Those "lawn guys"
 

Man, you guys have some tough ladybugs up there in the northwest.

Those "lawn guys"
 

Let's just say that punctuation (and spelling) were never my strong points. :-)

Of course, if this were the FB, I'd just call you a Timmy and be done with it.

Switching Topics...,
 

Probably late to the party, but India is a fabulous name. Old-fashioned, but unusual too.

The Processional
 

What's an SJD?


[Pass me the Vaseline? HA! Good one.]

Switching Topics...,
 

One billion Indians can't be wrong!

Shade plants
 

Whoah! I had no idea about the level of yard knowledge on here. Thanks so much to everyone for their responses. I have pictures of the new home and yard so if anyone feels like seeing and commenting on the tree, I can email it if I have your email. I think it's a big maple. Although the tree shades almost all of the back yard it is only the section of the yard with the roots (a big section) that is grass-less. Oh well. But after seeing the house again for the home inspection (the poor Inspector - single woman AND city dweller) I realize now the tree is not my problem. It will instead be ripping up the poop-colored carpet and then learning how to apply baseboard molding to cover the resulting gap between the hardwood floors and wall. Coincidentally an ex called the other day to say Hi (after 8 years!!!) and he's a carpenter. Shwing!

PS - Bilmore: so what the heck is going on with the baby loons? Is your son breast feeding them now?

Viet Mom

Shade plants
 

If it's a silver maple, you should have it taken out. They're cruddy trees and will start to die after about 40 years. In the meantime, they'll drop branches on you. If it's a sugar maple, though, do what you can to save it.

Another reason to wait to potty-train
 

Baby's Diaper Absorbs Snake Venom
Jun 25, 7:29 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A diaper proved to be a life-saver when a venomous snake bit an Israeli infant, a doctor said Friday.
The 12-month-old baby, who had been playing in the backyard, was rushed to a hospital only after his parents noticed fang marks on the diaper and swelling on his bottom while giving him a bath in the evening.

"He had been bitten by a venomous snake," Dr Kobi Assaf of Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital told Israel Radio. "Luckily, the snake injected its venom into the diaper on coming into contact with it and most of the poison did not penetrate the skin."

Doctors said there was no need to administer an antidote but the baby would remain in the hospital for observation.


LINK

reading aloud
 

I'm curious when people started reading books without (many) pictures to their kids, and what books they started with. Not sure L'il Ty would go for this yet, but maybe it's worth a try.

reading aloud
 

I think 4 or 5, but try. If he's not ready then no big deal, put the book on a shelf for a year.

fwiw, One great early book is "Boy" Raoul Dahl's autobio of his school years. funny for you and little Ty.

reading aloud
 

I started reading the Harry Potter books to my son when he was about four and a half.

He was able to pay attention to "chapter books" (for example the "Magic Treehouse" series -- at least I think that's what it's called) before he was four. It had to be a subject that he was interested in, however. (For him, it was dinosaurs -- which reminds me, every time I'm logged into lawtalkers from home and he sees your avatar, he asks me to go back so he can look at it some more.) He was interested in dinosaur books ("scientific" ones -- you know, with bones and scientific names and things) long before he turned four, but he wouldn't have been able to sit through Harry Potter.

He also liked the "Junie B. Jones" series when he was about four (and still likes it). Some parents don't like JBJ, because Junie uses a lot of incorrect grammar -- but I think the books are funny and really speak to kids his age. Besides, my son points out her grammatical errors (he is, after all, his mother's son!), so I'm not worried that he'll pick up bad habits from that.

I think the first "real" book he sat through in its entirety was Charlotte's Web, and that was two summers ago, which means he was almost four. That was followed by James and the Giant Peach -- another big hit with him.

reading aloud
 

I started reading to both the Wonk Princess and the Wonk Monster when they were newborns. The first book I read to them was "I'll Love You Forever." After that, I moved on to other simple books like "Hello Moon." I found that even though they couldn't follow the story, the cadence of my voice as I read and the pictures both soothed them and helped them get to sleep.

I think that starting at a very early age made them curious about books and I attribute the fact that they were both early readers to that fact.

reading aloud
 

Ty obviously likes to read, but he has very poor reading comprehension skills.

reading aloud
 

The Velveteen Rabbit. Winnie the pooh - the original books and poetry from When We Were Six. The Littles series (tiny people with tails). Ty, I will ask my mom this afternoon - she teaches Pre-K.

reading aloud
 

I started about 2mos old with the Lexling. He adores books - he flaps his fat little arms when he sees them and makes monkey noises. It's a riot.