General discussion - Mom and Dad Esq.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by dtb
One might even say especially about immediate relatives.

that Sock called me a liar and you converse with it? You better learn what side your bread is buttered on.

[dtb]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
that Sock called me a liar and you converse with it? You better learn what side your bread is buttered on.

Hank, dearest, are you on the drugs again?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by dtb
Hank, dearest, are you on the drugs again?

Let me be frank, Shape Shifter and i are worried about some of your new friends, like this SAM- he's seems a bad apple, and he smells of burnt rope.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Let me be frank, Shape Shifter and i are worried about some of your new friends, like this SAM- he's seems a bad apple, and he smells of burnt rope.

NTTAWWT.

Anyhow, so your wife was truly forbidden from bringing red and green M&Ms? Holy smokes. You should move.

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Gosh, I killed it.

I did not realize that I was _dangerously_ dull.

S_A_M

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
I did not realize that I was _dangerously_ dull.

Sorry you had to find out this way.

[tmdiva]

So, I'm looking to buy a non-electric breast pump. Just for making the occasional bottle and for getting a little milk to mix with cereal, etc. I've been using the piston-action hand setup with the Medela kit I had to buy when I rented a hospital unit, but it's quite ineffective--hand-expressing is faster.

Anyone use one they like?

tm

[mommylawyer]

I LOVED my AVENT hand pump. I had it during my first pregnancy and never used it. With my second, my daughter had latching problems and so if she got on one side well, I let her stay there and just used my hand pump. Man, it was better than the electric for me. If I had known this, I'd never spent hundreds of dollars on 2 electric ones. I got more milk, and expressed faster with the AVENT. Although we aren't plannning on another, i still won't toss my hand pump just in case we have an oops!

ml

Originally posted by tmdiva
So, I'm looking to buy a non-electric breast pump. Just for making the occasional bottle and for getting a little milk to mix with cereal, etc. I've been using the piston-action hand setup with the Medela kit I had to buy when I rented a hospital unit, but it's quite ineffective--hand-expressing is faster.

Anyone use one they like?

tm

Originally posted by tmdiva
Pump...Anyone use one they like?

On my mommyboard, the Avent Isis consistently gets very high marks for occasional use (ie. once daily or less). I've only used my PIS, which I love, so I don't have firsthand (firstboob?) knowledge to offer.

[SEC_Chick]

Originally posted by tmdiva

Anyone use one they like?

tm

Ditto on the no personal experience on this, but on all of the boards that I follow, the Avent Isis is the only one recommended. It was also the one suggested by the LC who taught my bfing class. She also recommended not getting one by a company that doesn't specialize in bfing/pumping (like gerber or evenflo), because they all suck... in a bad way.

How deranged is it that whenever I think about pumping/BFing, every time I get Madonna's song, Express Yourself, stuck in my head?

[viet_mom]

Today, I dropped off Vietbabe at daycare, and two different classrooms were playing outside, with only 2 teachers. I counted 27 kiddos, the teacher said there were 25. I think they would still be over-ratio, even with 25 Vietbabe's class has kids from 3-4 1/2 I think, and the other class I think was from 4-5. State law ratios:

5 year olds: 1 caregiver : 15 kids
4 year olds: 1:12
2-4 year olds: 1:10

If, out of the 25 kids, seven of them were in the other class and that other class had a ratio of 1:14 (that's what it says in their classroom), that means 18 kids had to have a ratio of either 1:10 or 1:12. I think most of the 18 kids are under 4, so let's go with 1:10. Based on all that, can anyone say if they were over-quota today when the rule for mixing ages says: "When children of mixed ages requiring different staff/child ratiochild ratio:mixed ages"s are in one room or area within a large divided room, the center shall compute the staff/child ratios applicable for each group separately to the nearest tenth decimal. If the resulting cumulative figure for all age groups is any fraction above a whole number, an additional staff member shall be required."

How bout if there were 26 kids out there (the extra kid being in the 1:10 ratio).

Wow. Math really is hard. Either way, the place was utter mayhem and I was not pleased especially since I'm paying 1,100 a month, which should get me better care (hah).

Thank you to any kind people out there with Math skillz.

Originally posted by viet_mom
Math is way hard.

Too many kids. My mom teaches preschool. Pre-k. She has max. 10 kids and usually a helper in the room, which, as far as I'm concerned, is still too many 4yos in one building.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by viet_mom


Thank you to any kind people out there with Math skillz.

What you need are not math skillz, but skillz like determining which is better: complaining and not getting good care or shutting up; talking to the city and having hte place put out of business or suffering along.

[viet_mom]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
What you need are not math skillz, but skillz like determining which is better: complaining and not getting good care or shutting up; talking to the city and having hte place put out of business or suffering along.

Agree. I just wanted to be accurate in the phrases I used with the owner this morning (saying "you went over ratio") I decided to not go there and simply told him there were over 25 kids with 2 techers out there yesterday and that I need for him to get back to me by day's end to verify he spoke with all staff today about the issue, and how it will be resolved so that it never happens again, even for 5 minutes. He agreed and didn't try to give me bullshit excuses (his brother, a former co-owner would have). Unfortunately, I see this nonsense all the time at centers because I am a part timer who drops her kid off at all hours of the day (a nightmare for centers) -- centers really loosen up after the typical morning drop off hours. Once, the gate enclosing the outside play area was broken and the owners were being too cheap to hire a handyman to fix it. I'd had enough and told the former co-owner that I wasn't moving until he fixed it, he called my bluff, so I called the state and not only did they force him to fix it on the spot but they cited them. No retribution against Vietbabe -- the teachers like both of us and I can tell they like that someone is speaking up (who would WANT to be stuck, even for 10 minutes, watching 27 kids). With this center, I think it's worth it to stay (comparitively they are not bad overall) and MAKE them do their job. They'd probably love it if I left.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by viet_mom
Unfortunately, I see this nonsense all the time at centers because I am a part timer who drops her kid off at all hours of the day (a nightmare for centers) -- centers really loosen up after the typical morning drop off hours.

How do you fake the number of people though? If they have 3 on staff, what's that person doing? Do they rotate out to surf the internet? I can see slipping on fixing a fence, but it's not like they're setting up a mannequin at drop off time and then making do. Or is it?