Wassa's Widget is looking pretty quiet, so I thought I'd throw this conversation with my 12 year old son the other day.

Son: "Mom, I think I want to be a gynecologist when I grow up."
Me: "Um. Ok?"
Son: "Yeah, I really like studying rocks!"

I'm not even sure what talk I need to have again at this point!

Son: "Mom, I think I want to be a gynecologist when I grow up."
Me: "Um. Ok?"
Son: "Yeah, I really like studying rocks!"

I'm not even sure what talk I need to have again at this point!

Birds and the screes.

We are throwing a Harry Potter themed birthday party for our 4 year old in December!
I had an awesome idea to have the kids (and adults maybe) hunt for horcruxes! Would anyone be willing to carve any of the horcruxes for the party?

The seven horcruxes are:
Tom Riddle's Diary
Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
Salazar Slytherin's Locket
Helga Hufflepuff's Cup
Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem
Harry Potter
Nagini

I will give him back afterwards or if you would like to donate them I would love to plant them all in a series near me. :)
Thanks everyone!
-Joy

When would you need them by? I would love to cave Nagini. :)

I would need them by let's say the last week of November that way I have time to set everything up for his party. :)

I have the locket, the snake, and the ring already carved for something else, but I'd be more than happy to send them your way to use for your event!

We went hiking today on what we thought was a two mile hike that turned into over 5 miles.

Anyway about 1 1/2 miles in Kenny, our 3 1/2 year old, says "Mommy where are the letterboxes?"
I say: "Baby, there are none here that I know of."
Kenny: "...so...why are we hiking?..."

Lol! Omg this kid is obsessed!

Wow, that is great that your little guy hiked 5+miles! Squid Boy is the same age and we are slooooooowly working up to hiking past the two mile mark with him.

My son is such an active little boy. He runs the whole time! Lol. We have always been a very active family too.
His "treat" for good behavior is going for a walk on the boardwalk a few towns over. Lol. I'm very happy for it!
I'm sure your little guy will love it soon! :)
We play I Spy along the way a lot so that distracts him a bit.
That's the longest he has actually hiked. We usually don't do more than 3 or 3 1/2.

So cute, I'm with him though. I mean, why hike if no boxes are there and/or you don't have your fitbit on?

I have the pedometer on my S Health app going! :) you can challenge your friends and I can't let my mom beat me. :D
And I log all my steps on walking4fun.com! :)
We found a lot of good hiding places for a series I want to plant. :)

My twins, Zelda and Apple Man are starting to get into LTCs. Apple Man just said he wanted to have an LTC swap party. It's a little late to run a swap in time for his Birthday (November 30th). I was wondering if some of you may have some kid friendly cards they want to donate to him.

I will reward anyone who sends Zelda and Apple man some cards with one of each of the next 5 LTCs I make. It may take me a month or so to pay you back though.

AQ Mail me if you need more information.

Nah, never too late!!

I have a ton. I will mail you some this week. And some for the Newbie Tracker.

Thank you! Eric and Alana will be pleased!

So tonight my son made Eagle at 13 and a half. He really fought for it and he has done a great job. He built a disk golf course for his project. He really worked hard and I am so proud of him.

My kids want to have their friends over for the game tonight. I honestly do not see a bunch of girls sitting around watching football. My son wants to watch it, but I am pretty sure the girls will get bored quickly. (basing this on past observations) I know they will end up in the basement playing games....it still is a school night. Why am I the only parent that seems to have issue with this? I do know that plenty of people skip school and work on the Monday after superbowl, but we are not huge football fans....I said they could come till halftime then they need to go.

Another question....my son filled in for a friend and babysat last week. The family liked him and called him back for Friday night. He went over and before the parents went out, they told him that the 9 yr old boy has a stomach thing and has been puking. SERIOUSLY?? Who does that to a babysitter? The kid puked 5 times in the 4 hours he was there. OK granted he took care of himself and my kid didn't have to do anything, but really....who goes out with a puking kid at home. I wouldn't leave my 17 yr old home if he was puking like that, let alone a 9 yr old! I made my kid scrub down as soon as he got home!

Whats wrong with people!? Or am I the weird one??

I don't know about the football game. My kid is 8 and we leave when dad says. 😂

But the puking kid thing? That is not right to leave a sick kid with someone else. I know there are events that may be taken into consideration. (Mandatory type things) but YOU should have been asked first. So YOU could decide maybe or not. And the maybe would be YOU asking your son if he's comfortable taking on that responsibility.

On the kid puking, that's a horrible thing for them to do. I would be livid. And never allow him to babysit for them again. Though man, I think it's great that a boy will babysit!

I agree on the Superbowl, they need to go home by a decent hour.

It depends on the situation, but they should have informed him before he arrived that the kid was sick.

If they needed to go to something they'd attend if *they* had the flu, it makes sense.
It also makes sense if this happens a lot and isn't a stomach bug so much as his response to most bugs or nerves or migraines (cyclic vomiting is migraine related.)

My dd gets migraines and there were times when I was like "again?" And would have found a babysitter if I could have. Because I knew it wasn't contagious and how the day would go, not because I wasn't prioritizing.

We made a deal with our kids to watch the game tonight... and even then - we're only letting them stay up until halftime, granted they are younger than yours. I agree with you - it's still a school night.
Also - the stomach bug has been going around like wildfire! Totally not cool of the parents he was babysitting for.
- now, we don't know the particulars, maybe it was a work or family thing that couldn't be missed - BUT, they should have contacted you or at the very least your son prior and laid out the situation, so he could decide if he still wanted the gig. It's not fair to expect a babysitter to bring home a stomach bug to their own house.
- I hope he got some sort of hazard pay for that.
- I've had a couple times when I still needed to get a sitter when one of my kiddos was sick, but only when they are pretty much over it (not actively puking or feverish), and even then, I give the babysitter a heads up first. One of the times my daughter was puking because she ate (read: was fed by her older brother) a half tube of toothpaste. She didn't have an actual illness, but I still cancelled the sitter. It would not have been fair to make her deal with the 4 times she vomited that morning. Also, that's when kids want their parents - it's not just mean to do to the sitter - it's mean to do to the kid.
Also - we're in Penfield, and although we don't get out much, we're always looking for a good sitter to add to our rotation...wink, wink...

Though man, I think it's great that a boy will babysit!

He only has a few times, but he is really good with younger kids. He works at the afterschool program at the rec center and wants to go into education. But he has a no diaper rule! Kids must be potty trained!

That's ridiculous.

My son is a swim instructor, and out of his last nine shifts, someone has puked in the pool during six of them. If your kid is sick, KEEP THEM HOME. And stay home with them.

He only has a few times, but he is really good with younger kids. He works at the afterschool program at the rec center and wants to go into education. But he has a no diaper rule! Kids must be potty trained!

Just goes to show you how silly those stereotypes really are. I bet he'll be a great dad, too.

I really hate putting myself out there, but here it is. My 6 year old daughter hasn't lost her 2 front bottom teeth yet and the dentist took an x-ray and found that she's missing her adult teeth in those places. I don't know if through orthodontics if she can get away without them, or what. My issue is that she will have to have the teeth extracted. She doesn't know of any of this, and I don't know what or how to tell her. I have a huge background of debilitatingly horrid dental experiences as a child that it has caused almost a psychosis to this day when it comes to even a cleaning. My children luckily have the opposite, there is this AMAZING dentist where we live and they love to go. I don't want to jeopardize that for her. I don't want to take her and she has teeth pulled and then feels like she was tricked. I fear this because she has a loose tooth right now that she won't let us near, which usually she lets her dad get them out.

Sorry this is so long winded, but I appreciate any help.

I know the dentist that my brother and sister went to when they were little they gave them a little mask with "laughing gas" and that made everything easier for them.
My oldest son is 4 right now and I usually tell him everything that's going on and he seems pretty cool with it no matter what it is. I always feel like telling the truth exactly how it is works best. He knows probably more than he should at his age. Lol

I think if she doesn't have the adult teeth she will either have to get implants or a bridge when she's older but what they would probably do in the mean time if they pull them is put a spacer in so that the other teeth don't move and cause spacing and end up having to have braces when she's older.

My 4 year old had his two front teeth loose from a fall and that's what my sister who's a dental hygienist told me about the spacer thing.

Good luck to your daughter and you!

If her dentist is a pediatric dentist, they may have a good way to tell/explain to her about it.
(You may need the gas so your reactions don't transfer to your daughter.)
They can answer any questions she might have.

It really depends on your child. My son needed to be completely knocked out, with IV drugs, at that age. He had several extractions. He has such a dental fear, he would not even wiggle his loose teeth. Nor let us. Gas and the narcotic drink didn't touch him.

My daughter had to have an extraction, and then a false "supernumerary" tooth removed when she was 6 or 7. She had the gas and a drink to make her sleepy. I recommend at least those 2. Gas alone is not always enough. My daughter did very well with that procedure and wasn't even nervous at all. Sounds like this would be plenty for your daughter. Having baby teeth removed is a fast easy procedure.

Very important, do not let your child see your nervousness. It makes all the difference. If it upsets you very much, you're better off if you stay out of the room.

You may need the gas so your reactions don't transfer to your daughter

Oh god, I so wish they would!

Thank you all for the help. I feel better now, like I can tackle it well. It's gonna be tough since her Daddy just left for 3 weeks of active duty :'( Ditches me for the tough stuff as always!!

I'm surprised to see all the info about knocking kids out!
We couldn't find a dentist willing to use sedation in kids under 18 unless it was an emergency. A friend with better insurance has complained of problems, too. (Not that either of us would use it lightly, our kids have special needs!)

My dd is a late tooth-loser. They have told me if there were no adult teeth, they might leave the baby teeth alone (as happened with my dh) until they were no longer usable, and then do implants. But there *are* adult teeth, they just grew slowly and are descending slower.

At 6, I might want a second opinion about extracting teeth that don't have replacements.