JB

We have recently transitioned my 22 month old into a toddler bed since he was diving out of his crib head-first. Now we have went from a toddler who would sleep all night, for the most part, to a toddler who wants to be up at 3 am. When he gets up at 3, it's impossible to get him back to sleep. I have tried returning him to bed over and over again without speaking to him, but I can do this for hours on end for days on end, and it doesn't work. I have even tried to get him to come back to sleep with me, but he won't do that either. He wants me up with him. He is only getting about 7 hours of sleep a night. He will nap at daycare, but not at home. I'm hoping this is a phase he'll grow out of sooner rather than later, and am trying my best to deal with it. I am just wondering if anyone else has had success with something that I'm not thinking about.

We have had him checked for any kind of illnesses and such at the doctor, and he's fine.

I am trying to do a project with my math students where we rewrite a rap song about math and create a video. My students keep giving me songs that they like, but I can't use them even if we rewrite them because the original is so inappropriate. The songs don't have to be perfectly clean, but they need to be somewhat decent. The more appropriate songs tend to be love songs, and they don't have quite the beat that I'm looking for.

Are there any rap or hip hop songs out there that have a good beat with okay lyrics that could be parodied into a catchy song? My inspiration comes from the videos from Westerville South High School -- you can find them on youtube.

I would appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

My mom is turning 60 this year and like so many people in her age group has no savings and no retirement plan at all. She is also a diabetic. She plans on working as long as possible, but I know that especially with the state of this economy, she needs more of a cushion. We have recently sold my grandma's old house, and she will be getting money from it. I know that the money we get from the house will be spent long before her retirement starts.

While I do plan on helping her and being there for her as much as possible, I also have a family to provide for. I can't bankrupt my family. How can I encourage her to save the money from the sale of the house without sounding selfish? I don't care about getting any of that money for myself. I care about the well-being of my mother and of my family.

I want to have a heart-to-heart with her soon about the future. I don't want to sound uncaring, but I have lots of concerns.