I can totally see why the glass thing would get old fast. Dh and I are both guilty of things similar to the glass. More and more I'm doing things I don't feel I should have to do (or to the frequency, etc.) because it beats waiting or nagging. But if you're like the woman in the article you don't want to wait or nag about the glass. You just want the other person to hear you out and oblige. On the other hand, it seems to help if you do something the other person especially likes before asking about the task you want done. Doing the laundry or common household chores may not necessarily inspire your mate, although those are things to be appreciated.

Honestly? I'd look for registry info. I'd probably ship directly to them from the website rather than do a homemade gift basket because it seems more efficient. I'd include a gift card so they could buy diapers or whatever as well. I splurged and bought a baby carrier on Black Friday. I have not fallen in love with it (yet?). I think that's a kind of a hit or miss item, especially without knowing if the parents have back issues or if only one parent would use it, etc. But if they are interested that would fit in that price range. I have a Lillebaby one with lumbar support and several carrying positions. I think it goes from infant to 45 lbs. Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond now sell them (at least some). Up until recently I think it was primarily less mainstream stores. These are some items I like if they haven't given any ideas: sleeper bag and/or swaddle padded knee cushion for leaning over bathtub (might not be used for a while!) baby towels/wash cloths bibs

Yeah, I think common sizes sell out quickly. But the fact that you went to a few stores and had bad luck at all of them really sucks. People always tell me their success stories with ordering shoes online. It doesn't pan out well for me usually lol. I ordered a pair of boots from kohls and returned to the store due to fit and reordered (they didn't sell in store) and that pair didn't fit right, either. Well, that was because the calf part didn't fit right. I signed up for fabkids and got BOGO for ds. One pair of shoes fit and the other didn't. I just kept them. I don't even know how that would work for returns and it wasn't worth the hassle to me.

I'm sitting in the dark but if I turn on the light it'll probably start going on and off. It did it both times I read this thread late at night but doesn't do it during the day. It's this thread, man lol

My ironing board is huge and annoying. I understand. We got a wall mount but this particular ironing board isn't compatible. Go figure. I would like to actually get rid of this one and replace with a smaller board that is compatible with the wall mount. Then when you are done you hang the iron and the ironing board on the mount.

I personally don't put water inside irons (seems to always backfire for me) but keep a spray bottle of water nearby and use that. Did you try spraying with water? I would not think ironing over a towel would be ideal. Fluffy, bumpy. I would iron on a hard surface with maybe a pillow case or something very flat. I don't know what your table is made of and if that would be dangerous for the table.

Well, you can copy something and say it was both. But penmanship is not necessarily copywork. At least, here in my home. I might say to ds, "I need you to write the whole alphabet in lower and upper case." But then we'll pull out our history lesson and there is an actual copywork assignment where they have a sentence about the current topic and he'll have to copy that sentence onto a sheet of paper. I don't know if Handwriting Without Tears type books are considered copywork. I guess if the child is copying a phrase or word?

THANKS, Faithr LOL. Definitely don't need to start that new show on Netflix...

awesome, I didn't know they sold "review books"!

In the middle of the night I scared the crap out of myself. After already stubbing my toe on a toy and making a racket I was trying my best to not wake the baby as I returned to bed after using the restroom and putting the toy away. Just enough light from the computer room illuminated the hallway wall so that my body cast a shadow on the wall. I saw the figure on the wall and screamed and smacked the wall LOL. Don't ask me what I was thinking... I guess I was trying to determine if that was a ghost or a person?? before realizing it was my own shadow.

Couldn't stop thinking about this thread the other night when I was sitting in here and the lights were going on and off. This house has terrible wiring, though. I've complained to maintenance before about wiring but they brush it off. We've had light bulbs burst and they burn out quickly. Might be some of the ceiling fixtures. I feel better using our lamps. When dh was young his father sprayed the hose across the roof while the kids were inside and they were told it was the reindeer.

Are any of the topics covered in the other blue books? I know that wouldn't give practice for every chapter but maybe could help with certain topics. I'm trying to understand what is frustrating about the review pages? They don't have enough problems or ?? We use MM, but don't have experience with other math products except some supplements like math-aids.com, xtramath.org and the Two Plus Two is Not Five book. I just noticed your dd is much older so I probably won't be of any help. I have never tried the math page generator. This thread reminded me that we got some bonus pack (some type of program) with our purchase and it has a few subjects on it. We need to try it. I don't know if that thing would help if you have one?

I see. For the record we bought my son's seat when he was very young. It was one of those seats that lasts like 7 years. We had no idea what we needed to look for when we bought it. He was little. We also lived in an area that had a Wal-mart and a couple dept. stores but no Babies R Us or Bed, Bath & Beyond so not like a lot of places to physically sit in seats. It was our first child and our first time experiencing the car seat world. Do I know more now? Sure. But even with that knowledge you don't always predict everything. I'm done talking about this. I am getting defensive.

What do you mean by "right fit"? Do you mean best car seat? Or do you actually think that the parent is using the harness wrong? Yes, children get too tall for harnesses because that's what the user manual says once their shoulders are higher than the guides on the seat. And slots for FF need to be at or above shoulder. Only RF can be below. If you run out of slots then what? You've outgrown the seat. I was never discussing children that young outgrowing harnesses early. I was suggesting that by the time a child is anywhere near 80 lbs they are probably my son's age (7) or older and *might* have outgrown their harness measurements for height. That's all I was ever really trying to say. I'm not talking about 3 year olds or rushing kids out of a harness if that is unclear. Our Nautilus is the one my son outgrew and it had a high weight limit. Besides, the crotch buckle location isn't ideal on some seats once the kid gets older, even in the slot furthest away.

This is what we're doing. I just didn't know if anyone was talking about conjugating sentences. The workbook we're doing has things like making things possessive (there's a word bank with names and nouns) and adding commas in dates, between city and state, etc.

It sounds like you already have a curriculum. We've been reviewing phonics this week and what we've been doing is going through old flashcards I made and looking over the Logic of English phonogram chart and the one in our AAS book. I thought the site used to have more sounds for their phonograms, but maybe I'm mistaken. I still like to look at it since LOE adds a few (bu as in build, gu as in guide, cei as in receipt). I created my flash cards by using multiple resources, though a lot of the sample words came from OPGTR. One program might say "ai" just says long a, while another mentions short e found in "said" and "again." I don't know if I'm doing things "properly" but I include three sounds for ar (car, dollar, marry) using the link below as a guide. One of my favorite resources is from a poster on this site. You may find these charts helpful from their website. http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/Resources/sound%20letter%20spell1.pdf http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/Resources/letter%20sound%20read%20new%202011.pdf

I'm not really sure if I understand what people mean when they say grammar. We are doing 2nd grade this year. We are reading The Sentence Family and working on this workbook: http://www.amazon.com/Language-Arts-Grade-1-Spectrum/dp/076968131X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453443058&sr=8-2&keywords=spectrum+language+arts+grade+1. It says grade 1, but it was too much for us last year. The Sentence Family (to me) is not independent. The workbook, some of it could be considered independent though I find that I need to be nearby to get the lesson started or at least to check the work.

Yeah, several have high numbers for weight. The weight was never the issue, though.

I don't know if it would help, but some cars have a belt adjuster as part of the vehicle. I didn't even know ours existed til I saw it in the manual. It is tucked into the side of the seat (there's a little pocket). If they slouch a lot I'm sure it isn't super effective, though. I sometimes still have to wake ds to get him to straighten up in his high back (if he's leaning forward instead of into the wing on the headpiece).

I see. Well, I feel like it's often one or the other. A tall kid or an older kid. But it really depends on definition of older lol. It sounds like your seats have more leeway, though. I did google earlier to see what seats out there were best for height/harness and this old thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=91383) mentioned that head rest adjustment on the last notch is for booster mode only, not harness. Can't say how accurate that is. I noticed some seats specify "harness mode height" though, so that is probably helpful for buying (I would hope that's accurate). Anyway, it is nice to know that at least one or two exist where it is the preferred option for a given family. I once saw a monster pillow someone used in their child's lap (child just held onto it, it wasn't secured to anything) that prevented them from slouching too much. Like this http://www.amibamonsters.com/assets/images/TravelBanner.jpg. Not sure if there are issues with that for car seat safety but I thought it was an interesting idea.

Ashton Kutcher put out a tweet about lack of changing tables in the men's restroom a while ago. One of the churches I attend (newer building) has a changing table in the cry room. There is a sink next to it. The church I go to for co-op has no changing table in the women's restroom (maybe there is one somewhere else on the premises). I end up changing dd in the car or one of the spare rooms. The only reason I can change dd in the car is because we have a big cargo area in this vehicle. The seat? Forget it. Tried that when she was very little and even then it wasn't very easy with the odd angle.

I was the youngest so my dad probably had one of my siblings with us to send in the restroom with me lol. But I don't know if he normally went anywhere with us without Mom when we were young. When I first asked dh this question I didn't specify an age and he told me he'd take her to the car lol. I don't think he's ever changed our kids' diapers in a public restroom. He's used the car for that many times.

I always say I'm going to do this and forget. Plus, I think dh thought it was weird. I do have holy water in the house, though.

ugh yeah I can imagine that as a problem! My parents have to think of these things for going out (Dad has to escort her to the restroom) and I remember we had a thread about this regarding adults. They basically think out the bathroom situation in advance, noting where there are Wal-marts and Targets because I think both have family restrooms. I'm pretty sure their church bathroom would be a nightmare to go into with her wheelchair but luckily they live close by.

I don't know why but for some reason I mentally do not ever picture handicapped stalls in men's restrooms. I picture one or two tiny stalls and a row of urinals. I wouldn't want to leave a child on the outside of the stall and if there isn't a handicapped stall I wouldn't want them forced into the stall. There's no room. I know not every public bathroom I've been in has a handicapped stall. I'm thinking like maybe they were built a long time ago and it wasn't required?