From this...


To this...


In only 5 years!

The effect was slight

Certainly the spin on this story in today's NY Times will not be using this quote from the second paragraph:

The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.

I find it infuriating that the rest of the article goes on in a very biased manner to say that children who go to daycare are simply poorly behaved. The level of that misbehavior is barely described and the actual affect on the classroom is not even mentioned.

Daycare is a fact of life. And as far as I am concerned, some amount of preschool should be mandatory. My reaction to this is that teachers need to develop modern strategies to deal with the behaviors instead of relying on 60 year-old concepts where kids were largely coming from no previous experience with a school setting.

What were you doing five years ago?

Zoë's birthday was yesterday. She's five years old now. Five! Damn time flies.

I got a well-timed email from a friend yesterday who said, "Trivia question: What were you doing five years ago today?"

Ouch! Did that ever bring back some painful memories. Zoë was born at 3:42 PM and the time stamp on the email was 12: 37 PM. That meant that five years ago at that moment I was just about to start 3 hours of pushing. Yes, 3 hours. That was definitely not the fun part -- especially when they turned off the magic epidural.

---

On a lighter note...I am getting great amusement out of Zoë's list of birthday presents. They are:

1. Fisher Price Mega T-Rex
   (this was a specific request)
2. Make-up (for kids)
3. An electric pencil sharpener
4. A flashlight that you have to shake (no batteries)
5. Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera
6. A book on reptiles
7. A compass
8. A purse with butterflies embroidered on it
9. Rubber snakes (which promptly found a home in the above purse)

She has quite diverse tastes, huh?

Does it suck?

Wondering if that new cell phone you're thinking about is cool or not? Thinking about going to a movie, but aren't sure if its any good? Well, then this new site is for you! It is sucks/rocks.

When you enter a search term, sucks/rocks searches the web for several positive and negative phrases using that term. The score is the fraction of positive results to the sum of positive and negative results, normalized to 10. You can stack up results next to each other so if you wanted to decide what movie to see you can enter the titles of 4 or 5 movies and see which one got more positive ratings.

I'm not sure how scientific it really is, but it is cool none-the-less.

Congratulations R.E.M.

Anyone who knew me in th 80's and early 90's knows what a huge R.E.M. fan I am. I own every CD they have ever issued. That is why I am happy to say congratulations to them tonight as they are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

Also included in this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class are:
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five -- tell me you don't remember dancing to "White Lines"???)
The Ronettes
Patti Smith
Van Halen (with Sammy or David, I wonder?).

And if you're ever in Cleveland be sure to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. It is a great time.

Disney Dreams

The other day at school Zoë had to create a little book about her dream. Her teacher showed me her book and told me what an amazing job she had done. I was proud before I even saw the book, but after I saw it I felt a little like Mom of the year.

Zoë's dream book was about Disney World. The first page of the book had Mickey Mouse standing on top of a rainbow, the next page was a drawing of an airplane and the last page was some kind of ride.

Do you think Zoë is excited about our upcoming trip to Disney, or what?

Questions: Anyone out there have suggestions or hints about what we should be sure to do for Zoe's first visit?

American Idol Review 2

It's definitely going to be a woman idol this year. They are soooo much stronger than the men! A league above! I also feel that I could be the 4th judge on the show. I take notes while watching ( I know a little obsessive) & as the contestants sing, I write down my thoughts on the song choice, the actual performance, etc. On most, I could read the judges words almost verbatim. Funny. I'll keep waiting for the fourth judge position to become available.

OK, down to business. The men were in a word, boring, last night. The 3 that I liked were the following: Blake, Sundance, & Chris S. Not all perfect performances, but somewhat memorable. Blake chose the correct song for his style, despite some of the off-key parts. I still thought he was true to himself & showed a younger style. (I was also proud of myself when Randy said he didn't know who or what that song was & I shouted to the TV, "It's 3-11!" It made me feel just a little more with it.)
I think Sundance chose a good song, but it wasn't perfect. I hope he'll be in the top 12. I'm sure with a little direction he will really shine. Chris Sligh was the best of the night. He just did a great job with his song. I didn't know what song it was, but I really liked it.
The rest were OK. Sanjaya...I'm going to die of boredom watching him. Don't even get me started on the fact he should not be here this week.... Jared is good, but it's so hard to pick a Stevie Wonder song. Leave Stevie out of it!
I think that Sanjaya and Brandon will go home tomorrow.


A lot more to say about the women. My favorites, and not necessarily in this order, are Stephanie, LaKisha, Gina, and Melinda. Stephanie picked a great song. That is absolutely one of my favorites, whether Chaka Khan or Mary J. sings it. It's just such a great song. Stephanie did a great job putting some of her own touches into it, so I didn't totally agree with the judges on that. I keep forgetting that she is so young with her great stage presence. What do I need to say about LaKisha? She brought tears to my eyes. She has permission to take on Whitney!! Gina was great tonight, I thought. She's very powerful and I really just like her personality. I think she chose a great song tonight. Melinda was truly the best of the night. She has an amazing voice & when she gets on stage, it's like she's playing a role. I just think she's wonderful. I predict her to be one of the top 2, if not the winner.
The rest of the women were pretty good. I just felt that most of them were nothing special, as Randy said, they didn't have the "Yo!" Admittedly, Antonella did better tonight; she definitely picked a better song than previous weeks. Again, how is she still here? She cannot compare to the other strong perfomers. Haley's song was cheesy & not a stand out at all. She strikes me as a Disney World singer or something. Can't you just see her performing as Cinderella or Snow White? She has a good voice, but she is not the American Idol. That will be due to poor song choice. I think that Antonella & Haley will go home tomorrow.

At this point, I'm looking ahead to the top 12 so I can see who will be singing on tour this summer. Hopefully, all my favorites. Until tomorrow night, Samantha's Mom....out. :)

The Care Crisis

Having just lived through the Plague of 2007, this article "The Care Crisis", really hit home. I highly recommend reading the entire piece.

The thing I find so frustrating is that this is not just a women's issue -- it is an issue for everyone and yet it seems to fall on the shoulders of women alone. Once in awhile when my defences are way down I allow myself to wonder...What would I do if Zoe were really sick? How would I be able to take care of her without it affecting my job or income? There are no easy answers and that is the part that scares me.

American Idol Review

OK, I thought I would wait until both the boys & girls competed before I had any comments. So, let's start with the boys.

This week, the front runners in my opinion are Chris Sligh, Blake, & Sundance. I thought Chris Sligh did an awesome job. He just really showed his voice off well. I thought Blake chose the perfect song. Jamiroqui is perfect for his personality & voice (and yes, I know who he is, Randy!!!) Finally Sundance!!!! Strong voice, good song choice. It's about time that he showed his true colors.
Speaking of "True Colors", I was disappointed with Brandon because he is really good. That song was so wimpy sounding. He either should have really belted it out or chose a different song. I really want to like Phil, but there is just something cheesy about him. I can't quite put my finger on it. I also really want to like Nick, but he didn't "wow" me. Sanjaya, Sanjaya, Sanjaya....where to begin. I think I will just say, YOU'RE 17!!!! Enough said.

For the girls, I love Gina, Melinda, Jordan, Stephanie, LaKisha, & Sabrina. I think it's fair to say this could be a girl-heavy top 12. Gina chose the right song & I've liked her from the start. I think Simon is a little too hard on her. Melinda was absolutely the best tonight. She is exactly what Simon says, humble & sweet, but super talented. (OK, so he didn't say it quite like that.) Jordan is incredible for 17 or any age for that matter. Her voice reminds me a little of Lisa Tucker from last season. Stephanie was really great, but I'm not familiar with that Beyonce song, so I wasn't catching the similarity to the original. (I guess I'm getting old.) LaKisha did a great job this week. I thought that she made the "Midnight Train to Georgia" her own without going too far. It's pretty hard to not copy a song as well known and to take on Gladys Knight. LaKisha is about the only one that can do it. I think it was hard to top her performance last week. Sabrina definitely has a voice. It will be interesting to see how far she goes.

OK, along with the good must come the bad....Need I say anything about Antonella??? She is going home this week. In her little chat with Ryan before her performance she said this song fit her better. Was she kidding??? A young girl should never sing Celine Dion. Never! Not to mention how off it was. To quote Randy, "It was a little pitchy."

Another thought, white girls should never scat sing. Let's leave that to jazz singers...real jazz singers, like from the 1940's or so. Next, comes poor Alaina. She was just all over the place. She just can't hold her own with Melinda & LaKisha. I feel a little sorry for her. I can't even remember what she sang tonight. It just wasn't that great. I can remember that it was all off key.

Last but not least, Haley. What happened to her saying last week, "I'm going to stick with songs that I think fit me."? She totally took Simon's advice of changing that image & went off the deep end. I think her arrogance last week just put a sour taste in my mouth. She doesn't have a bad voice, just bad song choice.

Advice to the girls: DON'T CHOOSE ANY SONGS BY WHITNEY, CELINE, OR CHRISTINA! I'm sure there are others, but they are escaping me. So, the women I think are going to go home this week are Antonella & Alaina. We'll see. I thought Antonella was going last week & was wrong. Samantha's Mom...out.

American Idol Update

AI Update contributed by SamanthasMom:

Do not read if you have not watched the 2/22 results show.

Who doesn't like LaKisha? She is just awesome.

I really like Gina & have from the start.

Just so everyone knows, Celine Dion did not sing that song "All by Myself" first. I believe it was Melissa Manchester or someone like that. Gina definitely sang it better than her.

Antonella should have gone home. Her performance was awful.

I thought Alaina (the girl who sang "Brass in My Pocket") I think that was her name, should go. Basically, all the scrawny white girls need to go. Amy & Nicole were interchangeable with how they looked. Nicole's choice of song was what made her go home. I think she actually has a good voice. You know what they say..."song choice, song choice, song choice"!

I really don't love the girl from San Antonio, Haley. I hate that Celine song that she sang. It's so over the top & oversung. (If that's a word.) What put me over the edge was how snotty she was to the constructive criticism. I thought Simon was right on target. The song made her seem too old.

For the guys, I thought that Paul Kim shouldn't have gone. He, I think, would have done well in the coming weeks.

Chris R. (bald, not curly hair) was pretty non-descript & should have gone.

Jared sounded so nasally.

I really want Sundance to do well, since he did well in the beginning. He needs to shed the beard, though.

I really like Blake (beat box guy). I thought he had a little "Sting" sound going.

I also like Brandon, the back up singer.

MomsRising

There is a great article in the NYTimes about MomsRising.org.

From the website:

MomsRising has a goal of bringing millions of people, who all share a common concern about the need to build a more family-friendly America, together as a non-partisan force for 2008 and beyond. This grassroots, online effort is mobilizing mothers, and all who have mothers, across America as a cohesive force for change. Started this May 2006, MomsRising already has over 50,000 citizen members, as well as more than fifty (and growing) aligned national organizations, working together to create positive solutions for the future.

The Last Number

Zoe and I often have this conversation:

Me: I love you.
Zoë: I love you too.
Me: I love you three.
Zoë: I love you ten.
Me: I love you fifty.

And on and on with escalating numbers including multiple googols and petabytes.

But I think Zoë trumped me once and for all the other day when she said:

I love you the last number.

They say that February is the shortest month...

Time for my annual February post...

(from Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins)


They say that February is the shortest month, but you know they could be wrong.

Compared, calendar page against calendar page, it looks to be the shortest, all right. Spread between January and March like lard on bread, it fails to reach the crust on either slice. In its galoshes it's a full head shorter than December, although in leap years, when it has growth spurts, it comes up to April's nose.

However more abbreviated than it's cousins it may look, February feels longer than any of them. It is the meanest moon of winter, all the more cruel because it will masquerade as spring, occasionally for hours at a time, only to rip off it's mask with a sadistic laugh and spit icicles into every gullible face, behavior that grows quickly old.

Febuary is pitiless, and it's boring. That parade of red numerals on its page adds up to zero: birthdays of politicians, a holiday reserved for rodents, what kind of celebrations are those? The only bubble in the flat champagne of February is Valentine's Day. It was no acident that our ancestors pinned Valentine's day on February's shirt: he or she lucky enough to have a lover in frigid, antsy February has cause for celebration, indeed.

Except to the extent that it "tints the buds and swells the leaves within" February is as useless as the extra r in it's name. It behaves like an obstacle, a wedge of slush and mud and ennui holding both progress and contentment at bay.

If February is the color of lard on rye, its aroma is that of wet wool trousers. As for sound, it is an abstract melody played on a squeaky violin, the petty whine of a shrew with cabin fever. O February, you may be little but you're small! Where you twice your tiresome length, few of us would survive to greet the merry month of May.

Helpdesk: the early days

This is too funny not to share:

I'm not the overprotective one

This weekend I realized something that came as quite a surprise to me. Between my husband and I, I am not the overprotective one. I don't know why I just assumed that role would be filled by me, but now I see clearly that it is not me at all and it is all my husband. Happily, he now owns up to it as well.

On Friday Zoë came down with a fever. Of course, she did not have a fever when I dropped her off at daycare, but her teacher called by 10 AM saying I had to come pick her up which I did promptly. It was out of the blue and it was 102.8 for most of the day despite Tylenol. On the way home I called my husband who was quite alarmed and was ready to call the pediatrician. I said I really didn't think it was necessary at this point especially since she had no other symptoms, but he wanted to. "So call," I told him. He did and the nurse explained that we didn't need to bring her in yet, but we should watch her. I resisted saying "I told you so."

She still had a fever Saturday night and early Sunday morning, but by around 7:30 AM her temperature was normal and when that continued despite being awake and running around the house I saw that she was on the mend. My husband, on the other hand, insisted on taking her to the pediatrician. He would not hear that she had no fever and she was looking a lot better. So off the doctor we went. (I considered staying home, but worried what a terrible mother I would be if it turned out something serious was wrong.) In the waiting room we watched as she played with every available toy with her usual abundant energy. My husband turned to me and said, "Who's sick?" and I said, "Not her." He sighed and said something about being glad we came anyway.

After waiting for our turn and the doctor's prognosis declaring her to be getting over a virus -- nothing to worry about, my husband bravely said to our doctor, "For the record, I am the one who wanted to come."

Get a life

Back in November I wrote an entry about Second Life and just recently someone sent me this link: http://www.getafirstlife.com/

My favorite is "Find out where you actually live."

Website of the Week: LibraryThing

Do you like to read? Are you slightly OCD? Yes? Then boy do I have a site for you...LibraryThing!

LibraryThing lets you create a library type catalog of your books. There is the ubiquitous tagging, connecting with other users through the many, many groups and recommendations. Recommendations are based on several different criteria so you can pick the one that works for you. The service even includes a blog widget which you will see I have started using if you look to the right ----->

I am thinking of starting a separate account for Zoë. The kids' lists are not nearly as expansive as the adult lists, but it might be fun anyway and it might help drive expansion in that area. I am always looking for new kids' books for Zoë and to give as gifts.

Change is good

I decided it was time for a new look.

Still working out the kinks/deciding if I like all the pink...

A great baby gift

If you're looking for a great baby gift, I have just the thing...Pampers gift certificates! I was given these when Zoe was born, I've given this gift a couple of times now and I am just about to give it again. It is always well received. I know I loved it. No, it's not the most personal or sentimental gift, but it is incredibly useful and helpful.

The gift certificates are good for any kind of Pampers and are available in 1 month supply to 2 year supply. A 1 month supply equals 4 packs of diapers. Believe me with all the expenses of a new baby, even a one month supply is really nice to have. The recipient gets a booklet of coupons that can be used anywhere diapers are sold. You simply bring the diapers and the coupon to the register and the entire price of the diapers is taken off your bill.

The Plank

OK I am into going to the gym, but Yoga has never really been my thing. However, I might just be changing my mind. A friend of mine showed me the "plank pose" the other day recommending it as a good ab work out. Not only is it an excellent ab work out, it is also great for the arms. It is a killer pose and I can only hold it for 15 to 30 seconds at a time.

So there I am on the floor this morning doing my plank pose and in walks Zoë. She immediately gets on the floor and assumes the same pose and proceeds to hold the pose for a good 3 or 4 minutes effortlessly. Amazing!

One of Zoë's teachers has started teaching them yoga lately and Zoë just loves it. She is, like most kids, incredibly flexible so it comes pretty easily and she just loves any kind of physical activity. What I would love to find is a parent child yoga class because I think doing it with Zoë would be really fun (although I am sure a little frustrating when we're comparing flexibility and strength!). I wonder if any such class exists? Or maybe a DVD?