Makeup & Beauty Monday: Age Defense Face Sunscreen

Lord help me, every time I say I have a pregnancy symptom my husband says “same here!”

Looking for some book recommendations…my 6yo is obsessed with two and only two book series: Catwad and Who Would Win. He’s now read all of them multiple times and is looking to branch out…but to what? Any recommendations from parents of similarly-minded kids?

Curious what others would do here and apologies for the long post as I am still processing my thinking on this. My 6 year old is in school with another boy that he always describes as “acting wild.” In truth, I think the boy has some significant ADHD-type issues that are a bit more than standard as he has his own paraprofessional in school with him at all times. This boy and my son are friends but sometimes get into “fights” that my son feels very badly about. For example, there was a period my son flat out didn’t want to go to school because this boy was being so mean to him after he didn’t share something with him. My son also picks up a lot of bad habits that I personally don’t love from this boy – certain expressions and rude mannerisms, yelling that he normally doesn’t do, etc. In short, this is not a friend that I enjoy my son spending time with because he usually ends up acting worse immediately after. This boy’s parents are nice people but also don’t seem to have a firm hand on any of this from what I have seen. But he’s also a child and I am certainly not holding anything against him or even his parents as I know it’s all hard. We used to see him mostly in the park by our school but lately have been getting invites for one on one play dates at their place. These are all drop off and I’ve been declining politely as most of the time they also don’t work for our schedule. Yesterday, the mom reached out to me and said that she understood friend was a lot sometimes but that he behaves better one on one at home and he really likes my son, and to please let her know when we could arrange something. I feel awful declining now but also don’t really want to send my son to their house alone and, honestly, don’t have so much time that I can accompany him and just sit there, not that it’s even been offered. I feel like an a—hole continuing to say no, but I also don’t think my son needs to go to anyone’s house just because that’s easier for them. Up till now, most of my kid’s friendships have been easy and organic so this is new territory for me. FWIW, I asked my son and he likes the boy a lot and likes spending time with him – in part he said because this boy also has all the special baseball and Pokémon cards, all the other toys, etc., that my kid wants and is obsessed with but he also makes him feel bad whenever he does not get what he wants such as when my son won’t trade him a Pokémon card he wants or some silliness. Where is the line here between being kind and accepting and just going above and beyond? If this was a child in a wheelchair and his parents invited my son over because that was easiest for them and my son wanted to go, I would find a way to make it work. Is this different because it leads to some hurt feelings and/or acting out? Would appreciate some insights from others, particularly those with kids who may have some behavioral issues for their perspective.

Another “tell me it will be okay” post! My 4.5 yr old son spent most of his 2s and 3s almost completely unable to hear. With tubes almost a year ago, his hearing immediately improved, and he’s been in intense speech therapy for a year. His speech caught up remarkably fast, so now he’s completely closed the significant delay he initially had. But, clearly, he missed some emotional learning during this time, and is definitely behind on emotional regulation/social stuff, etc. Essentially, he is physically the size and emotional age of a 3 year old, though his speech and chronological age is 4.5. Just for context, other parents will usually remark how articulate he is for 3, then pause, and nod quietly when I say he’s actually 4. On the “strong recommendation” of literally every professional in his life (pediatrician, OT, PT, speech), we’ve already decided to hold him next year, and start K a year late.

Okay, fine. So I’ve had a very relaxed approach to very noticeable differences between him and other 4 year olds (many of whom are younger 4s). But I took him to a classmate’s birthday party yesterday at a local park, and I guess it just made me so disheartened seeing him around a bunch of kids his age. The boys ran around playing an imaginative game, looking a bit like a professional soccer team, while most of the girls participated in an orderly fashion in all the planned activities at the party. He was off by himself, playing imaginary games — he loves fairies and magic, and maybe he played with one other little girl? Once? The parents were talking about how their kids are all starting organized sports, and I was celebrating that he didn’t have a full scale meltdown when it was time to leave. My son has expressed interest in sports, but hasn’t participated in a full class of any activity yet. He usually loses interest, and sits down. I *know* he’s young, and 4 is still really a baby, but man — yesterday felt like I was watching a bunch of big kids, while my son still feels like a 3 year old.

Tell me your stories of your late bloomers catching up … I don’t care what he actually wants to do, I just want him to be able to hang with his classmates :(