Yeah, I think most cats do this instinctively. Usually they are also crouching and trying to move up on the bird. They are hunting.

Has anyone used any of the kindergarten or early elementary homeschool materials from this company? Opinions? I saw a lot of it available on CurrClick at good discounts. The science might fill in some gaps I've got in the curriculum I've got for next year. http://www.my1ststep.com/

Sounds like Corelle it is! I'll get a little starter set in white from Target or somewhere and then start checking out the yard sales as mentioned... I like that the brand has stuck around too. So if something does break I can replace it.

We have hardwood floors, would Corelle shatter on hardwood? Would anything not shatter and still be microwave safe? The ceramic plate from today shattered.

Hey guys- We have these heavy ceramic dishes I got from JC Penny's a few years back and they are causing a lot of problems. They've cracked and overheated in the microwave even though they say they are microwave safe. Today I had a friend over and she put a plate in the microwave for one minute, and she pulled it out and it literally shattered and fell apart in her hand. I think I need to get a different set. What do you recommend that is cheap, but can take the microwave, little children's hands, and an accident prone mommy? :confused: I've heard Corelle is good? But it looks so thin and like it would just fall apart if I dropped it...

The only way I can give it up (and I do over and over, only to start again when I visit certain relatives) is to get caffeine free in the same flavor and slowly wean myself off the caffeine. Then I try to just quit once I've gotten down to all caffeine free for a week. You still crave it for a couple of days, but it goes away. The key is not to crave AND get a caffeine headache every day. That will mess with your willpower.

Oh that would be so awesome! I'll keep you posted on what they say. I sent the email this morning.

I ordered some vitamins for my daughter from an internet site. We're a little strapped right now but she really needs the fish oil for her brain. So they send me the fish oil, and 4 other large boxes of gluten free items that were ordered by someone else. My daughter is allergic to wheat, and these are expensive grocery items. It was sooooo tempting to just keep them! Oh, it hurt so much to write that email telling them about the mistake!!!! But I did it. I had to do it. But it was so hard!

My daughter has sensory processing issues. She used to be very similar to the little girl you describe, but with OT and much love she's greatly improved. Now the only lingering issues are toothbrushing, hairwashing, handwashing and crowds. She varies in intensity according to how much sleep and downtime she's had recently. The disorder is a very complicated one. No two SPD kids look alike, and no two days with any one kid look alike either, LOL. It is based in the brain's ability to process information. Some sensory information signals come in too high and others too low (like my daughter's high threshold for pain). You could read "The Out of Sync Child" for a good overview in layman's terms.

That's horrible! I'm so sorry your nephew had to go through that. Sounds like he ended up being the one who suffered over the argument. My doctor was just fine with using a delayed schedule. I guess they are all different in what they believe...

:grouphug: First communion is such an exciting event. I hope you are able to clear things up (in or out of your current parish) so that you can still have a beautiful memory of your child's first communion.

What are your mild one's symptoms? My daughter is so mild people often don't believe me that there's anything wrong (unless they are her speech therapist of course). I emailed the link to my mother and got a really snarky comment back. But then my mom doesn't really ever try to have a real, detailed conversation with my daughter so I don't think she really notices the differences in how Grace understands things. Mmmm, can you tell I'm annoyed right now?:glare:

Should doctors give 5 yr old children vaccines in their thigh or their arm? I was always of the assumption that either was fine, but a friend told me my doctor was wrong to give my daughter her boosters in her thigh. She said her doctor told her that. Do you think this is more of an opinion or do you think there is a medical basis for her statement? She tends to have strong opinions so I am not sure I should take her seriously, but we are going in for round two next month so I'm wondering if I should ask for arm injections.:confused:

Here's a link to a Good Morning America story re: auditory processing disorder. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/video/sound-hope-helping-kids-understand-words-10486086

I've been doing a low carb diet based on Atkins. I've lost 15 pounds since early March. One thing that worked for me was eating the Atkins bars for breakfast and lunch during induction for the first three days. Not such a healthy thing, but it was the only way to ward off the pain of carb withdrawal. I had tried the Atkins/South Beach thing before but I got very sick because my body reacted badly to wanting carbs. For some reason the bars helped. Then you go to eating normal Atkins/South Beach. That means just giving up bread and sugar. You eat lots of veggies and meats (avoid the starchy veggies like peas and lima beans). I can honestly say that I have not craved carbs this time around. I'm actually kind of afraid to eat a carb laden food now because I am scared it would bring the cravings back. I feel good right now. More energy, less blood sugar issues, and less tired. I think I'm going to stick to this way of eating because feeling better is so much more rewarding than eating junk food. I know I need to bring whole wheat bread back in now but I am scared I'll start getting tired again...

:lurk5:

But to answer your question: if I'm going to feed my kid sugar at all I feed her the cheap stuff.

Last year I started making hummingbird food from sugar, but I think I did something wrong and killed a few off. I used to use the hummingbird food from the store, the pink stuff, but I too started to wonder if that was so good for them. So I started making my own from the cheap sugar and water, cooking it on the stove. We had bees everywhere once I put it out, but the hummingbirds weren't so interested in fighting off the bees. They sort of disappeared for a while. Then I didn't need to change the food because they weren't there. They came back for a few days and then disappeared altogether. I really am afraid that maybe that stuff I made molded or something and killed them off. Or maybe they just didn't like it? In any case, I think I'd rather feed them the store food then think I killed them with my cooking, LOL. How often should you change the food?

I think this is one of those things where you will find a wide range of opinions. In my circumstances, I do use splenda sometimes but I do not let my child consume it. I figure it's OK for me to make that decision for myself, knowing that it might not be the healthiest decision, but I should probably stay on the safe side when it comes to my daughter. Just like I wouldn't hand her a beer. I do not necessarily think it's "bad", but just to be on the safe side. It's hard to make these types of decisions. BUT, that being said I do not judge anyone who does give it to their child. Their judgement on the subject is probably as good as mine. This is kind of like the whole H1N1 vaccine thing. Some people felt very strongly that it was very important for their child to get the vaccine and others wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. With the limited information available everyone just had to use their own best judgement.

Did they really capture those types of photos? If they did get photos of children undressing why are they not being criminally charged? Isn't this somehow illegal? Is there no law that addresses this?

What D do you recommend for adults and children? Should we get our children's D levels tested too?

This is sick. I can't believe anyone at all would think it was not illegal for one, but also that no adult teacher/adminstrator would not stand up and say it was morally wrong. Where are the morals and values here?

My daughter's doctor told me to give her a tiny squirt of Source Natural's Melatonin Spray on nights when she can't calm down for bed. It seems to be the only brand that can let you give so small a dose. Most of the people I know who give their children melatonin use that brand and type. Not sure if that helps or not... I did a little internet research but in the end I went with doctor recommendations.

I'm totally going then. What a wonderful opportunity. This is my version of meeting a celebrity.:D

I was debating whether to do the HEAV Convention this year because I've already got our curriculum, but I would like to do this... So it's completely free to attend? Or do you need to have convention tickets?