Wow is right!!

Ha! Well last night when I was saying good night to him I asked him about the lump in his cheek. He said it still didn't hurt, but it had origionally been lower on his jaw and had moved upward. I asked again if he had had any fevers and he said no, but then remembered he had had an ear ache on that side a week before. So it probably is a lymph node. I'll keep an eye on it, but I am much more confident it is a swollen lymph node now. I wish he had remembered the ear ache before! Why didn't he tell me his ear was hurting?? Teenagers! Thank you all for your insight and suggestions!!!!

Thank you all! You've helped me to worry less. I think I'm going to watch it for a week and see if it grows, shrinks, or anything changes. I checked around his face and neck, and didn't find anything else swollen. It isn't causing him any pain or discomfort and he has no fever, sore throat or sores currently, but may have had a sore in his mouth from biting his cheek. It could be a swollen lymph node. If it doesn't go away or if it changes (gets bigger, hurts, whatever) I'll take him to see the doctor. I may call on Monday to make an appointment and then cancel it if the lump goes away. I was just terrified when he showed it to me, but I didn't let on that I was worried. I told him it was probably a lymph node fighting off an infection. It's just not where I would expect a lymph node to be, but I read they can be in that location, so I am not as worried. Thank you again for taking the time to answer me! I'll try to come back in a week and say if there has been any change.

My 13 yo son came to me this evening and said there is a bump that moves in his cheek just above his teeth line, toward the back of his jaw. It is not at the hinge of the jaw, but in his cheek at the level of the first of his lower back molars. I checked and when I pinch his cheek the bump feels round, hard and larger than a marble. It does seem to move around inside the flesh of his cheek when I try to move it with my fingers. His skin on the outside of his cheek shows no sign of anything wrong. Inside his mouth is a small bump where he bit the inside of his cheek, but nothing else looks off. There are no open sores in his mouth. I can't see the "ball" by looking at his face. Now I'm terrified. I'll make an appointment for him to see a doctor, but I'll have no peace until I find out. I looked at pictures of where lymph nodes are on the face, but I don't think there are any in the fleshy part of the cheek. I'm so worried for him! Any ideas what it might be? He think it's been there about a week. Thanks!

Yes, I've done it that way. I've made it the night before and baked it in the morning and it turned out perfect. I actually like letting the oats soak in the liquid before cooking. :001_smile:

I'd pop it into the microwave to finish it off. I've learned that I need to cook banana bread until it is very dark in color or it isn't done in the middle. It's very frustrating, but this has happened to me too many times!

Yes, he is in a hurry to get to something more "fun" - free time. I have stopped him and made him re-do the work, mostly to show him that he can't get away from doing a good job. But I am wearing down and am frustrated that he hasn't picked up the desire to do things carefully and review his work before he declares he is done. It is across the board - with everything he does. Thanks! I think I just have to keep reinforcing the idea of checking work BEFORE turning it in to me. We have only just started back to school (last week). Perhaps if I am really tough about this my message will get through.

How can I teach thoroughness? My son knows the material, but isn't thorough, so he makes stupid mistakes. I have hammered the idea that you always double check, and he claims he does, but he still makes too many mistakes. This is something he does across the board with his school work. He is always in a hurry, which I know is part of the problem. Is he just lazy? I keep wondering if he is just lazy because he doesn't double check his work. If so, how do I help remedy this?

Hope you heal quickly!!

I would purchase Drano - in a jell form and pour it down the drains in the house. Follow the instructions and wait the appropriate amount of time and do it another few times. Then I'd find something that you can put down toilets to unclog drains. I'd give it a little time between applications to make sure it wasn't coming back up, but Drano has worked wonders for us. It's pretty cheap, too. I wish you the best, it sounds nasty. Too bad your landlord is clueless.

Ah, I wonder if she was referring to the high school transcript and how I listed his class credits there. Yes, I don't want to risk his status as a Freshman, nor do I want to risk possible scholarships. Thanks!

Well, I am kind of confused myself. To clarify, a woman who works at a local private high school prepping teens for Harvard, taught an SAT/ACT prep class at our co-op this past spring. She and I spoke and she suggested it was better not to officially sign my son up for dual enrollment. She suggested he simply enroll in the CC while still in high school. I'm trying to contact her now to clarify what she meant. Perhaps my memory is fuzzy. Yes, I see what you mean about graduating him early, and I am not ready to do that.

Can someone give me the pros and cons of each of these options? I've been told by some that just enrolling my son in community college classes w/o dual enrollment was better and by others that dual enrollment is the best choice. I met various people who told me these things at co-op this past Spring, and don't have any way to contact them now to discuss this further this summer. As my son wants to register for a higher level math class at the local CC this fall we are trying to sort this out. One counselor at the college said he needed to get a minimum score of 22 on math on the ACT, which should be easy for him, so he is testing Saturday. Another counselor at the same school said he would still need to take the school's math test to test into a higher level math, so taking the ACT is probably only useful for practice at this point if this is true. My son will be a Junior in the Fall and is 16 years old. Thank you very much for your thoughts and information!!

I wonder if I could use Tulle fabric.... Would it let in enough light? I am looking for something that will work but not be dangerous. Any ideas?

I feel awful that the snake got tangled up in the netting around my blueberry plant!!! It was in a position up in the netting with it's upper half body perpendicular to the ground and the other half on the ground. A woman with the local animal rescue center came and together we cut it out from around the bush. It had hundreds of loops of the netting around it's long body that were tight. After we got it loose she carried it to the hood of my car and we worked at slowly cutting the rings of mesh off. I brought out my needle work scissors because they are long and very thin and sharp and with those we finished cutting him loose. She was the one holding it's head. :laugh: The snake is well, though probably hungry and bruised, and has some roughed up scales, but was not bleeding. She said it would do better if we released it back into the yard and I let her release it waaaay at the back of our property in a wild looking area. :001_smile: Now I feel as though I should go and cut all the netting off my other blueberry plants. I'm not sure what to do to keep the birds from eating all the berries. I hate to see any animal suffer!