I'm no expert but the GE fridges are ASSEMBLED in the USA and, as long as 50% of the components are made in the USA OR the product undergoes substantial change into something else (motor to fridge anyone), GE can lay claim to the label - made in the USA. Many of the components, including the motors , are actually made in China. Now would you really want to buy an appliance you hope to have for at least 20 years or more, from a company that has been wanting to sell its consumer Appliance division for over a year? Google "Ge appliances division sell" if you need to and see how the company is doing all it can to improve the profitability of this division so it can increase the sell price. What's the best way to make more money - sell an item for a lot of money while keeping the cost of production as low as possible. Cheap cost of production = JUNK! My GE Monogram Fridge and freezer just went back today so maybe I am biased because I fell for the advertising pitch and bought into it but from experience I would never touch a new GE product again - they aren't built like the ones from a few years back. our new ones didn't even last a year. And at $5000 each that is money we were NOT going to lose. Fortunately our dealer bought them back for full credit and we are getting German made units instead with European providence on ALL the components.

Let me preface my comments by stating that I have 3 children, ages 8, 5, 2 (and one on the way). So I am not new to this, but it's all still fresh enough in my memory that I remember it realistically. That's just so you know where I am coming from. And I ask your patience now for what I expect will be a long answer. The answer to your question is yes and no. If you think of discipline in terms of teaching and guiding, yes, you can begin to discipline a 9 mos old in terms of protecting them from danger. If they pull hair, you can distract them and say "no." You can say "no" and remove them from a situation like pulling an electic cord. But they aren't likely to learn any lesson from it. I know people say their babies understand "no" but I do not buy that. A baby might respond temporarily to the tone of the voice, but at that age, I don't believe, from my experience, they understand "no" in any disciplinary terms. In other words, you could substitute any word used in exactly the same tone and context and get the same reaction from the baby. At that age it is about protecting them. Even if you do get a response to no in a physically harmful situation, you still aren't going to get one over manners, i.e. crying and screaming in temper. If you think of discipline in terms of more concrete action=consequence the answer is no. If you think of discipline in terms of knowing what behavior is expected, the answer is no. That is the beginning of self-discipline and that is a couple years off. There are a million reasons why this baby would behave that way. First off, she is a baby. She has no understanding of socially acceptable behavior and won't for a long time. She could be coming down with something, maybe she's teething, or tired. Maybe her nap/sleep schedule is in a period of change making her more tired and cranky that usual. It is also common for babies that age to begin to feel frustration over their lack of mobility or autonomy. She knows what she wants to do, but she is not yet physically capable of doing it. That makes her frustrated and the only means she has to express it is to cry and scream. Some babies express that frustration more intensely than others, kind of like adults. Sometimes there just isn't anything you can do about it short of making life go their way all the time (and we all know how well that would go). We will all have days like that, some of us will have weeks like that. And it has nothing to do with our parenting skills. It's real life. What you do about it has more to do with you than with the baby. If a parent responds to a baby's cries of frustration with a raised, loud voice and frustration of their own, the baby's will only intensify. As a parent, you just have to stay calm. Rule out any cause you can resolve, fix it if you can, and ride it out if you can't. If baby cries because he doesn't really want to be in his car seat right now he'd much rather crawl on the floor, there just isn't anything you can do about it. You gotta do what you gotta do. You can't reason with him. You cannot impose a consequence for the crying. You really only can carry on with what you gotta do, try to offer a distraction, but if that doesn't work, ride it out. They are not old enough for the type of discipline that makes them understand you can't always have your way. They are still of the mentality "I am the center of the universe and as my mother it is your job to make me happy." The scream says "Why aren't you doing your job!" So when that age hits, try to see life through your baby's eyes, try to understand what their cry says to you, it helps keep your expectations within reason. If you can see the baby's view of life, it helps you determine if the fit is over a need or a want, thus the best way to resolve it. And remember that when you have days like that, you are not alone, we all have them, it doesn't make you a bad mother. Not to scare you, but the temper of a 9 mos old doesn't begin to compare to the temper of a 2 yr old. And most professionals do in fact say that the best way to deal with that is to ignore it. On the up side, you will have far more good days than bad. And when it is your child, you move into those temper cries gradually and 1)get used to them and learn to block them out and 2)have time to work into dealing with it slowly and not BAM there it is. When you find yourself having to deal with it, you watch your baby's needs. If you know your baby gets cranky being out of routine, try to avoid that. If you know strange places make him cranky, invite people to your house instead. You can try to make some compromised in your daily life to avoid things that will aggrevate the crankies. But life happens, you can't avoid it all the time and probably really shouldn't. I feel from the way you posted you are seeking information for your own use, not judging your friend. But I still want to say don't judge her parenting by this bad day, or even a rough few weeks. Instead, and I'm sure you're already doing this, be supportive and understanding of this normal phase. I hope from all that rambling you got something helpful. :o)

I skipped over the last few entries, but wanted to add a few things. You should be able to call Birth to 3 and have them do a free full evaluation on your son in your home. We were concerned about my son's speech and they came out-said everything was developmentally appropriate, but he was not talking as much as we thought he should and since I was a teacher just new it was best to be safe and if something was going on start addressing it as soon as possbible. He was also a preemie and was 6 weeks early and born 4.5 pounds. He reached 20 pounds at around 15 months. What helped him gain weight after that was that he accidentally got a cookie with nuts and once he was fine with that we let him start eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and peanut butter crackers which he LOVES. I think now MOST doctors say peanut butter is fine at one year, and I was honest with my doctor that he was eating peanut butter and thrilled that there was something he liked a lot. I would try peanut butter as long as you don't have any family history of allergies from it. Also, my first son's speech is developing wonderfully and my 15 month old says mama and dada but makes sounds for different words which my older son can understand and "translate" for me...very cute:)

If an adult animal loses a permanent tooth, like a cat losing a canine tooth, it is because the tooth is so rotten that it falls out. Rotten, as in infected, pus-filled, bacteria entering the bloodstream and causing septicemia type rotten. Bacteria enter the bloodstream through holes in the tooth, and land anywhere they please- kidneys and liver are a popular target, but animals can also get meningitis and other central nervous system infections. Dental disease is serious- it is incredibly painful, which may cause an animal to starve rather than eat, it can cause severe organ damage, and may even lead to death. I've seen it happen on more than one occasion. There is a veterinary payment plan called CareCredit which an area vet may accept. If your vet doesn't take payments, maybe another will. Your cat is sick and probably needs major dental work if that is the only thing wrong with him. Delaying treatment may cost his life. It is not a matter of being picky- a tooth fell out! He is too painful to eat! The least he needs is antibiotics and pain meds.