Kudos to Trader Joe’s.  When I discovered an expired product on the shelves this morning, the manager immediately sent an employee over to whisk the remaining examples away.  I wasn’t even through the checkout line when I saw him head to the back with the expired bags.

Of course, the bags were pretty badly expired.  It’s not March anymore, people.  But yay for them for fixing the problem quickly.

Raised by Wolves, the new book by Christie Mellor, is a rollicking romp through all the things that the well-raised 19 year old should already know but probably doesn’t.  Her style is light and conversational, and her prose compelling even for those of us well outside the target demographic, both in age and experience.  (Sigh.) 

I couldn’t put it down.

Now, I’m pretty sure that you already know to pay your taxes, take the sponge out of the sink, and be on time, but this book and its advice just might be the perfect gift for a young cousin graduating from high school or college.  And if you sneak a peek at the text before you wrap it in impeccable gift wrap, tie it with an unwrinkled piece of ribbon, or just drop it in that gift bag sitting over there on your desk, well, no one would blame you.  This book is definitely entertaining, and an addictive read!

Now, when is Christie coming out with her next book?

This review was done in conjunction with the Parent Bloggers Network.

My oldest child is three.  Three and a half, I suppose, although he’s not even to the age where he insists on “and a half!” I know we’ll get there soon, but for now, he’s a young preschooler, blissfully ignorant about war and global warming and all the dangers out there that we adults are charged with managing until it’s his turn, and that of his classmates, to take the reins of this great big world.

But because I know that it’s not good for a child to grow up ignorant of danger, I’ve begun introducing the concept to him slowly.  Of course he knows to be wary of strangers, and to hold Mommy’s hand when crossing the street, but I’m now starting to introduce him to the bigger worries in life.

Like climate change.

Somewhere along the way, we began reading the Little Critter books by Mercer Meyer.  We happily read through stories about bedtime, about cleaning one’s room, about growing up.  Then came It’s Earth Day!  I don’t know who consulted and contributed scientific expertise for this book, but it starts on a worrisome note about the ice disappearing and the polar bears having nowhere to live.  Little Critter gets really worried, and leads his friends on an all-out recycling binge.  Then he undertakes a plan to save the Earth.

My kind of little critter!

Only, of course, it doesn’t work, and he gets frustrated, and then the book ends a little preachily about all the things that he and his family DID do to save the earth.  Which is well and good, until he mentions the polar bears again.

As my three-year-old would say, “Oh, brother.”

The polar bears are a symbol that has been bandied about by groups on both sides, and there is plenty of educated discourse about that other places on the internet.  I don’t intend to reproduce that here, but I will say that when I read this book to my child, I edit it a bit.  We talk about “helping the Earth,” not saving it.  We talk about “saving energy,” instead of global warming.  We talk about how important it is to ”reduce, reuse, recycle” in our every day lives.  We are careful not to litter, and to talk about how sad we are when we see someone carelessly toss trash on the interstate.  I am raising him to be aware of environmental issues, and to take action when we can do so safely.

And so, when our playgroup celebrated Earth Day at the local park with a playdate and games, we celebrated.  Far from being outdated, Earth Day is alive and well.

This post originally appeared at DC Metro Moms Blog; Susan also writes at Toddler Planet. 

Neosporin, that standby magical ointment that, with a mother’s kiss, heals all wounds, has just gotten better. 

Sometime between my childhood and my children’s, they came out with two incredible improvements: first, it comes in a cream version (sticky no more!), and second, they have added a topical analgesic.  The new Neosporin cream + pain relief is an amazing product.  I have used it for cuts, insect bites, and healing from severe radiation burns that developed during my cancer treatment.  It helped when no other product would, and I am so thankful that my oncologist recommended this for short-term relief.

Other products that I used and would recommend for radiation burns, by the way, include Exclair, a prescription cream; Eucerin and Aquaphor, over the counter, inexpensive creams, although I didn’t have much success with them after the initial burns began; a prescription steroid cream when the pain was too much to stand; and a pharmacist’s mix of Aquaphor and aloe, which made a creamy paste that worked well as a poultice.

But for those days when the radiation burns caused surface pain but I had to leave the house dressed and ready anyway, I totally relied on Neosporin plus pain relief.  It took away the pain, soothed the burns, moisturized the new skin underneath, and, unlike the other products, didn’t stain my clothes.

Awesome.

This review was completely unsolicited; I just really liked the product.

Please note: this product is not for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or children under two.  Talk to a doctor or read the patient labeling before use.

I’ll say it right up front.  This is not an unbiased review.  I happen to love reading Girl’s Gone Child, by Rebecca Woolf, and I had high expectations for her first book.  Rockabye: From Wild to Child is the backstory to Girl’s Gone Child, the story of how she grew up, quickly, and adjusted from a fun-loving party girl to a fun-loving mom. 

This is a love story, but it’s not quite the love story that we’re used to hearing.  It’s not romanticized or filled with gauzy clouds and sleeping babies.  Instead, it’s a raw, honest story of what it means to fall in love with your husband, to go through childbirth with a sense of humor and a bit of fear, and to transform yourself into a mother-creature that is still true to the woman that lives inside. 

Rebecca pulls no punches, telling her readers, as always, what it was really like to be young and single in L.A., accountable to no one, but yet everybody’s safety net, and then, the incredible 180′ turn that she had to make when she discovered that she was pregnant. 

And she keeps having to consciously make that turn.  Early motherhood is challenging, as many of us can attest.  Rebecca puts it down on paper, though, admitting to questions that run through many a mama’s head, late at night.  (As she puts it on page 108, “What life am I living and where do I belong? … Will I someday understand or at least get used to this?  Will I ever sleep?”)  She eventually answers her own questions and learns to love being a mom, playing in the sandbox, but she still occasionally has fantasies about changing it all around again, having a nanny, going to work, living in a big fancy house.  This mom explores her possibilities, only finally coming to the conclusion that we are each doing the best we can in the world, raising our children and living our lives according to our own choices and circumstances, and that’s okay.  As she says on page 164, and I wish this could be shouted from the mountatintops, “She is doing what she has to — balancing her worlds, her loves, her selves.”

What Rebecca has to say is something that, really, we all need to hear.  There is more than one way to be a mother.  There is my way, there is your way, there is her way.  (Provocative question, page 148: “Who are we to tame our children before they even understand what it means to be wild?“)  We each do this mothering gig in our own way, and choose our own sense of balance in a way that makes sense to us.  In this book, Rebecca Woolf demonstrates clearly that you can be a mother and a woman with your own ideas and loves and ambition too. 

That is a powerful message for today’s mom.

Thanks, Parent Bloggers, for giving me the chance to review this book just as it hits the bookstores.

This post original to Toddler Planet and Review Planet and may not be reproduced without permission.

There is so much evil in the world.  So much hopelessness and despair.  So much neglect.

But this site gives each of us a chance to make a difference.  A big difference.  With very little effort or even money.  For $15, you can treat 50 girl students to lunch, helping them have a warm meal where otherwise they would have none.  Helping feed these children helps them be ready to learn.  And that, my friends, is even better than a coffee and sandwich at that great little place down the street. 

At least, it is to me.  Today, I put my money where my mouth is and treated some hungry little girls to lunch.

Will you?

A friend to many in the blogging community got some terrible news this week.  Lisa at Clusterfook has developed cancer for the third time.  She fought and won … twice … but now it’s in her organs.  That’s bad, if you didn’t know that already.  Her friends Karen and Miss Ann are organizing a raffle to help her fulfill her last big wish — taking her daughters to Disney for a week of good memories to help overshadow the difficult ones of the past few years.

I thought, why not go to the source and ask for some help with this goal? 

In March, many of us mommybloggers were contacted by Disney with an invitation for an all-expenses-paid kid-free holiday to enjoy the Magic Kingdom and talk to them about how better to connect with bloggers.  I’m not going, because I’m swamped with radiation, taking care of my kids, and starting up work on my new Women in Planetary Science website, but I do appreciate the invitation.  There was also some scheduling trouble with this event, and so other mommybloggers aren’t going either.  But it seems to me that the news at Clusterfook and the Disney invitations might just combine to be the perfect storm.

Why not ask Disney to sponsor Lisa’s trip with her family?  I sent my contact the following email on Thursday morning:

Dear Michelle,

Thank you again for the invitation to visit Disney mid-April. I regret
that I was unable to go, since I am so busy right now with my kids and
my business.  You did ask for ideas, though, and I have a simple idea
that could bring you and Disney lots of goodwill in the blogging
community.

There’s a mommyblogger out here (Lisa) who has just been diagnosed
with cancer.  For the third time.  This time, she received the news
that we all dread — the cancer has spread to her organs and
throughout her body.  (You can read about it at
http://clusterfook.com/2008/03/31/dear-blog-friends/)  Some of her
blogfriends are in shock and want to do something to help her.  They
found out that her fondest wish is — get this — to take her young
daughters to Disney before it’s too late.  (Read this post by Karen
here: http://karensugarpants.com/2008/04/02/angry/).  There’s a vast
network of moms that would like to help her (she got 135 comments in
the first 2 days!) and are scrimping and saving themselves to help her
raise the money to go to Disney with her kids.

My proposal to Disney is this: Would you be willing to sponsor her
visit?  Would you consider offering the family free lodging and
tickets for a week or so so that they could have this special time
together?

I suspect that dozens of bloggers would write about Disney’s
thoughtfulness on their blogs in gratitude.  Me, for instance.  I get
1500 hits a day, and I’m by no means one of the largest bloggers out
there….

Please consider helping us help our friend.
Thank you.
Susan

Michelle responded right away and said she’d see what could be done.  This is what I got back from her, several days later:

Susan,

Thank you for your patience. I spoke with a member of the Disney
Community Relations team here and they suggested you reach out to a
special program we work with in situations like these, called Compassion
Partners. This is a great program that offers individuals confronted
with a life-threatening or terminal illness complimentary admission to
several theme parks in Central Florida. This might be an option for your
mommy blogger friend.

Contact Donna Tafat, the Compassion Partners Program Coordinator, at
407-396-1114. I am hopeful that she can assist your friend in fulfilling
her dream.

Thanks for reaching out to us.

Well, maybe Donna Tafat can help.  I don’t know.  But it seems like a weird response, just after they “reached out” to bloggers to find out what makes us want to write about them.

Posted originally at Review Planet.

Recently, the book Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo, edited by Deborah Siegel and Daphne Uviller, arrived in my mailbox.  I had heard a bit about this through the DC Metro Moms Blog, but I hadn’t responded, so I’m not sure how exactly it arrived in the mail.

But I like it.

A collection of stories from adults who grew up as only children, or were born only children, or grew up part of the time as an only child sounds like an odd read, but it’s actually pretty darn good.  Some of the writings read like (very well-developed) blog posts, but some are intricate musings on the nature of being an only child and how that changed defined the author’s life.

An interesting way to look at things.

The story that caught my attention, and my heart, was, “Becoming an Only Child,” by Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn.  In this, she talks about the life and death of her beloved older brother, and how it changed her, how she lived between two worlds grrowing up, and how neither seemed a perfect fit.  It’s sad, oh, it’s sad, but this is a beautiful read, and because of this one story, I can say that I enjoyed the book.

Edited to add: Ms. DeVita-Raeburn has since published her own book, The Empty Room: Understanding Sibling Loss.  I have not read it, but if it’s written anything like her short story in the previous book, it is likely to be sensitive, compelling, and real. 

I’m late with this review.  I know it, you know it, and Parent Bloggers knows it too.  I’m almost embarrassed to post.  But the truth is, I was so captivated by this book that I really wanted to finish it before I posted, to do it justice.

Your Child’s Strengths is a new book by Jenifer Fox that takes on learning styles and learning disabilities and turns them on their head … asking each of us to consider children’s strengths instead of their weaknesses.  Right on! 

One of the things that has been so disappointing to me with the No Child Left Behind Act is the smoothing out of expectations of children … how each must perform to a minimum or average standard, and then the children and teachers are on their own for advanced work.  This book asks us to consider our child’s strengths and then use that information to help them learn and grow to their full potential.

My children are a tad young for this, but one tip has stuck with me: record your very young children’s likes and dislikes, their preferences, and what captivates them.  This information can be useful in identifying their strengths later … or in helping your child discover them for himself.

For instance, today I could write:

Baby:  Loves to put things in and take things out of boxes, bins, and tubs.  Delights in washing hands, playing in the bubbles, and helping Mommy do laundry.  When big brother and I were working on a foam puzzle today, (baby) picked out all the red pieces and put them in a pile.  I’ve never modeled that behavior, so this was something that he picked up on his own.  Some days (the baby) amazes me.

Preschooler:  Is enjoying school more as the days go by.  This week he agreed to sit in the circle for circle time, but he still prefers to initiate activities on his own schedule.  When it’s his idea, he is a brilliant painter, builder, puzzler, and problem-solver.  He also has begun to line up his trucks and “teach” them, asking questions, answering them, and praising their “responses” in a patient tone.  He is beginning to lead his little brother in games, but he is also delighted to follow older kids in their ideas.  He is learning to negotiate, and often says, “Me have an idea.  How about …” as he offers an alternative to naptime, snacktime, etc.  He is very empathetic and loves to snuggle me, baby brother, and dad. 

Both children are very attached, yet secure enough to run/crawl off and play, together or separately.  It’s a good time to be their mom.

This is a great book and one that I will be keeping nearby as my children grow.

While printing photos of my baby with my preschooler, I learned that the HP compact photo printer is even better than I thought it was.  Leave it unattended (and turned on) for a few minutes, and it functions as a digital picture frame, displaying pictures from your camera card and changing the display every few minutes.  What a great function.

Awesome.  Read more reviews of the HP compact photo printer over at the Parent Bloggers Network.