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Noreen Claire

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Posts posted by Noreen Claire

  1. I had put a feeler out on facebook a few months back asking if anyone had any games that they didn't want anymore (we've been doing a lot of game playing here lately). She told me she had games and also offered clothes. (She didn't drop off any games, just clothes.) She told me to donate whatever we didn't want of the clothes, but I would ask her if she minded me selling some, if that's what I decide to do. That box of shoes, in particular, looks like it could worth the effort... 

  2. A high school friend dropped off 3 large bags of her boys' outgrown clothes today, plus a box of shoes. While there is a lot of good stuff, it won't fit my DS8 for at least 2 years, maybe more. The clothes include a lot of brand names. The shoes, six pairs of Air Jordans plus another pair of Nikes, all look like they were only worn a handful of times.

     

    My question is - is it worth selling clothes/shoes online? My original plan was to keep the 'classic' things (jeans, khakis, sweaters) and donate the 'trendy' stuff (skinny jeans/sweats, tshirts, etc). However, I was thinking that maybe it might be worth the hassle to sell the best of it, so to not have to store it for 2+ years before it fits? Does anyone have any experience with selling clothes online?

     

    (FWIW, I have a wall of plastic totes in the basement where I keep all of DS8's clothes to be passed down to DS5, DS2, and the baby. I have totes for every size from newborn to size 10, so two more totes isn't that big a deal.)

  3. Our plan for 3rd grade next year is around 15 books, plus a month on poetry. Some books we will read together and some he will read on his own. (He currently reads on a 5th/6th grade level.)

     

    This year, he will have read 15 books, plus spent a month on Shakespeare (mostly listening to audiobooks for this part).

     

     

  4. DH walked the boys, ages 8, 5, and days-away-from-3, to McDonalds the other day for lunch. DH noticed a man having trouble with the ketchup dispensor and offered him one of their packets of ketchup. The almost-3yr old screamed hysterically for that ketchup packet back for NINETY MINUTES. 90. An hour and a freaking half.

     

    Kids. 

    • Like 2
  5. As a hygienist(and a mom to 2/6 kids with enamel hypoplasia) I feel so sad that parents(MOMS!) blame themselves for their kids' dental problems.

     

    In dentistry, decay is blamed on poor hygiene and eating habits 95% of the time. I know first hand that we do it right.  We have healthy eating habits, very little pop and juice, we brush kids' teeth for them until age 10+.  Two of my kids had enamel hypoplasia.  I saw it as their baby teeth were erupting.  I began tiny bits of fluoride with a Qtip at age 9 months.  My 9 year old has ugly baby teeth, but the decay areas are very hard.  So, he will probably not need fillings in them.  My 4 year old has ALL 8 of his baby molars bombed out. :(  He has not had a filling yet.  He is being "watched." I am watching for signs of infection. Some of those will need fillings but hopefully not until next year when he is big enough to sit well(He has a medical/dental phobia.)

     

    As to the cause of the hypoplasia...no one really knows.  Fevers in moms CAN cause that.  I did not have a single fever or sick day other than "morning sickness" like every pregnancy.  Another possibility is vitamin deficiency during that window of tooth development(en utero) Oddly, I had almost the exact defects in my baby teeth that my 9 year old did!  The odds that my mom had a fever the exact time I did in pregnancy...

     

    I really wish we could get past this dental theory that home care and diet is the only cause of decay.  I stick up for parents ALL THE TIME in my office.  Now, I always tell parents that if they know that the hypoplasia is there, they must be more vigilant with home care.  A little plaque is like going a week without brushing.  

     

    And, the tough part...diet and plaque control ARE so important!  Some people can only brush a few times a week and not get decay.  They can have terrible diets and never get cavities.  It's frustrating. lol  But, as a rule...sweets are treats and we shouldn't treat daily.  Juice should be an occasional(if at all...) drink.  All those sports drinks are full of sugar.  Pop should be avoided. It is a terrible mix of sugar and acid.  My kids really like it. lol  I don't buy it around the house.  But, if we are out, I let them have it.  I think we may have it enough that they don't feel deprived. lol  My sister in law is the hero.  She always has pop. And I don't freak out.  It's rare. The worst part of these drinks is exposure.  If you sip the drink over hours, it does not give your body a chance to recover.  The remineralization process is halted.  If you drink it all at once, like in 15 -20 minutes, the teeth have a chance to remineraize themselves after the exposure.  Add in lots of crunchy vegs and Xylitol gum to naturally remove plaque.  Avoid anything sticky, ie fruit snacks, gummies,

     

    I do my best to educate and not sound preachy.  Dental hygienists get a bad rap for that. lol  I think we start to sound like a machine after years of repetition.

     

    Thanks for this.

     

    A number of times I have gotten 'the speech' from a dentist/hygienist... "Stop feeding them candy and juice. Etc..." My kids rarely have candy (Halloween, Easter, Valentines are probably it for the year), have juice and chocolate milk each once a week. They brush/floss/rinse regularly. The adults help at night to brush the little kids' teeth thoroughly *after* we let them do it themselves. But, still, DS8 has had two fillings and a baby tooth extracted. DS5 had decay (probably due to upper lip tie) removed via laser, and DS2 (who will be 3 next week) just had his first check up and had SIX cavities of varying degree.  :eek:  (I could see one 6mos ago, but our dentist doesn't see kids until they turn 3.) The baby just started cutting teeth - I'm not sure what I can do to keep him from going down the same road...  :crying:

  6. Since I made the OP I decided to come back and update. I did choose to join Audible and have maintained membership for the past two months and have acquired six audiobooks. I really do love being able to listen to my books on my tablet or on my phone. My children love it especially. My middle Girl (my auditory learner) who started out her school life hating to read has chosen to listen to the audiobook and then go back and read the book herself. Just in the last two months I have seen/heard an amazing jump in her vocabulary. So far for me, it is worth the investment. I will keep my subscription as long as I find audiobooks that are worth using my credit. Hopefully by then I will have bought all the audiobooks on my wish list using my discount.

     

     

     

    If you follow the Read Aloud Revival, she maintains a list of great audiobook deals that can be had if you but them through Amazon rather than audible. I have an Audible membership but have purchased many more books through her tips for cheaper than the listed price in the Audible app.

    • Like 2
  7. Play with lego/playmobil/whatever while listening to audio book?

     

    I second this.

     

    It took a lot of practice to get my 8, 5, & nearly-3  into the habit of quiet time. We had to start with 10 minutes and work our way up. The almost-3yr old can now play in his room for 60-90 minutes without too much redirection from me. The 5 & 8yr olds will happily go for 1.5-2 hours. They each have either a single-player game (Rush Hour Jr, Lazer Maze, etc), a puzzle, Legos/Duplos, or coloring books/paper and crayons. The younger two will listen to audiobooks and DS8 will either listen to an audiobook or read on his own. Sometimes they will put down their activities and just rest on the bed, but not too often.

     

    I firmly believe that quiet time has saved my sanity. The days that I don't get my quiet time are the days I am not my best as a parent. It makes a big difference. Good luck!

  8. I'm looking for blogs (or podcasts or books) about boys and books (reading with boys, reading to boys, boys learning to read, boys learning to love reading, etc...) written from a men's perspective. I want to hear from Dads or teachers or older teen boys.

     

    I have five sons - DS21 rarely reads anymore, DS8 reads voraciously several grade levels above his own, and DS5 is beginning to sound out words. I'm interested in the male perspective and recommendations, as DH was never a reader as a child (though he reads constantly now).

     

     

  9. I learned something recently about adding coffee to chocolate cake recipes. 

     

    For a long time, my son said he didn't like it when we added coffee/espresso powder to cakes.   We thought he was just being picky, as all the recipes say that you can't taste the coffee.  Then, another friend mentioned that she hated it when people added coffee to chocolate baked goods. 

     

    Then I read something that gave me a 'duh' moment:  for people who like coffee, the flavor is not particularly noticeable, but the taste of the cake is better.  For people who don't like coffee, though, the taste may be discernible, and not in a good way.  (I can't find it now; it may have been a comment on a recipe.)

     

    Of course YMMV and all that, but I have stopped adding coffee all the time.  One of my kids is very happy about that.  I guess when I don't want him to eat the cake, I'll add the coffee.  I imagine there are plenty of people who don't like coffee but like it added to chocolate recipes, but it's not as universal as I'd thought.  

     

    I *loathe* coffee, and everything coffee flavored. I only put a single teaspoonful of espresso powder in the entire recipe - I can't taste it, but it does add a bit of depth to the chocolate flavor.

  10. The one on the back of the Hershey's can. Seriously. People rave everywhere I take it and now it is generally specifically requested when I am invited somewhere.

     

    Not sure it is the best one ever but it is easy and inexpensive. It is my "go to" dessert when I have short notice on company or a potluck.

     

    I second (3rd? 7th?) this recipe. I always overpour the vanilla and add a small spoonful of espresso powder but, besides that, it's perfect!

     

    Not that you asked, but - the Hershey's 'one bowl' brownie recipe is also the best there is...  :drool5:

    • Like 2
  11. Ooooh, I love hearing that he outgrew some allergies!  That's wonderful.  Even with the penchant for junk food and drive through, it sounds great.  

     

    My kiddo has outgrown one allergy: coconut.  So we love coconut.  Sadly, he's added more many more allergies, almost yearly.  Our list is long, long, long.  His latest, in the last few months: he's now anaphylactic to avocado.  Such a bummer, it was a favorite food till now.  That was an unexpected ambulance ride and hospital stay - really thought that was a safe food.  Blerg.  I'm just glad it happened at home, and not at a friend's house, because he'd have eaten avocado even at a friend's house, so we lucked out there.

     

    Food allergies are the bane of my existence.

     

    It makes the stuffing of stockings and easter baskets and halloween bags a real pain in the rear, and expensive, too.  

     

    He has outgrown allergies to: soy (@2yrs), shellfish & finned fish (@8?), dairy (@preteen?), wheat, oat, & barley (@14), and eggs (@15 or 16). He is still allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. Of course, just as he was outgrowing most of the allergies he started having seizures. I preferred the allergies, myself... *sigh*

    • Like 1
  12. Our middle child (now 13) has so many life threatening allergies that candy is near-impossible and horrendously expensive, plus shipping costs. Ugh. So we've switched to non-food items.

     

     

    This was my oldest child's youth. I could never find him candy, so he got potato chips and non-food gifts. One year, he got a bicycle helmet. Another year, he got Red Sox tickets. He has, thankfully, outgrown most of his allergies. His favorite foods are junk food and drive through. :-(

    • Like 1
  13. FWIW, a regular recipe (using 2lbs flour) is two loaves of bread here. After the first loaf is made, if space is at a premium in the fridge, I will move the rest of the dough to a large pyrex bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Though, KungFuPanda's idea of using a 2qt beverage pitcher sounds like a good idea - it's taller and skinnier. I'll have to give that a try!

  14. DS2 will be 3 at the end of the month. We decided it was time to get him out of diapers during February vacation (DH is a public school teacher and would be home all week to help). It took about two weeks, but DS2 is dry all day and through the night, with very few accidents. 

     

    The problem is that, with the exception of one glorious day in March, DS still has every bowl movement in his underpants. He immediately  announces that he's done it and walks/waddles over to the potty to sit. We've tried bribery, we've tried reminding/asking him beforehand, we've tried chiding him... I'm at a loss. How to I get him to stop doing this? This is boy #4 to be potty trained, and I didn't have this issue with the others.

     

    FWIW, this kid has a huge vocabulary, is neurotypical, has no physical limitations, and is well aware what the expectations are.

  15. The Easter Bunny is giving very serious consideration to putting MLB tickets (and little else) in the baskets.

     

    DS21 had many, many food allergies when he was younger and one year he got tickets to sit on the Green Monster at Fenway. He was thrilled!

     

    I put one of those Math Wrap-its for them to learn their division one year.   :o

     

    I'm stealing this - thanks!

     

     

    Typically, the children get a basket with candy, at least one saint card, a religious item (we've done rosaries, kid-friendly saint statues, saint medals, and similar), a toy or two, and maybe an outfit or new pajamas.

     

     

    Religious items! Excellent idea, thanks! The kids are always trying to steal the dainty rosaries - maybe I can get them each each their own.

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