My kids sleep worse at night when they don't nap long enough. It sounds like your baby is super tired. My kids were still taking both a morning and afternoon nap until after a year although they varied on when they quit the morning nap. The oldest was nearly 2, the other two quit around 18 months. You may also want to try an earlier bedtime, I think 9 is late for a baby. My kids went to bed around 7:15 at that age. My friend's kids around 6:30 and another friend about 7:45. When we strayed from the early bedtime my kids would wake up 2-3 hours later. It was like they missed their window for good sleep. Hang in there, I think you will get back on track soon.

I love the name Benjamin, I say go for it.

One thing that has worked for me is starting a school session with 10 m&ms or skittles in front of each child. When the school time is over the kids can have how ever many are left. If they are distracting or lack focus I take one with no explanation. It nipped some behavior issues in the bud for me. You could do it with pennies or tickets too and let them exchange x number of tickets for a small prize at the end of the week.

I'm not an expert but I think ideally the child would retain the information until the end of the reading. However, if your son is struggling, maybe break it down or give him a specific question ahead of time for him to listen for the answer. You have unique challenges to your situation so I would do what makes the most sense to help your child enjoy learning. You may want to cross post this question on the Learning Challenges board as there may be some parents over there that can give you more specific advise.

When you are starting out you don't really know what you are looking for. Read the logs to see if they have been found recently. After you get a few finds go back and try for the DNFs again. Some caches are really tricky, they can be camouflaged so well. I don't like hunting for micros (the tiny caches with just a log) as much as a regular cache but after a few finds you'll figure out a type you like best. You can search the geocaching forums for different types of challenges. There are some 50 state challenges, my state has one for every county, I've seen some for trying to find the most in a day. Have fun! I haven't been in awhile but I love geocaching.

My 6 year old struggles with this but his eczema isn't severe. We don't use anything antibacterial and no hand sanitizer (which he is frequently given a hard time about by adults). I have him wash his hands with Cetaphil in the winter and I check to make sure they are dried completely. I use Norwegian Formula hand cream on his hands too. I have heard Vanicream recommended a lot as well.

My oldest was born slightly early, he was up frequently the first month of life. By 7 weeks he was sleeping 6-7 hours and by 4 months 12 hours. When he was waking early on he nursed fairly quickly and went right back to sleep. My middle was full term and sleeping 5-6 hours straight from day one. She would wake around 2am nurse and go right back to sleep. She was just under 6 months when she started sleeping 12 hours straight. My youngest was a week late, spent a brief time in NICU before coming home. He woke once or twice a night (between 7 & 7) until 4 months and then was sleeping 12 hours straight. Of the 3 he was the only one who never had random night waking once he started sleeping through the night. I definitely felt sleep deprived during the early weeks with all my kids but it had little to do with them waking at night.

Congrats!

We have a similar staircase. I taught my now two year old how to go down the stairs on his belly. The only way we could install a gate was a few steps up and I was worried about my older two crawling over and getting hurt.

Welcome back!

I would think at 8 and 11 in an area you have deemed safe would be fine. I'm comfortable with my 6 year old riding alone in our neighborhood but would not be comfortable with him riding alone just anywhere. He has demonstrated he can handle our neighborhood though. I agree with the pp who suggested finding our the laws for your county.

That sounds miserable! I hope it isn't too difficult to rid the garage of the smell.

Thanks. He's home now and so far no one else had gotten sick.

I had not heard this. I often pray for our military but I will pray for this specific threat.

My 3 have had various symtoms. I've had two pukers and two with funny colored loose stools, not the same two. All three have had bouts of no appetite this past week, the youngest has been very clingy. I called the doc this morning and he said there is a GI virus going around with those exact symptoms. He said not to worry unless they spike a fever or increase the frequency of their stools. Of course the one that puked on half the upstairs did it in the middle of the night when my husband was out of town. Scrubbing carpets for two hours in the middle of the night is not my idea of fun.

Oh boy. That's a new one on me.

Congratulations!

If you enjoy hiking check out Mt. Airy Forrest. There is a really neat wheelchair accessible treehouse that would be a perfect place for a picnic. There is also a great playground nearby. http://www.cincinnatiparks.com/index.php/mt-airy-forest We visited the Museum Center a couple weeks ago. My 6 & 4 year old enjoyed the Natural History Museum the best, it isn't huge so I think you would have time to do both the Natural History and the Children's Museum unless your kids are patient enough for you to actually read everything. I'm not sure about doing all 3 museums on the same day. I think the 3 museum ticket is only for 1 day, but call and ask because I'm not sure. It isn't always open, but if you get a chance to go up into Tower 1 you can see how the rail yard operates. It's pretty interesting. It's been 3 or 4 years since I've been, but the zoo is really nice. I think King's Island is only open on weekends right now. There was a Cincinnati thread about a month ago, you may find some more suggestions there.

I've been ranting on this awhile, my husband is probably tired of it. The same thing happened to the baby wipes that we use. The last downsize made them so that they don't cover my hand., which I learned the hard way. I called and complained, the girl manning the phone giggled at my complaint. I did have to switch brands though.

Watch craisglist and ebay. There are people who bought them at the warehouse sale (every July in Wisconsin) who sell them. They are generally seconds or returned items but are supposedly in good shape. I still haven't convinced my husband that my daughter needs one, but I'm still hoping to find a deal.

I'm sorry for you loss.

Shoot, I missed it. I remember this deal popping up in the past and was hoping to catch it the next time. I've been trolling craigslist and ebay trying to find a doll for my daughter at a price my husband won't balk at.

A local company went to this policy a couple years ago. They have about 13,000 employees worldwide although I think the policy only applies at headquarters here in the US. I doubt it applies at the manufacturing plants overseas. I know several people that work there (engineers, IT, accountants) and basically they have times when they have a lot of work during projects and between projects there isn't a lot to keep them busy full time. Each employee is required to keep up with their work but there really isn't a limit to how much they take off. It has improved morale quite a bit as they have faced layoffs several times in recent years. Apparently it was difficult to get used to but most people like the policy now.

Following.

You could make a simple beef stew with one of the juice cans. Throw a can of tomato juice, add a large bag of frozen mixed veggies, and then whatever beef you can find on sale into the crockpot. If you know when the store does mark downs that is the best time to buy meat. Could you swap the whole milk with a friend whose family will drink it?