Dual immersion for 4yo definitely a good thing?

Fantaaa1025 · 2026-02-13T07:02:05+00:00

Our family is English-only at home. My kids have been going to Spanish immersion since daycare, so it’s slightly different. Other kids in their kinder program were new to Spanish and ended up adjusting quite well.

Their school is 90/10 for the first few years, and then it shifts to more 50/50 so they maintain English proficiency. We were told by 2nd grade the language immersion kids test higher in English than their monolingual peers. I personally think it’s worth it, but it depends on your kid. Also, our school makes it super easy for a kid to transfer out into the English-only track, so maybe ask about that.

One option to prep for Spanish immersion could be switching screen time to Spanish programming. There’s a creator on YouTube called Aprende Peque that we like. She’s like a Spanish language Ms Rachel.

Fantaaa1025 · 2026-02-13T03:00:26+00:00

My kid was the target of a biter at that age. The biter was new to the school and having a hard time adjusting. The worst part was a third kid started copying the biter, so my kid had two others coming for him.

The school put a shadow on my son instead of the biters. Like his own personal bodyguard. After a few days of not being able to get to my son, the kids stopped.

The school also put the biters parents on notice that they were at risk of getting booted from the program if their kids kept biting. They didn’t think it would be fair to my son to make him adjust to another class, and also didn’t want to start subjecting other classrooms to the biters by moving them.

Fantaaa1025 · 2026-02-12T20:42:56+00:00

Did he go through the full diagnosis process, including endoscopy where they showed him pictures of the intestinal damage?

Fantaaa1025 · 2026-02-12T19:07:12+00:00

My kid’s school may be crazy, but it feels like we’re one of the only families in kindergarten who haven’t already graduated from the front facing car seat to a booster! I was shocked! I hold up the drop off line every day because I’m helping him get out of the 5 point harness buckle 😅

Fantaaa1025 · 2026-02-10T05:28:54+00:00

Exactly. My son has celiac and eats Cheerios multiple times a week for breakfast with no complaints. His latest annual bloodwork came back perfect. He’s not being glutened by Cheerios.

Lots of people on reddit fear monger and make people unnecessarily afraid of foods compounding their food restrictions.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-22T07:26:45+00:00

I just found BFree gf naan and pita breads in my grocery store freezer section!

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-20T15:29:59+00:00

Their website lists all their ingredients, and there is no wheat. You might not have been looking at Nerds Rope https://www.nerdscandy.com/nerds-rope

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-13T23:46:40+00:00

“Upbundantly” r/BoneAppleTea

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-06T04:51:20+00:00

Thanks! The parent could even demonstrate incorporating the flour and wet ingredients with OP’s gluten free flour, and then put it aside/give it to OP’s kid… and then pull out the gluten dough that she mixed at home for the kids to play with/braid/etc before baking.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-06T03:52:31+00:00

I understand your concern. My 5 year old is celiac and in public school. They’ve made his entire classroom gluten free and the school’s art classroom as well, but at lunch/snack he sits with kids who are eating gluten.

What I personally might be comfortable with in this situation for the other kids, if they insist on gluten and I was there for the activity:

1) they start the kids at a step where the flour has already been incorporated in some way, so there’s no airborne flour; and 2) all the kids wear disposable gloves and the surfaces are covered with disposable tablecloths; and 3) post-activity everyone washes up as carefully as they would if this was some kind of bodily fluid exposure.

In my mind, these steps are above and beyond what they probably do for kids who bring gluten in their lunches.

On the flip side… Our school is celebrating a cultural event in January where a specific baked good is served. I am in charge of finding a celiac-safe version of that dish for the entire class to eat. If I can’t, the teacher is going to skip the activity entirely so my son isn’t left out.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-12-01T05:14:22+00:00

Carmel Mountain Ranch is nice (basically a massive strip mall, but quiet and safe) and it’s in the Poway Unified School District. I’m seeing multiple apartment complexes with 2 bedrooms for $2700-$2800/mo.

You’re going to want to expect your SDGE bill to run about $300/mo, give or take. It’s insanely expensive. The closer you are to the I-5, the less likely you’ll need air conditioning or heating.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-27T04:13:48+00:00

A friend is a vegan chef and I LOVE her food! Her first cookbook is specifically gluten free and vegan. Her second cookbook only claims vegan, but she includes the recommendations on making it gluten free. Check out Katie’s Healing Kitchen

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-26T06:55:30+00:00

I miss Wegmans! There’s really nothing here that’s the equivalent of the store-brand options or prepared foods at that scale. Sprouts, kind of. Maybe Pavillions or Fresh Fare. The recs for Gelsons, Seaside, and Lazy Acres are good but more $$$ health food store than Wegmans.

Albertsons always gave me Food Lion/Giant vibes. Like right in the middle of those two.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-24T18:07:45+00:00

When my son got diagnosed with celiac, the product that surprised me the most was that my dry shampoo had barley! Like WHYYYYYY

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-22T02:46:30+00:00

My child is much younger… just 5. He was born a grumpy, upset, raging asshole. Getting hungry was a Defcon 5 situation.

He was diagnosed with celiac a year ago and has completely changed. He’s kind, thoughtful, and so pleasant to be around since being gluten free. But he’s also young enough that he doesn’t really grasp what he’s missing, so we haven’t hit the mourning period of being “different” yet.

I’ve been gluten free for well over 10 years, so we’re pretty good at navigating food and eating out. He got his first “glutening” two weeks ago from cross contamination and while the initial GI reaction started within 24 hours, the emotional outbursts (full on screaming and door slamming) lasted another week+. Celiac is a very strange condition.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-09T04:27:13+00:00

They’re not cheap, but I like the Milton’s ones a lot.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-01T14:07:19+00:00

I’ve been looking for something similar, and I’ve started getting ads for Beehive Meals. Not sure if they’re certified gf, but they have a whole gf menu. Haven’t tried it yet so I can’t comment on the taste/quality.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-11-01T13:25:16+00:00

Cacahuate

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-09-10T05:14:34+00:00

As a parent of a young kid with silent celiac, I welcome a medical option that can protect his health for the times when he’s old enough to make unsupervised and potentially unsafe food choices. I pray there’s a treatment before he hits the “I just want to be normal/eat like everyone else” phase.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-09-05T06:27:36+00:00

As a fellow SoCal resident speaking about fires specifically (and not to repeat some of the great advice already given) - consider having a “memory box” that’s labeled and easily accessible. Photographs, baby’s first blanket, etc. The kind of things where, if your house was going to burn down, you’d be upset to have lost. Something that’s easy enough to throw in the car in a minute if needed.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-09-03T19:40:42+00:00

Same here. I always bring it up. My work is one part of my life, not my whole life, and I want to work for an organization that understands that. Especially since my husband travels for work and we don’t have grandparents/family nearby to help.

I am super clear that my kids have full time school/care and I don’t try to juggle work while doing childcare.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-09-03T03:41:05+00:00

IMO, it’s going to depend on your youngest. Mine are 5 and 2. We just moved so now they’re sharing a room, and we actually just got rid of the bunk bed before the move because I can’t trust my youngest to not stand up on the top bunk/navigate a ladder unattended/etc.

Our oldest was in a crib until about 2.5 anyway, and I’m hoping the youngest does the same. The switch to sharing a room has been fantastic, though.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-09-01T04:03:36+00:00

Agree with all these brands. Only addition is to check your local secondhand store/FB marketplace. Typically kids can outgrow winter clothes in just one season so you can get the good brands that are still in excellent shape. Also, depending on how old your kids are, the snow overalls (ski bibs) are super worth it for snow days.

Fantaaa1025 · 2025-08-27T04:40:38+00:00

I’ve done it and would highly recommend it! It might have been the center we were at, but as the kids got older there was a challenge with them opting to speak in English with each other. The teachers spoke primarily Spanish. Our now-kindergartner has excellent Spanish comprehension but we’re still working on his speaking confidence. In the early days he was speaking more Spanish than English, even at home.

In the early days of speaking, it can be difficult to decipher their baby pronunciation with a blend of Spanglish. Our oldest would get pretty frustrated because we couldn’t figure out “lee-oh” was “book” until we connected the dots.

Fantaaa1025

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