Re: taking pills...my middle son is 23 and he's only recently learned to swallow pills. It's been a hassle--the pediatrician gave him a hard time about needing liquid antibiotics when he was 12. He would rather suffer than swallow them, so we usually just let him suffer. But his older brother kidded him about it a lot.

Not about to be ridiculed like him, my younger son (14) learned to swallow them at a young age--without water. He went to a college football game yesterday, and got a headache. So he went to the first aid and asked for an ibuprofen. He popped it in his mouth and swallowed it. The EMS guy at the first aid station said, "Dude! Did you swallow that without water?!.... You're the man!!"

(I prefer he didn't swallow them without water, but if that's the most macho thing he insists on doing, I'm guess I'm okay with it.)

Karen