I don't know what to do for dd's cat face. She has the ears on a headband. I can do a foam mask or try to find some non-toxic face paint but I don't know if any are available for her age or that she wouldn't smear all over (anyone know? The ones I saw in the store were not suitable). I also haven't decided if I'll let her walk or keep her in the baby carrier. I had planned on baby wearing her, but she might really want to get down watching big brother trick-or-treat. I don't want her face makeup to smear on my clothing or baby carrier if I wear her, either. Decisions, decisions.

Does she have any western clothing? Like cowboy boots or similar? She could wear jeans, plaid button up, cowboy/cowgirl hat. Pirate? Eye patch, bandana, white puffy blouse maybe, pants and boots. Skeleton? Shirt and pants with skeleton bones or one long piece that drapes over you with the skeleton drawn on it. Either a mask or face paint. For young kids I see these sold as PJs. In some stores now you could find a skeleton shirt but I don't know what you'd do for the pants. Scarecrow? Overalls, shirt, straw hat and some face paint. Maybe some extra pieces of straw attached as bracelets or something. Might be itchy, though. Simple witch costume. Dress/skirt with stripped tights and a hat. Works best if you have some black dress shoes or boots I guess. Old school ghost Mavis from Hotel Transylvania. Black dress, tights, red converse (if you have that) and optional cape with black lipstick. Hair might be an issue if you need to find a wig, but she could be a generic vampire. Not counting these as a lot of items to put on since they would be regular clothing, mostly. Not very original, but just some ideas!

I made potion bottles as a gift to my nephew. I decided not to put anything in them! I could have put colored glue or such, but decided to leave them empty and just paint the insides. Then he could store coins or something in them if he wanted. Or just leave them on display. The labels were found online. I found other misc. Hogwarts stuff online as well. I'll attach images. There's a map, train pass, Hogwarts letter/envelope you can print, & bookmarks. I might be able to relocate the stuff if you need it.

Here are a few we bought for ds, but I don't know if the genres would appeal to your ds. Magic Tree House Boxcar Children Encyclopedia Brown Undead Pets (we also bought Zombie Chasers but he hasn't read any yet) I would go to the AR website and use that as a tool to help with difficulty level or grade appeal or whatever. It's not perfect, but it can be helpful. http://www.arbookfind.com/UserType.aspx We plug in books to see their point value and I think that's based on length/difficulty for that particular grade. He hasn't finished one yet, but I bought a pile of "Who was?" books. For now they might not fit your criteria, but if you find a person that your ds is really interested in, you may want to keep them in mind. whohqbooks.com

For Father's Day I got him a new GPS mount. I think it went over pretty well. I'm going to put it on my wish list. I need a new one. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CRQUKQ4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm not sure what I'm getting my dad for Christmas. He likes practical things and doesn't care much for clothing. Basically anytime I see a gadget that I think he would use that goes on my list of ideas. We got him the Amazon Fire stick one year. A portable charger for when he's out and about (you know the kind that you charge at home but then don't need to plug in when you're out). I also tend to get him books. He reads a lot, mostly about health. It's just hard to pick out titles sometimes. Dh and I said we wouldn't exchange gifts, but he could really use some more long ties. One or two years ago his mom got a tie from Amazon and it's the only one that we've found to be 65" so I'll suggest it to anyone needing shopping help for him. He also likes scarves for the winter. He sometimes walks to work.

I had googled it earlier this week, couldn't remember where/what I saw but knew it was something like that. I didn't even let him leave the house today because of fear that it was still contagious and that fever was not the determining factor of it being contagious. He is not constantly coughing, but it is a bad sounding one.

Agree, like the Grinch cartoon. Not the live action much. It's like 5 min. of happy and the rest was a downer to me. I watch the cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. They put me in a better mood. Edited for clarity: was talking about It's a Wonderful Life as a downer. Sorry, I got mixed up in the thread! lol

Can she get a rental or dress at that price*? I was floored recently when I heard the price of a rental for someone we know that is part of a homecoming court. *in the style she wants

I'm curious what Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory really sounds like. Her voice on the show is fake. I don't think I'd go out of my way to address this behavior, so I'm not sure that I'm "policing" anyone by having an opinion on the matter. I also think the word "bae" is stupid and I don't think it has to do with my generation or acceptance of change. I am allowed to have opinions. To me it looks like a lazy way of saying "baby" although I've heard it's short for "before anyone else." Yes, language will change, but I don't know that I'd call it all evolved lol

I think only one child has been reported to have it so far (and not necessarily from his class), so I don't know if it's going to be spreading soon or what. I know that flu is airborne so I'm trying to get the cough under control before allowing him back. The dr's note excused him only one day of next week but all of this past week. I guess they figured by then it wouldn't be contagious, but I read it can be contagious longer for children than adults. We noticed he was feeling under the weather last weekend and didn't send him to school at all this week. So I am estimating he came down with flu around Saturday, making him returning to school on Tuesday not totally unreasonable. But really, I need to see how the coughing is by then.

We both have intense 8 yr old boys, but mine has different struggles I think. When I was reading your post I sympathized about certain things being viewed as punishment when they aren't intended to be. Same thing here. Is there a way to keep him away from them without keeping him right by you? Like if they lock themselves in their bedroom, can you keep him away from the bedroom? Or will he just knock on their door, slide papers under the door, etc? Could you send the girls outside? And have him stay inside? Or vice versa? Outside could mean down the street, in the back yard or even somewhere like a coffee shop. I think at least one of your daughters drives? I don't know if this is practical, but maybe since it's only once in a while?

Ds' fever broke. Now we're dealing with the cough. Then the school emails us that lice has been spotted in school. Great. lol I don't know when to send him back.

It's a Wonderful Life was like Citizen Kane for me. Some glorified film that didn't appeal to me. For years I'd catch bits and pieces of IAWL. One year I finally got the chance to see the whole thing. Then I was like, "this? This is what everyone loves? Blech." My dad doesn't like the film, either, but I couldn't go by his tastes as he dislikes a lot of things I like lol. Maybe we should do a poll to see if people tend to like one (A Christmas Story vs It's a Wonderful Life) and not the other lol.

I know the OP already updated, but I just felt compelled to reply. You may have said this as a last resort thing to fill up a bottle, but it's not advised to water down breastmilk. You'd want the child to get the full benefits from it so I would also discourage combining it with anything else (cow milk, formula). I always offered breastmilk first, then the other item separately. I remember hearing a scary story of a mom that frequently watered down breastmilk and the affects it had. I am sure you weren't talking long-term, but that story stuck with me.

My mom likes to watch it every year. Dad hates it. I don't love or hate it. Some of it is funny. Like thinking about the man buying this ridiculous sexy leg lamp and reading the box wrong ("fragile"). I still have some wrapping paper from the movie.

Ds was annoyed today over the voices used on The Smurfs (on Netflix, old episode or movie). Some were extremely high pitched or such. I am sure there is a voice out there that would annoy you. Maybe Lemongrab LOL

This is so weird! Dh makes me feel badly if I don't use something other than soap and water. We have both peroxide and rubbing alcohol here. I usually do soap & water and then either alcohol and band-aid or Vitamin E or neosporin and band-aid. Sometimes the band-aid has a built-in product. So I guess I feel better if soap and water is deemed good enough. I sometimes think that people just have a different pain tolerance and it's hard to really know when someone is being a baby or not. Ds gets sooo upset when I clip his fingernails!! I don't think I am going too far, to the quick, either. Then he says he can't do anything with his hands afterwards LOL. Like it affects normal activities? And I don't mean things where you'd actually need a nail. So dramatic I sometimes wonder if he really has extra sensitivity there. I am an adult and I flinch and complain over a dumb finger prick more than most things. Those things hurt!! And they leave red dots on my fingers that supposedly were going to go away.

I think it's to show excitement, but I couldn't handle much of that video! My sister doesn't talk like she used to. It's like she's a stranger to me sometimes. She lives in the UK and has been there for years now. Dh says it sounds like a fake British accent. I don't know how to describe it, but it can be difficult to my ears at times. He says she does vocal fry, too. I think I do sometimes as well, unintentionally. We knew this guy people called the Ja'merican when I was younger. He was an American that put on a fake Jamaican accent. It was quite suspect. They said they knew it was fake because his real voice came out when he was drunk lol.

I would choose another costume, although the age makes it more innocent than say, a teenager wearing one. I wouldn't freak out seeing a 9yr old dressed as a clown. A clown that didn't have overly creepy makeup (yes, there is a difference! I have seen lots of clown photos and some look more menacing than others). Also, my answer would be affected by whether or not I was with my child. Would just be better to pass on it this year imo. There are sooo many costumes out there. Maybe we can help you come up with another one :)

Hmm, I don't know that I would describe any of ds' in office treatments as some wonderful reset button. It didn't end there. He just had a treatment at the dr's office on Wed. and we've been giving him breathing treatments since. It could be different for children, but I might ask sometime if they do the same dose in office. Granted, maybe you're just talking about visits for seasonal stuff which would be different than our reasons for office visits. Wait, do you change your tubes a lot? We've had the same one on the whole time. But the hospital and dr's office offered us the mask/tubing set after our in office visits since they cannot reuse them I think. Now we have three tubes. I figure they are like breast pump tubes, which you can periodically clean and air out, but probably don't normally need to replace?

If I'm understanding correctly, they were supposed to let you know either way in late September? I think it's totally fair to contact them and follow up. Glad co-op is going well.

So far I'm too lazy. One of the only soups ds will eat is Marie Calendar's Chicken n Dumplings. I used to buy chicken n dumplings from this place a long time ago. It was so good. It came on a bed of rice.

I bought a bagged chicken noodle soup. I had a bit of a misunderstanding with dh when he said he only liked the soup with rice. I added rice to it. Apparently he meant he liked chicken and rice soup... oops. haha. OP, you could try swapping the noodles for rice or depending on the ratio of food/broth, have both. The rice kinda soaked up a lot of the broth overnight so that was maybe not the best idea on my part, but with less rice or some tweaking, it might work.

Ds is home sick with the flu and I can't keep him and the toddler apart all day. Now she has just started coughing. We can't find the faster thermometer and couldn't get her to sit still long enough for the slower oral thermometer to check her temp. I should have probably kept ds in his room for all his meals, but it didn't really occur to me to do that. I had sent him in there with liquid earlier. I really wish dh had mounted the TV in ds' room so he wouldn't feel like going to his room was like some jail sentence.

I can't imagine a one time treatment being that effective. I highly recommend you seek out a nebulizer machine. Can you get it covered by insurance by any chance? Both my son and grandmother have machines. We have had treatments done at the ER when it was a severe issue and they also gave him a liquid steroid, but in general, we just keep the albuterol sulfate and nebulizer handy. We even travel with it.