplies, etc. Our state university in town has a huge collection of education curriculum in its library, and state residents can get library cards to check materials out. It's a good way to look at materials to see if they fit for your family, even if you can't necessarily check them out. Library sales and thrift stores also have been good to us.

The rationale is absurd, insulting, and suggests that the boys need better training in impulse control. Although, as a mother of little girls, I find it very troubling the types of clothing that is marketed to them. I've told my husband many times that I'd much rather have my daughters nude at the beach than in a bikini. (My oldest daughter is 5, so take that for what it's worth.) I find it concerning when style of clothing made to highlight an adult woman's body is redesigned for a child's body, whether it be swim suits, fitted t-shirts, or tightly cut jeans.

I agree! Our little guy is 2e and has benefited so much from an OT who understands what's *him* and what's *changeable,* if that makes sense. The goal isn't to make him less quirky, but help him manage his quirks so that he can be happier in himself, with our family, and with others.

Another recommendation for Out of Sync Child. We requested a referral for evaluation through our ped as well, with a great OT in town. We researched OTs who are versed in SPD before we started and are pleased with the process. Our three non-babies have different sensory issues, but we are treating our youngest son because his issues cause disruptions, for him and for our family. He wants to engage but can't; his thinking is SO RIGID; he has difficulty transitioning between activities, especially if they are new; he has difficulty transitioning after a nap; he has a hard time using his body with other children. By "hard time" or "difficulty," I mean that he screams the most deafening, ear-ringing screams, for minutes on end, becomes hysterical, kicks and thrashes. It's above and beyond having temper tantrums. He has other red-flags as well (hand flapping, swinging for hours and hours and hours at a time, able to be in icy-cold ocean water or hot hot bath water without complaint, takes big falls and bumps without any reaction, obsessed with rubbing certain moles on my body), but the above issues are the ones that prompted us to seek help for him.

Another vote in favor of testing. There are few downsides to doing so. One of the great things about therapy for little ones is that it is, in my experience, a "fun" time for them. We have a great OT who makes therapy time my son's favorite times of the week.

This happened to my roommate in college, and I don't remember it being a very big deal. There were minor things he had to do in order to get in-state residency, so, for example, he had to use his college address as his permanent address (the address on his licence, checks, car registration, insurance, etc.). I do suspect it varies from state to state. I wonder if the age of the student plays a part too - would this student be 18 at the time of residency?

My very young ones really like The Boxcar Children Ramona and Beezus Pippi Longstocking Five Children and It Winnie the Pooh My 3.5 year old listens in on our read alouds. Those have been his favorites. He tolerates others (Roald Dahl, E.B. White), but was engaged and tracking the above books.

DISMAL FAILURE. At this point, I expect a wing of our local library to be named after our family. Anyone else?

The kids outvoted us for Legoland. Adults wanted to visit the zoo. They're all little (six and under), so it should be a good fit for them, until they realize how much line-standing they'll have to do. We live in a beautiful, outdoorsy, coastal California town now, so we don't feel the pressure to enjoy nature so much as enjoy the city. We're not interested in shopping, although we will visit IKEA to get some of their plank blocks and cinnamon rolls. I'd like to have one big destination for each day to save us from inertia. So, making the incorrect assumption that all small children are the same, which is more interesting: the science museum or the natural history museum? Is the children's museum too high-concept for little ones?

Thanks! I'll have to check it out.

We're planning a trip to San Diego in a week and looking for fun/low cost/easy stuff to do with my little ones there. We're visiting Legoland for a day, so that's the bulk of our entertainment budget. We're planning on relaxing at the hotel pool and visiting the beach, too. Our hotel is near Mission Bay, and my husband will be at UCSD, so recommendations around those areas are especially interesting. Any good playgrounds? Playgrounds with water play? Indoor bounce houses? Museums? How is the art museum? Friendly for kids? I know I could Google these questions, but I trust the replies here much more :).

I still remember the preposition song, which I memorized in 7th grade. But if I have to ID a preposition today, I do so by the "the mouse ran ____________ the table" trick.

I really believe in rotating books and toys. It helps make sure we read/use all of our things. There's a small bookshelf in our living/play/school space that has all library books and whatever seasonal/thematic/rotated books we're now reading. The rest of our books are organized by the way we use them on big bookshelves in our office. Since we do a lot of theme/seasonal rotations, our books are sorted by that - so picture books are mixed with nonfiction. Before we had more shelf space, I kept our books in tubs. I'm a visual person, so once they went into tubs I felt that they were gone. Now that I can see them, I"m reminded to rotate, reminded what books we have, and can come grab that little book about XXX that the kids need. The upside of having a small collection of books out at any time is that it doesn't really matter how they're put back on the shelf. The disorganization is contained. The kids are welcome to come pick books out from the office if they like, although the never really do. We go to the library once a week, so they get their fill of self-selected books.

Our neighbors have a trampoline, and my kids aren't allowed on it for many reasons. I would let them jump if there were a net and if they were the only person on the trampoline. We have a two little friends who have broken tibias while jumping with other children. There is a trampoline in our neighborhood that is built into the ground. (The owners dug a hole and the trampoline surface is flush with the ground. I think this is not unusual, but it's the only one I've seen.) I feel more comfortable with my children on this trampoline, and if I were to have a trampoline I'd install it like this.

OK, this isn't strictly a "need," but long marshmallow skewers, or you might have an experience like we did last year, when our youngest found great stick to use for marshmallow roasting...a big stick from a poison oak plant. They're great at spotting PO, except for when the leaves fall off. Never again are we hunting for sticks to roast - I'll bring my own.

Lots of great suggestions here - thanks! Some of the math games (Peggy Kaye) and living math books would be a great fit for us, since the younger kids might like to listen/play in. A hesitation I have about charts or calculators is that he'll never really *learn* his facts. I need to reframe how this is memorizing facts, which I can do intellectually. It's just a leap from the drudgery of flash cards I remembered as a child. This is why we homeschool, right?

Good perspective. He's just getting so frustrated that math is "hard," and I'd like to save him from that. I hoping for an open-and-go not-arithmetic math book, but that probably doesn't exist for this age level.

My son intuits mathematical concepts really well. He's in first grade, but taught himself place value, carrying and borrowing, and other concepts in kindergarten. Yesterday, he articulated the relationship between fractions and decimals, two concepts we've only talked about in passing. BUT: he's really bad at mechanics. He struggles with memorizing math facts. He has to solve 15-8 each and every time. We do a bunch of different drill type exercises, but the facts aren't sticking. We use Singapore, which we're happy with, but I don't see the value in moving forward until the gets these math facts. He'll understand the concepts, but computation will be time-consuming and frustrating for him. So, I'm looking for non-computational based enrichment activities to keep him in the process of intuiting mathematics without begin boggled down by the arithmetic. We do logic puzzles, play lots of games, but I think he'd enjoy our more formal school time more if I could change up math a little. We've looked at Life of Fred, but it wasn't a big hit. Any suggestions?

The 7 year old is playing Sorry! with the flighty 3 year old. I'm estimating how long it will last until someone (me, possibly) ends up in tears.