Who Has Children?

[Joanne]

Just curious who has children here? How many and how old are they? Tell us a bit about them.

Here's my kids...this picture was taken last week in front of our house.

My twelve year old daughter is on the left, my nine year old daughter is in the middle and my fifteen year old son is on the right.

My nine year old is a future president or scientist (maybe both if she has her way). She's self-motivated and very focused on her goals. She loves dancing, writing stories (she's had one published in an unschooling ezine), learning new skateboarding tricks, anything about Albert Einstein and playing online. My 12 year old daughter is my dreamer. She's sensative and wears her heart on her sleeve. She loves riding horses, reading, motocross (she's really good on the dirt bike!) and anything having to do with the colonial period. She wants to be a horse trainer. My 15 year old loves anything having to do with cars, especially car racing (mostly nascar) and thinking about girls. Oh, how he loves girls-lol He likes playstation, reading and bike riding also.

[Milehimama]

children...

I've got 4 boys and 3 girls. My oldest is 9, and goes to the local elementary school. The others all homeschool with me.

My 8 yo son wants to be a pastry chef (a boy after my own heart) and treasure hunter.

6 yo girl loves to draw. 5 yo boy loves Star Wars. 3 yo and 2 yo girls love tea parties. I do Montessori with them at home. And the baby, 9 months, is the fastest little scooter. He's got the G.I. Joe crawl down!

[Joanne]

Seven kids? That's great! I always wanted a lot of kids or none at all. Before we adopted our three, we actually considered a sibling group of six but didn't really have enough room.

We're homeschoolers also....for the last four years. We love it!

[Ronni]

I have an ADORABLE five-year-old boy named Aidan.

[amandajane]

I've got a 9 year old boy whose too cute for his own good :0)

He's into money in a big way, he's just started a finance4kids blog (which of course I'm helping him with). Hopefully it will teach him wise financial habits as he grows older.

He's a sportman, loves soccer and baseball. Enjoys reading and technology too. He is a playstation and xbox gamer and the only game I can beat him on is pga tour golf (I can't beat Tiger Woods though, lol)

All in all he's a great kid, a tad accident prone but I think that comes with being an active kid!

[kav122]

I have a little boy who will be turning one next Wednesday. His name is Xavier, and I think he is the CRAZIEST boy ever. He likes to run around and chase our lab, pretend like he is sneezing, and eat dog food. Yeah, I know. Actually he eats ANYTHING. I can't wait to hear his ideas and thoughts when he starts talking.

MileHiMama-7 kids and the oldest is 9?? You deserve a medal!!! My husband and I always joke because he is Mexican and we are both Catholic that we are destined to have a dozen or so I am all for it, I just want to get done with grad school first! :/

AmandaJane-was your boy "active" when he was little. Our boy is the definition of active and sometimes I wonder if he will be labeled ADHD when he gets older. Personally, I think he is fun and me and my husband are both active, so I am hoping that it will be a positive thing, not something discouraging or that will hinder him in school.

Joanne-They are adorable! And such high aspirations. I remember when I wanted to be a lawyer and a scientist and the president and a doctor I know you hear people say "you can be ANYTHING you want to be" but it is SO TRUE!!! I wish someone would have pounded that harder into my head.

Ronni-I can't see the picture of Aidan, but I'm sure he is adorable! It is probably because I am on my work computer.

[Joanne]

Originally Posted by kav122

Joanne-They are adorable!

Thank you.

[Gootsy]

I do not have children, but I do have a child related question.

My nephew is 25 months old, and I do look after him a lot. He's developing nicely I believe, but he isn't talking clearly very much.

Yesterday I was reading about some kids who are 21 months old and saying many words.

This kinda worries me since really my nephew only says, "No" "Mama" "car" "cat" "dad"
"pop pop(popcorn)". Oh I should add that he's been taught sign language so can say, "Please" "More" "Bottle/milk" "poop" "Water" and a few other I've forgotten.

So should I be getting a little worried about this? Is there anything I could do to help him learn to talk sooner, when I spend time with him?

[Joanne]

I wouldn't worry about it. Not all children develop the same as other kids. If his parents think there's something to be concerned about, they can talk to their pediatrician but he's so young. Give him time.

[kav122]

Originally Posted by Gootsy

I do not have children, but I do have a child related question.

My nephew is 25 months old, and I do look after him a lot. He's developing nicely I believe, but he isn't talking clearly very much.

Yesterday I was reading about some kids who are 21 months old and saying many words.

This kinda worries me since really my nephew only says, "No" "Mama" "car" "cat" "dad"
"pop pop(popcorn)". Oh I should add that he's been taught sign language so can say, "Please" "More" "Bottle/milk" "poop" "Water" and a few other I've forgotten.

So should I be getting a little worried about this? Is there anything I could do to help him learn to talk sooner, when I spend time with him?

I'm no expert, but I thought I heard somewhere that when a kid is 12-23 months (1 year) they should be saying 1 word i.e mama, dada, car, etc. 24-35 months (2 years) they should be saying 2 words i.e. what's that? want mama, bye-bye, etc., then 3 for 3 years, then full-fledged talking.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong about that, but its seems as if your nephew is right on target. As Joanne said, every kid is different. I think that doctors do more investigation when the child WAS talking, and then suddenly reverts and/or stops.

Also, other factors come into play. My husband is a native Spanish speaker, so he only speaks Spanish to our son. The pediatrician said that he might be delayed in his speaking ability for the first couple of years, then catch up, because of the bilingual factor. So far I haven't noticed a delay, but I can see how that would make things harder when the child is just starting out.