It was switch-up night on Dancing With the Stars, and also "Judges say what?" night, because the scoring was all the heck over the place. We talked about the dances we liked, the conspiracies we wondered about, and the partnerships we wish could stay switched. Then, we moved on to our promised discussion of Fox's Grandfathered and The Grinder, although neither of us completely did her homework and watched all eps of both. Still, we liked what we saw or heard enough to try again to watch and chat next week. Other fall TV we've been consuming? Mostly stuff from last season still on the DVR and whatever Terri's husband happens to be watching when she walks through the room, but we're working on it. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

It's October, which brings a lot of change in the parenting world. Along with the seasons changing, and the settling in to the school year, we have Halloween anticipation ... or dread, as the case may be. We discussed our favorite candies to steal from our little trick-or-treaters, our costuming issues, the transition from plastic pumpkin pail to pillowcase, and whether anybody ever comes to our house.

Of course, Halloween isn't the only thing we love and/or hate about this time of year. The weather is changing (at least for some of us); the back-to-school honeymoon is over and teachers/kids are starting to complain; and cheerful reminders are popping up on Facebook that Christmas is coming. We lamented the tragedy that is fall in California when you're used to actual seasons; the onset of child activities that suck up all family time; the cost of wool socks; and the season of East Coast hurricane hysteria. But there are pretty leaves! (And superhero wool socks!)

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week. Catherine suggested "Healthier Halloween" info on About.com; Amanda wrote an article on "Halloween Challenges for Kids With Sensory Processing Issues — and How to Help" (and Terri added a plug for the simplest possible costumes); Nicole (allegedly trying to be helpful and not stress anyone out, but c'mon) directed us to Halloween ideas on Pinterest; Lexi got to speak with some smart experts about Why Your Teen or Tween May Be Frustrated With School -- and What You Can Say to Help; and Terri offered articles on Halloween help for special needs and a Halloween apology template for those class moms who just Do Not Get It with the restricted diets.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Each month Meghan Corridan, a pediatric occupational therapist, joins Catherine to share some of what she’s learned from her clients and her own 5-year-old daughter. Now that her daughter is in kindergarten, Meghan is experiencing the joys of homework firsthand, so we talked about how to set the scene and help kids succeed with their at-home work. Find out Meghan’s pro tips for motivating kids and teaching independence (something both moms are still working on with their kids at home). To read more of Meghan’s advice, visit her blog, MAC&Toys, or the site for The Meeting House, where Meghan helps run a supportive after-school program. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

It's the most thematically uncomfortable Dancing With the Stars of the season: the dreaded Most Memorable Year episode, where celebs are asked to honor the death of a loved one with a cha cha. The mix of real-life hardship with sequins and fluff is always tricky, and this year's degree of difficulty was kicked up by contestant Alek Skarlatos's personal connection to the shooting at an Oregon college and host Tom Bergeron's absence to be with his ailing father. We chatted about our favorites, those that impressed us less, the awkwardness of judging someone who's just cried on camera, and the dilemma of having a happy personal story amongst the angst. Leaping on to non-dancing topics, Catherine gave her review of A Lego Brickumentary, and Terri bid a sad goodbye to one of her favorite podcasts, Firewall and Iceberg, RIP. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

What's your very favorite children's book? The one you read to your kid until it disintegrated? The one that got your child hooked on reading? The one you dug way more than your kid? We compared notes on kid-lit we've loved and loathed, finding many beloved books in common and agreeing to disagree (maybe) on whether the Magic Tree House books are sufficiently annoying to be ban-worthy.

Next, we considered the books that don't exist that we'd love to see -- and particularly the ones we figure we've got it in us to write. If you've ever wanted a children's book about room-cleaning, ideas of things to do while waiting in your car, or a guide to reassure you that you haven't really messed your kid up that badly, just help us find a publisher.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Amanda suggested we check out the Banned Books Week website, and while you're there, Catherine said to check out The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Nicole liked Time magazine's list of the 100 Best Children's Books of All Time; and Terri offered a list of 20 Things I Learned from Reading Children’s Fiction.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music.

As a parent of a child with special needs, you'd like to think that the transition to adulthood will be some sort of triumphant finish line to all the advocating and planning and worrying and IEP meetings. Sadly, although the IEP meetings end, the rest of that stuff just keeps on keeping on. On this week's Round 4, Terri chats with monthly contributor Robert Rummel-Hudson about being overwhelmed by the uncertainty of our kids' future and the certainty that we'll have to keep providing direction, even as there's less and less of a graceful way to do that. Come wallow with us in worry, won't you? (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Maker Faires are springing up all over, in a city or a Barnes & Noble near you, and we asked Kathy Ceceri, author of Making Simple Robots and the upcoming Paper Inventions, about what these events are all about and how you can bring some cool DIY tech into your child's life. It's okay -- you don't have to have a 3D printer in your garage or understand complicated computer functions. Kathy talks about how English majors, artists, and crafters can participate in and benefit from Maker Faire. To see some of the projects from Kathy's book when it comes out, go to the Make: site.

Football pre-empting ABC's schedule foiled Catherine's efforts to watch Dancing With the Stars this week, and if you had to pick an episode to be pre-empted in your viewing area, this would be the one. Terri gave a recap of the TV-themed episode -- which labored under the need to 1) pick only TV theme songs they could get rights to and 2) use the TV show as the theme of the dance -- and recommended Alek's, Alexa's, and Nick's as the three to watch if you also missed the ep (and previously.tv forums if you want more commentary). Then Catherine reported on her latest book-club read, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, a Swedish novel that's described on its cover as "a mordantly funny and loopily freewheeling novel about aging disgracefully." (Despite what Terri says, she hasn't read a Swedish novel --Smilla's Sense of Snow was Danish, and not loopily freewheeling at all.) Finally, we looked forward to watching Grandfathered and The Grinder on Fox tonight and discussing it next week, along with hopefully un-pre-empted star dancing. Join us, won't you?

Our group chat started off on a positive note as we shared those clever tricks we've developed over the years to solve various organizational and parenting problems. We gave ourselves pats on the back for finding new uses for pizza boxes and Book Sox, and even for remembering to put gas in the car. It's all good.

Things quickly turned bad, though, when we moved on to our second topic: those things that make us irrationally, blood-boilingly, family flee-ingly furious. Whether it's printers, phones, Windows 8, clutter, or inefficient doing of laundry that lights the fuse, you'll want to get out of the way before we blow.

Fortunately, we calmed down in time to share our recommendations for the week. Catherine gave credit to the Parent Hacks site for giving us the idea for Topic 1 in the first place; Amanda tipped us off to an Understood.org article by Round 3 contributor Lexi Walters Wright on "8 Ways to Use Color-Coding to Help Kids With Executive Functioning Issues"; Nicole followed that up with a mention of an article on "25 Easy Ways to Improve Executive Functioning Skills" on her Inclusive Class site; and Terri directed listeners to her About.com Parenting Children With Special Needs site for help with Halloween-costume hacks, clutter storage, and inciting yourself into a tantrum.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music.

For this week's Round 4, Amanda chatted with her husband, Jon, our audio engineer and blogger at My Happy SAHD Life, to talk about the ... educational challenge of taking children with special needs out in public. Do you enlighten that judgey lady on the plane about the tic disorder that's making your kid kick her seat? Do you wear T-shirts inviting people interested in why your youngsters do what they do to look it up online? Do you politely suggest that people mind their own beeswax, or apologize afterwards for your child's alleged disruptiveness? What you can't really do is hide your kid in a closet, however much certain members of the public might like you to. Amanda and Jon share their experiences, frustrations, and strategies in a podcast that will have any parent of children who get those looks in public nodding in agreement and sympathy. And if you're not one of those parents -- maybe you need to listen and think about how it feels?

Susan Adcox, who writes about grandparenting for About.com, joins us on the third Wednesday of every month to chat with Catherine about grandparenting issues. This time, they talk about family closeness: what grandparents and parents can do to keep extended families close, what factors affect family closeness, and even whether families can ever be too close. Plus, why you should not count on either podcaster to get her holiday shopping done early. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

We started out our Round 2 this week with a look back at Sunday's Emmy Awards, which we live-tweeted with Round 3 contributor Kathy Ceceri. Since neither Catherine nor Terri watches much of the stuff that gets nominated for Emmys-- even though Olive Kitteridge sounds to be right up Catherine's alley -- we mostly talked about how Andy Samberg did, what happened to those interesting little interviews with creative types ad the evening went along, and how the critics we read who do watch this stuff felt about the winners.

Next, we chatted about last night's Dancing With the Stars,and maybe the fact that Terri accidentally called Gary Nick when admiring his unexpectedly decent foxtrot and Catherine called Alek Andy when wondering whether Terri still hates contemporary says something about the lack of memorable-ness in this field so early in the season. We said goodbye to Chaka and "shape up" to Allison and "surely you're gone next" to Victor, and looked forward to a week when the good get better and the bad get out.

Finally, we looked forward to a new TV season for which Terri at least is not ready, having so much of the old season still on her DVR. But she figures her family will try out Grandfatheredand The Grinder, Catherine is planning to sample The Muppets and Empire, and by next week they'll already be behind on what everyone else is streaming, but have a few new-show reports. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

After reading a list of 21 Cringeworthy Ways Kids Have Embarrassed Their Parents on Buzzfeed, we wanted to hear each other’s most embarrassing stories so we could feel a little better about our own. Nicole shared her daughter's deliberate efforts to embarrass Mom, Amanda recalled her mortification over a child's innocent yet racially insensitive comment, Catherine wished her kids had the sense to lie when she needs them to, and Terri confessed to being more likely to embarrass her kids than the other way around. Beyond that, Amanda and Terri commisserated over their mutual tendency to be embarrassed for other people as well as themselves, and we're all embarrassed by the crummy sound quality of much of this first portion of the podcast.

While sheer humiliation has probably not been the cause, over the years some of us have moved our kids to different schools, or wanted to. How do you know when changing schools is a good idea? We shared our school-switching war stories and road-not-taken regrets before moving on to our weekly recommendations. Catherine celebrated after-school snacks that can double as dinner (so your kids don’t embarrass you by telling everyone you never feed them); Amanda shared her article on Montessori Preschools: What You Need to Know, in case you're thinking of switching to one; Nicole passed on her list of 10 Class Rules for Teachers; and Terri suggested asking yourself five questions before advocating for your child in a way that may embarrass your kid or necessitate a change of schools or both.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episodes, and to Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

This week, Amanda talked with monthly contributor Lexi Walters Wright about a tougher than usual topic. Parenting isn't always easy, and getting to the experience of being a parent isn't alway easy either. Lexi talked about her struggle not only with miscarriages but also with how to manage there not being any protocol to talk about them. She shares how that encouraged her to become a facilitator of a local Empty Arms Miscarriage Support Group. Amanda opened up about her experience with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) and how isolating it was to feel so ill and alienated during what should have been a happy time.

The good news, they both agreed, is that celebrity parents are making it easier to talk about these issues. From Mark Zuckerberg's public statement about his and his wife's experience with miscarriage to Kate Middleton's very public experience with HG, celebs are speaking up and helping parents like us. Lexi shared an article from Parenting about celebs who have had miscarriages and Amanda shared one she wrote for PopSugar Moms about HG. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

On this week's Round 2, we said goodbye to an enjoyable season of So You Think You Can Dance, congratulations to our mutual favorite Gaby (we love you too, Jaja!), and hooray for Jim finally getting that dance with Alex (though honestly, show, you couldn't have scared up some ballet choreography?). Then, we turn our attention the glittery world of Dancing With the Stars, where many of the contestants we don't think can dance at all. The sooner some of those trainwrecks get hauled off the better, though Catherine's daughter thinks way more of Hayes Grier than Terri does (he shall be hereafter referred to in this blog as "that punk") and DWTS history suggests that a decent dancer or two will be gone before all the wreckage is cleared. Still, there were enough non-cringe-worthy performances to suggest that the second half of the season will be enjoyable, and the least star-ry "star," French-train hero Alek Skarlatos, did respectably well for himself. Join us back here every week for DWTS chat, and if you like reading other people's snarky opinions of the show, may we recommend the previously.tv forums. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Join us for an Emmys live-tweet this Sunday, 9/20, 8 p.m. ET at #EmmyPRP!

This week's group chat starts with a look at how our kids got their names. Find out who named a kid after a U2 song, who you better not call by a nickname, whose names people willfully misspell, which names teachers shrink from, and who's the only podcaster old enough to remember the name Owen from Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law.

From there, we rambled on to our experiences with day care — good, bad, and guilt-inducing. Though our children survived, we still cringe at the memory of the day-care vacations, working just to pay the day care, dealing with people who judge you for needing their services, and getting those incident reports that dutifully let you know that things weren't all good in your absence. (And no, Terri wasn't making up that story about day-care fight club.) 

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine (with a C) suggested visiting the Name Lady for all your name-related questions; Amanda (never Mandy) liked a Scary Mommy post on the virtue of giving your kids plain names; Nicole (not Nicki) passed on an article about what to avoid when looking for a preschool; and Terri (not short for Theresa) had suggestions for when that preschool is for a child with special needs.

Thanks as always to Jon (without an h) Morin for producing our episodes and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Join in the lament of parents everywhere: Back to school means back to extracurricular activities, and sometimes it’s all just too much. Catherine chats with Round 4 contributor Charlie Zegers, who writes about sports and also about parenting kids on the autism spectrum, about us how often they face the “two places at once” problem, whether homework ever gets pushed off the priority list, and how to know what we’re getting into with kids’ activities. It turns out that sports guy Charlie is not actually much of a sports dad—and he’s pretty fine with that. We also briefly revisit a past podcast on varsity letters and good intentions. You can visit Catherine’s site for more advice on managing schoolwork and sports. (If you’re reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, visit http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

It was a week before Labor Day when Terri had a chat with Katherine Lee, who writes about parenting school-aged kids at childparenting.about.com, about getting kids back to school with as little stress as possible. Most kids have made or are in the throes of that transition now, but Katherine's advice for planning, patience, and letting go of perfection can still help you through these rocky times. For more of Katherine's thoughts on a better back-to-school transition, read these articles on her site:
+ 8 Ways to Get Everything Organized for Back to School
+ 7 Things Kids Are Thinking at Back-to-School Time
+ 9 Ways to Help Your Child Beat the Back-to-School Blues
(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

On their next to last chat about the current season of So You Think You Can Dance, Catherine and Terri chat about their favorite routines, their least-favorite choreography styles, their favorites for the win, and their guesses on what in the world the show is going to fill two hours with in its results episode. That episode will go up against the opening ep of the next show we'll be discussing weekly, Dancing With the Stars, a show that once again interprets "star" exceedingly loosely. We typecast the current lineup as Terri clues Catherine in on some of the show's traditions and tropes. Finally, we slip in a little something serious with Catherine's review of Unbroken, which was in theaters a while back and watchable at home in all its traumatic glory now. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

This week's group chat is rated E for ewwwww as we talk about all those gross things we're called on to handle as moms, from head lice to snot to diapers to a long night with four rotavirus-afflicted family members and one bathroom. If that's already more than you wanted to think about, you might want to fast-forward to about the ten-minute mark, where we switch to the topic of things everybody else thinks are great ideas and we're kind of meh about, from drinking wine in Target to lauding school attendance to kicking the kids out of the nest. Finally, we share the things we are legitimately enthusiastic about this week: Catherine gives us something new to worry about with an article on super lice from Gabby at Design Mom; Amanda wants you to know that the American Academy of Pediatrics gives no-nits policies a big meh; Terri shares a no no-nits article of her own plus some tips on smothering those bugs; and for something completely different, Nicole recommends an online presentation about adapting curriculum.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for editing our episodes, and to Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Parents of kids with special needs can get pretty cynical pretty fast -- that's what happens when people sworn to serve your kid break all of their IEP promises without breaking a sweat -- but at the very start of a new school year, it's still possible to imagine that things will go as planned, and nobody will let your kid down, and you won't have to have many many unpleasant meetings with school personnel. Terri chats with Robert Rummel-Hudson about high hopes for this school year, the future that is starting to rise up in front of his daughter, and what it will take to set her successfully on the path to the life she wants. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Each month Meghan Corridan, a pediatric occupational therapist who blogs at MAC&Toys, joins Catherine to share some of what she’s learned from her clients and her own 5-year-old daughter. This time, they talked about making the transition back to school, but we think you’ll find this episode useful even if your kids have already kicked off the year. Meghan has clever advice about how to help kids problem-solve, what to look for at the open house, and even how to create a first day (or first week) tradition. Plus, Meghan and Catherine agree on how best to get your kid to talk about school (hint: you need accomplices). Meghan works with an after-school program called The Meeting House, and you can find more of her BTS advice at TMH’s blog. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

Noooooooooooo! Not Jim! Our mutual favorite for the top spot made his last leggy leap as a contestant this season on So You Think You Can Dance, and while the judges didn't have a vote in that, we'll blame them anyway for swaying America with their relentless dissing of Jim as just technically wondrous and flawless and the best ever. (I guess he should be grateful they didn't make him dance like a sexy fish.) We chatted about the dances, booed (or fast-forwarded past) the "expert" critiques, and picked our faves and best guesses for the big winner. Then we turned our sights to the next dance show on the horizon, Dancing With the Stars, taking a look at the "stars" so far announced (including singer Andy Grammer, whose performance on last season's show and video for the same song you should go watch after listening to the podcast) and the differences between the shows (like the fact that if the choreography stinks, at least the choreographer gets booted along with the dancer). Finally, we peeked in on the VMAs, and decided that the less said about that self-consiously provocative exercise, the better. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

After listening to today's podcast, you're going to want to go check out the cry playlist we set up a while back, because we're all about the blues. Nicole in particular is lamenting her partially empty nest and resenting all the mom friends who never told her she was going to feel like this when her son moved out. We consider some other things that never seemed to have made it into the parenting manual -- could we have had a heads up about the way sending kids off to school doesn't mean you get your life back, maybe? -- and go on to formulate some advice of our own about motherhood, like "You're going to want sleep more than you'll want anything else" and "It is perfectly acceptable to ignore your mother's advice."

Finally, we made our weekly recommendations of things worth checking out: Catherine liked a Cool Mom Tech list of organizational apps for back-to-school; Amanda appreciated Ellen Seidman's post on people staring at your child; Nicole thought the book Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Wolf tells it like it is; and Terri sugggested reading Robert Rummel-Hudson's post on the R Word, even though it's sad that we're still even talking about that.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for editing our episodes, and to Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music (and for still living at home, so Nicole doesn't come completely unhinged). If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.