A Little Update: The Niece Visits

Last weekend my eight year old niece, Maddy, was here. My parents brought her up for a weekend visit. She's raised with continuous entertainment in a much larger house -- I mean our entire house, from attic to basement, would fit in their "great room." So I expected some sort of culture shock.

There were a lot of pronouncements of, "I'm bored." But I didn't expect that three minutes into a 6 minute drive to dinner for her to announce her boredom. It was her way of demanding a DVD to play or something.

But our kids know the drill and suggested she amuse herself by looking out the window.

Maddy responded ad follows:

"Red car. White car. Another red car."

"House."

"House."

"Blue car."

I responded with a twist on the old "Looking is with the eyes," usually reserved for not touching in stores. "Looking is with the eyes, not the mouth," I said.

Maddy was silent.

But you could feel her displeasure. *wink*

She also learned that pet birds make a lot of noise. She was fascinated by Luke, our cockatiel, but immeasurably annoyed by his chirps and bird-talk; she dramatically shushed him all the time.


I guess her dad can thank me when the pleading for a pet bird stops. *wink*

Overall, it was a great visit. She loved our "full of neat stuff" little house. (She's not used to so many books and knick-knacks; my sister's house is much more minimalist.) And she quickly caught on to entertaining herself by doing things like painting (I had literally given her a box of rocks for her birthday -- a rock painting kit she brought along), riding bikes and hanging out in the attic "fort."

On the way back home, Maddy told my parents that she missed "those people." So I guess we were a hit!

My mother replied to her sad commentary on loss of us by saying, "That's what vacations are; lots of fun but then you go home to the people you love."

Maddy responded by saying she sure missed, Carly, their dog. Ha!

Have You Heard? Go The F To Sleep

I doubt you missed the fabulous Go The F**k To Sleep book and video read by Samuel L. Jackson, but there's also an interview with the author, Adam Mansbach, here.

Shoeboxes

I'm forcing myself to clean up some stuff despite the fuzzy-sleepy effects of pain killers (it's been a month-long battle with my teeth; bon vivants don't have the best health & dental coverage or money to pay the balance, FYI) Anywhoo...

In cleaning up some clutter, I was reminded, again, of the importance of saving shoeboxes.

Give The Gift Of Summer Vacations

The Fresh Air Fund is in need of 1200 host families for this summer. Host families are volunteers who open their hearts and homes to children from the city to give them a Fresh Air experience that can change lives -- in just days!

What About Good Manners?

I recently had yet another conversation with our children regarding etiquette -- how it's not "snobby things" designed to make people feel bad or out of their class, but just the opposite.

The rules of etiquette are guidelines for getting along; little niceties we extend to one another to avoid upset and rules for everyone so that we all can get along in social situations. While it's true that some of these rules seem fancy, or from a formal time long gone, they primarily exist so that groups of people can avoid offending one another and avoid conflict. Avoiding conflict is key when living as a group or community, including as a family.

I was reminded of these conversations when I saw 25 Manners Every Kid Should Know By Age 9.

It's amazing the number of children who do not know or extend the courtesy of following these rules -- and I feel this adds to the feeling of entitlement in children that I wrote about here (and for which I was interviewed at The Globe and Mail). Even more amazing the number of parents who do not bother to teach their children these or any other basic good manners; they rather doom their families to less pleasant living conditions -- and sentence their children to becoming disrespectful, selfish, entitled beings who will not get along with others.

I've lots more to say about this; but today the eldest turns 22, so I'm off to prepare for the birthday barbecue!

Hate To Wake Up Baby To See If He Has A Fever?

Vintage lingerie blogger Slip of a Girl has a second, more eclectic, blog about fashion, design, home decor and whatever else is on her mind. There I learned about this news in baby clothing -- it has a built-in fever monitor!

This post sponsored by cheap web hosting.

Oxy Clean Review, In 6 Lines Or Less

(In an effort to keep a review to six lines or less, grammar goes to hell; forgive me.)

1. Even though I was confused by OxyClean (Do you use it instead of laundry detergent, or as a supplement?), I bought a bucket of it for out next trip to the laundromat.

2. The flimsy scoop provided broke on the third dip into the powder; I managed to hold it together long enough to scoop OxyClean into the rest of our waiting machines.

3. There was no noticeable difference in the laundry, but I schlepped the bucket along on the next trip to the laundromat, placing the bucket on top of the full laundry basket I was carrying -- from which it fell, onto the pavement, immediately splitting, nearly neatly in two.

4. Now I can't blame OxyClean for my clumsiness, but I can hold them accountable for inferior plastic in their packaging -- a scoop that breaks on the third use and a container that can't handle a single tumble.

5. I didn't leave the broken bucket spewing powder in the parking lot, instead put it back on top of the laundry basket; but since we had no bags or containers with us to pour the remaining powder into, we dumped the remaining product in the laundromat garbage.

6. However, some of the powder did get into the wash -- where it became a wad of goo on several of the sheets.

OxyClean: Epic Fail.

It's Not Like I Didn't Warn You

I've warned you about Gardasil, now Dr. Mercola says, "Don't Give This to Your Daughter - Despite What Your Doctor Says."

The word is out: despite what the CDC would have you believe, Gardasil's safety record is in serious question. As of September 28, 2010, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has more than 18,000 Gardasil-related adverse events listed in it, including at least 65 deaths.

As a vaccine used in the developed world, the science speaks for itself: Gardasil can't – and never will -- replace Pap smears, which are the reason that the incidence of cervical cancer is so low in the United States after decades of including pap smears in routine medical care for women.

Today, cervical cancer is not even in the top 10 cancers that kill American women every year.

As a vaccine for children, it doesn't make sense to vaccinate to try to prevent an infection that is cleared from your body without any negative effects within two years in most healthy persons, and is not transmitted in a school setting like other airborne diseases that are easily transmitted in crowded conditions.

Gardasil is designed to prevent only two of at least 15 strains of HPV that can lead to cervical cancer in those who do not clear the virus from their body within two years and become chronically infected.

There is also some evidence that Gardasil-induced immunity may wane after about five years. Pre-licensure clinical trials did not follow young girls or women for decades to find out if the vaccine does, in fact, prevent cervical cancer.

You can -- and should -- read more about the science vs. the politics of the Gardasil fiasco; especially if you either weren't listening to me before or somehow missed those of us who had raised our ire and eyebrows regarding the vaccine.

What interests me most now is how Dr. Mercola's article supports what I've been saying about the new eugenics in this country. From Dr. Mercola's article:

[C]ertain populations in the US are more prone to getting cervical cancer. According to CervicalCancerCampaign.org:

"Cervical cancer occurs most often in certain groups of women in the United States including African-American women, Hispanic women, white (non-Hispanic) women living in rural New York State and northern New England, American Indian women, and Vietnamese-American women.

• Hispanic women have twice the rate of cervical cancer compared to non-Hispanic white women. African-American women develop this cancer about 50 percent more than non-Hispanic white women".

These disparities are due, in part, from poor access to health care. The women who are most at risk for the disease are women who do not have regular check-ups that include pap tests.

Official reports from the CDC and WHO estimate that between 11,000 and 12,000 women in the US are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and 3,800 to 4,100 die from it.

About half of these women had never had a pap smear before they discovered they had cervical cancer. The majority of the others had not had a pap smear within the previous five years.

According to the CDC's report on HPV to Congress in 2004:

"Cervical cancer is an uncommon consequence of HPV infection in women, especially if they are screened for cancer regularly with pap tests and have appropriate follow-up of abnormalities.

The purpose of screening with the pap test is to detect cervical abnormalities that can be treated, thereby preventing progression to invasive cervical cancer, and also to detect invasive cervical cancer at a very early stage. If detected early and managed promptly, survival rates for cervical cancer are over 90 percent."

A study published in 2000 in the Archives of Family Medicine also showed that in the US, women who are elderly, unmarried, and uninsured are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage of cervical cancer.

Nothing Brings You Back To Blogging Like Winning An Award! (2010 Top 30 Parenting Special Needs Blogs Award)

This blog has just been named one of the Top 30 Parenting Special Needs Blogs, 2010 Award:

Parenting is difficult, but your child is far above the ordinary when it comes to solutions. How do you parent a child with special needs? How do you keep then safe and healthy? How do you combat others who don't understand and are far more willing to criticize than offer any "real" help? Where do you receive the information you need to understand your special needs child better? Fortunately, these award-winning blogs will help you on your journey to solutions; from at-home care to sending your child off into the world for school or work. How do you know what your child should be able to do at a certain ages of mental development? How can you encourage them to improve? How can you help them, and yourself, when discouraged? These blogs will help.

The winners were chosen through a scoring system that included Internet
nominations from readers, so thank you!

So now I'll do my best to get back to blogging here (but in my defense, we did move this summer and we're still not as settled in as I'd like).

Survey Says My Family's Not So Strange After All

According to a national survey commissioned by SleepBetter.org and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, one in four Americans (23%) say that Goodnight Moon is their all-time favorite bedtime story. The study also says that moms are doing the bedtime story reading 3-to-1 over dads. But what's most surprising, to me anyway, is the fact that even more popular among young children (age 7 or younger) than bedtime classic Goodnight Moon are the stories that their parents make up themselves!

Now our family has a long tradition of making up stories -- not only at bedtime, but we share them at the breakfast table, and when we spend time with extended family (holidays, etc.) we spend time sitting around making up stories together: One person starts with the first sentence, the next person adds the next line, etc., and you go around the room with each person adding a sentence until the story is finished. (Warning: This is where family issues will be aired; the little brother will mock his sister, mom will mock dad, grandma will mock mom, etc. -- which is all in good fun, unless your participating teens are surly.)

Anyway, I just thought that our kids liked our stories and storytelling time because, well, frankly, because they were weird. ...Apples not falling far from the tree, and all that. *wink*

But it turns out, this sort of "weird" is in the majority -- making us all "normal."

Now The Bedtimes Stories Project is collecting these stories in their Sleepy Tales Book.

To encourage folks to submit their original family bedtime stories (all authors retain the copyrights to their stories), The Bedtime Project's got the incredible Betty White involved! (You know I adore Betty White!)

Not only has Betty even written her very own bedtime story, Sleep Better Snowball!, but she'll be reading from the Sleepy Tales Book -- and she may also read one of the submitted bedtime stories!

If you you want your story to be evaluated as one of the stories that Betty White will read from at the May 26th event in L.A., you need to submit your story by midnight EST Sat. May 22, 2010.

Also, by the end of the program in July, one story will be selected to inspire an illustration by noted artist Bill Nelson. The deadline for a chance to have your story illustrated by Nelson is midnight EST, Wednesday June 30, 2010.

So submit you family's story asap. Who knows, it could win a really cool honor! Stranger things -- like our kids liking our made-up stories -- have happened. *wink*

Jean-E-Ology

If you don't know how to sew, or just don't have time, Denim Therapy repairs jeans for just $7.

Motherhood In 6 Words

Smith Mag is challenging you to give your "Six-Word MOMoir,", telling the story of motherhood in six words. The abbreviated mommy memoirs can be stories of your role as a mom or about your mom. There are prizes too; but personally, I'm just enjoying reading the MOMoirs.