I'm interested too, lots of cats, little money. Wish I could feed my family on $30 too :D

My 5 year old had sleep issues from birth. He had tubes put in his ears at 4 months old, I thought after that I'd finally get to sleep....I didn't. I'd hear people complain about having to get up 2 or 3 times a night and want to slap them (sleep deprivation made me an angry person!), I woke up probably 15-30 times a night, and he slept with me. He wouldn't sleep alone. He'd shake and scream if we put him in the crib, for hours. I finally just took it down. When we were in for his 2 year old well check I told the doctor I was about to die with no sleep for 2 years! He told me to put him on melatonin. It does come in liquid form. He used to take about .5mg now he takes 1 mg. He was on it several times a week at first, then maybe 3x, and now it's only rarely. I swear it saved my life and sanity! He sleeps between 9-11 hours a night now, no naps, usually it's about 10 hours a night. He is a night owl, and won't go to bed before 10. It's usually about 10:30 when we can get him down. In the past if we tried to put him down early like most kids, say 8 o'clock, if he even did go to sleep, he'd wake up at like 11 pm, then stay up til 1 or 2. It's not worth it, we just let him stay up. It's really hard to have a kid with poor sleep habits, my daughter was a great sleeper, my son a horrible sleeper, I did nothing different. Kids come with different needs. Good luck, I hope if you try melatonin, that it changes your life!! :D

My mom told me as a teenager that my bedroom was to look like a room in a hotel....like nobody lived in it. It bewildered me then, and it still does. Our house was meticulously clean at all times. My parents had 4 kids, and I have no idea why. My mom hasn't spoken to me in 8 years (a blessing). Our home is definitely lived in, it's more kind of shabby because we can't afford to replace things, but it's also kind of cluttery because we have so many things (mostly books). My son is definitely rougher on our house than our daughter. The kitties clawing a hole in my sofa don't help either. :D I'd take living in our home any day, over the museum I grew up in.

We quit MUS when my DD was in 2nd grade, it just wasn't working for us. My DD is the same way, she needs a lot of repetition to really understand and retain what she's learning. We went with Rod and Staff, and it's been really good for her. She's wrapping up 5th grade now, and math is no longer a battle or tears. I have been extremely happy with it. We are giving Teaching Textbooks a try for next year, but if it doesn't work, I'm going back to R&S! I hate grading math, so I'm excited for her to do her work on the computer :o)

My 4 year old will be 5 in a few months, he has Apraxia, we did EI from 2-3 and at 3 years old he was put into preschool. The first year I only allowed him to go twice per week because he was still so little. This year he has bumped up to 4 days per week. We didn't have any options with insurance, and don't have the money to pay for private therapy. Just doing these things, my son went from maybe 10 words at 2 1/2 years old, to ...I don't know, he can say most anything he wants to now. He still has some sounds he can't make, and he substitutes others for them, like he can't say L or R very well still, but those are harder sounds anyway. He now talks all.day.long.! We usually understand what he is saying, but sometimes it soudns like gibberish, and now he can describe what he is saying, so we can figure it out. He is now singing songs, and when he plays, he talks out loud, and it's adorable to hear him playing like that. I know when he was two I was so afraid of the diagnosis, and worried about what would happen, but I've been so pleased with his progress. When I hear other kids his age talk, he isn't nearly as behind them as he used to be. Especially other boys. I just wanted to give you some encouragement, that therapy and time will make a dramatic difference, and try not to worry so much. :001_smile: In a couple years you'll wish he'd be quiet sometimes!

I totally agree with this. I grew up with divorced parents, the custody battle was especially fun. I spent most of my day in preschool/day care, then kindergarten/day care. My mom remarried when I was 6 and became a SAHM. If in my power, I refuse to put my children through divorce. I made my choice when I married, there's no abuse or any real fighting/arguing, and we are financially not well off. If I were to leave my husband, my children's life would substantially be for the worse. So I pretty much just suck it up. It's more important to me that my kids are happy than that I am happy. I assume my husband feels the same, since he won't discuss our marital issues, and we haven't divorced thus far. Yeah, it's hard to be lonely, but there are worse fates in life.

We like card games a lot, they tend to go quick, and with a 4 year old that's into everything, I like to have a quick game with my 10 year old. We like Monopoly Deal, Phase 10, SkipBo, Blink, Five Crowns. Hiss is a fun one for younger ones, and it's non irritating for me too :o) We like Sequence, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples Jr., Gobblet, Tsuro, and Killer Bunnies. We enjoy doing puzzles as well.

My 4 year old, who is a holy terror, has one goal in mind when I send them outside. Get the hose, squirt the sister. Nothing deters him from this. EVERY single time he goes outside, he gets in trouble and has to come in. He throws everything out of our shed, he tries to get the lawnmower out, anything he can think of that he is not supposed to do, he does. We have a swingset, climbing thing, teeter totter, sand pit, mudpie station, porch swing, balls, bats, etc, and yet all he wants to do is cause trouble. :angry:

This recipe is for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, they are like what you described, they are light and moist, kind of like a muffin. You could take out the chocolate if you want, but I have to tell you, the recipe as is makes a most delectable cookie! 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 egg 15 oz can pumpkin Beat these together. 2 1/4 cups flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon Combine these and add to the above mixture. Then stir in: 2 cups chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Bake at 375 for 13 minutes or so.

I think those of us in Utah are lucky in the wheat department. In July I bought two 45 lb buckets of white wheat at Costco for about $13 each. :D

I'm in Utah as well, so I've seen the coverage. It's so very sad, I didn't know either woman, but it was sad to read about them dying while living out their dream. It's hard to think of the families they left behind. I'm sorry for your loss, we've lost friends to plane crashes, it seems so unbelievable. I've known so many people that have died (or have been severely burned) in those tiny planes, I could never get in one. Scary. I guess you have to think of it that they died doing something they really loved. Better that than cancer. I'll be praying for their families.

I have one of those kids. He's 4 1/2. In fact, I'm sitting at a computer chair covered in Sharpie, and my desk used to be, but it's faded. My son can scale most things, and get into most anything if he wants to. I have a limited number of spaces left to keep things out of his reach. He ripped the lock off of our fridge (he's a pour-er and an egg cracker). He rips most child locks off. He can climb drawer handles and climb onto the counters in both the bathroom and kitchen. He uses stools or chairs to climb onto other things to climb even higher. We have a two story house. I cannot watch him every second. He's big for his age, a baby gate would be a joke. I have no advice because I go through this every day. I have read many parenting books, and tried many things. Nothing thus far has helped. As he gets older, some things get easier, some don't. I just know he won't be little forever, and these things he does are patience builders for me. :D He has speech delays, and school starts in 2 weeks, he goes to preschool for speech and fine motor therapy. That's 3 hours a day I can concentrate on doing school with my daughter without worrying about what he's doing behind my back. I don't know how else we'd get anything done. I have learned firsthand that children can be so different from each other. What works for one doesn't always work for another. This too shall pass, right?!

We use Source Naturals Liquid Melatonin. That way I don't deal with the pills. We get it at our local health food store. I give my 4 year old about 3/4 of a....I forget how they dose it...mg? I try to limit giving it to him more than about 3 times a week. We noticed that giving it every night it seemed to work against him at times. By using it about half the time, it seems most effective. This is just what we've experienced though!

I live in UT, and my daughter received speech therapy without being enrolled. We've only lived in this one school district, so I'm not sure if each district has different policies, but that seems strange to me. I have noticed when dealing with our school district that they don't always seem to know what they are talking about regarding homeschooling. I would see if there was someone else to talk to.

Costco sells taco seasoning without MSG, as well as the gravy mixes. It used to only be the turkey gravy that was MSG free, but finally the brown gravy mix says it too is MSG free. Sometimes I make my own gravy, but sometimes in a hurry I need a mix!

I have 2 SIL's, both my husband's sisters. They are 10-12 years younger than we are. My MIL passes away shortly after we married, so his sisters were really young. We moved in with FIL and helped with the two teenagers for a year. It was awful. But that's another story! SIL #1 got pregnant right after high school and got married. She had 4 kids by the time she was 25. My DH and I struggled with infertility, so although we're so much older, my oldest is only 2 1/2 years older than her oldest. You'd think that us having the only children would give us some kind of bond, but no. She lives 15 minutes away, and I only see them when I have to. She and her sister that is 18 months younger than her, make it a point to praise each other about how wonderful they are, go and do things together, and have never asked me to come. SIL #2 lives about 2 hours north of all of us. She's struggling with infertility as well. SIL#1 is one of those fake people that act all sweet but are really not. A lot of people fall for this act. I've tried over the last several years to be nice, I invite them over, buy gifts, etc, but pretty much my DH and I are ignored. This month was the last straw for me though. My FIL and the two SIL's and families all went on a family camping trip. We were never invited. Nice, huh? I told DH I was done trying to play nice with his family. I refuse to host them for holidays and pretend to be friends anymore. They are so rude. DH of course can have as much contact with them as he wants, but he's not much impressed with their behavior either. Sorry this is so long, it's a sore point with me. I just can't fathom treating family the way they've treated me all these years. We've done so much for them, and nothing is ever appreciated. Ugh!

I've already responded, but in addition to the snoring and bed hogging, DH does this too. He sets 5 different alarms, then hits their snooze buttons. I would go mad listening to that every morning!

I thought we were weird because we have separate bedrooms, I'm glad to see there are others out there too. My DH snores so loud, there's no way I can sleep. He's 6'2" and a "diagonal" sleeper as well. Our 4 year old son sleeps with me, has since birth. My little guy either wants to sleep right up against me (which I hate) or lay horizontally in bed, and now he's getting so tall it's nearly pushing me out when does that. I'm an extremely light sleeper, so much so that I have to sleep with a fan on to drown out any noise or I can't sleep. My DH worked graveyards for years, and when he stopped, we couldn't go back to sleeping with each other. He'd snore, I'd wake him up, he'd get mad, probably because I may have kicked him to get him to stop. LOL Now my husband can snore, sleep diagonally, hog the covers, and fart all he wants to, and nobody complains. Well rested people are happy people. I hope my 4 year old moves to his own bed soon, and I can have a king sized bed all to myself! To the people that have the snuggle mates they can't imagine sleeping without, we don't all have husbands like that. Even when we slept together it was NEVER like that for us. I think everyone does what works best for them. As long as the couple is happy, it shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks.

We started out with Singapore math, since that was really popular at the time. It didn't work well for my daughter, she isn't very mathematically inclined. We switched to Rod and Staff in 2nd grade and she's finished 3 years of math since then. Like the others said, it's mastery and not spiral, but that's what my daughter needs. She does really well in math now, she needs that drill over and over, hammered in, the repetition helps her understand it. I haven't used Saxon, so I have no experience with it. HTH!

Sorry, I thought I read that your 4 year old had NO words. I felt bad for him! That's awesome on the signing, my little guy would have nothing to do with it. I'm glad you found the vitamins, and it sounds like you are doing good. I don't come on here often, I was glad to have something to help with!

Read up on verbal apraxia. If he's talking little or not at all, there's a good chance he has it. If so, he needs to be in speech therapy now, he won't outgrow it. With the Nordic Naturals, we started when my son was 2 1/2, two days later he started progressing in his speech. Prior to that he had maybe 10 words and limited sounds. If you haven't started, something like Signing Time DVD's are good to teach sign language. Your son needs something to communicate with. Boys are more likely to have apraxia than girls. Good luck!

My 4 year old has apraxia, and I read the same thing about Nordic Naturals. I had the same confusion as you did, but finally read the answer. Nordic Naturals Omega 3 6 9 Jr.'s are the same as the ProEFA, they just changed the name. You can order them online, or maybe find them at your local health food store like I do. Good luck :001_smile:

That's good to know about the appointments taking so long to get in. I hadn't thought of that. I can't agree with locking my child up for poor behavior. He's terrified of being shut up in a room. Even with no lock, just the door being shut causes him fear. We put his crib away as a baby because he would scream and shake when he was put in it. We tried letting him cry it out, and he could cry for hours. He's pretty much slept with me his whole life. We tried the crib several times and he was fearful of being shut away in the crib. So that wouldn't really work for us. Spanking was tried with no results. If anything, he hit more. It seemed hypocritical to us to hit him, and then tell him not to hit. :confused: His preschool teacher says he functions on about a 2 1/2 year old level, which I agree with, I've thought the same thing. I think some of his behaviors could be better controlled, but I don't feel that being punitive to a child that has problems is our best course. We our however upping our consistency, which I can see has been a problem, especially at night when we're worn out! We've been seeing an improvement already with now giving him the choice of the corner or obeying, as well as being in the corner for hitting. He hasn't bitten for the last few days, so that's pretty good! Consistent discipline should have been a no brainer, but I guess I've been so tired with just keeping up, that I haven't even realized how much we were slacking in that department. This has been such a helpful thread for me. I'm grateful for all the advice offered.

Yep, one curtain rod down, one that's hanging on for dear life, and our bathroom towel rack is gone too. He ripped the lock off the fridge, and because he can figure out the doorknob locks, we put chains on our front and back doors because he runs away. The child locks are a joke, he is strong and just pulls them off. His favorite thing is to pour, so he'll get into mixing bowls and cereal, then pour milk over them. After dinner I have to make sure I gather all salt shakers and put them up, make sure the water pitcher is put up. As far as what I do when he throws a fit, he throws himself on the ground, I usually just walk away from him. He's 42 inches and over 40 lbs now, when he's flailing he can land some decent kicks and punches, so I don't touch him! My DH is a big guy, and my son is built like him, he's a solid kid. I think I will likely wait until the beginning of the year for an evaluation, because I have a deductible, and I might as well get the most of it for the calendar year. I have been consistent every time with time out for his hitting and biting, and already I'm seeing an improvement, so that's good. With my daughter we only had to tell her not to do something, and she obeyed. Not so with my son! As far as supervision, I do what I can. My DH works a lot, and there's me and one other child at home, and a 2 story house. I can't watch him every minute of the day, and he's fast. As soon as you turn your back, he'll get into something. But that's not really my problem, I know he'll outgrow that, it's more his behavior issues.

I spoke with his teacher today, it went well. She's referring him for OT for fine motor skills as well as gross motor skills, so that's awesome. She agreed he needs extra help, so I'm glad he'll get more assistance. She says that he isn't hyper at school, running around, he is quiet and subdued, but has a very small attention span. He used to be quiet and subdued a lot at home too, now he's just naughty! lol He doesn't really play with the other kids, and plays more by himself. She said there are things we could do for ADHD if we want to get him evaluated, so she was a big help. One thing I realize as well, and she mentioned it too, is if he's engaged in doing something, he usually behaves pretty well, but since his attention span is so tiny, it's hard to find things to constantly keep him amused. When he's not amused, he finds his own amusement, which generally does not amuse me. :D Thanks for your encouragement.