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sassenach

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Posts posted by sassenach

  1. I remember thinking the same thing when my biggest kids were very small, maybe three and one years old. I thought, if they had time-tested, beloved stories from the very beginning, Batman and Star Wars would pale in comparison.

     

    I was wrong. Anything advertised is more appealing than the stories no one had ever repackaged into a thirty second short of the most exciting and humorous scenes. Everything their friends understand is more appealing than the stories random kids on the playground can't even pronounce. Anything with toy characters hanging on chains at the grocery store between the corn and the pintos is more real than the stories that only existed in words and pictures in our collective heads.

     

    When I was choosing our friends, I thought my kids could hold out against the entire force of modern culture. I thought that the underlying values of my friends were more important than the media choices they had made for their children. If I had held out, we would have no friends.

     

    Now, despite the constant availability of Homer, Grimm's, and everything between, my kids spend their days between Naboo and Tatooine with space droid companions.

     

    It's not because I underestimated my kids. I overestimated their discernment, their sense of the aesthetic, and their ability to hold out against the well-crafted, pervasive hammering of the buy-this, watch-this, want-this that we drink and breathe in North America.

     

    Oh man, I totally know what you're saying here. It's all about balance, isn't it? Power rangers on Monday night, balanced by CS Lewis bedtime stories the rest of the week. High School Musical with a friend, countered by immersed culture study....on and on it goes.

     

    Whether or not it sounds snobby really depends on your company. You're preaching to the choir here, but say the same thing at your average 6yo bday party, and it probably would come off that way. Pride in parenting generally leads to a hard fall sometime down the road.

     

    On another topic, Rose, I LOVE your avatar! Too cool.

  2. Earlier in December is *heavenly* at Disney -- I'm so sorry we're not going this year! But the 22nd or 23rd? I'd sure be hesitant. Schools are out, and... eek. But I'm seriously crowd-phobic (and deeply spoiled by having been so many times in the off-season).

     

    Btdt, it's very, very crowded. Very. It was not fun.

  3. 78.79%

     

    I got #s 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, 27, & 33 wrong.

     

    I should have gotten 4, 7 and 8 right. We studied all of that last year. I'm really not sure where my brain was, except for the fact that I was rushing though to try and get it done before we went out the door.

     

    I have never delved into any philosophy, so 13 was out of my league.

    I really should have gotten 14 right too.

    27 was way over my head.

    33 I was split between A and D. chose the wrong one.

     

    I'm going to quiz my 11yo and see how she does. I bet she could get half of them.

  4.  

    I wouldn't have a clue how to do so, to be honest. I don't want to invest too much time in this project, either. And even if I could make the aunt and toddler "disappear" (;)), it'd leave one of my boys sorta off to the side on his own with this empty space there, if you kwim.

     

    Could you post that pic? It may be easier than you think to rearrange. If it's doable, I'd be happy to edit it for you. I have a long history of making people "disappear" :001_smile:

  5. My 11yo is on her second pair. She loves them, I'm fine with them. Our old pediatrician had a pair. The kids loved it when he'd cme rolling into the exam room. I think 6 may be a tad young for them, but that's your call. My 6yo is not mature enough for them. And yes, they are more dangerous than regular shoes. I let my kids climb trees, ride skateboards, and jump on trampolines- so take my opinion for what it's worth.

  6. We have iphones. I think that most of the new fancy phones are pretty similar. There are 2 areas that the iphone rises above the rest. The first is, it's an ipod. While the other phones may have mp3 players, the iphone is going to perfectly interface with itunes. Pretty much any apple product is going to be very intuitive when it comes to using it, and the iphone is no exception.

     

    The second advantage, and in my opinion this is HUGE, is the applications that you can load onto the phone. The iphone is like a mini computer. You can upload all sorts of programs onto it. There are many free aps out there, and I rarely pay for one, unless it's really important to me. I have added task managers, voice dialers, grocery lists, a google ap that searches by voice (way cool), and many games that keep my kids entertained when we're waiting in doctor offices. The ability to load aps onto the phone makes it almost limitless in its possibilities. Not to mention that it also has built in gps.

     

    I would suggest going to the Apple store and looking at it in person. It's impressive.

  7. We have chihuahuas. We used to be big dog people, but somehow we morphed into owning these two little things. I have to say, I LOVE these dogs. They're really relaxed, happy to lay around all day. They're good with my kids, I think in large part because we've had them since puppyhood. You wouldn't think, but they are super low maintenance dogs. Almost like having cats, but not quite. We had to leave ours with a foster mom for a few months, both of them got along famously with their cats. They play, sleep, play sleep. Other than when they were little puppies, they don't chew on anything. The house breaking has gone great with one. The other one has to have an eye kept on her.

     

    Happy puppy hunting!

  8. With a 6yo, you have to pay for a seat anyway. I'd just strap the car seat in and use it, rather than checking it.

     

    That said, I've never had any trouble/damage with gate checking my strollers.

     

    A 6yo would probably be using a booster, which you wouldn't have use for on an airplane.

     

    We check our carseats with our luggage, because getting through the airport with all of them is a pain. We always bring one for our 8yo and we also gate check his wheelchair. We have had damage on the wheelchair, but wheelchairs aren't as tough as car seats. We've never had damage on our car seats. We've also never bubblewrapped them- just tossed them in the provided clear plastic trash bags.

  9. Here are my thoughts about everyone's feedback on this.

     

    Yes, we're still going to the party. I don't see the point in keeping two 4 year olds from enjoying each other's company.

     

    I, too, have made amazon wishlists for the kids in the past. The purpose was to have one central list of pre-approved, non junk gifts for our families to purchase. The prices were within levels that were discussed before hand with the family. This was an approach that we as a family came up with, no one was just sent the list. Doing this cut down tremendously on the sheer number of *things* that my kids received from family who lived across the country. It aided us in down-sizing Christmas.

     

    Which brings me to my next thought- 125 toys are more than a lifetime's worth in our family. If I had to approximate, I think my kids each receive about 10 toys a year. The sheer # just surprised me. I was pretty clear on the fact that they are not expecting me to buy the $350 item. What bothers me on a personal level is that 1) they clearly expect *something* from the list or they wouldn't have put the card in the invite, 2) there was nothing under $15.

     

    When we have had bday parties in the past (it's been about 2 years since our last one), most of the kids brought gifts. Some just brought homemade cards, which were absolute treasures. We have cut down on bday parties as a family choice, but I'm not opposed to them or presents for that matter.

     

    We will be giving her a nice book.

  10. My dd was invited to a bday party for a child that we know from church. I don't know the parents well, but the girls play in sunday school together. I was just looking for the RSVP # and out fell a registry paper from Toys R Us. I looked it up- 125 items ranging from $15-$350 :eek:

     

    I refuse. There is just NO way. Even if any of the selections fell under my $10 budget, I still don't think I would give in.

  11. I've noticed too! I wonder if the social groups have anything to do with it as well. There may be all sorts of interesting conversation going on off of the general board. Or not....I don't have the time to figure that one out.

     

    It's become much slower here lately, hasn't it? I'm not around a great deal myself, but when I do pop in, I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation. There are some regulars in particular whom I miss. Maybe because I'm not around as often, I'm just not crossing paths with them. Or maybe, like me, they're just putting their energy elsewhere. Whatever the case, here's a shout out to anj, Kelli in TN, momtolegomaniacs, Mrs. Mungo....and many others...

     

    :cheers2:

  12. A few thoughts.

     

    I know a gal like this and her issues stem from extreme insecurity. It seems like she is the most secure, all knowing person in the world (just your classic know-it-all), but she is admittedly, extremely insecure. The power struggles are part of her trying to prove herself as worthy. I remember you have one son who is a Christian, but I'm not sure if this is that guy. Knowing his worth in Christ may be a real issue for him. Well, even if he's not your Christian guy, this may be the source of the problems.

     

     

    Another thought would be putting him in a leader role in some aspects of his life, and as a subordinate in others. The truth is, he may just be a natural leader. My husband is one of those. Dh and I married when he was 19, so I've seen him through many, many stages in life. One thing has been a constant- he always ends up leading. One of the greatest aspects of leading that he had to mature into (and really get knocked on his @ss over) has been submission. Nobody can be a great leader without also knowing how to submit to authority. This son of yours sounds like he has a leaders drive, but obviously lacks the maturity to understand the submission aspect of truly great leadership. An outlet, and/or mentor in this area would be great. It sounds like your dh and you need to firmly draw the lines of authority.

     

    I'm not sure what this all looks like in practical terms. I see it as 2 separate issues. 1) how he relates to you and dh. 2) how he relates to his siblings. I think the most important is the first. You both need to seriously break the boy of thinking that he has any authority over you. I'd be tempted to let the second problem sort itself out. He will have plenty of natural consequences with his siblings, without you doing much. If anything, I'd probably just give his siblings the green light to rail on him and not step in much other than that.

     

    Not having teens myself (although dh is a youth pastor, so I spend my life surrounded by them), I'm not sure if any of this is helpful in practical terms. My ds has his father's personality, so I am very sure that we will deal with managing this personality at some point ; )

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