Exactly! Thats what makes this so hard.

Yes. This. Last week I registered my youngest for kindergarten. Two weeks before that we discovered my oldest, my 12 year old, is taller than me. Sigh. Too fast.

Thanks for the input, Ill remember that if there is ever a next time. I ended up taking it to the Genius bar, and they replaced it for half the cost of a new one. I actually like that for right now, because my son is paying for it and it gives him a chance to learn a hard lesson now while the stakes are lower. We ended up getting him an Otterbox case for the new one and hes learned a good lesson about taking care of your property and not putting electronics in a hoodie pocket. :-)

That's awesome! He's a funny kid. My kids can go to my husband's sister to get dirt on him, but there's nowhere they can go to get dirt of me, but me! They could ask my dad or my sister, but they were a mess around that time and can barely remember all their own problems, much less mine. There are advantages to being the most functional one in a dysfunctional family sometimes :-)

That's awesome! He's a funny kid. My kids can go to my husband's sister to get dirt on him, but there's nowhere they can go to get dirt of me, but me! They could ask my dad or my sister, but they were a mess around that time and can barely remember all their own problems, much less mine. There are advantages to being the most functional one in a dysfunctional family sometimes :-)

Awesome! I think deep down inside, most people are good people. I'm glad they were good to you. Boo on that gas station attendant for shrugging! Odds are they had a slim jim in there, he just didn't want to go out in the cold. Hope your training went well after all that.

Awesome! I think deep down inside, most people are good people. I'm glad they were good to you. Boo on that gas station attendant for shrugging! Odds are they had a slim jim in there, he just didn't want to go out in the cold. Hope your training went well after all that.

Restaurants are nuts - I dont eat out much anymore, but if I do when its not a day off, I automatically pack up at least half my meal to take home, and I get at least one, usually two more meals out of it. Its crazy. And I dont get dessert - Ive had a hard enough time convincing Brusters that I dont want the equivalent of 2.5 scoops of frozen yogurt in my single scoop. I make them give me the toddler serving, but I really wish I didnt have to.

HAHA! Yeah, well, I was walking, so that involves a bit of leaning...

I really cant say I am, either, but fortunately weve been able to avoid a lot of that. Its a good league, and we lucked out with a good team and great coaches who have the right perspective.

I caught my daughter at Limited Too trying to steal a bunch of junk that they have at the front of the store, I think she was 8 at the time. I made her give it back to the clerk and confess, and that clerk did the same thing! I remember when I was 5 I stole a pack of gum and my mom took me back to the store and the manager was very very stern and told me he wouldn't call the police THIS TIME and I was a mess. I so wish that had happened, but the girl was probably 17-18ish and still really a kid herself. I wish there was some secret wink or something we could give those in stores that says "I want you to come down hard on my kid, but don't arrest her" and they'll act the part.

No, hok, then it's the Lego empire. I just figure I'll have a clean house sometime when they're in high school. Til then, I just have to make sure I wear shoes in the house to avoid impalement.

*blush* thank you so much. We try hard - shes number three so I hope weve learned a thing or two by now. This was an easy thing. Its so much harder when they think nothing of taking other peoples stuff without asking.

Believe it or not, before we bought this house, we thought long and hard about where wanted to look and one of the factors was whether or not the house was powered by Pepco or Allegheny Power. Hope your power stays on - you can always dig north to our apocalyptic mess. We've got heat and power, and an abundance of crumbs on the floor to provide extra insulation.

Thats a good idea, Angi, maybe well try that when we can get thru the door!

I've got 4 kids, girl, boy, girl, boy. The only real difference with my son was that it happened later, but quicker once it did. My oldest was trained when she was about 2.5, so around 2 I started talking to my son. He wanted nothing to do with the potty. Flat out refused to sit on it unless fully clothed. We tried everything you could think of to get him to use it, to no avail. He just didn't want to. I knew he knew how, and what he was supposed to do there, but he just didn't want to. So I left him alone, and let it go. I'd ask if he wanted to go sit on the potty probably once a week-ish, but didn't push. Then, when he was 3 years 9 months and I had despaired of him EVER using the potty (but preschool wasn't an issue because of a late birthday), he woke up one morning and said "Mom, I use the potty today" and he did and that was that. He NEVER had an accident unless he was sick. So that ended my potty training career - my next daughter trained herself when she was 2.5, I think by watching her sister, and my youngest is a boy, and he's now 3, and he is doing the same thing as his brother - just. not. interested. So I'll wait him out, because I know he knows how to do what he needs to do, he's done it once or twice before. But I don't want to cause any trauma by forcing the issue, so I'm just asking periodically. It can be so frustrating, though, I feel for you. Also consider that there's a good chance of regression for your son when the baby comes, anyway, so you may just want to wait it out. I've done two in diapers twice now, and I've been changing diapers for the last 10 years with only a two month break, and if I can survive that, anyone can. Good luck!

It might not be as inevitable as you think - they arent that tall (neither the beds nor the kids). We did that apurpose.

So, when did you move into my live, hmmmm? :-) I've just embraced the mess. I figure I'll clean it up when all 4 of them are in school. My husband had a quick learning experience this past weekend, though, when he picked up a new matchbox car set my older son got for this birthday, boxed it up, and put the box under our stair gate for someone to take it up to my son's room the next time they went up. He turned his back, and said that in 15 seconds the 2 year old had shimmied under the gate, grabbed the car set, opened the box, and strewn it across the room. I said "See?" This is why the house looks like it does. I'll never get ahead. And that's okay.

Sue, I live in Germantown - you should have DM'd me and I'dve gotten you to a gas station easy peasy without a detour. Some of Germantown is nice, but don't be mislead by where you ended up; there are wonderful neighborhoods here, but most of Germantown is townhouse farms, and I live in one. My yard is small enough that we could cut it with scissors if the weedeater goes on the fritz, we don't need a lawnmower. That pretty new school you saw? It already has dozens of portable classrooms and is overcrowded. We have gang problems, and the crime rates aren't good; we certainly can't go anywhere and leave the doors unlocked (well, some people do, but they're crazy, not the norm). My husband commutes 1.5 hours each way to work. Our "walking distance" Starbucks is 2 miles away, which isn't too bad but it's time consuming to walk 4 miles for a coffee. We do indeed need to plan on making a day of it any time we go into the city. There are pros and cons to everywhere, so don't be fooled by a bit of "grass is greener" syndrome (pun intended) :-) I look at our living situations as not better or worse, but simply different. And variety is good :-)

Oh, poor kid. Poor Jodi. That sucks. We had a similar issue with Little Man. We went to our pediatrician, who is wonderful, and told her our concerns. She referred us to someone to talk to, just us, not him, who agreed with us. Then we took that information to the school, to show that they were being jerks, but it was in the most nice, respectful way, and there was no adversarial thing happening. Might this be an option for you?

I am so happy for you - new year, new house. Enjoy!

I used to work in a Stride Rite and we regularly fit kids with extra extra wide feet. Do they not have them anymore? We didn't stock much but I used to special order all kinds of stuff. Do they not do that anymore? Sorry, after living for years with a women's size 4.5 foot, I truly sympathize. It sucks. Sorry you, and poor Michael, have to go through that.