He (and you/the rest of your family) are on my prayer list.

Well, I am the baby of my FOO by 2 years. And I have never, ever gotten along well with my sister who is 2 years older than me. In fact, we are now estranged and have been for years. Really, I am convinced that age gaps between siblings play very little role in whether or not they will get along. IMO, personality and family dynamics play a much larger role.

I am not a doctor. I do not play one on TV or the internet. So take what I say with a grain of salt, do your own research, and talk to your medical professionals. My grandma had the worst bunions I have ever seen. Her feet were just ugly (sorry, grandma, rest in peace). So a few years ago I realized I was starting to develop a bunion on one foot. It was not a road I wanted to travel so I started to research. And I realized bunions are often caused due the way people bear weight on their feet. So I started paying much more attention to my posture/how I stood and walked. I also started spreading my toes as wide as I could as often as I could. There were a number of biomechanists whose work influenced me. Katy Bowman's work in particular was easy to read and follow. And in doing so, my tiny bunion and the pain from it disappeared. I tried those ideas because they were low effort, low cost, and low time investment. While the ideas probably wouldn't completely reverse super severe bunions, they might provide some relief. I hope you find something that works,

I can tell you that the medical system I work for offers both types of appointments. We schedulers are instructed that if a patient calls to schedule a new patient appointment and they are due for a wellness, we are to schedule it as a wellness exam, but put in the appointment notes that it's a wellness and new patient appointment. Somehow, for our system, that allows our practitioners to do both in one appointment. , If they aren't due for a wellness, we have to see if they have another medical need to be seen. If they do, we schedule the appointment for that, again adding the new patient tag to the notes for the appointment. Scheduling a straight new patient is a last resort for us. In my year or working for this local healthcare system, I can't remember scheduling any appointments that way. So...I'd go with whatever your medical system recommends. Also, yes, our providers see patients without a new patient appointment or wellness on the books. Visiting from OOT and have a sore throat? Come on in! New to the area and want to have (insert medical issue here) looked at? We'd be glad to schedule you. Of course, everything varies from system to system/practice to practice.

Yes. Oldest had a nn that we gave him in utero (which is an actual name, just not one we were serious about using). That one stuck until recently. Now, as a teen, he doesn't appreciate it as much. He also goes by the first syllable of his middle name. This started because a younger sibling had trouble saying his first name and so I suggested using the middle name, which got shortened. DD has many nn. One is a pretty unique boys' name. Again, we started using it when I was pregnant, as we didn't know if baby was a boy or girl. I also call her by 2 other boys' names. One I use in honor of a friend. That name is one half of a well-ish known duo. So I also call her by that name. Then she has lots of "firs name, rhyming word" names. DS10 has a long first name with no common nn in our culture. We use a riff off of the second syllable for his nn. Only we use it (no one outside our house). DS7 has a nn given to him by siblings. Only they use it. He actively dislikes nn other than that. DS3 gets called by his name and by the Spanish pronunciation of his name. His siblings change the second syllable of his name to just the "ee" sound. But again, that's siblings only usage.

I don't know either, and I've got a kid who hates soup. (To be fair, he does like canned tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.) Cereal is not soup.

Any chance you'd share?

My recent bloodwork showed numbers similar to yours (overall total not quite as high, triglycerides higher, others similar). My pcp and I decided I would focus on diet and lifestyle for 6-9 months and then retest. Sadly, I am eating way less cheese. When I think of that I want to cry. We have not just a cheese drawer, but a cheese shelf. I am also now eating overnight oats for breakfast, with ground flaxseed. I am trying to eat more beans, lentils, fish, chickpeas, and veggies. I now often have a veggie wrap for lunch. I am more careful about eating sweets. Exercising is a priority. No real advice here, just commiseration.

No. But...I grew up in a place that is known for its Canada geese. Going to church we had to watch where we stepped because our church was right near a river they liked. And nobody wants goose sh!t on their shoes in church. So I'm much more drawn to other wildlife these days. Also...they are vicious. Honestly, I barely notice geese anymore. Growing up with so much of them/their noise makes me just tune it out.

Agreeing with pp...try a different bottle or nipple or use a sippy cup. Thankfully, this should be a short stage (which feels long while you are in it), because in just a few months baby can be eating table foods!

It is! Thank you! She wants to reread it and it's not one I am familiar with.

DD12 is trying to remember the name of a book she read. The protagonist is a boy, about 14-16 years old. At the beginning of the book he starts getting bad breath. He likes art. He is at school and fights with a bully. His breath sets off the fire alarm. He is sent home from school, at which point he hears his parents talking about how he is a dragon. His house gets burned down by the school principal, who knows about dragons and hates them. There is also a girl who is a dragon. She has wings and usually hides them with a backpack. The boy, his family, and the girl-dragon escape on a plane. The school principal attacks the plane. They survive the plane incident but the search is on for them. Can anyone name the book? TIA!

I have not tried that combo. However, I am going to put a very off the wall suggestion out there. I tried it with one of mine after reading it online, and it helped. Has she tried eating sour things, particularly sour patch kids? For reasons, I can't explain eating sour patch kids worked for me during 2 pregnancies. I should note that it had to be actual sour patch kids for me, other brands did nothing, I hope she finds some relief soon!

I just received tetanus and Covid shots today. The arm that got the Covid shot is currently more sore. And I am sure that arm got the Covid shot, as the nurse showed them to me. OP, if you truly believe the nurse made a mistake, please let them know. I work for a local healthcare system and this would be something we absolutely want reported. Also, have fun on your trip.

Umm...what? No, absolutely not. Two things can be true here. It was sweet of the bus driver. (I don't think anyone here has claimed otherwise). It is also true that the situation that caused the driver to perform the sweet action is not good. As other have pointed out, the dress days can cause students to be othered. And that's not good. Is it sweet of someone to prevent that for a student? Absolutely! Now, I need to bow out of this thread because I know how the poster I just responded to is...

Oh, he did. He got to clean bathrooms by himself.

I did try to call him back. He ignored me (which I dealt with later when he was not in shut-down mode).

There is no diagnosis, although I highly (highly!) suspect this child has dyslexia. I like the idea of if it's something we are all doing, we all quit and he has to finish. @Katy This child has always, always been like this. So hormones are almost certainly not helping, it isn't a new problem. @fairfarmhand Thanks, that's a lot of good stuff to think about. I think I will print the quote out and put it on our fridge to talk about as a family. @forty-two Yes, like you, I can't not correct him. I mean, he's got to know that his math/writing/whatever isn't right (for example). But correcting him and having him shut down isn't exactly working either. I always try to be calm and matter-of-fact. My kids hear a lot "it's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are part of how we learn." @maize I wouldn't say he's either highly anxious or emotionally fragile. It's more that I know that I am careful in how I approach correcting him, because him shutting down isn't helpful.

How would you help the following child? Child is a pre-teen who cannot handle any correction at all. Child does not melt down when corrected, but always immediately stops whatever they are doing and leaves to go be alone. As an example, after a recent snowstorm, our kids and I were out shoveling. I noticed that Child was dumping snow where it was easy for him/where we'd have to shovel it again. If child has turned slightly as snow was dumped, snow could have been dumped where that wouldn't be necessary. Knowing said child can't handle any (and I mean any) correction, I said something to everyone shoveling. It was more or less, "Hey everybody, don't forget to pay attention to where you are dumping snow so we don't haven't to shovel it twice!" It was said with a smile. Child immediately put shovel down and walked away and did no more shoveling. Or, another HS related, one...child makes a mistake in math. Mistake is pointed out...and that will be the end of math (or whatever). It doesn't matter if it's presented in a "hmmm...I come up with a different answer. Can we figure out why that is?" type way. Child cannot handle it. FWIW, I specifically model me making mistakes and having to correct them in front of this child to make sure child sees that process/that it's not the end of the world. Please help me figure out a way to help this child. DH and I are at a loss.

This is so wise. DH and I are not in a good place. We just had a discussion re: separation and divorce. When I recently tried to talk to my mom about how bad things actually are, her response was "well, just keep working on it." I wasn't shocked by her response, but boy has it cause me more stress and grief during an already really, really difficult time. I have never, ever felt that my mom was 100% on my side during any struggles, fwiw. And yes, that means we aren't as close as we could be. So, OP, for the sake of your relationship with your son, let it go. You suggested it. Now just be his biggest cheerleader no matter what he/they choose.

This almost exactly. The only thing that's different for me is that I can't pinpoint a cause for mine. I know I was starting to develop that protrusion on my feet and it was very painful. Now, that protrusion is gone and no more pain at that spot. When I first became aware of the pain/protrusion, I was scared. My grandmother had horrendous bunions on both feet. I did not want to end up like that. I stumbled upon the work of Katy Bowman and based on that I started spreading my toes wide every day. I ended up with big improvement for not much time/effort. While I obviously can't guarantee results, making sure to space your toes as wide as possible as often as possible is a low cost/effort thing to try.

I was able to basically reverse a bunion due to wearing shoes with room for toes and making sure to spend time spreading my toes as wide as possible every day. I can't recommend that highly enough.

I'd still use them, just making sure to heat them thoroughly.

I mean, that's just semantics/splitting hairs. Which is fine if you want to. It's the first/best time on the provider's schedule for the provider to see the patient. That spot has then been reserved for patient, because the option is waiting (sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months). So call that time slot whatever you want. Of course, patients are always free to say that can't make that time. We (that is, those who schedule the appointments, ime) really, truly do not care. Our job is to save that spot for the patient as directed by medical staff and inform the patient. Rescheduling isn't hard. We just want the patient seen as soon as possible. And yes another possibility that causes this is a patient being worked in due to special circumstances. Our health system runs an ER and a UC. When a patient is seen there, they recommend following up with a PCP. Therefore, we must get them in. However, that often means a provider needs to double or triple book themselves. So yes, those appointments are often of the "this is your time unless you want to wait a long time" variety. Again, no one thinks this is good/ideal. But it's the system we have.

I wouldn't say it's new. And I'd say the more specialized the test/the provider needed for it, the more likely it is to happen. I can say for our offices of PCPs, scheduling without talking to the patient is the exception rather than the rule. When it happens, I call the patient and say, "Provider XXX asked that you be schedule for (insert whatever here) on DATE and TIME. Does that work for you? If not, I am happy to find other options on the schedule."