Oh, you have such a great attitude! I'll always remember my dh loading the dishwasher the week after ds was born. He hates to do dishes, so this was a real sign of love to me. I feel like a real slacker now, as I have nothing like a newborn to excuse myself for my messy house. I've just been really lazy this week. Hopefully after we build on a family room, homeschool room, utility room and mud room this spring I will be better able to keep things de-cluttered and organized. I keep things clean, but it's hard to keep things tidy in our tiny house right now.

I'm so sorry. That is such a tragic situation. I'll be praying for all of you.

Oh, that's so sweet! How cute. When are you due? Eta: This was meant to go under Janna's post.

I'm so sorry this happened. I'm glad your husband is okay. Your husband does sound like a good, courageous man. I know it has to be difficult for all of you right now.

One encouraging thing is that Zyrtec was the first prescription dd's physician wrote for her. We did try two over-the-counter medications first. The main reason dd had to try different medications and suffer for a few weeks was that our insurance company didn't want to pay for Zyrtec because it was on their non-formulary list. They wanted us to try a medication that would be cheaper for them. It's very likely that your daughter's physician will be able to listen to her symptoms, take down her family history, and prescribe something effective right away. Good luck!

I feel a little inept at this point. I never thought to scroll to the bottom of the page. Thanks for the assistance!:001_smile:

It's not uncommon for us to get a little snow in March here in Ohio, but today we just have rain. I hope we're done with snow for the season because I'm really ready for warm spring park-playing weather.

That is just so sweet! Your husband sounds very thoughtful.

I have never been able to see rep., although people have reportedly given them to me. I've looked in the user control panel, but I have never been able to see anything about rep. So, I'm just wondering if those of you who can see the rep. can also tell for which post a person has sent you rep. points, or if it must be listed in the comment box to show up? I hope that makes sense.:001_unsure:

:iagree: My dh has severe allergies and the only thing that helped him is Allegra-D. So, when we were trying different allergy medications for dd and our physician recommended allegra, we both thought that it would work well for her, assuming that she had probably inherited his allergic reactions. It really didn't help her, though. Unfortunately, the only reason we tried different remedies was that our insurance company put it on their non-formulary list and wanted her to try other options. After a few months of suffering, we proved that the only thing that works for her is Zyrtec. And, ironically, it was during this period that it switched to an over-the-counter medication, so our insurance won't pay for it anyway.

I can't speak to the dog issue, as we had no pets, but our old house had hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms. We loved them so much that we are getting ready to remove the carpet from our current living/dining room and hallway, and the ceramic tile from our entryway and kitchen to replace all of it with hardwood. We did have a large area rug in our old living room w/ a non-slip rug pad underneath. I vacuumed everything, the rug and the hardwood floors, and used a swiffer to clean under the furniture. I did wonder about the comfort factor when we were getting read to move in, but with the area rug I found it quite cozy and comfortable.

Oh, that's great that you have someone with whom you are so comfortable. I didn't use a midwife, but I had the most fabulous Ob/gyn who stayed right with me for 2.5 hours of pushing for my first baby, and came in to deliver my second baby even though her partner was on call that day because she knew it was really important to me to have her be there. It makes such a huge difference to have someone you really are happy with. And your ds is just so sweet! You have to love that comfort.

The only thing that has worked for my dc is Zyrtec. We have tried Benadryl, Claritin, and Allegra, but none of these completely alleviated dd's symptoms. Zyrtec is actually over-the-counter now, so you don't even need a prescription. Children's zyrtec is available in syrup and tablets, I believe. Good luck.

My dd really wants to learn Spanish. I have a B.A. in Spanish, so you would think I would be teaching her, but I just can't find a curr. I really like, and I am considering using my high school or college textbook orally with her at a very slow pace. I really need a spine. If I don't have something to follow, I won't make it happen. We have tried the Spanish stories and songs on cd, just having conversations, vocab. flash cards, etc. I just really need a curr. to follow. Any suggestions?

I would so love to be in an online class to learn Latin! I am about to purchase a Latin textbook to teach myself, but it would be so much easier if I had the accountability of an actual class. Anyone willing to do it? :001_smile:

I have to show this to dh. He would find it very funny!

I also use it in blueberry muffins.

Dh and I have often joked that our dc will have to take their booster seats with them when they go to take their :auto:driving tests! They are on the small side and won't be getting out of boosters any time soon. Our criterion for moving to a regular seat is height. They must be tall enough for the seatbelt to come across the shoulder at the right place to safely restrain them. Ds4 is only 34 pounds, so he still uses a child safety seat with 5 point harness, but dd is in a regular booster with seatbelt. The booster isn't such an issue for her, but she was having a difficult time with still having to ride in a 5 point harness when she turned five and wasn't quite forty pounds yet. In Ohio, a child must be at least 4 yo and at least 40 lbs to no longer require a child safety seat. She passed the 40 pound mark shortly after turning five, and she was very excited to get a booster seat.

I just can't really think of anyone I particularly care about seeing again, except for my twin sister, who I see regularly. There are a few people I would happily chat with if I happened to see them somewhere, but no one that I would really go out of my way to arrange to see.

I think amusement parks are fun to visit about once a summer, but I would definitely get tired of going every week. I understand some posters' concern about a three year old who might not be able to swim well, but my experience with water parks is that there is usually an area designed for small children. We are *vigilant* when it comes to safety, and we have still managed to enjoy water parks with small children. I would choose the water park for the physical activity benefits, the cool-off factor for hot summer days, and the fun factor.

I have a few questions about the logisitics of this. 1. How do you find a certified teacher to evaluate the portfolio? 2. Do you have to include samples of work from every subject required by Ohio law? 3. Do you meet with the teacher to review the portfolio, or do you submit the work to a teacher and receive it back later? 4. Does the teacher actually have to write a narrative about the child's progress or just sign a form stating that they have reviewed the portfolio and the child's progress is satisfactory? 5. Do teachers generally charge a fee for reviewing the portfolio. If so, how much?

Is two hours a day about right to plan for seatwork (i.e. Latin, math, handwriting, spelling, grammar, history, writing)? We would, of course, do assigned, free, and family reading at a separate time, and cover art, music, and physical education with classes/lessons. Science would be a fun family pursuit. Does two hours sound reasonable?

The Reading Lesson by Michael Levin and Charan Langton worked wonderfully for my dd. The authors claim that when a child finishes the book, he/she will be able to read on a second grade level, and this was true of my dd. It might be worth looking into. I purchased it on Amazon. I believe that there are a cd and dvd available to complement the book, but I can't comment on them as we only used the book. I highly recommend it.

We took all of last summer off, but I'm planning to have her do a light schedule this summer, partly to retain skills that she has learned and partly to finish up some projects that we won't have finished by summer. Here's what I have in mind at this preliminary stage of thinking: 1. Daily reading from a summer reading list. 2. Addition and Subtraction facts practice at least 3x/wk. 3. Grammar review 3x/wk. 4. Science reading/experiments 2x/wk. until we finish the kit for first grade Biology. 5. History a few times a week until we finish SOTW.

I'm trying to rethink "reading" as a school subject. Last year, in K5, we were all about reading fluency and just enjoying reading. Dd progressed rapidly from kindergarten books to first and second grade readers, to chapter books such as "B" is for Betsy and The Boxcar Children. This year we have been all over the place with reading. In the fall I had her reading children's novels such as Milly Molly Mandy (which she really didn't enjoy) and The Hundred Dresses (which she was somewhat indifferent about). She expressed a desire to read picture books instead of chapter books. I was fine with this and began trying to help her find worthwhile and challenging picture books. We did a few that went along with our history studies and a lot of miscellaneous titles. She discovered The Little House picture books which sparked her interest in the original books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Right now she is reading The Little House on The Prairie for reading and really enjoying it. I just feel the need to do something more scholarly. It seems as if the Little House novels should be free reading and we should be doing something more academic for reading. I know this sounds a little silly for a first grader, but she is very advanced and is capable of reading on a fourth to fifth grade level. I still feel that it is important and worthwhile to read lots of picture books with her and let her read whatever she wants for free reading(with certain reasonable guidelines, e.g. no Spongebob or Junie B. Jones, etc.). She reads a lot of picture books and books such as The Mouse and The Motorcycle for free reading. I just feel as if her literature assignments for school should be deeper. Am I making this too complicated?