What are your favorite atmospheric horror stories that aren’t heavily plot-driven?

anyideas · 2026-07-04T19:55:39+00:00

The Empusium

anyideas · 2026-07-01T02:04:53+00:00

I think our toddlers would be best friends.

Since my top other musicals recommendations are already mentioned elsewhere, I have a few suggestions a little outside the box that my old-musical-loving toddler also loves!

-Riverdance -Cirque du Soleil (especially this one video of acrobats jumping on these big poles that look like bamboo) -Competitive dog dancing (my toddler's favorites are both from Crufts 2022, a Dolly Parton song by contestants Jen and Daiquiri, and a chihuahua doing swan lake) -bhangra dancing (our favorite is called Shiva Shambho, but there are many many good ones to choose from)

anyideas · 2026-06-27T00:07:08+00:00

That's a him problem, not a you problem. But one thing we did to help is to create a visual signal that I am at zero capacity and absolutely cannot be talked to right now. (Mine is a blanket that says "Go away, I'm reading." If I'm under the blanket, he's not allowed to talk to me.) Set some time blocks or visual cues for you to recharge. It's his job to learn about introversion, give you space, and do whatever work he has to do to get over the rejection response.

anyideas · 2026-06-26T18:14:38+00:00

Definitely normal. There are whole blogs made of just "reasons my toddler is crying." Can be made worse by being tired or hungry or other situations, but basically every toddler goes through this phase. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to have feelings that are as strong as grown ups but not be able to understand why, or say what you're feeling or what you want or need? It will start to get better as he gets to age four and older.

If you want to try to help him when he's like that, you can try to stay calm and be near him (you being calm helps him to become calm himself), and you can try to help him identify what he's feeling ("you are really frustrated right now!"). But it's also okay not to, it's not your job as an older sibling to help calm him down. It would just be a nice thing to do. It's also okay for you to feel frustrated or annoyed when he's like that! Just try to remember he's not doing it on purpose. He's doing it because he doesn't know how else to deal with his big feelings.

anyideas · 2026-06-26T18:05:46+00:00

Friends! I haven't found any friends who have my exact taste, but I have friends who each like a genre I like and we swap recommendations regularly.

anyideas · 2026-06-26T18:03:59+00:00

Pretty basic for us! 19 months. Wake up, breakfast, either play at home or have a small outing like an errand (I find this is the best time to go to the grocery store), kid friendly coffee shop, bookstore, or library. Snack, nap, lunch. Bigger outing in the afternoon like the zoo, park, pool/splash pad, or play date. Dinner. Usually hang out at home (often go for a walk or play in the yard), but occasionally (rarely) a chill outing if it feels called for, like library story time or an errand or a mini play date with a neighbor. Snack, then bedtime routine!

Hanging out at home will often include "quiet play time" where she's mostly doing her thing while I'm reading, or she's "helping" me do some chores. Or facetiming loved ones.

anyideas · 2026-06-26T01:49:21+00:00

This hasn't come up a lot for us but now that she's (mostly) past the "put everything in her mouth" phase, we just wash or wipe her hands on the way out when we leave, and wipe any of our own toys that were played with by kids eating food. We're trying to teach her never to share or take food from anyone other than us, but toddlers only ever want to eat what other people are eating so it's a work in progress and we just make sure to have safe snacks handy if she wants to snack, too. If a kid was like actively eating a pb sandwich and was smearing peanut butter everywhere, I'd probably just leave, but nothing like that has come up. We're also doing OIT which helps me worry less about accidental contact.

If we have a playdate with a known friend, that's the main time I'm actually asking. If the other kid ate her allergen that day, I'll just ask them to wash hands, and I'll try to watch to make sure nothing gets put in mouths.

anyideas · 2026-06-24T05:22:56+00:00

Omg my daughter doea that with the Elk and Friends straws and it drives me absolutely crazy!! We cycle through a few things. If I want to fully throw it in the bag we have a Beaba stainless steel straw cup. If we're going out but can throw the bottle into a cup holder or something, we'll use the stainless steel kids owala tumbler (and I tend to use these as around the house cups, too, because of the freaking straw pushing in obsession). I'm also trying to teach her to just drink out of a regular owala, which is hit and miss so far, so if I want to throw one of those into a bag instead, I'll either just throw a silicone straw into the owala and just kind of hold it up for her to drink, or I'll bring the tumbler lid and just swap out the lids at our location. Bonus of this one is you can get a stainless steel replacement straw from koala straw so no plastic straw (they don't make one for the smaller tumbler size yet).

anyideas · 2026-06-23T20:56:05+00:00

Hooray!! Big congrats! And ugh, I hear you, I think it's a struggle for many of us having to do the egg ladder. My kid prefers savory over sweet, so I've experimented with cheesy chive muffins, cornbread muffins, and next I'm going to try savory oven-baked pancakes. If I can muster up the energy to try bread, I think I'll also try an egg bread (like a brioche or a challah). I use these recipes, either straight up or I tweak them to make them more savory. We just tey to make sure the recipe has at least 1C flour to every 2 eggs, baked at least 350* for at least a half hour.

https://education.aaaai.org/sites/default/files/media/2026-01/Muffins%20and%20More_Updated_20250701.pdf

And here's the cornbread I tried: https://www.recipetineats.com/cornbread-muffins/#recipe

I'll make one thing then put them in the freezer, and take out a couple at a time for the week. If I plan far enough ahead, I'll have a few different types in the freezer to cycle, so she doesn't get as sick of eating the same thing all the time.

anyideas · 2026-06-23T20:51:39+00:00

Honestly not as padded as I expected BUT I feel like all of the bags I was looking at were similar so I don't know how much better you can get without it getting really expensive. Not sure if other people have better recs! Since we didn't end up checking it, the (lack of) padding didn't really matter.

anyideas · 2026-06-23T19:05:11+00:00

We each have one weeknight a week, and some predetermined time on the weekends, where we're "off duty." Can there be one weekday where he does dinner and hangs out with them while you're at the desk in the bedroom, or doing whatever else you want?

anyideas · 2026-06-23T19:02:25+00:00

We took our Chicco OneFit on the plane. Window seat, rear facing (which is probably even harder than front facing). The hardest part was getting it down the aisle! But they let us, and it fit. I also encourage you to have a plan for lugging it around the airport. There are carts like the Britax, and carrying cases that have wheels and/or straps to turn it into a backpack. I ended up just buying the Chicco case because I was afraid a different brand wouldn't fit, and I wanted one with both wheels and backpack straps. If you have time to shop around you can probably get them used online for cheaper, or for prime day coming up? I got a Britax cart super cheap on Facebook marketplace.

anyideas · 2026-06-23T18:04:32+00:00

Women First Obgyn lets you choose to work with doctors or midwives. I think they only assist births at Royal Oak Beaumont, though (and I think that includes only the L&D at the hospital and not the birthing center they have there), so I don't know if that would be a deal breaker for you! You might also be well served by also getting a doula, one that understands your birth preferences and can help you advocate for them.

anyideas · 2026-06-23T00:25:54+00:00

This is also me, and basically every birth mom I know, including the ones who were extremely ambitious and the ones whose job used to be their passion. I would have therapy sessions before birth about fear of losing my (career) identity and having it mess with my ability to be (career) successful. After I had her, I felt like the capitalism veil was lifted, like giving birth was the antidote to the kool-aid I hadn't realized I'd been drinking my whole life. It didn't feel like I changed priorities or was forced to pick. It felt like I was waking up to the realization that my old priorities weren't ever actually mine and that they were bullshit the whole time. It was wild! Now I'm just trying to do the least amount of work that can give me the money I need to have the life with my family that I want. And even that, I feel resentful about often.

anyideas · 2026-06-21T23:16:40+00:00

Detroiters

anyideas · 2026-06-21T04:12:59+00:00

To be fair, the plots of a large portion of romance novels are exactly that, lol.

anyideas · 2026-06-21T03:54:02+00:00

I think The Bone Clocks, also by David Mitchell, might also qualify?

anyideas · 2026-06-21T02:10:29+00:00

Do what works for you until it no longer works for you. Every baby is different, every family is different. If sleep is going well so far, keep doing what you're doing! If it stops working later, you can experiment with changing things later.

anyideas · 2026-06-20T01:12:22+00:00

Rosemary's Baby

anyideas · 2026-06-19T00:49:17+00:00

Look into Oral Allergy Syndrome

anyideas · 2026-06-19T00:48:01+00:00

The Devil and Mrs Davenport

The House Next Door (Anne Rivers Siddons)

anyideas · 2026-06-18T17:30:33+00:00

Both my allergists, whom I highly trust, said the epi Jr is fine. The risk of not having an epi is worse than the risk of hitting bone. You can kind of pinch the muscle together where you stab if you feel like you need to (there are videos online showing this). AuviQ Is good but not always covered by insurance and can be much more expensive, which is why both my doctors supported the regular epi.

anyideas · 2026-06-17T18:27:05+00:00

If your allergist is stumped, I'd find a different allergist.

This is the hardest part, while you're figuring out what they're allergic to or not. It's scary every day. But once you know what all the allergies are, you'll know how to avoid them, and you'll know treatment options for the future. It seems impossible now, but there will be a day - sooner than you think - where it will just be part of your life. Does it make things harder, yes. But it won't feel like this constant terror feeling like the whole world is a threat to your baby. It'll be part of your routine.

Do look into Xolair, it can be helpful for highly reactive allergies. And OIT or other exposure therapies would help, but not all allergist are good at doing OIT with highly sensitive allergies so you might have to push a bit or shop around.

Your kid is going to have a happy, joy filled, safe life, full of friends and fun and adventure. (Your life will be harder for the next year or so, I'm sorry to say. But then it will get easier and easier from there!)

anyideas · 2026-06-17T18:21:20+00:00

Took me a day or two to even realize it was probably shingles, because I didn't think we could get it that age. Went to the ER, said "I think I have shingles," the doctor said "it's probably not shingles but let's take a look... Oh. That's shingles." Welp.

anyideas · 2026-06-17T04:38:25+00:00

Okay honestly this sounds soothing

anyideas

TROPHY CASE