jeanne
Are Crocs Almost Dead?
The rubbery shoes that set the market alight in 2007 and had parents running out to buy easy on, easy off footwear for their kids is being described by business analysts as highly risky for investors. Some have gone as far as to say they see the Colorado shoemaker folding by the year's end.
jeanne
Gwyneth Reads Eric Carle!
What's better than a CD of our favorite Eric Carle books? One of our favorite moms reading the classic stories. Gwyneth Paltrow lends her acting chops and gentle voice to four of Eric Carle's "what do you see" classics, inclinding Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Panda Bear and Baby Bear in Brown Bear and Friends, a new book on CD from Macmillan Audio Books.
jeanne
Ten of the Best Lines from Kiddie Lit
Be it a movie or a book, there's always one line that stands out in the good ones. Hence that dorky guy at the office who answers everything question with a movie quote. So what's the kiddie lit version of "I'll be back?" The Associated Press got a series of celebrity parents to dish on their favorites,but we were suprised which of our favorites were skipped. So we're bringing them up here.
jeanne
Aww, S--T, Dad Fine $2,000 for Cursing
Forget the cussing jar. What if every time you dropped an F-bomb in front of your kid you had to pay up to the tune of $2K? I'm no sailor, but one LEGO in the bare foot later, and my bank account would be wiped.
jeanne
A Cuddly Brain Toy? WTF
So you've got the "right" preschool in your sights and your little egghead has already mastered the list of presidents. He's got all the brains you could ask for. Or does he? The same folks who put out that recalled cuddly plush uterus has a plush set of brains for . . . well, we're not sure what for. The folks at I Heart Guts! say the body's command center deserves a little love, but we're thinking this one might get a rise out of their medula oblongata.
jeanne
Going Bananas for Play-Doh's Spring Line
It's so not cool to say you're jealous of your kids, right? I don't care: all I ever got was those little plastic pots of Play-Doh. And after seeing the spring line of Play-Doh toys from Playskool, I AM jealous.
jeanne
Swine Flu Claims First US Victim
The swine flu pandemic has claimed its first victim here in America, according to U.S. officials, and he was just shy of his second birthday. Although the toddler was in Texas, he was actually a Mexican native visiting the states with his family.
jeanne
Mom Buys Nintendo, Gets a Box of Rocks Instead
Somewhere in Florida, a kid is saying "aww, gee, Mom, you shouldn't have." No, really, we mean it. Because when a sixteen-year-old opened up his brand new Nintendo DS, all he found was a pile of rocks and some newspaper with Chinese lettering.
jeanne
Sidwell Parents Say Obamas Are Cheapskates
First it was the British press all abub about Michelle Obama's gifts to the prime minister's children. Now fellow parents are claiming the president and first lady cheaped out on the gifts they donated for the auction at the school daughters Sasha and Malia attend. Really? This is what we're worried about in light of the disastrous global economy, a swine flu pandemic that's taking lives and should I even point upward to that ever-widening hole in the ozone layer?
jeanne
Music On the Half Shell
Who knew you could listen to rap music and think "awwww, that's so cute?" OK, I probably shouldn't have my iPod tuned to Biggie when it's plugged into my daughter's iTurtle, but come on. Who doesn't want to see a turtle dance?
jeanne
Girl Gets Kidney from Mom AND Dad
She was the world's youngest-ever recipient of a donor kidney when she was just seventeen months old. Now she's on number three - but she's keeping it all in the family. Kidney number two came from Mom. Now Keeley Beytell-Heron is slated to receive another kidney - this time from her father.
jeanne
Bag of Feces Sent Home in Kid's Backpack
As Madeline pointed out yesterday, the word "panties," is shudder-tastic. I've found three worse words - at least used in succession, and when referring to the contents of a little kid's backpack. Bag of feces. Yup, a kindergartner came home from school this week with a big ol' bag of dung in his backpack.
jeanne
Parents Blackmail Their Kids' School
So Ray Abril Jr. High School won't win any awards for creativity. Is the name really so bad that parents have to blackmail their school to get it changed? A majority of parents in the Colton Joint Unified School District voted for the school board to name its new high school "Grand Terrace," but when the school board picked the name of a former school trustee (Abril) instead, they decided they'd boycott a state-mandated test to show their displeasure.
jeanne
Get Their Pee Away from Me
I'm one of those parents who extols the virtues of "eau de kid." So I was all excited to read Peter Hartlaub's ode to the odors of kids in the Poop this week. Until I got to section two. Cheerios and pee. Really Peter, you had to lay that one out there for the child-free by choice folks to throw back at us? Maybe it's the mark of a mom who was beaten down by potty training, but where I agree with everything else on Hartlaub's list, his assertion that "the faint scent of toddler pee can actually be kind of pleasant." just made me want to retch.
jeanne
Ali Landry: Goodnight Doritos Girl, Spotlight On Mom
If you've ever been embarrassed by your taste for celebrity parent news (admit it, Babble's Famecrawler the first place you visit), you're going to get a kick out of Ali Landry. Once a member of the People's Fifty Most Beautiful People List and the famous "Doritos girl" from the late nineties, Landry now has a weekly Webcast that's allowing every day parents (us) instant access to celebrity parents. And Landry, ahem, is just as interested as the rest of us.
jeanne
Blocks That Rock: LEGO Boombox
Who knew you could make LEGO any more rockin'? Digital Blue is trying - this summer they're set to unveil a boombox and MP3 player - with the real LEGO name. Ten times the size of the real thing, the boombox will be one mega LEGO brick, with the little bumps traditionally used for inter-locking your blocks doing double duty as volume and tuning controls. And true to LEGO life, even the little dials sport the LEGO name.
jeanne
The Mystery of the Toy Droppers
Ever see a toy lying on the sidewalk and feel sorry for the child who dropped it? You might want to look a little closer. A mysterious Australian group that calls itself The Toy Society has jumped across the ocean to the states, where they've started dropping their handmade toys for you to find.
jeanne
IPhone Making Parents Everywhere More Helpless?
Who knows how mothers managed before the days of the iPhone. If the Baby Brain iPhone app is any indication, we left them sitting in poopy diapers all day and neglected to nurse!
jeanne
Mom Pulls a Knife On Kids Who Don't Say I Love You
Here's a way to guarantee your kids will only say I love you from the other side of bulletproof glass: pull a butcher knife on them. It's what a Florida mom booked on child abuse charges is said to have done.
jeanne
Win a Signed Copy of the Book Replacing Twilight
Though written for a teen audience, Twilight had the mom audience fully engaged. I'm not in the least bit embarrassed to say I was bitten. (Embarrassed by the bad pun? Well, kinda). So if you're a mom mourning the end of the Twilight series, I've got good news. Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has chosen a new project, and the book might be even better than the real thing.
jeanne
