u/UhhhYouPick

I LOVE these series. Devoured all of them. Took the first 50 pages of crescent city to the face because I knew the hook was in there and it was.

I started reading right around when ACOSF was released. I was there through the hype and speculation of CC2 and especially CC3. Also not this sub related, but fourth wing releases, and also being a big Harry Potter nerd, I just LOVE a good fan theory.

I scoured these subs, did intense re-reads, saw every tiktok with any obscure ~evidence~. I didn’t hold a moment against the SJM for my own speculations falling flat. I just LOVED the lead up and anticipation to a new reveal in the story, new depths added to characters I’ve fallen in love with. I actually got banned for 2 weeks leading up to the release of CC3 because I couldn’t resist speculating on unproven spoilers. Not a brag, just couldn’t resist connecting with other fans over any part of the lead up to a highly anticipated release.

For some reason though..I just weirdly can’t find it in me this time around. I don’t know if it’s because I had some mild letdowns over CC3? I don’t know if it’s because I’ve loved these series so deeply and now that they’re being linked, things are changing? I just wonder if any other fans are struggling to find the giddy anticipation?

Still excited to read! I just could never imagine being someone who could…wait.

Recently got back into the game after playing for maybe a year when it first came out in 2016. I’ve always been a nerd, but not friends with many nerds, and it was so fun when Pokemon go first came out because EVERYONE wanted to go walk around new places to see what kind of mons they could catch. I don’t remember raids really being a thing and even gyms were new so it was genuinely all about catching Pokemon.

Now it’s still so fun and addicting but it’s like my own little secret almost. My husband makes fun of me for pulling it up so much, but to me it’s equivalent or better than scrolling tiktok or instagram in my off time. My child recently became obsessed with pikachu and we showed them the show and it go momentum so I re-downloaded the game thinking it would be a just cute little thing and I’m hooked. Really wish I had access to that original account because I feel like I’d have some interesting things floating around but alas.

Writing this off the seat of my pants because I just threw on the Netflix avatar show and I was like “damn this is good, so much nostalgia.” Now I’m looking for a good 1-man remote raid, appraising my can-evolve Pokemon with avatar playing in the background and I feel 13 again, except I have a newborn sleeping in my arms and a baby monitor on the table.

Anyway, finally caught a ditto today after months of that sitting in my special research. Thank you to Candela’s quest and the increase in mankeys.

So yea, just a closet nerd enjoying the game with no one to geek out over my new ditto or shiny dartix. Feel like so many posts in these community are about being a raid-grinder, but it’s the little things sometimes.

I played briefly when the game first came out, but redownloaded recently with a new account. I genuinely have no clue what I’m “doing.” I’m having fun, but confused about how to be “good” at this game.

I’m level 27, my highest CP Pokemon is aerodactyl 2277, my highest CP 3* is swalot at 1192 CP. I have a 4* dedenne and cottonee but they’re 815 and 300. I have a couple dynamax Pokemon but they’re all low levels.

I’ve done some raids and power spots for low levels, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong?

I haven’t seen any 2 difficulty level raids near me, but I’ve beat a bunch of level 1s and they’re not rewarding. I tried a level 3 alone today and felt like I was doing great until I realized there was a time constraint. No one ever even RSVPs for the raids near me so idk how to do more than a level 1…?

I’m literally just catching Pokemon, especially ones new to my Pokédex, and evolving what I think seems right and then I do the battles and people the same level have crazy Pokemon I’ve never seen. Never mind this mega stuff… I’m so confused!

I’ve tried reading “tips” and I’m still confused because I feel like these crazy mega raids are beyond me.

Any normal advice?

Ok I’m drunk so I’ll probably delete. I’m not a rap connoisseur by any means and maybe this will show it, but like is missy elliott an icon or am I delusional?

“Head banga, hit me” like yes, such a banger. Hit me again. I feel like no one ever talks about her. Did she get cancelled? Does she suck and my beer AirPods are just in?

Our almost 3 year old still is obsessed with her pacifier. Her speech is great, but her teeth are definitely a little affected. Our old dentist was really chill and pretty much said “we can fix teeth, if it’s too much to take it right now, it’s too much” our pedi pretty much said “if it’s not effecting her speech, I don’t have much to comment on, but you probably don’t want her going to kindergarten with it.” Our new dentist essentially burned me at the stake which was not fun. But I guess maybe deserved. Although her bite isn’t bad, it’s just a crowding issue. She already had a narrow palate at birth so I always figured a palate expander was in her future anyway.

My big problem is outside opinion more than anything. My MIL in particular is horrified by the pacifier, she’s constantly telling her only babies use pacifiers etc. And she’s pretty succinctly said we’re being lazy parents. I think that really is the overall opinion most people have. Just go cold turkey, no pacifiers after 2, no pacifiers after 12 months, just deal with the tantrums for a week.

As of right now, she gets the pacifier at night for bed. We take it out of her mouth after she’s down, but leave it if she needs to resettle. She also gets it occasionally when I can tell she’s super disregulated. She doesn’t nap so those midday big feelings are hard for her to cope with and the pacifier like instantly takes the tension out of her body. We’ve tried changing the sleep association to a lovey, we give her quiet time and sensory input throughout the day. On top of it all, we have a new baby so that’s obviously a big change in itself for her. I just genuinely don’t know what to do. She has an oral fixation issue for sure, she’s started chewing her hair and sleeves since we cut down the pacifier use. I also catch her with little toys in her mouth wayyyy too often which is stressful from a choking standpoint. She knows not to do it or she loses them but it almost seems like she doesn’t know she’s doing it.

As far as we know, she’s neurotypical, she has no other stims or habits that have popped up red flags (grandma, and 2 aunties are in special ed.).

I don’t know if we’d really calcify ourselves as “gentle” parents, we definitely hold boundaries and have consequences for behaviors. But it really does break my heart to take away a comfort item, especially when it’s a tool she uses to calm herself. We’re working on other coping techniques but at 2.5 they’re a longterm work in progress.

So from a gentle parenting aspect, or from parents that didn’t go cold turkey, or let the pacifier use extend too long…how’d it work out? Do you regret not taking it sooner? Did taking it leak into overall behavior and cause sleep issues?

We have a 5 month old baby that was diagnosed at birth with AI. We did all the education, researched on our own, I always check this sub to get a feel for how people deal with their condition as they get older. We have a great team of endos. But I still feel so unsure all the time. They nicely told us they expect a lot of calls to the on-call line the first year.

Checking for a fever is just part of our typical “troubleshooting” when she’s fussy. Fever and vomiting are obvious. But sometimes babies are just fussy! And then there’s teething which we were told we might have to up dose for, and then when she starts toddling what if she falls and bonks her head? Im always worried that she doesn’t feel great and she doesn’t have any language to tell me.

We’ve had to stress dose after her routine vaccinations because of high fever. We’ve done stress dosing after she got a fever with a runny nose virus. And we did stress dosing when she got HFM blisters, but never had a fever. Overall we feel pretty good. But there’s been a few days where she’s fussy or has a runny nose but her temp is only like 99.8 or 100.1 and we watch her but don’t up dose, and she seems fine but I always wonder if I’m wrong.

I imagine it gets easier once she can express that she doesn’t feel good. But I feel like that takes longer than just learning to talk. My 4 year old still can’t really express the difference between a nauseous stomachache or just needing to poop.

So when did your kids start being active participants in their dosing needs? Does it become more intuitive or do you always second-guess yourself? We were told we essentially can’t overdose her so if we think she needs stress-dosing, then to do it, but I don’t have AI. I don’t know what it feels like to be too low or if there’s any “yuckiness” to be stress dosed when you don’t really need it.

I know rectal is the most accurate, but does anyone have a less invasive thermometer they recommend? They use the forehead roller ones at the pedi and there’s some decently priced ones but I’m worried they won’t be accurate unless I get to the $80 price range.