Nightingale

When they watch television, make sure that the close captioning is on. Children with deaf family members tend to have much higher level reading skills than children who watch an equal amount of television but do not watch with the close captioning on the tv. It's something easy that you can do to give your kids a head start, and it lets them learn without realizing they're learning. Any extra exposure you can give them to language is always a plus. Language will give them the tools they need to learn whatever they want to. Read to them. Take them to the library. Participate in the summer reading incentive programs at your public library. Teach them a respect for books. Every birthday (along with their other presents), buy them a special hardcover book and write an inscription in it. It's something they'll treasure as they grow. Expose them to new places. Take them to aquariums, zoos, and museums that have age appropriate exhibits. Get them involved in the Junior Ranger programs if you have a national park or ranger station nearby. Take them to the beach to watch the grunions run or to the mountains to see a bald eagle. Take them to as many national parks as you can and talk to them about what is unique about each of them. Teach them about their bodies and how they work. Buy an encyclopedia. I think ChildCraft still makes a good children's encyclopedia, but an adult one works too, once kids are in grammar school. Keep it in an obvious place, and pick out a volume every night and open it randomly to learn something new. Make it a game. When they ask "why", answer them. If they are old enough to ask, they are old enough for an answer. Never shut down their curiosity about the world, about life, and about how you made your decisions. Children learn by example, so use their questions as an opportunity to demonstrate logical thinking and good decision making. Encourage experimentation. If they ask a question, don't always just hand them the answer. If it's something that can be researched, look it up together, even if you already know. If it's something that can be tested or experimented, work through the scientific method and form a hypothesis, make an experiment and test your hypothesis, and draw a conclusion, even if it makes a mess of your kitchen. Remember, learning is fun! Don't force them to learn. Make them want to learn by presenting learning opportunities in a fun way, and accept that sometimes your kid will lose interest, and that's okay, let them move on to the next thing that interests them.

No idea what channel yet, but I'm skipping my gymnastics class to watch.

((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))

That's like saying congress could enact nation-wide religious regulation by stating that the regulation of religious texts crossing state lines is necessary to control interstate commerce. The supreme court would call bullshit on both those arguments. The commerce clause doesn't trump the second amendment any more than it trumps the first amendment. Using the commerce clause to regulate where people could take firearms was pretty much already shot down by the Supreme Court in US. v. Lopez. " In Lopez, the Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, declared unconstitutional a 1990 congressional statute that had made it a federal crime to possess a gun on school property. The chief justice emphasized "first principles" and federalism and concluded that the possession of a gun in a local school zone was not an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, "substantially affect" interstate commerce. Rather, he argued, the statute in question was an attempt by Congress to exercise a nonexistent national police power over a subject—criminal law—that was primarily of state and local concern." (case summary quoted from answers.com)

Honestly, since gun ownership is protected by the 2nd amendment (therefore making it a national issue), I'd like to see gun laws be mostly uniform throughout the nation, not just throughout a state. It just seems silly that I can buy a regular capacity magazine for my handgun across the border in Arizona, but bringing it here to California, which only allows limited capacity magazines, is illegal. Why should a citizen of Arizona have more rights than I do on a constitutional issue?

I'm glad my birth mother made the choice not to have an abortion, but I'm glad she had a choice, and if I'd been in her situation at her age, I'd have made the same choice she did. I'm just not going to force my choice or Kim's choice on a pregnant teenager whose situation I don't know.

I met my birth mother and four other siblings and grandmother and two absolutely adorable nephews (more kids to help spoil! YAY!) a month or so ago, and they're all wonderful and getting to know them has been a blessing. I am very grateful to Kim that she was able to recognize that she wasn't in a good position to raise a child when she was pregnant with me, and giving me up was totally her decision and my family is the most amazing family ever, but I am so glad for the opportunity to get to know Kim and my new brothers and sisters and all too! Being able to look at photos of relatives and say "wow, I look like my sister Mandy!" is really cool and something I haven't been able to do before. I'm sorry your daughter's experience wasn't as positive, but it seems like she has an awesome family already and has recognized that and hasn't fallen into negative behavior patterns and at least she has a more complete medical history at this point, which is always a good thing. It sounds like you did a great job raising her.

Adoption.com is a great resource for all aspects of the adoption process, as well as for adult adoptees and birth families seeking reunion.

There is no shortage of adoptable children here in the US. There may be a shortage of healthy, white babies in particular (and healthy babies in general), but there is not a shortage of children, even healthy children, waiting to be adopted. "More than 100,000 children in the United States are in foster care waiting for permanent families." -Adoption.com They can even browse a photolisting of available adoptable US children here. http://photolisting.adoption.com/

Maintaining a current passport is always a good idea, and it does make border crossing much easier. Birth certificates aren't uniform (for example, mine is labeled "altered" and got some really weird looks when I came back from Mexico) but everyone recognizes a passport.

Yup. Same as if it was bought from a regular Sears brand-new with no damage.

Congratulations!!!!! WRT the fridge, find out if there is a Sears outlet in your area. A lot of times they have floor models there that have a scratch or two on the sides from being moved around in the store, but once the fridge is in its little cubbyhole in the kitchen, you don't see the sides anyway, and you can get a great deal and pay hundreds less than you would otherwise. It's definitely worth a look. I got mine there and saved about $600 off the retail price.

Late spring/early summer is fabulous if you want to get eaten alive by mosquitos. Bytch is right... wait for midsummer and combine it with Prairie. Glacier's only about an hour and a half or so away, so you can just stay at the DZ and do as many day hikes or swoops as you want to.

Because there are many other important things happening in the California election. There's not just one item on the ballot this November. Even if your vote won't make a difference in how California's electoral college votes are allocated, your vote will count towards deciding very important issues here in California.

Of course the NRA is biased. Any organization with an agenda is going to be biased towards that agenda. However, in this case, the NRA is, for the most part, looking at Obama's voting record, while factcheck is looking at his campaign rhetoric. In some cases, factcheck is correct and what the NRA is saying is spin. In others, Obama is saying one thing and voting a different way, and the NRA is saying that how he votes speaks louder than what he's spouting on the campaign trail.

Asking if she's available is not a bad thing. Assuming she wouldn't be (and stumbling over words and assuming she's not interested anyway, etc) shows a lack of confidence, which is unattractive.

I don't know but usually when I do something wrong and say lets just have Sex, the S word doesn't work for me That's because sex and sushi are not the same word.

For a first date, I would either expect (depending on how well I knew the guy before going out with him) something like starbucks, in which case, about $10, or billiards and drinks at Dave and Busters for a few hours, which I guess would be around $50 or so. I also wouldn't mind doing something like a picnic in a park, which wouldn't cost any more than whatever food was packed. It's not the cost of the date, it's the quality of the company that matters.

I don't know. I don't know that we were ever sent his ethnic ancestry beyond "white". Mine is Irish/Scottish/English/Dutch/German. I met my birth mother about a month ago.

That pretty much only works at the dropzone.

So THAT explains it!! So you are saying that my typical: "Yo, Sweet Cheeks... YOU ME Sushi.. Whadda you say??" Isnt always the best way to ask a girl out? I knew I must be doing something wrong. I don't know... the S word will allow for the forgiveness of quite a lot.

Dinner is too much to ask from someone you don't know well. Ask for coffee next time. That way, she knows that if she decides you're an idiot halfway through, she's only committed to one cup of coffee (30 minutes or so) rather than spending hours with you for dinner. She's more likely to take a chance on you and say yes. Also, it's in the way you ask. WRONG: Hey, baby/honey/sweetheart... what do you say I take you to *wink* dinner? WRONG: Um...you're probably busy or not interested or have a boyfriend or husband or something but, would you, um, maybe, want to, you know, sometime, I don't know, have dinner? RIGHT: Hi. I heard about this great new restaurant in Little Italy. Want to meet me there for dinner on Tuesday?

I don't know about bars, but if you have time, go see Penn and Teller at the Rio. They're wonderful!!!!

When I was little, I looked quite a lot like my brother, but we're not biologically related at all. You can't go just on looks, unfortunately.

Heal fast!!!