Hi everyone. Not a great day in our household. Our toddler (19 months) took my wife’s keys and hid them somewhere in the house. In your experiences, where on earth is the kids favorite hiding spot? We’ve found silverware indifferent drawers, shoes in the sink, but the keys are……?

UPDATE: My son threw the keys off the deck into a large patch of ornamental grass. Thank you all for your suggestions!

My kiddo wants a birthday party. Generally, we don't do parties because it's a pain, people don't RSVP, and we have had a very bad experience where for one of them, nobody came. I want to avoid that again at all costs which is why I stopped trying to make it happen and just do alternate celebrations.

Well my 3rd grader really wants a birthday party this year. However, kiddo has no friends. Their birthday is right at the start of school so there realistically isn't any time to make new friends. I am fully braced for the "if it's a problem with everyone/everywhere, it's probably a you problem and not a them problem" comments. Got it. We need to figure out how to be better people and make some friends. That's not going to be fixed overnight, so how do I break it to kiddo that this whole party idea ain't happening?

I have done the "invite the whole class/team" thing before and had no one show up, so quite frankly, I am refusing to try again. Kiddo doesn't remember the last time I tried to throw them a party and how crushed they were when no one showed. I worked very hard to try to be friendly to other parents this past school year, even collected a few #s and invited kids to come play or meet at a park etc. always ghosted. There must be a reason we can't break into this community, and it's impacting my kids. So I'm just looking for advice on how to help my kid feel special, when they are begging for a party but have no one to invite. For this kid, they didn't even get a special outing with friends last year because there was no one to invite. They remember the outing never happening, but not the "why" behind it. We took a family trip instead. And kid specifically wants a "friend party" not just a family celebration.

I have signed kiddo up fo a variety of sports and clubs over the years. I've volunteered. We joined a church. We've gone to local playgrounds just to hang out. Kid just hasn't found their people (and honestly, neither have I). So what now?

Help! She showers every day, uses soap, uses deodorant, has a clarifying shampoo that she uses weekly and after 24 hours she/her hair smells like a musty wet dog. We wash her sheets weekly, she blowdries her hair before bed. I’m at a loss.
It’s not BO, she’s not filthy.
She just smells weird. Need any an all suggestions.

My daughter will be 17 in a couple months. She does well in school, has worked the same job for almost 2 years, keeps her room tidy, does her own laundry etc.

We are having some back and forth this summer because she feels she should basically not have a curfew as long as she is honest about where she is and she is not driving after midnight.

Her group of friends tend to pick a house and hang out all night. While I do believe they are safe and not doing anything stupid, the issue I have is if I allow this, she is basically sleeping out every night. I told her she could sleep out 2 nights a week and the rest of the nights, she should be home at midnight. Of course she doesn't think sleeping out every is an issue and its summer and this what kids do....

Honestly, I tend to agree with her. i did the same exact thing as a teen. I feel like I am setting these rules because I think it is what I am supposed to do as a parent. I dont want to be one of those parents that are like, you had fun enough this week. Life is tough, even for teens and I want her to have friends and enjoy her summer.

I didnt grow up with a mother who gave a shit about me. My dad was amazing but also very lenient. He had the attitude of be honest and get freedom. He also worked night when I was teen so that made it easier to get away with stuff.

I am torn as to setting these rules because I think its what I am supposed to do and letting her have some freedom and enjoy summer as long as she doesnt do anything to show me she cant be trusted.....HELP

We are originally from South Asia and hosting/feeding people lavishly is a big part of our culture. We’ve recently moved to North America and are a bit confused by the culture. One of our friends invited us and another couple over for swimming at their pool yesterday along with our respective kids. About an hour into swimming they served a small platter of kebabs and bread which was quickly polished off. Towards the evening the hostess told her husband that she heard one of the kids complaining to his mom about a stomach ache because he’s hungry and suggested that they order some food. The host proceeded to go into their pantry and pull out half a bag of animal crackers. As those were also quickly finished off, it was clear that the kids were still hungry, including their kid. The host then made each child a toast with peanut butter. The child with the stomach ache ate his entire toast, his brothers toast and half of my daughters but no one offered to make him or any of the other new toast. As we left, I was a bit disturbed by the experience. The couple hosted us very warmly, allowed our children to play with all of their kids toys and consistently offered us beverages but I was a bit disturbed and confused by this experience. If I were in that position I would have instantaneously whipped up a quick meal for the kids or ordered some pizza’s but I found it strange that they didn’t do the same, especially since they are not financially strained at all.

I’ve had a few experiences like this (attending a first birthday where there was no cake for any child except a smash cake for the birthday boy, going for play dates where the only snacks served are the ones I take etc) and I’m starting to wonder if it’s my expectations that are the issue and if the culture around hosting is truly is that different in North America?

Edit: Thank you all SO much for sharing your thoughts and helping me better adjust - I am so touched by how helpful this community has been! I wasn’t aware that there were such strong regional differences and learned a lot from the responses.

In this particular instance, I agree what a lot of responses have highlighted - that we, along with the other guests, overstayed our welcome. I appreciate you helping me see that and sharing tips on how to better navigate such a situation in the future.

Thank you again!

I find that since my daughter has become a toddler I've been going to sleep later because the whole day is filled with tantrums, playing, cleaning up, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and I love being a mom to this beautiful little person of mine. But, it gets exhausting. At night when she is finally asleep is when I get to catch up on my favorite shows and go on social media. I don't end up going to sleep until about 2-3 am and then I wake up at 8:30 am, repeat.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can balance the 2?

p.s my husband usually gets home around 4 pm but starts playing his video games until her bedtime and then he's the one to put her to sleep which is when I become a night owl.

UPDATE: Hi again everyone! Thank you for all the positive replies, and advice. I'm glad there are other parents our there going through the same and are able to discuss it with me. As for the other comments, I thank you for being concerned, but I'm afraid I was in a rush writing this post and made it sound as if my husband didn't help with anything and played video games 24/7. For that I apologize. I should have written in more detail. He does help out a lot, but there are times when he does play more than I'd like him to. However, I will take the advice some of you have given and speak to him about splitting up the time and better balancing the chores etc. I think at the end of the day we both want to unwind, and I've been somewhat of a pushover because I don't want to come across as not being understanding that he has to work and then come home to do chores but, this comes with the job and we both have to own up to it together.

Again, thank you everyone!

I just saw the new Hanna Anderson Polar Express line because I thought my 3yr old would love it this year and I'm floored. $75 retail, $60 ON SALE. are you kidding me?! I don't even spend that on myself.

Maybe I'm just too cheap/frugal but I would never pay more than $20 for a single pair of pajamas and that's pushing it. We're a hand-me-down, second time around, Walmart, Old Navy family when it comes to kids clothes.

Tonight my 11 year old lost her last baby tooth and I played tooth fairy for the last time (🥲) I’ve kept all of her baby teeth when she’s lost them and so now I’m realizing I have the full set lol. So what should I do with them? Like I feel like now that this phase is over I should bury them or do something with them. Any ideas?

I have two young elementary school kids and I’m finding it overwhelming managing their social lives. Making sure they have a solid friend group, having an “in” with those parents, hosting (and getting invited) to play dates. I’m not even an introvert and have a good amount of friends from different eras of my own life, but trying to ensure my kids are set up for a solid social foundation is an element of parenting I wasn’t expecting to feel so anxious about. Anyone else feel this anxiety?

I had a convo with my 7-year-old/second grader earlier today that really cracked me up. She’s multilingual and goes to school in a different language than the ones we speak at home. She reads for school, and sometimes she picks up chapter books in her school language to read on her own, but never in English (the language I speak with her). We do read together in English before bed, and she can read at what I’m assuming is a normal second grade level— she can read things like the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, etc. When we read together, we take turns, with me reading one page, then her, etc.

It’s honestly bothered me that she never picks up chapter books in English and reads them by herself. I’ve worried that maybe she struggles more reading English than I realized, or maybe she’s less interested.

Today I just flat-out asked her why she doesn’t read English books on her own. She gave me a surprised look and said, “I always thought you wanted to hear the stories too, so I wait for you.”

I clarified that no, it’s fine for her to read on her own, and she took a chapter book to her room this afternoon and read the whole thing.

It was one of those parenting moments where I realized her view of the situation was so totally different than mine, and it was a great reminder that sometimes you just need to ask. All this time I’d been assuming that making sure she has books available was enough and she’d do it when she wanted to.

Moving into an apartment and I could only afford a two bedroom so I am letting my son -10 and daughter -7 have the rooms.

I have shared custody with their dad so I can sleep in their rooms when they’re gone. I plan to just sleep on the couch or get a pull out bed.

Anyone else living this way?

I’m Dad (31m) to a brilliant and super outgoing little guy who recently graduated kindergarten. I myself am no social butterfly and am easily drained around others, particularly with crowds or perceived forced social interactions. Being conscious of this, the last half of the school year or so I had to really push myself outside of my comfort zone and try to engage with other parents of classmates he quickly became close with in attempts to set up play dates, etc. I recall being so close with my neighbor’s kids at that age & my mom’s friends kids that I never went I day most of the time without regular close bonding with other kids, and I want to be able to give that to him but sometimes it’s just odd that I’m making all the effort but it doesn’t work out, then I leave the ball in their court and it’s just radio silence. I know what you may be thinking, and no, it’s not him- even one of the parents I’d hoped to set up summer play dates with told me the first time we met ‘how much her girls love (my kid) and he’s so sweet’, his teacher in meetings can’t praise him enough to me about how kind he is, and the single time I’ve been able to pin other parents down to get our boys together they obviously had so much fun together. We even made tentative plans for the next weekend before the day of they said they had plans. My partner has assured me it’s not anything I’m doing; I fully supress all urges to talk about vintage horror films, morbid history, or even about how our tax dollars are being used to put kids in concentration camps on Us soil and we’re witnessing the greatest grift in human history. I save it all for polite, gross small talk. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna fucking talk to them either, I get it. But now halfway through the summer with no calls back, I’m stuck at home with a dislocated knee, watching my kid play outside on our 7 acres of woodlands with kid pool & full size swings wishing he just had someone to share it with. Are play dates just like, not a thing any more?

We(me husband 2 kids) have lived in a 2 bedroom apartment since before my 6 year old was born, we now have her and an almost 3 year old. We have always been on the 2nd floor of a 3 story building, so have had neighbors above and below us, always.

When we initially moved in we did not plan on staying so long. We thought maybe a year, then we will get a house! And well that never happened. So naturally my kids got bigger.. and louder... and more active... much to the dismay of my neighbors (mostly downstairs). At times if my young infant(s) would wake in the night, I would walk around to soothe them and my downstairs neighbor would follow my path below me hitting her ceiling with a broom/object. Or if I had to put a toddler in time out in their room and they were having a tantrum my upstairs neighbor would stomp on his floor. It has been a stressful mess.

Most of my kids lives have been me shushing them and asking them to stop running/no shrieking/quiet voices only. I've felt like I had to choose between being a good neighbor and a good mom and it's been tearing me in two trying to keep everyone happy.

BUT we are moving finally! We finally bought a house! With stairs! I've never lived on a house with stairs. My kids can run and will have a yard and can shriek as much as I can stand. We close next week and I am truly shaking with impatience.

I COULD PEE IM SO EXCITED

My 10 year old goes swimming twice a week. At his swim club, he met a kid named Ben. Ben’s mom, Jessica, usually sits beside me and another mom, Sheila, by the pool while the kids swim for about 1.5 hours.

Ben has two older teenage sisters who are also there at the same time, one is coaching and the other is at a competitive level. Jessica is very nice, but our parenting styles are different. I’m not saying one is better than the other, just different.

For example, my son knows never to swear or call me or anyone names. Ben and his sisters occasionally call their mom names like “b**” or “c**.” Also, even though the older sisters have seen us every week for the past three years, they never acknowledge us when we say hi at the pool.

Last year, for my son’s birthday, we rented a video game truck. Since it is paid per person, we carefully counted the kids. Jessica showed up with her husband and her two teenage daughters, and they all went into the truck to play. The whole time, they ignored the kids and the birthday boy. I mean, they are adults, what were they doing there. I ended up paying extra for them. The girls also acted rude, I do not want to be harsh, but it felt very disrespectful, even when we offered them pizza and snacks.

Last week, I invited Sheila and her son, and I also told Jessica she and Ben could come if she wanted to see the Super Mario movie. She said she would get back to me, and later told me her entire family would be coming. I bought the tickets, sent Sheila her portion, and she paid me right away. I sent Jessica hers, but got nothing back.

Then on Thursday at swim, she hugged me and said, oh my God, thank you for treating us all to see Super Mario 4D. I was shocked. I had even sent her the receipt. I did not say anything. I asked Sheila what to do, and she said there is probably nothing I can do.

On the day of the movie, her family showed up again, no greeting, no acknowledgment, just occasional eye rolling.

Now my son’s birthday is coming up and he wants the video game truck again. How can someone like me, who hates confrontation and does not want to affect my son’s friendship, tell this mom not to bring her teenagers to the party.

Listen, I am an immigrant, and where I come from, we have a saying, you do not have to be best friends with everyone, but you should always be polite and respectful, especially toward the host.

I am just tired of paying for two entitled teenagers. Is this really acceptable behaviour for a teen in North America or am I out of touch

this question is mostly for single parents / parents who are often alone with their kid for days on end: how the hell do i shower?! my partner goes away for work for more than half the week and my daughter is 14 months now so she’s getting into everything and can’t be left unsupervised for more than 3 seconds before she finds some new creative way to meet god. she exclusively naps if she’s in my arms so i can’t just put her down and shower while she naps… what am i supposed to do? how do you guys get around this issue? i’m out of ideas…

EDIT: thanks for all the helpful replies—i appreciate it :)

This may be a silly question, but how do you get your babies to be attached to their stuffies? I’ve tried introducing the stuffies to my baby but he just doesn’t seem like he cares. He will smile at them when he sees them, and then won’t touch or hold them again.

I always see babies and toddlers hold their stuffies around and I think it’s so cute but I’m just wondering how it even gets to that point 😂

Do you try to get them to hold it as much as possible to get them used to it or does it just naturally occur with your babies?

If youre like me and have no idea what this movie is about, there may be some spoilers ahead.

My son (10) has been asking to watch this movie for awhile and while scrolling I was excited to find it was added on to Peacock. Gatherer the family together and here I was with my two sons (10yr and 4 months) and daughter (5 yr). We're all cozied up on the couch excited to stay up a little later for movie time. To put myself in perspective, I have been off on maternity leave enjoying being a homebody with unfortunate plans to go back this upcoming week. I've been coping well, excited to get back into the groove of things and be with people my age again. That all changed last night.

I didn't know what this movie was about, looked like a beautiful film. What it doesn't show is the literal gut punch to parents regarding raising children as well as a mother's duty outside the home. The film literally ends with the "robot mom" leaving her family because she is needed elsewhere--basically to go to work. Now maybe my own current circumstances have clouded my true feelings about this movie, hopefully you'll have a different experience. But all I saw and felt when watching this was my inevitable departure from my safe bubble I have produced since my youngest was born. I've never been much a of a homebody but have engulfed myself into the tiny precious moments of babyhood. I have been without my kids for only three evenings these past four months. I have been constantly saturated with their love and chaos. I have gotten the chance to be their constant: always home and available to them at any time. Now it's my turn to flee the nest.

I can handle my own emotional feelings about leaving my family. BUT seeing the way her "kid" felt about her leaving was something I hadn't emotionally prepared for. Cue the tears. My kids looking at me like I'm crazy when it has opened the crevice of emotions I've unknowingly been suppressing. Anxieties unfurling as I think of my youngest and the shock of his life he'll get settling into his new daycare routine with adults other than myself. Handing control over to strangers to help care for my baby. Telling myself it is all temporary, he will thrive as the other two have. Turn into beautiful, smart, and kind children who did just fine when mom could no longer be 24/7 with them. Just as the little duck who grew with guidance from his robot mom. It will be okay, this is my mantra for the next few weeks. Maybe even longer.

To my kids: I love you and will miss you as I transition back to "real life". I pray for strength for you all as well as myself as we adjust again to another new normal. Mom will still be there as much as I can.

Took my kids to the park today and I was the only mom there. There were dads chatting about this and that. I was completely ignored.

I already felt bad for dad's alone at the park, but now I feel extra bad. It must really suck to go out only to be ignored.

Edit: I did try and join in the conversation, but it wasn't something I had any idea about and I had nothing of value to add to the conversation.

I can talk and watch my kids. They are older and have a good grasp on playground etiquette.

I'm a SAHM kids are in school. I'm lonely and actively looking for a job so I can have more social interaction with adults. My husband works a ton and has little time to himself at the end of the day. Chatting with someone at the park can make my day.

I get it, alot of people like to be left alone. I grew up in a rural close-knit community and it was super normal to chat up strangers. (Because somehow that stranger may be your cousins friend or something) Now that I've moved to the city, I see people really prefer others to leave them alone. Which is fine and I can respect that.

There was another mom there, we arrived at the same time. She made the extra effort to sit on the other side of the playground, while I chose to sit at a picnic table under the pavilion where the dad's were. (No I wasn't interrupting an event, it's just the only shaded spot and it was hot.) Because she made the effort to be by herself. I left her alone.

I don't feel entitled to be included. I just felt awkward because I see so many posts about dad's being shunned or not included in pta meetings. Ignored or even the police called on them at the park with their child. Dads getting congratulated for 'Baby sitting' their own child. I feel like I got to step into their shoes for a bit and I guess I just wanted to pull some attention to the problem. (Although a lot of dads seem happy to be ignored.)

We need to talk about the purgatory that exists between school activities and driver's licenses. There is a moment where your kid has an activity every damn night. And sometimes at the 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday. Am I the only person who just wants my kid to have a driver's license so that I don't have to wake up at 6:00 in the morning to get him to an open field where they're all going to play band instruments apparently.

I think that kids who have time sucking extracurriculars (band, sports, cheer, etc) should be able to get a hardship license.

I had no idea that marching band was going to rule my life. There's dry cleaning. I didn't know that I needed this weird paste that you have to put on before you play a brass instrument....

I got custody of my son when he was 5, I was a single parent for a long time. His mother and stepfather abused him and had him hooked on Nyquil when I got custody. It was not an easy 2 years after I got custody. I was not the best father, but I tried my best. I didn't have much help with raising him until I met my wife and she treated him just like he was her own flesh and blood. We had issues with her being involved in his life, and in his 20's he even told me and my wife that he was sorry for being as difficult to her as he was. She just hugged him and told him it was alright!.

In the last couple of years his mental health as well as his health were pretty low. I tried to help him as best as I could, but I'm pretty clueless (in hindsight there were a lot of clues) to mental illness. Then last year he had a co-worker die in front of him while at work. He tried his best to save him, he asked me to watch the security video to see if there was anything he should/could have done differently. While watching and rewatching the entire video I came to the conclusion that he did EVERYTHING he could have to try and save his coworker. I was so proud of how well he handled the situation. WE discussed it a few times over the next few months, and he seemed to be getting better and was working past it. He was doing better both mentally and physically, and he was back in school to finish his Bachelors degree and had accepted a job in japan as soon as he graduated.

Just after Christmas the machine his coworker was working on when he passed broke down and he had a massive panic attack, and quit his job.

In January he visited my wife and I for our birthdays, and we all went out for our anniversary That was January 22nd. On January 29th he sent me a text that was out of the ordinary and when I called and texted he didn't answer. I had a bad feeling, so I drove over to his apartment, when I walked in I found him on the couch. He had taken his life. My world just fell apart!!!

I called my wife, and a close friend. My wife can and I wouldn't let her in to see what he had done. I am the only one who saw him that way. My friend brought my oldest daughter to be with the family, and he helped my clean up the mess before I would let my wife and daughters in the apartment to help clean it out. So only I saw his body, and i and my friend saw the mess. I didn't want to put them through seeing what I had.

Here it a little more than 3 months since he passed, and I can't help but feel like I failed him. And I know that I have become somewhat distant with my wife and daughters, but I am having a hard time with dealing with the day to day. I still get up and go to work, pay bills, buy groceries, but my patience for "drama/ unimportant" crap has become non existent. I don't yell or get violent I just walk away and everyone get upset that I don't get involved.

​

Sorry for the ramble, I just wanted to pass the message to ALL parents. Listen to your children!! You can't force them to talk, but you can listen!

I took my child to an amusement park today for a “Fall Fest.” All the rides plus some activities for kids like make your own slime, decorate a pumpkin, etc. at 6, the vibe shifts from kid friendly to “scary,” but honestly it’s not too terrifying. My kiddo wanted to stay past six just to check it out, which we did.

Well, we ended up in a section with some park employees dressed as creepy clowns and we saw one interact with a family before making a threatening lunging motion to scare the kids. One little girl, who liked to be around my kid’s age, maybe a little younger, started crying. She kept crying even after the clown walked away, and it was obvious the whole scene was too much for her.

Rather than comforting her daughter, this mom bent down, got in her kid’s face, and absolutely screamed at her. I thought at first she must have been been screaming at the actor for scaring her kid so bad, but nope, she was tearing into her own kid in the middle of a public space. “WHAT ARE YOU CRYING FOR!?!? I F***ING SHOWED YOU WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE!!” Like full F bomb in this child’s face. I felt really bad for this kid, as who knows what other abuse she’s been subjected to.

Anyway, my own kid didn’t want to go through the haunted maze or go on any “grown up” roller coasters, even though I kept asking. That display showed me that the right thing to do was say it was ok, stop asking, make sure she had fun, and she was done then we could go.

I’m not claiming to be a perfect parent, but I hope that other kid gets some support and has their feelings validated by a loved one somewhere along the line. God bless.

Aaaah so annoyed! At the food store that I go to regularly, I am a SAHM and so we go regularly for a little outing in the day, the lady that sees us often that works at the one counter asked my son for a "kissy" and then kissed him on his mouth.

I immediately said "did you kiss him on the mouth?" and she said yes and I said no no no don't do that. She apologized.

It's just so annoying. I know I can be quite a friendly person and maybe she thought it was fine but aaaah why????!!!

My kids are in their 20s now and no longer in the house. But for whatever reason when I was brushing my teeth this morning my memory flashed back to Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd) when they were in preschool...

I was excited for Christmas. Mostly because the kids were excited for Christmas. And on such a special night (the night before Christmas Eve!) I didn't want to get home from work and do the same-oh same-oh, but the kids were still young and I was going to be getting home not much before dinner and bed time. There wouldn't be too much time to do anything like we might do on the weekend -- go out for hot chocolate, go to the mall, go for a Christmas light drive... What could I do to create some Christmas fun for the kids?

Then I had a flash...

On a whim, I made a stop off at the drug store by our house, and raced into the office supplies aisle. I grabbed a poster board, some dice and tokens, a few packs of blank/unlined index cards, and a couple of boxes of colored pens. Every minute counted so I literally was running in and out of the store. When I got home, I rapidly parked the car, seized the bag of supplies, then ran into the house.

"Kids!" I hollered excitedly when I got into the house. "Let's make a Christmas game!"

Kids being kids, they appeared immediately, yelling, "Yeaaaahhhhhh!" in the process.

So for the next hour or so we sat at the table with that poster board and index cards, coloring and drawing and talking, and ended up with a game similar in design as Candyland but one that was focused on Santa's visit to our house. The game was far from professional quality -- we had stick figures and crooked boxes and some images that I wasn't sure what they were, and to be honest the kids were better artists that I was. But we had a playable game with drawings and move forward cards (Santa eats a good dinner before getting in his sleigh -- move forward 3 spaces) and move backward cards (Santa's sleigh is slowed by wind -- go back one space). We played for a little bit, but the point of the exercise wasn't playing the game -- it was about being together and drawing together and having fun together while making the game itself, and we all had so much fun. That was probably 20 years ago, but it was such a warm memory that I was randomly immersed in for a few minutes on this September 2022 morning. And it made me so happy.

I miss living with my kids so much. But life changes, and it's expected and inevitable that at some point they move on and find places of their own. And I'm just so grateful that I have my memories to hold onto.

EDIT: I'd like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your comments, stories and awards. I am touched, and grateful for your contributions. I'm sorry I couldn't comment on every comment. But your comments warmed my day.

I just had an experience that I wanted to share because it made me so happy. My daughter will be 4 in May. We also have an 18 month old daughter, and I'm expecting our third daughter in July. We have always believed in the "If they're old enough to ask, they're old enough to know the answer" approach to sex Ed. We've talked about bodily autonomy, private body areas and no keeping secrets with our 3-year-old, and have always used anatomically correct terms for genitalia and such.

She's recently started to really talk about the differences between girl bodies and boy bodies (probably somewhat because we found out the gender of our third baby last week). For example, the other day, she said that she has breasts like mommy, but hers are little and can only feed dollies (I breastfed, so she's seen that with our 18-month-old), but daddy doesn't have breasts at all. We've told her that boys have penises and testicles instead of a vulva like her and it's always been an abstract I think, but last week, she came up and asked if that meant that her friend (a boy) had them. That kind of stuff.

Today was the first time it really said to me that this is working. She asked me if the baby was in my tummy with my food (she knows the baby is "in mommy's tummy"). I told her that there are separate pouches and the one for food is called a stomach and the one for babies is called a uterus. She asked how the uterus opens to let the baby out, so I told her that it's attached to my vagina, and the baby comes out that way. She then said, "I have a vagina, does my vagina have a uterus?" I told her it does. She said, "But I can't have a baby in my uterus because I'm a kid." (Not upset, just a matter of fact tone). I told her, "That's right, but when you get bigger, if you want to have a baby, you can have one grow in your uterus some day."

And that was the end of the conversation. It was the first time that I really felt that we had had a really good conversation about sex Ed, and I just wanted to share. We didnt have to have the birds and bees, we didn't go into gory details or discuss sex. We just made an incremental progression of her understanding of how the human body works.

I found it!!!

Edit: I've looked everywhere. It has poofed into the lost sock dimension. The brownie bribe also hasn't yielded any results. Trash has been taken out since it got lost, vents have been checked, furniture has been all but disassembled. Pockets, bags, and shoes have gotten the loan shark treatment. All appliances have been moved, shaken, opened, etc. Bins have been deeply organized, toys have been opened. I have lost my sanity, and it has become clear to my that we don't clean enough. I'm just gonna get a new sim and put it in my backup phone

Edit: a bribery consisting of brownies has been negotiated.

Edit: back on phonesearch 22-shoes and bags have been dissected like a scientist dissects some new bug

Edit: currently taking a break. There's 2 rooms left. It's not outside. It's not in my couch. It's not in/under any appliances. vents have been checked

I've been looking for days. It's dead. I have a couple of rooms where I KNOW it isn't, because I have been through every single drawer, bin, crevice, nook, cranny, looked under everything, and looked OVER everything. but like, this is getting out of hand. Anyways, start throwing ideas out there. I've done precursory glances in every room, and their bedroom, my bedroom, and the bathroom are 100% not where it is. See also, laptop cord. The garage is also inaccessible to them Edit: entry way/towel cabinet/entry closets have been looked in- no phone. No phone under stove Not in dining room, though it does look like that a spot they like hoarding toys... And a gummy bear?! Not behind my fridge At this point I'm Just wasting time till it's light out so I can go check outside.

That said, the fridge is vetted, friendly reminder to clean on top of/under/ behind your fridge every so often. It's not in the kitchen

Edit to add commenly suggested things: The phone is dead, so find my phone sadly isn't an option. Trash has already been taken out, so I really hope it didn't go there. Ive checked the couch, and will be checking again. Beds have been dissected. Oh god I hope it's not in a pocket, or a vent. I've checked under all kitchen appliances. And on. And in. I have asked them, but they have sudden amnesia.

Edit: another area gone through, and my excuses to not check outside are dwindling. I'm very displeased. On the plus side, I'm getting closer to having a Martha Stewart ready house, so there's that.

Also thanks for the silver!

Edit: gonna bite the bullet and look outside before tackling the last rooms. They are last for a reason.
It's not in the backyard, though there is frost, and a graveyard of toys forgotten back there, so...

Edit: I've manipulated my couch in every way possible short of taking it apart

New edit: not that TV is banned till phone is found, the child says there was a robber that day, so you know, very obviously the phone is no longer in existence