Everything And Nothing

The Meanest Mom on the Planet

[ via Nurse Ratched's Place ]

Don't Forget

Jennie Trowbridge, a Mississippian and a grandmother, has created graphics to help parents and caregivers remember to look for their children in the backseat. The "Don't Forget Your Child" message is available in bumper stickers, decals and posters.

In Mississippi, there were six reported hyperthermia fatalities of children from 1998-2006. Texas led the country with 41 deaths, followed by Florida with 35 and California with 31. Since 1998, at least 356 children nationwide have died from hyperthermia. So far in 2007, 34 deaths have been reported. (Almost half of the deaths occur because a child was forgotten, according to a study by Jan Null at San Francisco State University.)

Null said there was a big shift in such child deaths following the passage of laws that require parents to move children into car seat in the back seat in response to air bag deaths.

You can order the products at www.dontforgetyourchild.org. Trowbridge says the money from Web site sales go to the cost of printing. She hopes the products will remind parents and caregivers to make sure children were not forgotten in the back seat.

[ via Kathy Hanrahan, The Associated Press ]

Buddha Belly

If you're the type that doesn't mind getting your belly rubbed, this t-shirt may be for you. It made me smile...

$33.99

And the winner is...

Mom! As witnessed by her "Lead actress in a family drama" t-shirt.

$34

Help with baby

Why worry with finding a sufficiently manly diaper bag when you can just get the Diaper Vest? It has hidden pockets for bottles, wipes, diapers...and even a changing pad. Available in orange or black in sizes through XXL.

$81, dadgear.com

Wit and Wisdom from my father...

During the divorce, my father fought for (and won) custody of my brother and me. That doesn't sound like much today, but you have to think back to the mid-70s when a father wanting (or getting) full custody of a child was pretty much unheard of. Besides unconditional love and the fact that you have to fight for what you love and believe for no matter how crazy people think you are, here are a few other lessons my father taught me. Happy Father's Day to all of you dads out there (but especially mine).

Wit and wisdom from my father...

* It's better to be pissed off than pissed on.
* Life's not fair...get over it.
* If your ass is grass, don't stand by a lawnmower (or roll around in fertilizer).
* Friends come, friends go. Enjoy them while they're there.
* You can buy them books and send them to school but that doesn't mean that they will be successful.
* Life's too short for cheap whiskey.
* Cheap isn't always the best deal.
* If it ain't broke, don't fix it (unless it's really, really fun).
* What goes around always comes around...but it usually takes much longer than you want.
* Hard work never killed anyone.
* All work and no play makes Bob a dull boy.
* If you fall, get up, dust yourself off and try again.
* No one ever learned to ride a bike in a day.
* If a man won't come to the door, look me in the eye and shake my hand, he's up to no good (and thus he's not going out with my daughter). ;)
* Buying a tutu doesn't make you a ballerina. But who the hell wants to be a ballerina anyway?
* No matter where you may wander (and you need to wander a lot to find this out), there's no place like home.
* If you don't have anything else to talk about, there's always the weather and the job. Always.
* Just showing up is 90 percent of success.
* Growing old is hell. Until you get old, then it sure as hell beats the alternative.
* Hot, humid summers beats shoveling your way out of winter any day.
* He's your brother and you need to watch out for him - even if he doesn't want you to.
* There's no explaining the human heart - it wants what it wants.
* Take care of the things that mean a lot to you.
* Failure in business does not equate to personal failure. You just got to find the right gig.
* We're all still trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up. Just keep looking.

Reinventing the Wheels

Prolific designer Philippe Starck has turned his attention to the stroller for Conran.

The buggy has a sleek frame line due to a patented in-line elbow joint.  Suitable for babies from 6 months old, its lightweight design features channelled aluminum tubing for durability and is remarkably compact, with a one-handed fold for easy storage and transport.

The storage shelf provides easy transport of the Starck Changing Bag (sold separately).  The buggy has a 5 point harness for child's safety and includes hood, rain shield and travel bag.

The fabric on this buggy is sponge cleanable, quick drying, stain resistant, water repellent and mildew resistant. Also available in lemon, nectarine and purple.

To see Starck's full line of baby goods, click here.

Hot moms have got it going on

The year-old Hot Moms Club is a webzine, T-shirt line and new book, The Hot Moms Handbook, dedicated to helping harried moms maintain their hotness. (Read an excerpt from the book here.)

Founder Jessica Denay, along with her partners Joy Tilk Bergin and Karma McCain, started the HMC Magazine when they found they did not fit in the role of the stereotypical soccer mom. Denay, a single mother and former tutor, started the group four years ago after her brother jokingly referred to her friends as the hot mom club.

Revolutionizing Potty Training

Melinda Rothstein and Rachel Milgroom are out to revolutionize potty training as we know it. While many U.S. youngsters wear diapers until well past the age of three, they are advocates of "elimination communication," staring toilet training in infancy by monitoring a baby's body language and vocal cues. And a growing number of parents - some worried about the environmental impact of disposable diapers - are agreeing.

Milgroom and Rothstein founded DiaperFreeBaby, a non-profit that teaches elimination communication, in 2003. Since then, more than 400 mothers have registered on the group's Web site and 30 chapters have sprung up nationwide.

Practitioners of EC, as they call it, watch their infants closely, learning when a kick or grimace means "it's time." These parents believe that by about 25 months a child should be potty-trained. (But accidents happen.)

While toilet training before the age of two was common at the turn of the century, studies have shown by the late '90s the average age had risen to 33 months for girls and 36 months for boys. The growing gap is largely attributed to disposable diapers and a child-led approach to toilet training.

Reese Witherspoon's parenting advice

To Mark Ruffalo, her co-star in Just Like Heaven:

If you're not yelling at your kids, you're not spending enough time with them.

I knew I liked that girl for good reason. ;)