Amberlori

My son is 5 years old and we have been battling ear infections since I stopped breastfeeding him around 15 months. It is worse in the winter when he gets colds and the fluids in his nose drain into his ears and then get infected.

We are being refered to an ENT (he has had 3 ear infections since Christmas, as well as two bouts of Strep Throat) and I'm pretty certain that ear tubes will be a topic of conversation

I'd love to hear some stories of people who had ear tubes put in their children, and some from people who decided against it.

Thanks so much!

As a small business owner with no employees, we have no payroll and no T4's. We did in fiscal year 2009, but not for 2010. Is there somewhere on the T4 filing site of Revenue Canada to indicate that we have no T4's to file for 2010?? Or do I write them a letter?

My son will be 5 in January, and he's really interested in learning to read. We're doing the "Learn to Read in 100 Lessons" book, and are about a third of the way through it. He is now wanting to try reading actual kids books, but all the ones we have are for parents to read to the child, so have lots of big words.

Any suggestions for good books with words that are only 3 or 4 letters long? (Something like "See Spot Run" type books)

Thanks so much!

I had my Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop hooked up to our Sharp Aquois TV with an HDMI cable and all was working fine. Until I accidentally changed the input from HDMI to TV. Now it won't show a picture at all on the TV. I tried changing the input back, but now there is no HDMI input available.

I've tried re-booting, unplugging and replugging in the cable and nothing.

I need help. :)

My son turned 4 in January, and he has about once a week what we call "freak outs". They will be 20-30 minutes long screaming fits about something. Usually because he didn't get his way, but always about something pretty insignificant. He didn't get to stay in the tub until all the water drained. I didn't carry him from the house to the car. I didn't let him have a cooking 20 minutes before dinner.

He will scream at the top of his lungs, sometimes throw things, hit the wall and will go on and on and on. Trying to talk to him makes it worse, so I've just started ignoring him. I'll just go on with what I'm doing, or read a book to his little sister, or whatever. Once he calms down we talk about it and he tells me he doesn't like "freak outs" but he doesn't know how to stop them.

I'm at a loss as to whether this is normal 4 year old behaviour or if I should be more concerned.

I've looked into Sensory Processing Disorders, and he has a few of the "behaviors" on the list, but only a few.

So, anyway, just looking for support and suggestions.

Thanks.

My son, who just turned four, occasionally has absolute melt down freak out screaming fits. It'll be over something ridiculous like me giving him water from the bathroom instead of water from the kitchen, or because I don't pick him up because my hands are full, or that he can't ride on his sit and stand stroller because I am using it to carry a box of diapers. He'll start screaming "I want water from the kitchen" or "I want you to pick me up" or "I want to ride the stroller" and he'll just repeat it over and over and over and over and over and over. There is no reasoning with him (like saying I can't pick you up because my hands are full) and if i try to put him in a time out or isolate him he'll start throwing things. It will go on and on for 20, 30, 40 minutes. I've taken to simply ignoring him and he'll stop crying but as soon as I say anything like "Are you calm now, can we have a hug" he'll start up again.

I think they are generally related to his tiredness. He goes to bed easy and is usually asleep by 8:30 but he gets up really early, around 6. I've tried putting him to bed earlier but he still doesn't fall asleep till around 8:30. We got him a clock that tells him when it's 7am and he can get up, but i still hear him awake before that.

I also though of diet issues, but we have a very, very limited processed sugar intake, we don't eat any processed foods and I make nearly everything (sauces and dressings included) from scratch.

Any suggestions on how to deal with these kind of fits? They are always over little things and I feel like once he starts screaming I can't just give in because then he gets what he wants by screaming and I certainly don't want that.

Kay, your mom was right about Twilight.

Looking for good books for my 11 year old niece. A series would be nice so I can get her several.

Not sure what she's into, so just any suggestions!

Thanks!

My 3 1/2 year old is having major temper tantrums involving throwing things, kicking, hitting out, and I am a loss as to how to deal with it.

It generally starts when I tell him that it's time to stop something (his 30 minutes every 3 or 4 days of computer game time, or time to leave a play group, or that he's not allowed to play with something) and I put him in his room for 4 minutes. While in there he starts the screaming, throwing, slamming the door etc etc. Do I just ignore it because any response by me is "attention" to his antics? Please tell me this phase passes!!

My 14 month old is a little monkey. Her latest trick is to "climb" the front of the oven. She grabs the handle of the oven, steps onto the handle of the drawer underneath and pulls herself up. After the first time I saw her do it, I don't let her anymore, and I always immediately remove her, say no and take her to another part of the house and give her a distraction.

Inevitably, she returns within a minute and tries again. She laughs when she grabs the handle. It's all a big joke to her.

I don't know how to get her to stop. I take her away EVERY time, and say NO every time and she knows she isn't supposed to do it, but she continues to do it. It makes cooking very tedious and dangerous. I've started to put her into her crib when I'm using the stove but she screams bloody murder about that too.

Suggestions??

My 13 month old had her developmental checkup today and the doctor was concerned that I wasn't giving her any cow's milk, only breastmilk. She still nurses 5-6 times a day so I wasn't worried about her needing anything else. The doctor said she will need the fat from cow's milk.

I was pretty sure that breastmilk is fine for as long as you want to nurse them, and you only need to supplement with extra milk/fats etc if they aren't breastfeeding very often anymore.

Any one know??

My 13 month old is still happily breastfeeding, and I'm happy with it. (In other words, no suggestions to wean her). I'm just wondering if there are any suggestions on how to get her to drink a little milk? I'm not sure if she needs to be as she is nursing 4-6 times a day/night still, so is she getting all the calcium and fats she needs from me still, or should I be getting her to drink SOME milk as well??

She has never had a bottle and is just sort of now getting the hang of a sippy cup. I'll put milk in the sippy but mostly she just plays with it. Should I just keep trying that and eventually she'll drink it??

Thanks!

My daughter just turned one and her latest "fun" thing to do is pull her older brother's hair. Constantly. What can I do to deter her and stop her from doing it.

My son is 3 1/2 and I'm pretty sure we're ready to ditch that afternoon nap. He can, and will, still nap for 1-2 hours in the afternoon, but it's getting harder to get him down to nap, and then it's much harder to get him to bed later. His bedtime is 8 but if he has a nap it's usually 9:30 or later before he finally falls asleep.

Does anyone have suggestions for making that transition from nap to no nap? Do I just go cold turkey and stop with the naps, and maybe move his bedtime earlier? Or do I let him nap but wake him after 45-60 minutes??

Suggestions? Advice?

I got this from a facebook friend today, and I found it really interesting. Of course, I breastfeed so I take personal interest in it. I looked up some of these thing (like being charged more at daycare if your child uses expressed breastmilk...it's true) and am astounded by the "anti breastfeeding" sentiment that still exists out there.

There are some (not all!!) formula feeders who claim breastfeeders are a bunch of nazi's, but when faced with situations described in this article, it's hard not to get your back up about breastfeeding.

So...what do you all think??

http://viv.id.au/blog/20090625.5497/gone-too-far/

I don't care about thumbs downs when people disagree. I personally only thumbs down if I know the answer includes false information. But what makes no sense to me is people that thumbs down personal experience answers. Or answers to things like "What does your baby weigh". How can that generate a thumbs down?

I don't get it. I'm just wondering.

My mother in laws dog recently had to be put down, and my son loved that dog. We are going to visit in a few weeks, and I know my son is going to ask where the dog is. How can I explain to him about death without it getting to technical or scary for him??

My 10 month old just now started biting when nursing.

I've tried the saying no and taking her off for 30 seconds and going back on. I watch her closely and can tell when she's going to bite and take her off.

Problem is she thinks it's funny. She laughs when I say "no" and doesn't seem to care that I've stopped nursing her for a minute.

I try waiting now until she is good and hungry so that she'll just get down to business, but even that doesn't seem to work. I think she's getting impatient for my let down and so starts "playing" by nibbling/biting. I'm getting anxious when feeding her, which I know just makes the let down problem worse.

Any brilliant suggestions. I really, really, really don't want to go to formula (not that she'd take it anyway) but I'm worried that if I don't nurse her as often as I was (every 3 hours or so, now it's more like every 4 or 5 hours) she won't be getting enough.

Thanks in advance!

My 10 month old really isn't into the solid food. She will barely eat any of the pureed and will eat some finger foods but again, not very much. The only thing she will eat lots of is bread and cheese (but cheese makes her constipated, so I can't give her too much).

She weighed 18lb 10oz at 8 months, 19lb at 9 months and 19lb at 10 months. So she isn't putting on any weight. I know it's semi-normal for babies to plateau at weight once they start moving (she is crawling and pulling to standing now), but I'm worried she isn't getting enough.

She is breastfed 6-8 times per day (and going to formula is not an option).

Any suggestions to get her to take in more solids??

My son turned 3 in January and started Preschool that same month. Two days at week. He loved it. Used to ask me every day if he could go to preschool. When he first started there were only 4 kids in his class.

Now there are 8 kids in his class and he doesn't want to go anymore. He tells me "I don't want to go" and when we get there he cries and cries. I feel so bad leaving him, but when I go to pick him up he's having so much fun and doesn't want to leave.

I've asked him if anyone is being mean to him, and he said one boy was and I talked to the teacher and she said it was one incident.

Do you think he's using that incident as an excuse for some other thing that is bugging him. What can I do to make him like preschool again?

Any other suggestions??