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Re: corn allergy, obviously cooking at home is the best, but like Alterian said sometimes you just want a break and it's really hard to eat out anywhere without corn products sneaking in. This also means said goddaughter has a super hard time at places away from home like vacations; or even school because anytime there's a party or special occasion they usually do cupcakes (icing has corn starch) and soda or punch (corn syrup galore) and it sucks being seven and having to sit out from a class party. But yeah, I didn't mean to start a " my
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Jun 17, 2016 19:17
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 21:19 |
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The problem with all the "breastmilk fed kids are healthier and smarter" studies they've done is they don't/can't control for other factors in the kids life, namely the fact that parents who breastfeed are more likely to be better educated and more financially stable. Many people have theorized that if you were to take away those two factors you'd see negligible difference between breast and formula kids. The one real confirmed advantage that breastmilk has for sure is you're getting passive immunity in the form of antibodies from mom's immune system. Even that gets iffy after 6 months when the kids immune system has ramped up enough to handle stuff on its own- that's why the AAP recommends breastfeeding for at least 6 months. Not exclusive breastfeeding, just some breastfeeding. I know how it feels to want to exclusively breastfeed and not be able to- when my oldest was 2 months old I got super sick and had to be hospitalized for 10 days, then taking at-home IV meds via a PICC for two weeks once they let me go. They put me on meds that are contraindicated for breastfeeding. I pumped and dumped as best I could in the hospital, but being on morphine a lot meant my commitment to this was spotty at best and my supply went way down. My stash of frozen milk only lasted about 3 days, then baby went onto formula. Although I was able to eventually re-establish breastfeeding, my supply was never the same and we had to supplement from then on. At first I was crushed, but my daughter kept growing and thriving and now she's a perfectly normal, pain in the rear end 13 year old who's fantastically healthy, in an honors program, runs track, and spends way too much time on Skype with her friends. Her time on formula made no difference, at all- all it did was make me worry unneeded because I'd bought into the hype that if you don't breastfeed you're A Bad Mom.
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Jul 19, 2016 15:48
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Don't feel bad, just think of it as a learning experience in parenting- it happens to drat near everyone I've ever known and I swear babies bounce. My oldest rolled off from the center of our queen-sized bed and onto a hardwood floor at an age where I was so certain she couldn't roll yet and so I turned my back for a second to grab a diaper from the box. Luckily she was fine but it sure scared the hell out of me, and I didn't make that mistake with the youngest (I had newer, different mistakes to make with her instead).
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Jul 31, 2016 05:23
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Yeah my oldest daughter never went through an "ew boys" phase. Even now, at thirteen, she hangs out with guys at school because the boys there are the ones doing the things she's interested in, like sports and science and computer stuff (and being loud and obnoxious and gross). She's well aware that many of her peers are dating, and even has had some of her guy friends show interest in her, but she's just not into the whole relationship thing yet (which is a HUGE relief to me). My younger daughter is a bit more traditionally girly than the oldest, but her BFF is a boy named Max. They've bonded over their shared obsession with cats.
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Sep 29, 2016 12:46
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I never had kids close to Christmas, but I have friends who did- and every single one of them, universally, as adults resented the fact that because their birthday was so close to the biggest holiday of the year they got cheated out of a "real" birthday. My goddaughter has a December birthday and although I can't be there for her party (she lives half a country away) I do make sure to send her two distinct gifts, with one wrapped in birthday-themed paper. I can understand not wanting to do the huge "invite the whole class" blowout right before Christmas, but if I were in that position I'd at least give her some sort of party, even if you keep it to just the closest friends. I know one inexpensive option I've used that always went over well is a party at the local craft store- the Michaels by us does 2-hour parties for a flat $50 plus the cost of craft supplies, and then the kids take home the craft as their party favor so there's no need to be spending big bucks on plastic crap goody bags. Just add cake.
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Nov 10, 2016 18:00
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My kids have known for a couple years now, they know that what gets put in their stockings each year is from "Santa" just the same way that the box of Turtles candy I get each year is from "Santa"- even though somehow that particular gift always comes in the pile of gifts from Nonna and Poppa, is wrapped in the same paper as the other gifts they brought, and Santa has the same handwriting as Nonna. It was actually that particular gift that tipped off my youngest finally. When she asked the "Is Santa real" question and I reflected it back at her she basically said "I think you're my Santa the same way Nonna is your Santa". Even when they were small, I never objectively told the kids that characters like Santa and the Tooth Fairy were real, it's just they're so omnipresent in our culture that they're going to see and hear about them everywhere and it's easier to just let them believe and not pop that bubble. Being a kid is pretty much the only time it's OK to engage in magical thinking, I'm not going to ruin that part of childhood. e: I forgot to add though, that I think elf on a shelf is creepy and weird and I just can't wrap my head around it.
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Dec 6, 2016 13:13
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 21:19 |
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Re: speech therapy, I don't know if you're in the US (and even in the US it may change state-to-state) but my daughter's been in speech therapy since she was 4, she's 11 now. It's not something they just throw up their hands and go "welp, let's give this a shot", they do testing before initiating therapy to determine if it's actually needed. And then they do regular testing with a standardized language assessment throughout to see if the kid's making progress, and if they still need therapy, which gets coupled with regular IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings that guide the next steps in their therapy. My daughter got tested at the recommendation of her pediatrician, because she had a pretty bad tongue tie. We never really noticed it because we were used to how she talked, and chalked up any mispronunciation to "she's 3", but to the doctor it was really noticeable. The process to get her into speech therapy with our local schools took almost a year, and they tested her several times throughout that year to make sure her results were consistent and warranted therapy. She loved speech therapy, they did a lot of games and stuff so it was almost like a second recess for her in elementary. She's in middle school now and still in speech therapy, but just on a drop-in, consulting basis. Most people now have no problem understanding her (which is good because she'll talk your head off with pointless crap, it's like listening to my mother-in-law) but to some people she sounds like she has a fake British accent for some reason? I don't really get it, but I have people asking me all the time if she was born overseas.
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Sep 19, 2017 12:53
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