I also just remembered the 3's song from Multiplication Rock. We have the DVD (not for school, it was a retro sort of gift to me) but you could also google Multiplication Rock or Schoolhouse Rock and sing the number part.

DD's second grade teacher combined skip counting with a break to get the wiggles out. She had a big class in a small room and had to have the desks really close together, which made it hard for the kids to move around much. When they needed a break, she'd let the whole class get up, make a big circle around the desks and then march around the circle and skip-count. As I'm typing it, it sounds horribly regimented and militaristic, but it really wasn't, and the kids seemed to get a kick out of it. They always wanted to keep going past 100- their teacher "let" them and let them believe it was some kind of special privilege, a la Tom Sawyer. Maybe you could make a game of counting as you walk/hop/jump rope or something like that.

Thanks for the tip about checking the UV index. I'm sure I've looked right at it on weather.com and not even seen it. It's 5:30, bright and sunny, and a UV index of 3. I think from now until sundown should be pretty safe.

DD is 9 and just gave up her training wheels a month ago. She's ridden with training wheels since she was 4, and has always preferred whichever was her too-small, outgrown bike over the newer one. She just wasn't ready. I tried not to make a big deal about it, but I think she's noticed that her friends are able to ride around the neighborhood and that was her motivation, I think. I would either put training wheels on or take the pedals off and try not to push it. ETA: In DD's case, I think it was a matter of not being comfortable with the speed and motion of it. She's very, very cautious and does most new things veerrrrry slowly. With the bike, she wasn't comfortable going fast enough to stop feeling tippy- and she didn't like the tippiness either.

Would you bother with sunscreen if you or your DC were going to be out only from 8-9:30 am? Or from 5 pm until sunset? They're on swim team and I don't usually bother with sunscreen at am practice or for evening meets. They've never burned, and I haven't then either- and I burn just thinking about sun! We're very careful about it when we go to the pool in mid-day, and when we go to other outdoor activities.

Thanks. We're going by tomorrow anyway, and I'm planning to check the shelf. I know it's pretty easy to miss one when checking in- I've done it myself. The little scanner wand beeps each time you scan a book, but all the wands around you are beeping too, and sometimes you run the scanner over the bar code and you just don't hear that it didn't beep. We always send our patrons to the shelf (actually we usually have one of the adults do it, since all our patrons are in the 10-and-under set. :) ) and a lot of the books pop up there. The other way they pop up is when someone else tries to check it out- I was kind of hoping that might happen so I wouldn't have to go looking for it.

I'm always surprised by the things kids seem to learn or just know. And then I remember some really nifty songs I learned on the day camp bus when I was about 7. :eek: As far as definitions, I do remember, since I knew they were all what my mom called "bathroom talk," that they all referred to the same 4-letter bathroom thing.

My impression is that Ikea has a better selection and is a better quality of cheap. While they're inexpensive and not fancy, they seem to be reasonably durable. Everyone I know who has the Billy bookcases is happy with them, and they seem to be holding up to daily life well. I did look at them and unlike the box set from Staples or Walmart, you can get different "woods," different widths, different heights, and extra shelves or add-on height pieces. Some friends' kids have Ikea dressers and after 5-10 years (guessing based on kids' age and house age) the mom said the drawer bottoms keep falling out b/c the kids push down on the contents to make the drawers close.

I remember reading a thread just the other day about lost library books you know you returned. I had a stack of about 20 that were originally due tomorrow- of course I don't have the receipt from those, so I don't remember which ones we had. Returned 5 or 6- don't remember- and thought, "I really ought to turn these in at the desk and get a receipt." Did I? :tongue_smilie: Got a few more, and came home to renew the rest online. Well, right there at the top of the list is a novel I thought I had returned. Can't say I did. Can't say I didn't. Since it wasn't overdue yet, I was still able to renew it online, so I'm good until 7/29. But now I have to dig through all our little book-piles and see if I can find it. Nobody read it, so I know that at least it hasn't wandered off to anyone's bedroom to hang out under the bed or anything. But I shoulda listened, no?

DS is allergic to Augmentin- we found out when he was about 5. He had some "mosquito bites" after playing outside in our buggy yard on day 8 of the Aug. I said, "wow, those bugs sure got you. Come take you medicine." He had more "bites" the next day. And I gave him another dose of Augmentin. (It was for a sinus infection& had noting to do with any bites- just to be clear.) Day 10 was really busy and I didn't even look, really, just gave him his medicine and off we went. By noon, he was covered in welts- long ones that popped up anywhere he scratched, his knees were swollen and hurt to bend, his eyes were puffy, and he was itchy and miserable. The dr. said that, with the first allergic reaction, it can take the whole time on abx. before it shows up. She prescribed an Epi-pen to have with us in case it continued to get worse, and said to use Benadryl. He did get better with just Benadryl, but it took the whole weekend; we never had to use the epi-pen. ETA: I kept reading after I wrote this. Glad you were able to get him seen- and I hope he's feeling better soon!

I voted yes, but have to admit it was a long, long time ago- probably high school government.

The main WTM web site just got updated.

Wow- really? I remember standing outside at noon in what first appeared to be a fairly short line, only to discover that it snaked back & forth for nearly 50 minutes. (Granted, that was in about 1978. I was pretty young, and hadn't ever seen the corral kind of line...) ETA: I didn't answer the question- is something beach-related a possibility, or is the trip specifically to Orlando?

Good ideas already; I'd add footballs, basketballs, and any other not-too-expensive sports equipment.

I didn't let my 3rd grader watch it. I thought it was fantastic, but each episode seemed to have one "hard to stomach" scene. There was the man being tarred and feathered, a battlefield amputation, smallpox innoculation (not just a simple shot), and the mastectomy. Actually, I don't remember how much they showed of the mastectomy, since I'd googled about it before the episode and read an account that I really wish I hadn't. I don't remember if it was based on diaries or what, but it was very specific, and left a very vivid picture in my mind that kept me awake for several hours that night.