Ds has a child couch that dd takes naps on sometimes. I actually have fallen asleep on it myself although it's not thick enough or long enough for me. It won't bounce, but it may or may not be the safest alternative. Just sounded a little softer than plain carpet. The futon would probably be hard to slide and offer more padding.

I see. But what if the phone was dropped and lost or the tot was lost/not answering his sibling? There's no GPS on the tot's shoes etc I'd assume. The fact that it's not a very large wooded area makes it better at least. But again with the water, I guess any amount of water is a danger as it only takes a little. I'd lean toward the "if you can't pick the tot up, you're too young" line of thinking in an area that might have animals or insects that could be a harm. If the tot stepped in an ant hill or such, you'd want the older sibling to be able to lift them and move them easier. But if animals and insects aren't a huge concern I guess it's just a combination of other things that would worry me. Unfenced is enough for me to worry so I might be at one extreme of the worry chart LOL

Nope. Sometimes my kids get into it when I leave them together while I'm just using the bathroom lol (all of us inside the house). I have a 1yr old and a 7 (nearly 8) year old. Even in a couple of years I don't know if the maturity is there for certain things. Definitely not with the pond and forest. It wasn't long ago that I read about a child lost in the woods. The child entered the woods with a sibling and adult, but ran off or hid. The child was not found for days and died :( http://hollywoodlife.com/2016/01/22/noah-chamberlin-dead-missing-2-year-old-boy-found-in-woods If the toddler ran into the woods, what would the sibling do? Get you or run deeper into the woods looking for the toddler? Too much pressure. Same with the pond. I wouldn't expect a child to dive in and be able to lift another child out. And running back to get you would cost time.

Ouch. Even without glasses a basketball to the head sounds awful. That part doesn't sound like playing around. That sounds like temper lost, trying to hurt someone. Probably not trying to break the glasses. I played basketball with siblings, my father, and on a team. I wouldn't throw a ball at them in the head and think it's okay. Pretty sure everyone would think, "WTH?" I would tell your ds to avoid that kid. Maybe ask how the thing escalated and what would have been a better way to handle it. But given the ages, it sounds like they should probably just limit interaction. And ultimately probably have to deal with it among themselves but I wouldn't feel badly about asking my kid to avoid the other kid if I'm having to replace frames over it (regardless if it's covered).

I think I'm often dehydrated but I don't know that it helps with flow lol.

Does this mean it just hasn't been done yet or is lost? For things like this I would make copies or photographs of all documents just in case. Since you said $20 total, it's probably not worth the headache, but because of the principle behind it might be worth bringing to the right person's attention. Whether that is an HSLDA association or someone else, I don't know.

Grandfathered?

Is there a restroom at the TKD place? Can you just change products when you arrive? Or were you already planning on doing that? I wasn't sure if you were counting time in car to get there or from the moment you walk in the door.

I wouldn't worry given the Sunday school and age and preferences. Not this year, anyway. I know it's not the same but we live so far from all the activities that I feel like I'm breaking my neck everytime I take ds to a co-op day or event. And guess what? Most of the time he doesn't care and I never really see him forming relationships with the other kids. I think the only kids he knows by name are the ones I met the first day we joined a couple years ago. We've met up with them outside of co-op a number of times. When we first started homeschooling, they didn't have co-op classes for kids in K so we went to a couple field trips/activities and that was it. It was that year we enrolled him in a martial arts class and we busted our butt to get there in time for class and some weeks he didn't even want to go. We never made friends with anyone despite going for a year. It wasn't really a social place. Yes, I think socialization is important. I'm just saying that groups and activities don't guarantee friendships or much interaction.

Whaa?! I thought maybe you should tease her that she can't count until I realized she also had daughters and deliberately didn't count them. I hope you told her that you planned on sending them all (or whoever wants to go, or whatever).

I'm dying here :lol: :lol: :lol: Agree about the rebranding suggestions.

I wouldn't care if you put the chocolate in a bowl. I would be fine with the box :laugh: One of our favorite chocolates to receive is Hawaiian Host chocolate covered Macadamia nuts. Part of the reason they are a real treat for us is they are mailed once a year from a relative in Hawaii. I have also seen them in the Commissary when I tagged along as a guest. They are on Amazon, but I am sure there are other chocolates you could find in person. I like the idea of utilizing a local place. We used to sometimes go to a local shop and give visitors "Mississippi Mud." It was some kind of dessert sold in a jar I think. Consumables seems the way to go... but then again I'm in the midst of trying to declutter :)

My parents are very religious and I guess you could say we grew up in a somewhat conservative Christian home, but they weren't against dancing. None of us went to many dances. If I recall correctly, my parents MET at a dance lol.

Oh, wow. I had to wear rubber bands. I was pretty responsible with my braces. Didn't try to eat popcorn, etc. I don't recall having things removed for the dentist, though I guess that's possible if the dentist required it.

I had old school braces followed by a retainer that looked like an Invisalign product. Well, one of my retainers, anyway. The ortho thought that actual Invisalign was really only meant for mild cases and commented that everyone in the commercials already had straight teeth lol. But that was his opinion when they first came out. For reasons stated up thread I can see why traditional braces might make more sense. Not that they were great, but ugh, I wouldn't want a new mold every so many weeks (is that what they do?). I hated getting molds made and I still don't particularly like it. I think they didn't do a great job with my mouth guard (dental office, not ortho) and I stopped wearing it because it hurts my teeth. I'm not sure if I should wear it. I can see why someone would remove their Invisalign. I wore my retainer as long as possible and my teeth shifted later, anyway. Especially common I think during pregnancy. I don't think there's really any way to stop it from happening outside of a bracket behind the teeth.

These topics are what I would focus on rather than the fact that she is repeating questions. She could have issues with bodily fluids in general which I'd lump vomit in the category. Runny noses, urine, vomit, spit... She probably found the experience so unpleasant that it doesn't matter it was three years ago, she doesn't want to deal with it again. The toilet thing... could be that she's afraid of being somewhere without access to a bathroom or worried about not emptying her bladder completely the first time, etc. You may want to ask specifically what is going on. Bathrooms (at least public) were and sometimes still are a huge source of anxiety for me. Fear of contamination with the food. Doesn't want food poisoning or such probably. Maybe others are eating the food and she is concerned for their well being.

I don't think you're doing her any favors by saying this. For one thing, it sounds like it would be filed under "little adult assumption" in 1-2-3 Magic where adults try to talk to children like they are little adults. The book would probably advice you to cut down on the verbage. I'm guilty of this myself. As for loops... well, I still suffer from them from time to time. OCD waxes and wanes and logic doesn't always make a difference. Rather than talking about changing the subject, just change the subject. But before you do that... perhaps try to dig deeper to get to the root of the question thing. Yes, we know she wants reassurance... but what is the question? Is it a hygiene thing? A safety thing? Is there a recurring theme in the questions? Is she afraid to let go of items? Does she fear harming others? Just food for thought. I was too embarrassed to explain things to my mom. There was this shirt in my drawer I refused to wear as a child because in my mind it was dirty. If she had pressed the matter and made me explain why then maybe I wouldn't have gone so long thinking some of the things I did. I still have OCD with germs/sanitation as an adult, but sometimes I think if Mom and Dad had intervened more it wouldn't have developed so much? A lot of it was learned behavior from a sibling I believe. I read two books, but I can't remember both titles. The only one I can remember is likely irrelevant to the average OCD sufferer.

I went through CCD at church (started in one state, finished in another) and got confirmed in 11th? grade. I don't even remember the materials! But I can imagine a lot of them being cheesy or whatever. I actually like some children's materials. This is one I bought: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Acts-Grace-Rosemarie-Gortler/dp/0970775679. I find them less intimidating to use for me and easy to understand for children. During Lent we got some printables via Catholic Icing. A countdown to lent chart and a wheel that shows different liturgical seasons and the vestment colors. Although using the site I did run into a comment on either that site or a secondary site noting that one activity was considered inappropriate for Catholics (recreating a Passover meal or something??). After that I made a mental note to think twice about online Catholic education suggestions. I jokingly told dh years ago I didn't want to ever send our kids to Catholic school because all the people I've met that went to Catholic school wanted nothing to do with the faith after that lol. But I really am open to it, just not possible where I currently live. I never formed any close bonds with Catholics despite CCD or even youth group. In college I met a few Catholics and one of them did the reading in our wedding, but for the most part I don't have Catholic friends. It was really, really hard for us to pick godparents.

We own a panini press and I hate cleaning it because the plates are not removable. If there's such a thing as a panini press with removable plates (I'm sure there is) that might not be a pain in the butt to clean. I'll be honest, I didn't know if you could cook on it. I just use it to heat/flatten sandwiches/poboys lol.

I live in the boonies where a priest commutes an hour to have Mass at our church once a week. And that's not always guaranteed. Sometimes no priest is available and there's a Communion service instead. The parish is elderly. No CCD classes. My nearest alternatives for Mass are a part of another deanery. So I talked to the priest a while back about allowing me to do religious ed at home. I showed him materials I had bought online and he returned with borrowed materials from their Catholic school/CCD for me to use as well. Since then I found out about MyCatholicFaithDelivered and let him know I had planned on using that and no one flinched. The church/Catholic school linked to my parish pushed First Communion to third grade. I thought it made sense to go along with their timeline, rather than try to take ds to another parish where they do First Communion in second and I can't guarantee I can get him to religious ed regularly (quite inconvenient). I know my situation is unique but that's just what it's been like here. Who knows, maybe at some point they will request I drive ds to the church with the school for some classes, but so far that has not been the case. It actually might be possible for me to do as dh doesn't work that night so he could probably watch the toddler, but again very inconvenient (they meet for class and a meal - it was the only way to get people in the community to go) on a week night an hour from my house late at night.

I guess I was thinking with report cards, homework, textbooks, etc. the parents would know and could try to stop it by telling their daughter not to take that class and substitute it for one they find appropriate (honey, we don't want you taking that class. Take this elective instead). I'm picturing minors, not quite 18 yr olds, if that makes a difference. This was just my brain going to a very controlling situation in regards to what the parents would allow their daughter to take. I'm not saying that's a likely case or even something the OP was describing. I personally never took Calculus but did take Trig. I dunno how it worked out, but I think my sister elected to take both. I totally agree with the second part.

What came to mind to me was a parent not wanting their child to take AP classes or advanced math, etc. You can finish public school without ever touching certain subjects (Calculus for example).

Why would this be controversial? Or limited to ps for that matter. Not saying that you actually said it was limited. Sounds to me like the boy is being encouraged to pursue some higher ed or career and the girl is not?

I got married in the Catholic church while pregnant. Most parishes want a couple to give the church a few months' notice before marriage and preferably attend an Engaged Encounter weekend. We did both, but it was still rushed and I think Engaged Encounter would have been much better done sooner. I was hiding my pregnancy the whole weekend under baggy clothes except I ended up telling my roommate. I felt a lot of pressure, too, and hated that we got married under the given circumstances since while I did love dh, I wasn't ready. He had bought and hidden the ring before I ever took a pregnancy test so he was more ready than me but still. I'd known the priest most of my life.

I know you are meeting with a priest soon. Relax. It will be fine. I'm uncertain if an annulment is required. The baptism probably won't take place for a year because many RCIA classes conclude around Easter and then people join the church at or around the Easter vigil. Classes may start in Aug./Sept. This is my understanding, though I think I've heard of some churches running RCIA classes at different times. Since you are an adult I believe you would need to go through RCIA to learn about the Church and confirm that you do indeed want to join. With a baby it's different so we just picked the time for our babies' baptisms.