Bumble, you might be my DD's biological mom LOL. Her (self imposed) goal this summer is to cook more "real meals." She already bakes a lot, with some supervision, and makes pancakes independently. Her real obsession these days is duct tape. She has made a variety of wallets, purses, etc. She usually makes at least one a day. She has probably 25 rolls of various colors and patterns at the moment. I honestly don't think I could make one of those wallets myself, and I'm fairly crafty...or used to be! She has her own glue gun. Tish, like you say, she's not a great speller or much of a reader but she can read complicated directions or a recipe and figure it out no problem, so she's all set!

The Other Side...I think we agree on this topic slightly more than you give credit...what I said was: "There is healthy bonding with your child that is less "child centered" and establishes more independent children" I think from the sounds of it you have formed a relatively healthy attachment to your kids while fostering independence at the same time. My post was really more directed toward unhealthy "spouse replacement" type attachments with children. Your example of letting a 4 month old cry until they vomited is interesting and debateable of course. It is easy to judge without all the info. From your description it sounds on the outset horrible, as it conjurs images of a child left to cry for hours in abusive neglect, however, without the full story I reserve my judgement. Is it possible the parent not adequately burp the baby and the baby vomited after less than 15 min of crying? The parent did go in and change them. It is possible that it was not as abusive as it sounds, but rather a very normal process every parent must go through to allow their infant an opportunity to learn to "self-soothe" in order to develop good sleep habits that last a lifetime? It sounds as if you have the one child? Regarding the 16 year old world traveler. I can't say in this day and age I would send my child (16 is still a child) to travel alone in europe. I suspect it was with a school group (that is not alone)? Otherwise...I cannot give you the "way to go" you are looking for. I simply cannot agree that it is a "good" thing that your 16 year old "did" europe all alone. I am glad you and your ex Husband agreed...I presume a lack of closeness was not what broke up your marriage then? Regarding the pill swallowing...if you can swallow food...you can swallow a pill. Unless you take your sustainance via a straw...you can swallow something that big. Unless someone can show me in the DSM a diagnosable illness that precludes you from swallowing something smaller than stuff you put down your pie whole 3 times a day...I am not buying it! Your mother did you a disservice not teaching you that life skill earlier. I plan to ensure that every one of my children can swallow a pill. Sorry that hit a nerve...It is ridiculous!!!! Its a flippin pill! ok you can yell at me now. Ha ha

Hi Seajay! I am glad to see you are making progress! It is very rainy here today on the Gulf coast! I have a contractor remodeling our master bath right now! The soak tub has been converted to a walk-in shower. And the old shower is being framed as a closet! They have been here since Tuesday, and they are almost done today! Yay! The painter we are hiring just called and wants to start next Tuesday! OMG, my head is spinning!😂🤣😂

When kids toys and bits and pieces are all over the house or piled in piles or boxes, it all becomes one big scramble of mess. My own now grown kids never had so much that it was hard to keep up with. But, my grandchildren have so darned much stuff with little parts that never are all in one place that most of it is just worthless junk. If you can manage to cull it out and take the best of them, put the pieces all together and put them on a shelve, take them out to use them and put them back there will be more appreciation for more of them. Having too much is the bane of our clutter and mess. I know it sounds like a lot of effort, but having fewer things to wrestle with is the key to enjoying it all more. When you begin to look for alternative storage ideas it is evidence that you need to look to pare it all down. You can't stuff ten pounds of stuff in a five pound bag.