Archive for June, 2008
Jun
25
Posted by
Alicia Castelli
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is having their first “Red, White & Zoo” weekend with special discounts, patriotic animal activities and festive music during the holiday weekend.
From 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Friday, July 4 through July 6, take advantage of the “Buy One, Get One Free” admission to the popular TOUCH! Amazing Rays & Sharks attraction. Wear red, white and/or blue on July 4th and save $2 off your admission that day.
Visitors can watch the rhinos and bears enjoy red, white & blue ice treats, see the elephants’ patriotic painting, meet the eagle keeper and see seal and sea lion demonstrations set to patriotic tunes.
The first 2,000 children to enter the Zoo on July 4 with receive a free flag. Then parade through the Zoo on a...
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Jun
24
Posted by
besttech
Ursula von Rydingsvard NEW YORK CITY MOMS BLOG
My husband spent the weekend with a blue cooler icepack on his crotch. He had a vasectomy on Friday. I was never able to take the pill as it made me nauseous and kooky. So I gave in to my husband’s reasoning. He said, “you’ve done enough, 4 pregnancies, 1 miscarriage, 3 C-sections, breast feeding, and dealing with that diaphragm for years.” AMEN! I’m ready to burn my diaphragm in the fireplace. (For the record I asked my husband if I could write about this.)
The thing I wasn’t prepared for, were the raging emotions, I cried the entire weekend. I am a mother of three and my last pregnancy wasn’t planned. Don’t get me wrong. He was the best darned mistake I ever made. And my husband would have more kids if I were so inclined. Which is why I didn’t really want him to know about my sadness. And even though three is enough (for me), it is the finality of no more tiny bundles that makes me sad. No more rolling little burritos in hospital receiving blankets, or delicious newborn scalp smells. No more endless bounds of potential born just to you. I’ll have to hold the babes of others to satisfy my newborn tingles. These Darwinian urges are fierce!
I went to a playgroup birthday over the weekend and one of the moms looked down at my three year old and generously said “you make such beautiful children.” I burst into tears. She asked me what was wrong so I told her. I am discovering, this isn’t a very “talked about” subject, though many couples have taken this route. I wish I had talked to another mom about how this might feel. I wasn’t prepared. It’s funny how they have the man go through a consultation. Asking them all kinds of horrific, yet important questions like, “what if your wife dies, or you get a divorce and remarry.” I think the women should get some consult as well. Like will this feeling of “loss” go away soon?
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Jun
24
Posted by
besttech
Police: Pa. DUI suspect went to Ohio bar instead of jail
Eds: PMs.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A northwest Pennsylvania woman charged in the drunken-driving death of her son went to a bar after his funeral in Ohio instead of reporting back to prison as required, state police said.
A judge had given Erin Howard, 26, of Corry, permission to leave the Erie County Prison for 24 hours to attend her son’s funeral in Ohio, with orders to return to the lockup by 3 p.m. Saturday.
Instead, Howard went to a bar called Tailgaters in Hamilton, Ohio, about a mile from the church where the funeral for 6-year-old Samuel Carpenter was held, police said.
Howard had been in prison in lieu of $75,000 bail on charges that she was driving drunk when she crashed into a creek bank near Corry, killing Samuel, on June 14 — her 26th birthday.
Trooper Mark Van Horn said in a criminal complaint that he was notified at 8 p.m. Saturday that Howard had not returned to prison.
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Jun
24
Posted by
besttech
Aisha Sultan St. Louis Post-Dispatch
In our fire-proof safe, with our life insurance policies and the deed to our house, there is a letter.
It is written in shaky, cursive handwriting, double-spaced on the lined, three-holed paper we all used in school. It is a gift from my father. He wrote it about a decade ago, and we’ve never mentioned it since.
My father, who worked the long hours of a car salesman, had expectations typical of first-generation immigrants: “Aim for excellence.”
But he was atypical in his approach. He questioned and challenged me to develop my own opinions and intellectual curiosity. He had won a visa lottery in Pakistan 40 years ago and came here with little money, no friends or family. His greatest aspirations he saved for his children.
When I was in grade school, he insisted that I read the dictionary, copying the words and definitions. I never made it past the A’s, but I developed a lifelong love for words.
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Jun
24
Posted by
besttech
Am I raising a mean girl?
By Amy@UWM DEEP SOUTH MOMS BLOG
Angel, my 8-year-old daughter, is my sunshine girl — a sweet, sensitive all-around good kid. Her sunny disposition and outgoing nature make her a popular playmate among her friends and classmates. While it’s comforting to know she’ll never have trouble making friends or fitting in, I worry about where her “popularity” may take her. I worry because having a good heart and being a good person doesn’t necessarily make you immune to becoming a mean girl. Popularity is power and power corrupts. I know this firsthand because, for a short time in my distant past, I was one of those girls.
In the fifth grade, I was the ringleader of a small group of girls in my class. My “sidekick” was a relatively new girl in school who loved to make up for her own shortcomings — a slight stutter — by gossiping about the other kids in our class. Our favorite target was an awkward, overweight girl who desperately wanted to be our friend. We responded to her annoying, overeager attention by shunning her from the group and giving her dirty looks. We taught each other sign language and made it clear we were talking and laughing about her right in front of her face. We were so mean to her that she developed debilitating stomach aches and missed several days of school.
Of course there’s nothing I regret more and if given the chance to change one thing in my past, that would be it. Thankfully, I eventually wised up to the bad influences of my sidekick and even became close friends with my target who remains one of my oldest and dearest friends today. I honestly don’t know how she ever came to forgive me, but it’s the only way I’ve been able to forgive myself.
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Jun
24
Posted by
besttech
Moms Forum spotlights useful discussion taking place on the parenting forums of newspapers around the country.
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QUESTION: What’s the best age to take a child to Disney for the first time? She’s almost 17 months now. She likes people dressed as Elmo but hates clowns. She also hated going on a tram … would she react differently to the rides? She likes the rides you put a quarter (50 cents now!) into.
— Posted by Aimee Heller at www.momsmiami.com
RESPONSES:
— We took our daughter to Disney when she was 18 months (now 10) and it was one of our VERY best trip there, ever! She was completely aware, loved the noise and people. She was patient and watched the shows and parades. However my other daughter went at the same age and spent the entire vaca climbing stairs. She had no patience for the lines but the baby swap thing was magical and saved the day. She thoroughly enjoyed the rides and commotion. It’s all up to the temperament of the child and the amount of patience YOU have.
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Jun
23
Posted by
besttech
SAMANTHA CRITCHELL Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Anyone looking to use a greener bug repellent may also want to invest in a swatter.
There are natural repellents — citronella, lemongrass and rosemary, among them — but when it comes to effectiveness, at least for personal use, the chemical compound DEET is the standard-bearer.
Living in California, California Baby founder Jessica Iclisoy says a generous squirt of lotion with the essential oils of citronella, lemongrass and cedar keeps the pests away during her daily hike in the woods. California Baby is a personal care company with all-natural products including bug sprays.
If Iclisoy were going somewhere buggier, however, she’d probably pack the DEET.
“If I went to Africa, I’m not sure I’d want to go with just my herbal spray, but for what I need here, it’s a daily-use thing. This is safe and effective for my purposes,” Iclisoy says. “DEET is like antibiotics. I don’t take them for a cold, but if I really need them, I take them.”
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Jun
23
Posted by
besttech
Kim Hays Moms At Work blog
I can think of nothing my kids need more than a way to meet other babies online, take pointless surveys and post pics of them dressed in just their diapers.
“What are you wearing? Pampers cruiser, onesie, remnants of breakfast
Last person you kissed: Mom
Nickname: Little Mr. Muffin Butt
Person you admire most: Dora
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Jun
23
Posted by
besttech
LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press Writer
Recess was Allie Long’s favorite part of the day until the second grade, when some of her friends on the playground pressured her to join their whisper campaign against a classmate.
Allie shrugged. She didn’t want to hear their rumor or help spread it around. In an instant, her best friends since kindergarten became her tormenters.
“They started taunting and teasing her,” said Allie’s mom, Trudy Ludwig. “She was on this play structure and they blocked all of the exits and wouldn’t let her off. They started moving closer to her. Allie just freaked out. One of the girls realized it was getting out of hand and got a teacher to help.”
Bullying among adolescents has captured the attention of researchers, educators and parents alarmed by a parade of mean girls and cyber-bullies caught in mid-punch on viral video. But such aggression may not just happen in a whirl of adolescent hormones, some in the growing anti-bully movement argue.
Some older bullies were “Barbie brats” first.
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Jun
23
Posted by
besttech
McClatchy-Tribune
A weekly glimpse of what moms are saying on the Web.
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“This past weekend, we finally got Peanut her own fishing pole. She was so excited that she not only slept with it but she also spent the entire morning practicing her casting in the swimming pool. Now, as any parent will tell you, a great part of the joy in being a parent lies in seeing your child go through new life experiences. You see wonderful things through their eyes and, in the process, you tend to experience life in a completely different way. Moments like that are so life-affirming that it almost makes you forget about all the whining, the tantrums, and the ongoing battle over taking a bath.
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