Filed under: Health and Safety, Media

A 16-year-old boy that has given interviews in the wake of the horrific Colorado school shootings admitted to his Mom that he made the entire story up.

The boy, who gave an interview on the Today show, said that he was in the room when a 53-year-old man burst into the room and took hostages. He said that the gunman tapped him on the shoulder and told him to leave, but he denied, saying he wanted to stay with the girls. He then said that the gunman told him to leave or get shot.

His mom has said that he told her that he made the story up because he felt badly about the situation.

"Mom, all those kids were my friends and I just wanted so much to help them. ... I guess I just made it up in my mind. I just wanted it to be true so bad," his mother repeated.

While I'm not big on people that lie, at least he decided to come clean and tell the truth. Unfortunately, the other family members of the victims might not be so sympathetic.

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Filed under: Family togetherness

A few summers ago, we were lucky enough to have a mama hummingbird nest in our yard. She built her tiny little walnut shell sized home on a slender branch just inches away from our glass patio door and only about six feet off the ground. If the kids (and five foot tall me, as well) stood on a chair, they could watch her progress.

We saw her make the nest. We saw the two pea-sized eggs she laid, and we saw the chicks just after they hatched. They were SO tiny. We made sure during that entire time that we kept our glass hummingbird feeders clean and full of sugar water (without any red food coloring). We took tons of photos and really appreciated watching this little bit of nature right in our backyard.

We've also got woodpeckers, robins, mourning doves, swallows, forty million squirrels, and the occasional raccoon hanging around. Not bad for the suburbs. What sort of wildlife do you have near your home?

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Filed under: Pregnant celebrities

You may know Lauren Ambrose from her roles in HBO's "Six Feet Under" and the teen flick "Can't Hardly Wait," but she's about to embark on her biggest role yet: Mommy.

Ambrose, who is 28, and her husband Sam Handel are expecting their first child together. She is six months along. The couple married in 2001 and live in New York City.

I've always liked Ambrose, so I'm happy about this news. I hope that the baby gets her gorgeous red hair!

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Filed under: Infertility, Pregnancy and Birth

Everybody panic! They're running out of sperm in England! Okay, sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway, it seems that fertility clinics have run into a serious shortage of donated genetic material thanks to a change which will allow children conceived using donated sperm to learn the identity of their genetic father once they turn 18. It seems that potential donors want to remain anonymous and are no longer contributing as they once were.

According to a BBC investigation, two-thirds of the clinics that responded to questioning either didn't have enough sperm or had none at all. Here in California, the identities of sperm donors have available since the early 80's; several European countries have had similar policies since the 80's as well.

On the one hand, I can see that someone might not want an 18-year-old knocking (figuratively or literally) on their door and saying "Hi Daddy!" But on the other hand, I don't think it's really that big a deal either. If you really don't want any contact with offspring born courtesy of your donation, you just say so and that's the end of that. What do you think?

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Filed under: Gear

I'll admit it: My 2-year-old daughter has a much cooler wardrobe than her mama. It probably has something to do with family members giving her cute clothes as presents while I just get a crappy ol' card.

Surprisingly enough, she doesn't have anything as cool as Vincent Shoes' Face Shoe...yet.

These indoor shoes have a soft rubber sole, Velcro closure and a corduroy upper. They come in a variety of colors, though I seem a little partial to the olive.

They're $24.95, which seems to be about in the same range as many of the other "soft soled" shoes.

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Filed under: Feeding & Nutrition

Two recent studies (one published in the 84th volume of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and another funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health) both conclude that people with sensitive taste buds cannot stomach the flavors produced by foods that contain glucosinolates.

Glucosinolates are found in broccoli, bok choi, kolrabi, turnips, Brussels sprouts, mustard and other foods with a bitter or sharp taste. It's possible that some glucosinolates help prevent cancer, even though they can also be toxic. From an article at NutraIngredient.com:

Scientists have long assumed that bitter taste evolved as a defence mechanism to detect potentially harmful toxins in plants. And the research, published in the September 19 issue of the journal Current Biology (Vol. 16, R792-R794), claims to be the first paper to provide direct evidence in support of this hypothesis.

The National Institute of Health's study took three groups of people with sensitive, insensitive, and intermediate bitter taste receptors and found that the group with the sensitive taste buds rated the glucosinolate foods as 60% more bitter than those with insensitive taste buds, while the groups rated the non-glucosinolate foods equally bitter.

What does this all mean? Well, I suppose it means that we inherit our like or dislike of foods like broccoli, and perhaps not everything that is good for you will taste good to you.

I'd like to see a study of women with severe morning sickness and see if they have sensitive taste buds, too.



(Thanks to Amanda for the tip!)

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Lifestyle, Blogs

I'm awfully far behind in my blog reading, so I'm going to invite you all to catch up with me as I pop in and see what some of my favorites are up to. Marian, over at Kirala, has written such a lovely post about how parenting changes once you've handed your child over to university life. She says, "It's as though I can hardly believe that the phase of hands-on mothering is over. I suppose it's a bit like graduating from something - medical school maybe. You probably can't quite believe you're a doctor. Until you start behaving like one and earning money like one. I can't quite believe I can do as I please right now." Marian is one of my parenting idols; I find such inspiration in her posts about raising her son, both from when he was little and his teenage years.

Marsha, who lives in Japan with her family until her husband's transfer next month, writes about making the best of a bothersome situation, ending with giggles. "As we were headed out the door I discovered that I could not find the keys. We searched high and low until I remembered that I had left the keys in the car, all locked up and secure. As I glanced at the clock I discovered that we had five minutes until the bus would come." Oh, I know the pain of keys being where they don't belong!

Laura, of No Appropriate Behavior, has a post up where she addresses a question from one of her readers. Laura's son is allergic to at least 250 types of food, and someone wanted to know what she thought about the newest allergy shot that claims to cure, well, everything. She gives us all a great lesson about allergies themselves and why she'd be leery of this treatment.

And, as always, Elayne and her son just crack me up with their funny banter. Who knows, DO insects have nostrils??

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Filed under: Media, Celebrity babies, Rumors

Everybody has their own way of apologizing. Apparently Christina Aguilera makes amends by sending gifts, lavish ones. It is rumored that Aguilera spent $570 on a fancy gift basket of high end toddler goodies for Spears' second son, Sutton Pierce. Included with the gift was a card wishing the Spears-Federline family happiness with their new addition.

The two singers have clashed from time to time over media exposure. Their fans have also battled out the fight online in many chat rooms and blogs. Whatever the case, it seems that for the moment the two have settled down and are moving in positive directions. Aguilera has expressed her desires to start a family with her new husband. While Spears has a new album in the works once she recovers from her recent birth.

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Filed under: Middle school, High school, Going to school, Teenager, Discipline

Do some families need to buy an economy sized bottle of ADHD drugs to treat both the parents and kids in the house? There appears to be a growing trend of mothers beginning the drug therapy and then the children following. While some fathers also seek help, usually mothers out number them by nearly 60%. The therapy often inspires a chain reaction in the household, once one family member sees how much the other has improved on the treatment they are more willing to begin a prescription.

I can definitely see how this would be the case in families. I am currently struggling with my son to help him structure his time so that he can more effectively focus on his nightly assignments. He is in the 8th grade and desperately needs the discipline and study skills that high school will require, I understand the difficulty to focus and finish tasks because I battled this for my entire academic career. While he is not currently taking any sort of ADD or ADHD medications, I sometimes wonder if they would not only help him but lend my days some structure as well.

What our readers, do you or your children take these medications? If so, what do you think?

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Filed under: Lifestyle, Emotions, Outings

The youth beauty pageant industry is a booming one. All over the Untied States mothers routinely scrub the dirt from underneath their little girl's fingernails, dress them in a cute, frilly outfit and have them sing, dance and act in front of a panel of judges in hopes of their child being crowned Little Miss Something of Somewhere. Some families participate for the fun of seeing the child under the stage lights. Other parents hope for scholarship awards down the line. Some have their eye on the glory of the Miss America title. Still others hope that their Little Miss will be able to break into the big time and appear on television and in the movies. While a small handful do make it the final stages and win a crown, very few ever make it to the big screen through the beauty pageant route. Casting directors are often more interested in the common child who is more representative of regular, run of the mill children; they are not looking for the poise and polish that comes with walking the runways of pageant stages. This news may come as a blow to many parents who are hoping their child will be the next Halle Berry or Eva Longoria. While it is true that both actresses did climb out of the pageant circuits before they became ultra famous, they are the exception and not the rule.

The entire youth pageant industry has received loads of bad press in the last 10 years since the JonBenet murder in 1996. It is difficult to even bring up the subject without the little girl's heavily made-up face coming to mind. If her name is not mentioned within the same sentence, other images of overly pushy stage mothers and little girls tottering on high heels come to mind. Although this is not true of the entire pageant industry, it is still difficult to separate those unsavory images from the concept of putting girls on stage to be judged for their image and talents. The whole process seems over the top and consuming to me. I don't understand it. As much as I do not agree with the pageant route, I also do not understand why some parents are so intent on seeing their children on television screens and in the movies. For every Jodie Foster, who survived childhood stardom and has a successful career, there seem to be far too many Corey Haim's or Dana Plato's. So is it fair and realistic to push a child through pageant after pageant in hopes of making it to the silver screen? i sure don't think so.

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