The older kid thread

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

but we won't let her watch Dark Crystal just yet

Those evil bird things scared the crap out of me as a kid!

[Wisconsin Beth]

I've never seen Dark Crystal.  Which is odd because I adored Jim Henson's work as a kid/teen. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I haven't seen it again as an adult.  Like Labriynth it has it's cult following.  Both bombed in the box office.

I read a biogprahy of Jim Henson recently and it talked a lot about both movies.  Jim really wanted to art/indie/sci fi/fantasy type films originally.  The Muppets were a happy accident.  Both movies were ways for him to break away from the Muppets. 

Both revolutionzed visual/special effects and puppetry.

[shanendoah]

NomoreDramaQ1015 - the birds are definitely scary. I know they scared C as a kid, and I still find them a little creepy. Doesn't stop us from owning the movie on DVD, so we can watch it anytime we want. But Pop Tart is not a Muppets fan ( ), so it's not something we are pushing. She did LOVE Labyrinth, though, so at least there's that.

For us, it really comes down to the reality that things that are a little scary for most kids are actually nightmare inducing, I can't walk down the hallway alone scary for Pop Tart. And yes, we need to get her past that, but we'll get there through therapy and creating a safe and loving long term home for her. At the end of this month, she will finally have been with us as long as she was with her previous foster to adopt family. We won't make a big deal of that, but we will make a big deal of the one year mark on May 1. A sense of permanency will hopefully go a long way with helping her with a lot of her issues. (The adoption did help, but that's really one day in court, and while she understands what it means, I don't think that had as much effect on her feelings of permanency as actually celebrating a year in the same place- something that hasn't happened since she was removed from her birth parents.)

[Wisconsin Beth]

I knew of Fraggle Rock but rarely got a chance to watch it.  We didn't get whatever channel it was on. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I hate you Anne, now I have the Fraggle Rock theme song stuck in my head!

-note-Clap your cares away ::clap clap::  Worries for another day!

I owned all the fraggle dolls.   I also have a 1985 Fraggle Rock Hallmark ornament.  My mom broke the original, I spent $33 on Ebay to get a replacement.   Original retail price $7.50

[raeoflyte]

I loved fraggle rock.  My uncle had cable and would tape things for us.  

Ds has come up with a Wild Kratts game that we have to play at home.  DD and I are Martin and Chris, Dh is Zak, and ds is a zakbot.     It's so fun to watch him come up with this stuff.  He was even telling me about it in his sleep (and he got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and his pullup was dry!)  

Shane--I was scared of everything as a kid.  I really didn't get over it until I was in my 20's honestly.  I can't imagine poptarts life experiences coupled with my scaredy cat personality.  I think its great that you are helping her build a foundation of trust before trying to teach her to just not be scared.  I tried not to let anyone know just how scared I was of stuff, but I did come up with a lot of prayer/meditation type stuff to calm myself down.  

[taz157]

Pretty mommy and cute kid there Wrongside.

[steph08]

Feb 1, 2014 22:30:47 GMT -5 @wrongsideof30 said:

Jan 28, 2014 12:21:08 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I don't know about Netflix but I know Grease is on Amazon Prime. 

You might want to check out Wrongsideof30's thread on movies, if you haven't been there.  I think her boys are around 8 and 10, give or take a year or so. 

You are good! They will be 8 and 10 next month. I'm pretty lenient with what they watch, but lately they are totally into Full House. They are so excited about the Super Bowl tomorrow because there will be a commercial with the Full House cast. 

Did you see the Jimmy Fallon skit this week with Danny, Joey, and Uncle Jesse? It was pretty good.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Cabe decided he wanted the blue guys to win, since blue is his favorite color.  Keira decided she wanted the orange guys to win, since it's closest to red.  Got to love kid logic. 

I tried to have them watch the Puppy Bowl.  It couldn't compete with playing house behind the living room chair.  I think Keira had the Kindle back there too.  For Zig and Sharko.    The kids found it - it's a series of short cartoons about a hyena, a shark, a mermaid and a hermit crab.  It's sort of along the lines of Tom and Jerry cartoons.  Zig is the hyena who wants to eat the mermaid.  Bernie the crab is his assistant/minion.  Sharko is the mermaid's protector.  The kids watch in on the Kindle, via the Toons section of Angry Birds. 

[raeoflyte]

Connor told me he's only going to learn science from now on. We were talking about manners, but oh well.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using proboards

[raeoflyte]

That's funny wrongside! 4 year old science is at least interesting and even entertaining. Dh is taking him to the science fair at his school today-he's in preschool at a public school up to grade 5. I'm looking forward to hearing what Connor thinks about it.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using proboards

[mizbear]

I love peeking in and reading all your kid-ventures.
I am having my own teen-kid-venture for several weeks.
I had to have surgery yesterday so TBear,, my older niece, has moved in to take care of me until I am functioning again.
It's hard to believe she will be.15 at the end of April.
You always hear lots of negatives abiut teens and kids in general... I don't think much thought is put into how they end up like that.

I was really weird about movies growing up. I liked John Wayne and most war movies, Disney and.musicals. My father used.to.pretty much let us watch everything.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Dear parents at dcp,
I'm really sorry if your kid picked up C's germs.  He's on antibiotics now.  But I had to send him to dcp yesterday because there was no way I could rest if he was home with me.  And I'm sicker than he is.  So I took the "take care of yourself first, so you can help others" route.  And his doctor did say he could go, because I asked. 
Embarrassed at sending a sick kid to dcp,
Beth

[raeoflyte]

I'm sure they already had his germs even before you knew he was sick.    Germs are the only thing the boogers share without a fuss.  

Hope you feel better soon!  

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 13, 2014 11:20:48 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

I'm sure they already had his germs even before you knew he was sick.    Germs are the only thing the boogers share without a fuss.  

Hope you feel better soon!  

Ain't that the truth.  You wouldn't believe the arguments over "who gets to lead" from the car to the house.  The 'non-leader' gets to pick out the first tv show. 

[Deleted]

Mine are still doing it while waiting for the bus. We switch up the "line leader" every other week. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 13, 2014 11:53:15 GMT -5 @beerwench said:

Mine are still doing it while waiting for the bus. We switch up the "line leader" every other week. 

We do it daily.  I never have a clue who's turn it is so I ask the kids.  Some days they trade spots. 

[mizbear]

We never had that problem BEth- my grandmother controlled the TV LOL

I always love it when people who work around food go to work sick because they can't afford to take off because their is no sick time- or they depend on tips....

It's a pet peeve having worked in the industry

[raeoflyte]

It makes me feel SO much better to hear that other peoples kids do that too.  

We've had complete melt downs if dh or I leave the house before ds...  

[Wisconsin Beth]

Feb 13, 2014 14:48:32 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

It makes me feel SO much better to hear that other peoples kids do that too.  

We've had complete melt downs if dh or I leave the house before ds...  

Anytime Rae.  Actually, the arguments are a step up.  Previously it was running and pushing and shoving and poor DD getting whacked by DS.  It still devolves to that some days but when it does happen (and I've witnessed it) she gets to pick tv as payback. 

[raeoflyte]

I don't know if its the same thing but Connor had something just like that wrongside. We were told its,a virus and to wait it out. Never itched or anything.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using proboards

[raeoflyte]

A few weeks.  We made him wear his swim shirt to swimming lessons because it looked terrible (doctor assured us it wasn't contagious) but we didn't want people to think we were infecting their kids.  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I always love it when people who work around food go to work sick because they can't afford to take off because their is no sick time- or they depend on tips....


That's nothing.  When DH worked for one of the largest meat producing companies in hte US, their attendence policy is you only get 7 pts for sick days.  Pts didn't fall off till exactly one year after you accured them.

So if I got 5 pts in December 2014 that means I only have 3 sick days left till December 2015.  8 pts you're fired no exception.

BUT if you got sent home by the staff nurse it didn't count.  DH witnessed people throwing up while working on the production lines because they couldn't take time off work.

Makes you feel good about the food you buy huh.

He said the USDA inspector had a hissy fit about it by the company stood by it's attendence policy.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Everyone had a good time at my sister's on Sat. night.  The kids want to do it again and she's willing to take them again.  Yay!  She would like chocolates as her payment so this week I'm going to take care of that. 

And my parenting fail - we were invited to a friend's martial arts studio for "sports night"  We took both kids, DH left to grocery shop and I was stuck there with the kids.  They didn't want me to leave.  Well, I snuck out and went out for coffee with the friend who'd invited us.  Got back and the kids cried (alot, apparently) when they realized I was gone and aren't letting me forgot it.  If I'd told them I was leaving, they have cried.  At least this way I didn't have to see/hear it...

And after we dropped the kids off at my sister's on Sat. night, we went out for dinner.  As we're leaving the restaurant, one of the staff calls out "hey, no kids!" and another had recognized us.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  This place does have a lot of gluten free patrons so it's not like we're the only ones coming with special needs.  But the last trip out there (a couple of weeks ago) involved multiple spillage of cups from the kids. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

How do you clean stuffed animals?  Cabe was sick on Tuesday night, repeatedly.  I tossed the pillow pets in the washer and decided to be grateful that only 1 other stuffed animal had a super small amount of puke on it and used a towel on it.  So far no smell.  And it's a hand me down stuffed kangaroo (with wire in it, I can feel it) and it's much loved by both kids. 

[Deleted]

I put them in a pillowcase and tie it. IDK if it helps or not, but I like to think it helps with wear and tear. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

delicate cycle?  reg. wash?  And line dry?  Or what dryer setting? 

[Deleted]

Delicates and low.

[shanendoah]

You could also try the dry cleaning sheets. But otherwise, in a pillow case, delicate cycle. Leave it in the case for the dryer. If there's no plastic on it, I'd go high heat for the dry. Otherwise, medium heat, but maybe run it through two cycles, or if you have a special dryer setting for things like comforters/quilts/sleeping bags, use one of those.