https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:52:20 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-for-private-schools#post-2325151 Sun, 18 Oct 2015 22:19:57 +0000 irene 2325151@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are eyeing 2 private schools to apply to their pre-k program next year. We have actually visited them during their open houses last year but we decided to wait one more year (we are currently attending preschool at our daycare, goddard school, which we liked). One of them is preschool - 8, and the other is preschool - 12.</p> <p>While we did talk to them last year we still have quite a few questions unanswered, and of course you can't really tell what is potentially questionable, or which one is a better fit for your own kid just via a 2 hour visit at an open house. I am drafting an email to ask some of my questions I have. What are some of the questions you would ask?</p> <p>Right now I am interested in knowing about their field trips, drop off times and extended attendance programs. I am also interested in knowing how will the preschool-8 school help a student find/transition to a different school for 9-12.</p> <p>Thanks for your input! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2030880 Mon, 19 Jan 2015 12:15:38 +0000 irene 2030880@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you everyone - this is so helpful!</p> <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: @MamaCate: Oh you know, I kinda need to know if they are coming or not because I need to invite more people, and if I invite more people and end up more than 25 people came, I have to pay out of pocket for them to get into the museum :( But if I don't invite people to take their places and they didn't come, My party would be smaller when I have already paid for admissions for that many headcounts. Ahhh!</p> <p>I did ask the director to forward them the RSVP reminder, but I have not heard back still. Sigh. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2029137 Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:29:40 +0000 Mae 2029137@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>1. Not sure there is much you can do about non-rsvp'ers... </p> <p>2. I'd order 6 pizzas. Always better to have too much food rather than too little. Especially because you may have more than 25 people show. </p> <p>3. I'd order 3-4 dozen small cupcakes. I think it would look weird to have both big and small, and I think kids should definitely have small. Plus some adults may not want a huge cupcake but would want a small one. Then the people who want more could have 2 or 3 small cupcakes rather than 1 huge one. And 4 dozen small would be the same cost as 2 dozen large. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2029130 Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:15:22 +0000 SugarplumsMom 2029130@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>As for the person that didn't RSVP, I'd assume they're not coming, but have extra food just in case. </p> <p>Sounds like a fun party! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2029129 Sun, 18 Jan 2015 09:13:41 +0000 SugarplumsMom 2029129@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If 1 large pizzas serves 4 adults (2 slices each), then we'll say roughly 3.5 pizzas should cover the adults, plus 1.5 of a pizza should cover the toddlers = 5 pizzas. But I'd buy an extra, just in case. So <b>6 pizzas</b>.</p> <p>As for the cupcakes, I'd buy the small ones. I find that most people prefer bite sized versions, especially at parties. I'd buy at least <b>3 dozen small cupcakes</b>. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2029094 Sun, 18 Jan 2015 08:38:12 +0000 regberadaisy 2029094@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you leave a note with your cell in their cubbies? </p> <p>Personally for 6 adults and 3 kids we order a sheet and that's barely enough to get full. So for that many people I would do a minimum of 6 large pies.<br /> What time is the party? That will affect my answer. </p> <p>I would do half mini and half regular cupcakes! I think you can arrange them so they can still look cute. :)</p> <p>ETA lemon lime had a good idea of supplementing with other baked goods! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2029078 Sun, 18 Jan 2015 08:13:38 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2029078@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Party crunch time is stressful!</p> <p>1. RSVP- if they haven't contacted you yet and are just your LO's daycare friend/ classmate I would not count them. Invite the your back up people.</p> <p>2. PIZZA- 5 large pizzas at 8 slices in the box will comes out to 1.6 slices a person. Kids will likely just eat one slice, some adults may want 2. Five large pizzas sounds like enough. To economically stretch your dollar can you also bring POP CORN or TRAIL MIX? This way folks that have something to munch on that is not the main party food.</p> <p>3. CUP CAKES- I checked out Camicakes site and the full size look great, I could not find pics of the mini ones. I would get 2.5 dozen of the mini cup cakes, which will definitely cover the number of your expected guests and leave you with a few extra. After a quick Google search of mini cupcake display, whether on a tiered stand or single tray the displays look great. To economically supplement the cupcakes you can always buy a box of Entemann's COOKIES. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2028941 Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:51:49 +0000 Greentea 2028941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would get 6 pizzas! I like pizza though :) :goodluck: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2028938 Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:48:33 +0000 MamaCate 2028938@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: Parties can be stressful, huh? Here are my thoughts:<br /> 1. We had a ton of kids from daycare not RSVP. None of them came. Is there a place you can leave a note for them at school? I am not sure the director is allowed to share parent info. We gave out invites through the sign in/out logs so that parents got them, so maybe a follow up note? I think you are safe to assume they are not coming and move on. </p> <p>2. For that many people, I think 5 pizzas sounds about right. Some of the pizza places have online "calculators' for that kind of thing. We had about 10 kids and 15 adults, had I think 4 or 5 pizzas (DH was in charge of this part) plus fruit and veggie trays, and all the pizza was gone. Will you eat leftover pizza? If so, get more than you think you will need. Also, the venue may have ideas since they host parties all the time. </p> <p>3. Will your LO finish a cupcake? Mine will not, so small cupcakes I think would be fine for kids. Then, how many adults are going to eat a cupcake? We did not have a lot of takers. We got 24 cupcakes for our group and had a bunch leftover. If I were you, I would get 24 small cupcakes. The parents might be more likely to eat a baby cupcake?</p> <p>Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/birthday-party-newbie-questions#post-2028924 Sat, 17 Jan 2015 22:36:09 +0000 irene 2028924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I need help!</p> <p>So, our party is at the end of January, with 25 people max (kids and adults included) at a children's museum. Our invites stated "free full day admission for 1 kid + 1 adult". So would be roughly 10-11 kids + their guardian. I have 3 questions for you party experts:</p> <p>1. RSVPs: we are inviting friends from daycare. We have heard back from most people on RSVPs except two. The problem is, I do not have their parents' contact information at all! I have emailed our daycare director and I have asked her to forward my RSVP reminder message out to these two families on Friday, but I still haven't heard back. The thing is, I do need to hear back because if they are not going, I want to send invites to other people! </p> <p>So my question is: What do you do when someone doesn't RSVP, and that you do not have their contact information to check with them?</p> <p>2. How much pizza should we order? For 25 people at first we thought about 5 pizzas, but then today we just came back from a friend's party and they only had 3 medium pizzas and each person got barely 1 tiny slice. We got home and eat instant noodles. But is 5 pizzas too much? How mufh food should we order for approx 25 people? (There is a possibility siblings and spouses may come. Possibility)</p> <p>3. How much cake do we order????? This is making me scratching my head! We are planning to order from this very delicious cupcake place, but their regular cupcakes are gigantic. $35 @ dozen. They do have a mini version, $18 @ dozen, but they are quite small... maybe 2.5 of the minis = 1 regular size cupcake. They would be OK with little 3 year olds though. The regular ones are really too big for small kids. At first I thought about doing just 2 dozens of the regular (around $75-80 total?), but after we got back from a friend's party, their cake, which was shared for the whole room, was probably about a dozen of the big cupcakes. But then you can't ask people to "share" cupcakes! Now I am thinking we should do 1 dozen regular and 1 dozen small ($60 total). But when there is a lot of small cakes it would look weird visually.</p> <p>How much should I order? </p> <p>(This is the place we are going to be ordering from: camicakes.com - in case you are curious to know what they look like)</p> <p>Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-on-a-school-tour#post-1920231 Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:17:14 +0000 Mrs. D 1920231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Are parents encouraged or required to be involved in the school?<br /> Homework policy?<br /> Diversity of the school community?<br /> Number of Kids in class?<br /> Christmas concert or Winter Festival? (there's a difference!)<br /> Snowstorm policy? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-on-a-school-tour#post-1920213 Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:03:58 +0000 Mrs. Tiger 1920213@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: Good luck with the tour!</p> <p>I'd ask about daily schedules, activities (visit the library, music teacher, any special/holiday events), teacher turnover, class size, expectations of parent participation, if costs go down if there are multiple siblings... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-on-a-school-tour#post-1920207 Tue, 28 Oct 2014 20:59:26 +0000 irene 1920207@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@autumnlove: Thanks!!</p> <p>Bumping this thread back up.... the tour is tomorrow..! Any other thoughts? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-on-a-school-tour#post-1916992 Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:57:44 +0000 autumnlove 1916992@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I favorited this post a few months ago. I think the OP went on a public school tour but I'm sure some of the same questions will apply!</p> <p><a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-questions-to-ask-on-public-school-tour" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-questions-to-ask-on-public-school-tour</a></p> <p>Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-on-a-school-tour#post-1916936 Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:28:37 +0000 irene 1916936@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO is 2.5 years old, going to a daycare that we love, but we are planning for the future. We have a private school that we like to know more about (that goes all the way from preschool till high school!), and have signed up for a school tour this coming Wednesday for their preschool to grade 4 facilities. I am not sure if we may actually switch school next year, the year after, or kindergarten at the moment. What questions should I be asking on Wednesday? Any advice? Thanks!! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1781420 Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:21:46 +0000 irene 1781420@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Thanks for all these questions! </p> <p>@Mrs. Sunshine: Wow... really, do they ask that? That's kinda invasive and personal (how old is your bf and what does he do).</p> <p>For the last candidate, I did ask if she was religious (while we are atheists and it really doesn't affect my decision on employment, I had this perception that religious people has a bigger chance to be more honest, haha, so in a way I'd feel better). DH told me afterwards that I should not ask that because if someone didn't get hired they may sue us for prejudice based on religion. So I shall not ask that again. Oops. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1780681 Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:40:24 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1780681@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: the few families that did ask me about my friends/boyfriend would just ask if I had a boyfriend, if so, how long had we been together, how old is he, what does he do? &amp; then there was once or twice when I was flat out asked if I partied a lot. I think it's good to specify that no one should come over. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1780643 Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:16:59 +0000 looch 1780643@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would want to know how she'd handle it if my son cried when we left and also if he couldn't calm down. I would ask if they'd be amenable to coming by the house a few times when I am home and just playing with my son, to see how he does...would they basically be okay with working up to leaving them alone together or does it have to be a cut the cord kind of situation.</p> <p>I'd also want to know how they'd handle meals, or the bedtime routine, if they'd be comfortable playing out in the yard, that kind of thing. I'd also ask (since we have cameras all over the place) if they'd be okay with us being able to see her while we're not there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1780632 Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:13:37 +0000 irene 1780632@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Sunshine: Thanks ! Yes it is a great question except I don't even know what is the right answer! haha! Good point about asking about the friends/boyfriend. How do you even ask that question though? Would it be better to just say we'd like you to be the only person at our house, and please do not invite guests over?</p> <p>We did meet one candidate last weekend. While she is sweet and I think she will be just fine when most of the work was just sitting at our house while LO is asleep, she is just not very warm to LO. She did talk to him but she wouldn't actually go engage with him and play with him. LO is shy himself though. But still there wasn't a lot of "breaking the ice" on her part. Or am I reading into it too much? I mean she is still on my to call list but just curious to know your thoughts!</p> <p>Any other suggestions everyone? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1780371 Thu, 24 Jul 2014 22:29:32 +0000 Mrs. Sunshine 1780371@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The emergency phone call suggestion is great! I personally wouldn't ask this but I had a few families ask me about my friends &amp; whether or not I had a boyfriend....I'm assuming in case I thought it would be cool to sneak someone over (which I NEVER did.)<br /> Personally, I would ask for a reference or two but I honestly think that the question your friend suggested, maybe asking about any CPR/emergency training they've had &amp; just seeing how they interact with LO should be enough. I got two nanny jobs from care.com &amp; they were both great. I hope you find a few sitters that you love! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/questions-to-ask-babysitter-candidates#post-1780334 Thu, 24 Jul 2014 21:52:36 +0000 irene 1780334@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We haven't been on a date night in forever, and we have absolutely no family around. Finally, I posted an ad on care.com and am going to meet with a few babysitting candidates this weekend. It will be half an hour @ each candidate because I am trying to fit 4 in after LO wakes up from his nap!</p> <p>I just wanted to observe their interaction with LO, and mostly to see if they are normal looking and what their personality is like. What else should I ask? I am not hiring a nanny so it should be much more relaxed. Besides, I really want many of them on my phone so I have many back up options (especially for short notice and/or valentine's day!). I do want to come up with a "ranking" though so I have my most favorite to the least.</p> <p>A friend suggested to ask how do they determine when to call the parents, so we know how do they make an emergency judgement call. </p> <p>Do you hire a babysitter occasionally? What would you ask? What is important to you? Any other advices? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1152594 Wed, 16 Oct 2013 10:06:38 +0000 T-Mom 1152594@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: ok I feel a little better now hearing your experience! My DS is a little guy and I'm not sure when he will get tell enough to pee without a stool but I like the idea if teaching him to go standing up from the beginning. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1152067 Wed, 16 Oct 2013 02:20:13 +0000 banana 1152067@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T-Mom: It's so not messy at all! He Just pees straight down into the toilet bowl. The only time it could get messy is if he thinks he's done peeing but more is coming out and he steps away from the toilet. But that had only happened once or twice. When he was shorter we kept an ikea step stool by the toilet and he would stand on it to pee, supervised. Now that he's taller he goes to the potty by himself. He lifts up the toilet seat, moves right up the rim of the toilet and pees. Then he grabs a pure of toilet paper and wipes. Then he pulls up his pants and flushes. If he's at home I taught him to put the toilet seat back down. heehee.</p> <p>Some public toilets are higher up so if he can't reach I just hold him up and he pees. And about your mom's Tupperware comment,... this actually happened to us a few times! We were traveling and he had to pee really and so we pulled over the side of the road and had him pee into a water bottle! Thankfully he was comfortable peein standing up! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151874 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:46:57 +0000 T-Mom 1151874@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: This is really interesting about the stand up pee pee training... I have had different people tell me different things. A friend of mine did standing up, but I was asking her doesn't that get messy since they can't really aim, and how do they even get high enough be able to get the pee in the potty?? But when we have let DS pee sitting down, he literally just can NOT get the pee to go in anyway, it ends up everywhere.. We never had this problem with DD, obviously, so I feel like I am learning how to teach potty all over again! </p> <p>Oh, and one last comment is my mom keeps saying, all we need to teach my DS to do is to pee into a tupperware container, a long one like they sell for people who are unable to pee standing up. Apparently that's how my brother learned. Really mom??? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151802 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:02:13 +0000 irene 1151802@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey: wow.... thanks for this!!!!<br /> I am scared of the bottomless method because his room is carpeted! yikes! But it sounds so perfect! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151647 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:15:47 +0000 sandy 1151647@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey: thank you so much for the detailed post! I truly appreciate it so much! I'm definitely doing the bottomless method. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151603 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:44:22 +0000 chopsuey 1151603@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sandy: :)<br /> DD started showing signs of readiness around 19-20 months, I think. She would tell us when her diaper was wet, would grab at the front of her diaper, etc. At around 21-22 months she would say the word for poop in Korean, but when I checked her diaper it would be clean. A minute later it'd be dirty. So I knew she was ready.<br /> We would have potty trained earlier, but DS was born when DD was almost 21 months old and I didn't have it in me to do it right after his birth. Plus, it was December and cold. </p> <p>2 weeks before her 2nd birthday DH had a week off so we decided it was time. The night before, I washed all of her underwear and stocked the fridge with drinks. </p> <p>Day 1, we took her diaper off as soon as she woke up and put underwear on her. I think we put her on the potty like every 30 mins or so. Or asked if she had to go. Of course as soon as she got off the potty, she'd pee on the floor. :P</p> <p>The first day she had 0 pees in the potty until the end of the day and didn't go poop at all (she used to poop 3-5x a day in her diaper). I think she must have pee'd at least 5x on the floor. I read that sometimes underwear feels like diapers to toddlers, so at around 5pm we took her underwear off. It looked like she had to pee, so we put her on the potty and.. she pee'd A LOT. DH and I were so happy we cheered like crazy and praised her over and over again. </p> <p>We got her ready for bed, put a diaper on her and it was zzz time. </p> <p>The next morning as soon as she woke we took her diaper off and kept her bottomless (no underwear). That day she had 0 accidents and walked over to her potty whenever she had to go #1 or #2, sat down, and went by herself. It was truly amazing. We just had to wipe her. </p> <p>During nap time we put a diaper on her, and put one on her at night too until I noticed she was staying dry over night. Then we ditched the nap and night time diaper. </p> <p>Once we put underwear/pants on her, it took a while for her to learn how to pull them down by herself, but within a month she was able to not only tell us when she had to go, but was able to pull down. Pulling up took a little bit longer. *jk. It was the other way around. Pulling down was hard, pulling up was easier, so we had to help her. </p> <p>I think we used the Bjorn potty for about 2 months before we had her start using the big toilet. </p> <p>She pretty much stayed dry overnight right away, so in the morning she would cry while peeing because her bladder was super full. :( (that lasted about a week). </p> <p>Phew. Sorry for the long story! :)<br /> Feel free to wall me if you have any questions in the future!<br /> Oh, rewards didn't work on DD. She didn't have much interest in drinking all the juice I bought too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151259 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 14:13:22 +0000 sandy 1151259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chopsuey: thanks so much!!!! I really appreciate it! You're the best!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151136 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:31:51 +0000 banana 1151136@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: Phew! Because I started to worry that we were being a creepy family! haha. My husband and I don't feel comfortable bathing in front of my son though because he's 3 1/2 and might start asking questions. That feels a little weird to me. My daughter's only 14 months so we feel ok about that. I bathe with hher from time to time.</p> <p>Maybe your DH can just show him once or twice. It only took my son a few times to get the idea of peeing standing up. I think what helped was (sorry if this is TMI) watching the pee actually come out, if that makes sense. It was hard to teach him to pee because he didn't know why he was sitting on a potty. It helps having visuals. haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/potty-what-are-the-things-you-did-wrong-wish-you-didnt-do#post-1151111 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 13:26:40 +0000 irene 1151111@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@banana: No no! You guys are normal - if anything we are not normal haha. DH is very adamant about this kind of things. Like he would not be OK to shower with LO. Even when LO was a baby and I'd strap him in his bouncy seat in our bathroom while I shower, DH was like OK we can't do that anymore soon.... and he was 3 months old. Argh! He is hype alert to "inappropriateness" (according to him) like that. </p>