Just a little note--I am not demeaning the author for her opinion, or belittling the enormous pile of information she has painstakingly accumulated and graciously shared to make things easier for others.

But on the page http://theclassicalmommy.com/wheretostartIN.html where she discusses values and priorities, she makes a rather bold statement, "If you share the Christian Faith, then the only alternative obedient to your Faith is to ‎educate children at home."

Now I understand that this is her website and she has the right to believe this and to promote it, but I put this out there to demonstrate that this is a person who has no problem generalizing her experience to make blanket statements about the rest of the world, so just keep this in mind when reading her other opinions.

We've been checking out Meet the Sight Words from the library often enough that my son yesterday at dinner just spouted out "www.preschoolprepco.com" for no reason that we could see. I guess they learn more than just the sight words.

The Meet the Sight Words have their own boxed set on Amazon for about $30 (fluctuates between $30 and $32). You get 15 sight words per video. My son loves them and learned half of them in the first 1-2 weeks.

We've checked out Meet the Shapes from the library as well, because he was attracted to the familiar characters. I wouldn't say it was as educational, but what we both like is the barn dance when you can choose a character to dance with to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. Then my son imitates their dances, so it's a little interactive aerobics session, especially because he has to dance with all of them.

I think it's a great formula on the words because the words themselves become characters that the kids can focus on. The first word is "of" which turns into a plumber holding a wrench (the f is the wrench). My son will walk around with a pretend wrench trying to fix pretend pipes muttering "of" over and over.

Very interesting.

I grew up in a Mandarin speaking home, but I tended to treat the sounds like background noise as well. Pity.

I found it a little difficult to find the flash cards article on the site, so I thought I'd post a separate link for anyone else who had trouble.

http://theclassicalmommy.com/theflashcardapproacheIN.html

We're past breastfeeding now, but I used to nurse on the floor in front of the TV with a tape of my favorite cooking show. When my son saw any cooking show go by when someone was flipping channels, he would automatically go to the couch and pull a cushion down to the floor, then drag me over to the cushion to nurse him. Talk about your Pavlovian responses!

This site is sucking up way too much time for me a well, and I just started! I was hoping it got better.

I think they go by the number of posts you've made.

You're almost to 18 months anyway, but you can get the chicken pox vaccine any time after 12 months old.

I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well!

6. My son is three years old and has never seen a flashcard with little dots on it.
7. He doesn't know what the capital of Sudan is.
8. I don't know what the capital of Sudan is. Or where exactly Sudan is.
9. I had to look up Sudan on Wikipedia just now to make sure it was a country. Fortunately, it is, and is in northeastern Africa. But then, you probably already knew that.

1. I set aside my son's portion before I mix in the cilantro/red pepper/carrots so I won't have to wait an eternity at meal time as he picks it all out, or staunchly refuse to eat.
2. We watch TV nearly everyday for an hour. Most of it is educational, but I like the Backyardigans as much as he does.
3. The TV and the computer can teach my son something much faster and more pleasantly than I can. He believes anything as long as there's a jingle to it, but won't  believe me when I tell him the "Y" can make at least three different sounds.
4. I don't buy organic most of the time. I try to cook a variety of foods, but my son's favorite foods are still chicken nuggets and pizza.
5. I have no desire to homeschool.

I thought all the different worksheets for tracing letters, and all the different games looked like they would be very useful as well. It took me a while to find the morally oriented stories but I found them finally:

http://kidsfront.com/stories-for-kids/moral_oriented/

if anyone else gets distracted like me!

The handwriting practice sheets looked useful, as you end up using those over and over. Thanks!

I hated leaving when my baby was crying and reaching out for me. It hurt so much to walk away from him! I think it's a lot harder on us, because a few minutes after you are out of sight, the babies are usually distracted and fine again, but we're still thinking about it until we see our little one again.

Separation anxiety also often comes and goes. Your baby may get over it for a few weeks, then it comes back. You can play a lot of peek a boo games when you are together to reinforce that you are coming back when he can't see you. Usually when leaving him with someone, it's best to not prolong the good bye, even when he is howling. Leaving a favorite blanket or other comforting item can help. One mother found out that if she left her keys, her child (older, I think) felt reassured she was coming back.

Hang in there. It passes eventually.

I'm glad that you have managed to get him to sleep 12 hours at night--that was a major accomplishment! I responded more on your other thread about naps. You are right--every baby is different. We went through many of the same steps that you did, but what worked for us was somewhat different, since crying it out led to 2 hour crying marathons. You were wise to not trust any one method or philosophy but recognize that your child is unique.

My husband doesn't watch a terrible amount of TV, especially since we don't have cable (we don't need anything else to drain our time). He does know that pediatricians advise against children under 2 year old watching TV, so when our son was born, he tried to only watch in another room (although my son would follow him and plunk down to watch golf or football quite naturally).

Maybe your husband would cut down for the sake of your child if he wouldn't do it just for himself?

Is stripping off his diaper and chucking it into the corner of the crib considered a milestone? My son managed that at four months. He pried out his first electrical outlet safety plug at 7 months right after he got mobile, and ripped off his first cabinet safety lock shortly afterwards.

Strange that there's nothing on the pediatrician checklist about those milestones!

Your baby sounds darling. This month, she's looking at her hands. Next month, she discovers just what those little hands can do!