:iagree: Lots of free play time, outdoor play time, "helping" with cooking, laundry, chores, whatever he wants to emulate, conversation while you go about your day (talk about opposites, rhymes, colors, shapes, letters, numbers, things you observe in nature and so on and so forth). I wouldn't try to force him to be still or do to structured "schoolwork" at his age. If you need him to be preoccupied while you do school with older kids, I second the recommendations above and would throw in a pile of paper and a one hole punch and a pair of safety scissors :D

Mods are on a roll tonight! :lol:

bumping in case anyone's around this evening who didn't see this during the day. :)

Giving myself a little bump. :)

Thanks for the update, Melissa.... I've been thinking about you guys from time to time and wondering how things were going and hoping for the best! So far that's pretty good news, I will continue to hope that they can keep the baby in the womb long enough! I do think it's great that she's made it to 22 weeks, and I've read that from 23 weeks on, the baby could have a chance of survival if born early. She's so close! I hope they hang in there! (I read that the chance of survival is 10-40 percent at Week 23, and 40-70 percent at Week 24, 50 to 80 percent at Week 25, and at least 80 percent at week 26...the odds aren't horrible! I hope they hang in at least a couple more weeks!)

I already said I'd pull her out but after reading about the cutting, I'd get her into counseling ASAP as well.

They've accounted for the fact that people are going to spend some points on fruit, though, when considering how many points to assign you. I personally don't usually use my weekly points- I do if there's a special occasion or something but not on an every week basis. I also never really tended to swap activity points. But I DO always eat all my daily points, and I'm still losing, even with the free fruit. A couple of times I used the points I get on this new plan (33 points) and then I recounted everything I ate (which usually includes at least one banana) using the OLD way of counting up points, and found out that it would add up to 27- which was exactly what I got on the old plan. So in that regard, I'm basically eating the same. The difference for me, like I said, is that I'm eating more protein at my main meals because I'm not worrying that I need to "save" snack points in case I starve to death before bedtime (haha), knowing I can always grab that piece of fruit. That in turn keeps me more satisfied and then, when I do snack, it tends to be on the fruit rather than on, say, a 100 calorie pack or some such. WW put a lot of research into this, and they tested it on people, and they got good results. People following it are getting good results from what I've seen and heard, for the most part. It's not cheating. You just have to forget everything you knew about WW before, trust them the way you did before, and just go with the new plan. It does work, and there is good reasoning behind it!

I would ask. My group specified their expectations (1/2 dozen per person).

Yeah, uh, I'm not getting the 'irrational' connection either. I'm 37 and I wouldn't want to dissect something- and while I'm not a vegetarian, I would not personally be able to kill the food I eat; nor would I want to watch it happen. If a child- no, a PERSON of ANY age- doesn't want to dissect, kill or otherwise personally harm another living creature, they shouldn't have to. Period.

I rejoined WW meetings for one week to get all of the new plan information and to make sure I understood the plan, and then I went back to doing what I've been doing for 15 weeks straight now- doing WW on my own at home using the materials I have, and going to TOPS meetings (instead of WW) meetings for my accountability, support, weigh ins, etc... because TOPS meetings are a LOT cheaper than WW meetings (and more fun, too)! Yes, those seem to work the same way as they always have.

Leaving a 12 year old home alone for about 45 minutes? Yep, I'd do that (unless I had some reason to worry that said 12 year old couldn't handle it- like they'd get scared or do something stupid or not know how to react if something came up like a smoke alarm or stranger at the door etc). I was spending a few hours home alone by the time I was 11.

Ah, yes, I meant to add that part! That some food values have gone up, but your daily points have gone up, too (and you get the free fruit)!

Thanks for all the responses! I appreciate the different viewpoints! No, we're not best buds with them but like I said we are friendly, we do joke around, they are down to earth and have good senses of humor, my husband has tattooed the wife a couple of times, she once told us about a joke she played on her husband and I think we have similar senses of humor... they were invited to our kids' last birthday party and we to theirs... We would be waiting and watching for them to return, to see their reaction and then to laugh about it with them and put things back how they were...there would be no confusion followed by calling the police lol...they'd know within a few seconds what had happened...and I really do think they will find it funny. But it is good to hear other's thoughts!

I would never force anyone to do dissection.

I am loving the new plan! You will get assigned a number of "points" to eat each day based on your current weight, height, age, gender and activity level. You use those points each day. You also get 49 "weekly" points which are optional to use however you want. And you can earn activity points. The food points are based on fat, fiber, carbs, and protein. Things that are high in carbs now tend to be more points than they were on the older plan. And all fruit is now free (which I LOVE). I find on this new plan that because I know fruit is free and i can grab it whenever I want, I don't stockpile snack points (which would likely be spent on a 100 cal pack or some such) and instead i eat more protein with my main meals and i can be relaxed about doing so because I know I can grab fruit anytime I want. So I've been more full/satisfied during the day and more relaxed about eating slightly bigger main meals and fewer snacky things during the day. I'm continuing to lose weight and feeling good overall. I recommend it. :)

Today was my Week 15 weigh in! Status Report: 8/26/10, Week "0" Weight: 237 1/2 lbs BMI: 37.2 Height: 5'7" 9/2/10, Week 1 Weight: 235 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.9 Weekly Change: -2 lbs Total Loss: 2 lbs 9/9/10, Week 2 Weight: 234 1/2 lbs BMI: 36.8 Weekly Change: -1 lb Total Loss: 3 lbs 9/16/10, Week 3 Weight: 231 3/4 lbs BMI: 36.3 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 5 3/4 lbs 9/23/10, Week 4 Weight: 229 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.9 Weekly Change: -2 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 8 lbs (I'm out of the 230's!!!) 9/30/10, Week 5 Weight: 226 3/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 10 3/4 lbs 10/7/10, Week 6 Weight: 226 1/4 lbs BMI: 35.5 Weekly Change: -1/2 lb Total Loss: 11 1/4 lbs 10/14/10, Week 7 Weight: 224 1/2 lbs BMI: 35.2 Weekly Change: -1 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 13 lbs 10/21/10, Week 8 Weight: 221 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.6 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 16 1/4 lbs 10/28/10, Week 9 Weight: 218 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -3 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/2 lbs (I'm out of the 220's!!!) 11/4/10, Week 10 Weight: 219 1/2 lbs BMI: 34.4 Weekly Change: +1 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 18 lbs 11/11/10, Week 11 Weight: 218 1/4 lbs BMI: 34.1 Weekly Change: -1 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 19 1/4 lbs 11/18/10, Week 12 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: -2 1/2 lbs Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 11/25/10, Week 13 Weight: 215 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.8 Weekly Change: +/- 0 Total Loss: 21 3/4 lbs 12/2/10, Week 14 Weight: 213 lbs BMI: 33.4 Weekly Change: -2 3/4 lbs Total Loss: 24 1/2 lbs 12/9/10, Week 15 Weight: 210 3/4 lbs BMI: 33.0 Weekly Change: -2 1/4 lbs Total Loss: 26 3/4 lbs Summary: Goal- to lose 60 lbs. 26 3/4 lbs down, 32 3/4 lbs to go. (I've decided to lose an even 60 instead of the 58 I had previously set as my goal). --- Check out my fun weight loss picture updates here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/139113.html And thanks again for your support and encouragement, and for letting me continue to be more "accountable." :) --- I am SO close to being out of the 210's and to reaching my halfway-to-goal point! 1 more lb to get out of the 210's, and 11 lbs to finally be out of the 200's! I can't wait for that! ---

love it!

I would take my daughter out, yes. I'm sure there will be people who will feel she's got to learn to get along in those kinds of settings with all different people and so on and so forth, but not at that age and not at the expense involved (destructive behaviors, losing interest in things she previously loved, and so on) and not with my daughter. No. She'd be out.

I hear you! I wouldn't do it to just ANYBODY lol...this one set of neighbors and my brother and sister in law (who also live on our street) are the only people I would consider doing this (or any other sort of prank) to, because of the type of relationship we have and how we think they'd take it.

I know I've posted this before, so bear with me if you've already seen this. In case there are those of you who HAVEN'T seen it, I wanted to invite you to join the Weight Loss Challenge Social Group: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/group.php?groupid=129 It's a weight loss support group centered around fun "challenges" geared toward helping everyone step up the exercise and/or weight loss. Some of the challenges only last a day. Some last a week. Some last a month. Some repeat every month. Some are ongoing. Come check out the group and join whatever challenges interest you :) -Nance

I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. But I had this silly idea for an April Fool's Day prank to play on my next door neighbors. They are roughly our age (30's), they have one kid (a bit younger than my youngest), we've been living next door to them for a little over four years, and we're not like the kind of friends that get together and hang out all the time, but we've been to each other's houses for a handful of functions and we are friendLY in that every time we see each other (pretty often) out in front of our houses or while we're in our backyards at the same time, we always chat and joke around and all. The wife loves to decorate- she's got stuff for every holiday and every season and she's always changing the decorations and theme of her front porch, for example. They've got more "stuff" out on their front porch than we do and it's a bit fancier/prettier and so on. I thought it would be funny on April Fool's Day to go and swap all of their front porch stuff for ours- all their decorations, porch furniture, etc would be sitting on our porch and our sparse and plain porch items would end up sitting on theirs. They have a pretty good sense of humor and I THINK they would find it funny to come home and find that (we'd put it back afterwards of course and it's nothing breakable or anything). But I don't want to overstep and do anything that might be considered way too rude for a prank or something! So? Funny or not funny? :D

Yes, I would! And it wouldn't bother me if my next door neighbor borrowed MY shovel!

Switch to Oak Meadow? It's creative, fun... and no worksheets. :D

I've never heard of it, but after looking at your link and seeing that it is rated R for a "disturbing sequence of cruel and brutal violence and brief strong language," any kid of mine I let watch it would definitely have to be in their teens at the very least. How far into their teens would just depend on the kid, I guess, and how I thought they'd handle something like that. I can't specify right now as my teen is special needs and my next oldest is only ten (and I definitely wouldn't let my ten year old watch it).

They are so precious! Congratulations!!! :)