Regarding the "Rainbow Piano Technique," I know my son would take great issue with a rainbow that didn't include green, but had 3 different shades of brown. I notice that the notes somehow switch their color scheme--possibly at middle C, so that the child has to learn two sets of colors for the C scale. Possibly, the colors are different on the web in sRGB than they are in print, but the three shades of brown are hard to distinguish at a glance for me.

I'm waiting for my Trebellina DVD to see if A is indigo. If so, it's my ideal color arrangement, because it will fulfill my color sensitive child's sense of order. He hates seeing indigo discriminated against in a 6 color rainbow.

I don't know about putting it into a power point presentation, but if you just want to save the video, many video players, like RealPlayer allow you to download videos. There are also free applications like You Tube Downloader which allow you to download the video in it's .flv format, then convert it in a separate step to quicktime, .wav, mpeg4 format, or whatever you find most convenient.

I download You Tube videos to put on our mp3 player so my son can watch them on the go.

Note: using free applications downloaded from the net also carries the risk of spyware or malware, so you use at your own risk.

I would teach them with the articles. Take advantage of that photographic memory while you can. I remember my beginning French books all had the article, and I could picture the words with the illustration better than I could remember masculine/feminine.

I liked the consonant blend game on the first site under Language Materials. I think this game would be well suited to drawing on our driveway with colored chalk, and we could work some large muscle group action into it as well.

Adults learn sign language in order to work as interpreters, so why not?

It's funny how skewed our perspective can get gearing so much toward early intervention that a kindergarten age child seems "too old to learn."

My 3 year old is over-the-hill, it seems.

I'll have to show my sun the one about using sunblock tomorrow. We get out of the habit of using it in the winter, so we have to accustomize him to the habit again.

Thanks for this great resource!

I have no experience with this product, but I know that the resolution of my large TV is under 800x600, so it is much less clear than my laptop, which is set to 1280x1024 pixels. I imagine a high definition TV would have a much finer resolution, but if the resolution of the video itself is low, it won't help.

Watching it on a laptop would likely solve the issue of whether it was the limitation of the TV or whether it was the product, though.

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Lori. My heart goes out to your child who is working so hard to achieve what the other kids are taking for granted.

You are right that we have different standards for the intervention that we give our children--what is socially acceptable and encouraged. It reminds me a little of a story I read about a fictional society where people who were athletically talented were weighed down so they would compete equally, and people who were beautiful had to wear ugly masks for the sake of trying to equalize the playing field.

Your children are blessed to have you working for them, fighting for them, and pouring heart and soul into giving the best possible opportunities to learn.

I feel for you.

You might try saying, "I can't understand you when you talk like that. Can you tell me in your normal voice?"

It works for some people, anyway.

I like the idea of sewing them, as I'm sure the Ziploc bag would be opened or broken in no time at all. However, I'm not sure I could get a seam that would prevent the gel and glitter from squishing out the sides.

Another advantage to buying a digital piano if you are not yet in a home that you think you will stay for years--it is very costly and cumbersome to move a real piano, especially a grand. Then you have to pay to tune it after the move, because it shifts out of pitch when it is moved, sometimes so badly that you have to tune it a few months later (not the tuner's fault--it just happens).  You can easily spend as much as you would on a digital piano on the cost to move and retune a real piano.

Not that I would give up my real pianos for that reason, but it is a reason to wait if you're not yet in the home you think you'll have for a long time.

We did a kind of low key elimination communication method, which worked around 8-10 months, but then he got an independent streak and stopped cooperating.

Whenever we sat him down on the potty, we made the sign for potty and made a ch-ch watery sound. If he was successful, much praise. If he peed in the bath (pretty much every time) we made the same sound and sign, but no praise. Since he started peeing on the side of the tub when he put his hands under the tap when we started filling his bath, we put a urinal there made out of a milk jug, and he soon got the idea.

But he wasn't completely dry during the day until he was almost 2 and a half, but it was much more about not wanting to follow directions than not being able to control his function.

We bribed him a lot with books. 90% of his education probably took place on the potty.

In fact, when he learned to stand, one of the first things he did was to stand up off the potty, unleash the little hose on me, and laugh uproariously.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_ba_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dbaby-products&field-keywords=foldable+potty+seat&sprefix=foldable+

We have this with a boy. No shield, but it does have an opening through which the organ in question can be pointed down, and my son was trained early by his father to "point it down."

It is flimsier than a nonfoldable seat, but it does keep the child from contacting the public seat at all because the wings come over the front of the seat. I also carry a supply of Lysol wipes in a ziploc to clean the seat off afterwards, and the whole package fits into a pouch about 6 x 8 inches.

I nursed until shortly after my son turned 2. He wasn't ready to stop, but we were gently weaning him because we wanted another child.

The AAP recommends nursing until 1 if possible, and then as long as both parties are happy.

The World Health Organization recommends nursing till 2 if possible, and then encourages as long as both parties are happy.

I know women from many nonwestern cultures nurse regularly until age 4 or longer--then they come here and find themselves judged--so sad! It's so sad that "progress" is making mothers feel awkward about giving children something that is nurturing and healthy.

I am a big fan of the Baby Bjorn Little Potty for a young baby (my 8 mo old had a tiny tush) because it is smoothly contoured and didn't leave an angry red rim around his hiney.

When he was a little older, we switched to the Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer, which I highly recommend. http://www.amazon.com/BabyBj%C3%B6rn-Toilet-Trainer-White-Blue/dp/B000CSBOBO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1241048367&sr=8-1

I bought it at Babies R Us with the $5 off $25 coupon they have out periodically. It's about three times as expensive as the other potty seats, but I think it's worth it (and I'm a notorious cheapskate). Reasons are the smooth contour again (the little male unit won't get caught or scratched on the guard if he's inattentive) the fact that it cleans very easily with a Lysol wipe because it's one molded piece (others you have to take apart the vinyl cushion from the plastic base), and it also has adjustible wings that fit into the seat opening and lock the seat so that it doesn't shift at all. The child feels very secure that way. In fact, even though my 3 year old can probably sit on a regular seat now, he won't, because he finds his trainer more comfortable and will sit for half an hour looking at books.