Piffffllle on all of you. I have to wear reading glasses now if I really want to read the fine print any more. I can't do all the tilling, hauling, spreading mulch and digging holes in the garden any more and I really don't want to. I stopped cleaning gutters and blowing leaves off the roof before I moved but I was up the ladder in a New York minute the other day when My grandson confided in me that he was afraid of heights after I had him climb up there to remove a tree limb. He finally did get the limb off, I'm sure because he didn't want to be outdone by his grandmother. I'm checking with the hospital about mixng up babies because MY grandson surely wouldn't be afraid of heights.:0) I still cook all the time if that counts for anything, and I can still chase dust bunnies with the best of them. I never used to have backaches but just spent most of last week and this weekend taking muscle relaxers and lying on the heating pad. Lord luv a duck, I feel like such a wuss compared to the rest of you. I talk to myself a lot but haven't talked to any trees lately. I did bend my bumper on some bricks but if you had to try and manuever your car out of my backyard with all those trucks parked back there you would have dented your bumper to. I don't even think that counts because Neil still doesn't know I did it, sometimes it helps when ones spouse can't see anything. The more I think about it, I do pretty darn good chasing our 4 pound ball of fluff all over this house to retrieve all the things she tries to scarf down that she isn't supposed to have, like twist ties from the bread, a nickle, broomstraws, strings, her poop, well you get the idea. I must have crawled under the sofa, bed, chairs a million times today to get the little squirt's ball for her. Shoot! now that I think about it, I'm getting around like a spring chicken and maybe I have a few good years left in these old bones. Marda, I couldn't even stand up on a skateboard so my hat's off to you. Sheila, I have that book. Suzy, I've had thin fine hair all my life so I expect to go bald any day now. Do they still make wigs? I'm going to bed now, it'll take me all night to fall asleep and tomorrow I may just try out a new skate board. Yeah right!

Great ideas. Our granddaughter just turned one in May.She's a little too young to share my love for gardening and flowers right now. At the end of a flagstone path that leads from our back deck through an arbor covered with evergreen Wisteria, theres an area with a swing and many perennials and colorful garden decorations for her to look at. For her First Birthday party I had everyone paint a nice sized smooth rock with whatever they wanted and put there name on it. The grownups enjoyed craft time too!They were all placed in the flower beds of her Secret Garden. I can't wait to be able to do some of the activities that Lizzie has suggested.

I'm reading this as DGS naps. I've been keeping him since DD2 returned to work - 32 months now. Her original days/hours varied and were long, but this last year has been easier at four days a week, and I'm home between 5-6pm. Sometimes earlier, but it's usually 12-13 hours after I wake up. I enjoy every single moment. She receives no support (not getting into details, but it's for the best) so she can't afford to pay for childcare. I don't need the money, so it's my pleasure. I don't have all the free time I used to have, but I don't miss it at all... and I miss him dearly on days I don't see him! For me, this is a one time thing - other current grandchild and any future grandchildren from any of our three adult children doesn't and won't receive. I'm only getting older. ;) In your case, you work and they know it. So to be asked (or expected) to provide childcare is just ridiculous. There are two of them that work, so it seems like they could certainly afford daycare. Might not be what they want, but they should have planned ahead. We cannot see the future, but some things should be worked out ahead of time. Life's curve balls require changes that cannot be foreseen, but it's up to them to figure those out and they shouldn't expect anyone else to do it for them. Volunteering to provide childcare and being expected to provide are two entirely different subjects. This post was edited by allison0704 on Tue, Jun 24, 14 at 15:55

I've never heard that "SWAN" but really that's it! They nickname it "Happy to Starve" in gastro school (per my gastroenteroligist) And many call it "Putnam's Syndome" but that's just a nick name as well given that Dr. Putnam has spent so much time analzying kids with this problem. They tell me it's a great deal like when you're told your child has died of SIDS. There is always a reason children die, but systemically they can't find the reason and so you get SIDS. With us, we got Putnam's or SWAN I guess (Dr Putnam is our doctor as well) :o( Eating disorders normally happen with children who have special needs, like autistic children, children with brain disorders, etc., but we don't have any of those problems so the fun part of this is dealing with insurance companies for treatment, when he has no official disease (his actuall diagnosis is Fail to Thrive without reason). The insurance companies seem to want him to go ahead and "Fail" and we insist that isn't the route we want to go. I learned abut the Kennedy Kreiger clinic on feeding disorders and while reading realized they were describing my child to a T! They do work with kids with much more significant issues involved in their eating problems (ie cleft pallet or inability to swallow etc) but they also have a place for the Jesse's of the world who just won't eat because it hurts. Somehow we need to figure out why it hurts before we begin treatment....that's the hard part. But fortunately we're going to do more poop testing first, instead of anything that will hurt him. Thanks for SWAN. I'm going to have to keep that on the tip of my tongue because I'm tired of having to explain this over and over and over to people who want to hear a name fancier than "Happy to Starve" (Which actually fits him to a T as well)