The World Against Toys Causing Harm (W.A.T.C.H.) has released their list of the 2009 “10 Worst Toys”. How many of these are in your kids toy box? You’d be surprised. There is a large mixture of action figures to books. Here is the list and why that toy made it:

Disney/Pixar Wall-E Foam Rocket Launcher

($9.50) – Due to potential for eye and other impact injuries.

Mood Board Pogo Board

($29.99) – Due to potential for head and other impact injuries.

Spy-Gear Viper Blaster

($15.00) – Due to potential of eye injuries.

Pucci Pups Maltese

($15.00) – Due to potential of strangulation and aspirations injuries.

CAT “Rugged Mini”

($4.99) – Due to potential for puncture injury wounds.

Just Kidz Junior Musical Instruments

($15.00) – Due to potential choking hazards.

Lots to Love Babies “Mini Nursery”

($6.99) – Due to potential choking hazards.

X-Men Origins Slashin’ Action Wolverine

($14.99) – Due to potential eye and other impact injuries.

The Dark Knight Batman Figure

($39.98) – Due to potential for blunt impact and penetration injuries.

Curious Baby Curious George Counting

- My First Book of Numbers ($6.74) – Due to potential choking hazards.

Be sure to check toy boxes and take these dangerous toys off the shopping list for the upcoming holiday season.  W.A.T.C.H. has been successful in the past getting some dangerous toys off store shelves, so some of these could be hard to find in the coming months.

In 2008, there were at least 19 toy-related deaths in the United States.  On top of that, there were 235,300 toy-related injuries that caused trips to the emergency room.  With numbers this high, it is important to remind parents to monitor their children while playing.

There was recently a poll completed by BabyCenter that asked mothers if they spank their children.  Surprisingly, 69 percent of mothers said they DO spank their children.  Am I surprised that many mothers spank? Absolutely not.  I am surprised that many admitted to it though. Spanking was common years ago, however is currently a sore subject with many.

Many experts believe spanking should never be done and there are other ways to discipline your children.  While there are other ways to discipline, are they as effective?  Experts say that instead of spanking, parents should use time out or take away privileges.  Is a swat on the bottom that big of a deal?  Some say it is and causes kids to have self-esteem issues.

Spanking was very common when I was growing up.  It didn’t cause self-esteem pills, it taught you to take responsibility for your actions and not act up.  If you were out of line, be ready for the consequences.  Simple as that.  It was unheard of for a parent to simply put their four-year-old in time out for four minutes because they were screaming and throwing a tantrum.  If your child was acting up, you took care of it right then and it was done.

If 69 percent of mothers are spanking their children, why is it so looked down upon?  If more than half of all mothers are spanking, why is it such a hush hush subject?  I understand that some parents don’t know the difference between a swat on the butt and beating their child bu there is a difference.  Is that why spanking is looked down upon?  Because a few people can’t tell the difference and have gone overboard? Regardless if you spank or not, do what works best for your family.  You will know if spanking works best to discipline your child.

Miley Cyrus is the queen of ‘tweens right now.  She has the girls dancing, singing and wearing boots.  The next most popular ‘tween pop culture trend is ‘Twilight’.  I see the girls at school with ‘Twilight’ backpacks, shirts, books, pens, notebooks…most anything you could think of.  One would think the two would be intertwined, but that is far from the case.

During an interview with Ohio Radio Station Q92, Miley stated she does not like ‘Twilight’ and has not, nor will she ever watch the movies.When asked if she was on Team Edward or Team Jacob, Miley replied, “I don’t believe in it. I don’t like vampires, I don’t like any of the stuff, like the wolf that pops out of the screen when I’m watching my TV at night. I don’t like it, I don’t want anything to do with it. I don’t like the shirts, any of it.”

It was a little surprising her say that, since ‘Twilight’ is such a HUGE success in the pop culture, how can she be so against it? Kudos to her for sticking to her guns and not giving into something she doesn’t believe in.  I wonder what she would think about the ‘Twilight’ Barbie Dolls playing with the Hannah Montana dolls?  Would she be against my six-year-old making Hannah Montana marry Edward?

According the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Tamiflu capsules can be opened and mixed with a sweet-tasting liquid.  Here is what you will need:

• A capsule of Tamiflu (again, these are much easier to find than the liquid)
• A small bowl
• 1-2 teaspoons of a sweet, flavored liquid (chocolate syrup works well)

Ok, so here is all you do:

1. Pour a small amount of the liquid into the bowl.  It doesn’t really matter the exact amount of the liquid, you will just want to be sure your child can finish all of it to get a full dose of medication.
2. Holding the capsule over your bowl, carefully open it and pour out all the contents.
3. Stir the mixture well, it is okay if all the medication does not fully dissolve.
4. Give the entire dose to your child with a spoon.

Easier than you thought isn’t it?  The Tamiflu capsules are very small, as I know from personal experience.  It should be easy to get all the medication into a few teaspoons of syrup.  It would actually be a lot easier to get your child to take a spoon full of chocolate syrup than most any medicine.  I wonder if this works with other things?  Might be something to look into, some medications are nearly impossible to get my kids to take.  For now though, this is great information to keep on hand, just in case.

Parents of the students are outraged.  How could the school have children arrested for such a harmless act.  Who hasn’t been involved in a food fight?  What is this going to do to these students?  I would think being arrested in the 6th, 7th or 8th grade would be very traumatic and could cause more emotional problems.  Parents believe that the kids should face some sort of discipline, but was arresting them over the top?  The children were held for four hours before being released to their parents then suspended from school for two days.

I can not believe the district thinks it is okay for the students to be arrested for something that is so common amongst adolescents.  With the chaos of a food fight, were they sure that everyone involved was arrested or that everyone arrested was actually involved?  They could easily pick up an innocent by-stander or overlook someone who was involved.  I think this district may have over-reacted and is actually harming the children.  In school suspension or even out of school suspension would have been a better option.  I couldn’t imagine being arrested for something like this.

A 12-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy (NOT pictured above) from New South Wales (NSW) are the new parents to a bouncing baby boy.  The girl’s father had reported that his daughter and her boyfriend were sleeping together while at her mother’s house, but nothing was done.  This resulted in the girl becoming pregnant at the early age of 11.  And to think, I was surprised with the girls in high school having babies, this girl is still elementary school aged!

The tween mother and baby boy are both reported doing well.  They are living with her mother, who is helping to care for the infant.  A 12-year-old is far too young to care for an infant herself and will have to rely on her mother for most of the care-giving.  At 12, she has no motherly instincts, she is still a child herself.

Why did the mother allow this to happen?  At 12 years, a girl is normally just coming out of the “kid” stages and growing into a teen.  She is in no way ready for sex at such a young age.  Where was her mother when this was happening?  Although I haven’t been through that stage just yet, I just couldn’t imagine not knowing my child was having sex.  What’s worse is the boyfriend was living with them.  Yes, the mother of this girl allowed her 15-year-old boyfriend to live in the same house.  What the heck was she thinking?  A 12-year-old shouldn’t even have a boyfriend yet, or not a serious boyfriend.  My nine year old walks around talking about having a girlfriend, but they don’t even talk or see each other outside of school.  I couldn’t imagine allowing my daughter to have her boyfriend live in our home.  She was just asking for something like this to happen.

Now what about this poor baby?  This baby boy was born to a mother and father that will be unable to care for him.  The baby’s grandmother will now be forced to raise another child, although isn’t it partially her fault?  Shouldn’t she still have been keeping an eye on her daughter and NOT allow her 15-year-old boyfriend to move in.  It just amazes me what some parents allow to happen.  How could you think this was okay?  Seriously.

Wermke believes the babies are crying in the same pattern as their mother’s speech pattern in an attempt to bond.  “Newborns are highly motivated to imitate their mother’s behavior in order to attract her and hence to foster bonding. Because melody contour may be the only aspect of their mother’s speech that newborns are able to imitate, this might explain why we found melody contour imitation at that early age” Wermke states.

Scientists already knew that babies were able to hear during their last trimester, which is why a newborn can easily recognize their mother’s voice.  This research shows that they can not only hear but interpret what is being heard.  Although babies are unable to create letter sounds, they are able to mimic the melody through their cries.

More research is being done to see if the difference in parenting alters the results.  If a German family allows their baby to cry longer before picking them up, it could effect the results.  Each country may parent differently, which needs to be taken into consideration.

For years now there has been a rumor circulating that the beloved Cookie Monster from Sesame Street was being transformed into Veggie Monster. With his 40th Birthday here and Google making him their Google Doodle, the rumor has sprung up again. Is it true? Not that I can find.

Over the past couple of years, Cookie Monster has started to eat better and make healthier decisions, but he is still Cookie Monster. PBS has made Cookie Monster begin to eat more fruits and vegetables instead of only cookies during the shows’ 36th season.  Is this going to make a difference to our children? Probably not. My kids love Cookie Monster and think it’s hilarious to see him eat cookies, but that doesn’t make them go and eat like that. Seeing him eat carrots or apples the same way will affect them the same way. They do, of course, mimic him, eating whatever snack like a monster, but they don’t automatically want to eat cookies because Cookie Monster does.

So in my research online, I have found that many people have said Cookie Monster is being transformed, but I can not see anything official. As far as I’m concerned, Cookie Monster needs to stay Cookie Monster. He is a puppet. Seriously, the advocates for healthy eating need to realize that. PBS should not be forced to change Cookie Monster just because they think it affects our children. Most kids know the difference between real and make-believe. My son knows he can’t have a pet jaguar like Diego and he’s three years old.

Above is a video clip of Whoopi Goldberg discussing her thoughts on the transformation of Cookie Monster while co-hosting “The View”. She feels as I do, Cookie Monster is harmless and basically people need to relax and just take him for the entertainment value he has.

The Swine Flu is discussed on every news cast and has caused panic across the nation.  I have personally dealt with this horrible illness and have a new perspective.  Although many people are only having a mild case, my family had to deal with a moderate case.  I couldn’t imagine the hardship a severe case would cause.

Early last week my husband told us he was starting to not feel so well, thinking he was getting a cold or something like that.  The next day he was feeling a little worse, but was not running a fever or cough.  He was still able to rearrange our son’s room and was up and around until that afternoon.  I left to run errands around 9:00am. When I returned before noon, his temperature was about 102 and he felt horrible.  I bought over the counter flu medications and they didn’t help. Nothing would bring down his fever and he started to have a dry cough.  The following morning I took him to the urgent care.  They made him wear a mask upon entering the building and made us sit in a special waiting room designed only for patients with flu-like symptoms.  After talking with the doctor, he concluded my husband had the Swine Flu without swabbing or anything.  He was prescribed Tamiflu and sent home.  As we were leaving the doctor told us “Good luck finding the Tamiflu, it’s sold out in most pharmacies.“  I took my husband home, quarantined him to the bedroom and started calling around to find the medication, luckily the strength he needed was available.  He took the pills that day and continued for the next five days.  When he called his work and told them he had the flu, they told him regardless of how he feels he can not return for at least seven days.  He wasn’t feeling better for about seven days total and was out of work for nine days total. The only other person in my household that has shown any signs of illness is our youngest, who is three years old.

So you are wondering what this Tamiflu is and how it helps?  Tamiflu is a antiviral medication.  What this means is it helps to get rid of the virus and shorten the length of the illness.  It is NOT antibiotics, so even if you are taking this medicine, you are still contagious.  A person with the Swine Flu is contagious a day before the symptoms start and then five to seven days after.

It still amazes me that I was able to keep the germs from getting everyone in our house sick.  Here are some things I did:

• Keep the sick person in a room to themselves, do not allow them to interact with healthy people except at an extreme distance. Our kids stayed outside the door and could talk to him from there.
• Keep everything cleaned, either using antibacterial wipes or good old-fashioned soap and water.
• If the sick wants to come out of quarantine, ensure they have washed their hands well and make them wear a mask.  The sick can get cabin fever after being stuck in a room for days on end, so make them wear a mask!
• Do not share towels!  Germs live in towels and it’s better to switch to paper towels for the kitchen and drying hands in the bathroom while there are sick people in the house.
• I stayed away.  It was hard not going into my own room and having to sleep on the couch, but I’m not sick, so I think it was worth it!

So, now comes the question of the H1N1 vaccine.  I have three children that were exposed.  Do I bother with the vaccine?  There are hundreds of thousands of people that are sick with flu-like symptoms every day and doctors are now saying this is the Swine Flu.  If they are showing signs today, they were contagious yesterday.  This means they could have exposed many people without even knowing it.  Being that we had Swine Flu hit our home and my kids still didn’t get sick, I’m thinking I will hold off on the vaccine.  Even keeping the house germ-free helped, but my husband had spread his germs prior to us realizing he had the flu.  You would think we all would have gotten it. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says 99% of people that get it have mild cases, so I think we’ll take our chances.  I’m not alone in my opinion, according to this poll by the ABC News/Washington Post.  This poll shows that almost half of the parents questioned are not going to have their children vaccinated.

Stephen Zeldag, a 16-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School in Eldorado Hills, CA was dared by one of his teachers to eat a dead fly.  The teacher stated if he did eat the fly that he would be given an “A” on his test.  Stephen thought this was an easy way out and took the dare.  His teacher then wrote on this paper, “Here is your ‘A’ on your test” but then gave him an “F” in the grade book after Stephen scored a nine out of 46.

Stephen is outraged that his teacher would do this to him; they had agreed and shook hands to seal the deal.  As a parent I too am outraged, on so many levels.  First off, how could a teacher dare a student to eat a dead fly?  Secondly, if he did make the deal and shook hands on it, how could he back out after it was done?  This never should have even been an issue.  How dare a teacher, someone your child is supposed to look up to and seek guidance from, make him the butt of a joke?

If my kids came home and told me they were dared by a teacher to eat a dead bug, I would be down at the office first thing.  I am in school at the moment, obtaining my teaching degree and could not imagine doing this to one of my students.  A grade should only be given for the work done, not something silly like eating a bug.  This was the first mistake the teacher made.  Secondly, you should never dare a student to do anything like this.  Disgusting.  Lastly, if he did make the deal, he should have followed through because he did give his word to that student.  He lost all respect with his actions.

The school’s principle has not commented, only stating an investigation is underway.  I hope this teacher faces some sort of discipline for his actions.  I also hope the student now realizes that sometimes when you try to take the easy way out, things don’t go as you’d hoped.  If he would have studied, he would have been able to pass the test. Stephen did ask to take the test again, but his teacher denied the request.

Annette and Tim Root of Forks, Washington plan to open the vampire-themed restaurant next year.  The name is Volterra, after the city named in the ‘Twilight’ novels.  There will be a variety of foods available, although the recipes and most details are not yet being revealed.  The restaurant is planned to be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It will be considered a family-style restaurant and they have applied for a liquor license.

It won’t be open in time for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” on November 20 but might be ready for “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” on June 30.

I am sure this will bring in a big number of tourists, thus boosting the economy in this once small logging town.  Locals now say that many visitors come in to visit the city and even ask if it is safe to camp since there are vampire problems in the area.  I think that is ridiculous.  People should know the difference between real and make-believe.  Don’t get me wrong, if I were in the area it would be fun to drive through and even stop at the themed-restaurant, but I am not going to actually think a vampire is going to be waiting for me outside.  I’m sure my older kids would get a kick out of it since they have seen the movie, and it might be harder for them to realize there aren’t actually vampires in the area.  All-in-all I think it’s a great idea and am surprised it has taken so long to come about.

The dolls, which went on sale November 1, are currently selling for approximately $25 a piece.  Most major retailers will have them available, including Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon.  Currently they are only available online from what I can see, so order soon to get them in time for “New Moon” on November 20.  If you have a tween in your home that is obsessed with the series, this could be a “must have” for the upcoming holidays!

My daughter is at the Barbie age, but I don’t know that this will interest her.  Being 6 years old, she hasn’t really gotten into the whole “Twilight” obsession.  I think these dolls are being made only as collectibles for the teens and young adults that are really into the movie.  In all honesty, I see these as a great gift for someone who likes the movies, they will be excited to open the package and then the doll will collect dust.  I feel that Barbie’s should be for little girls to play with, and paying $25 for a Barbie is out the question in my house.  Even if my daughter wanted one of these, I’m not going to pay that much for a doll that will matted hair in a weeks time.  The idea is great, but I think these are more of a novelty.

I ran across this video and almost fell on the floor laughing so hard.  Even a pint-sized female has a lot to say.  My husband would agree that we, as in women, all sound like this, but I personally hadn’t realized it started so early.  My daughter didn’t start talking like this until she was about four or five.  I am going to assume it is her father in the seat next to her.  He seems to be confused and not know exactly what to think, much like many men do when women are “going off” about something. The attitude starts early with this one, I wonder what she will be like when she is a teenager.

Crystal Buckner, 30, of Dallas, TX learned that while her two daughters, aged 8 and 9 were visiting their father, he made them watch hard-core porn.  The girls went to school and spoke with the counselor about watching a large group of people having sex along with other sex acts.  Of course Crystal was furious, wanted to press charges and have him locked up.  But guess what?  In Texas it is not against the law to show your children porn.  Seriously!

In order to allow parents to teach sex education to their children, there is a law that states they are allowed to show “harmful material” to their children.  They can not be prosecuted for showing material that most people would consider inappropriate.  This law was created in the 1970’s.  Things have changed since then.  Something needs to be done.

I’ll be damned if I send my children to visit their dad and they come back talking about watching porn and I just let it go.  There is no way.  Something needs to be done.   It will be months before Crystal will get an answer about the law changing, but she did say this, “I want people to know about this. I want parents to be mad and say, ‘No!  I understand in the ’70s everybody wanted the government to stay out of their homes. I don’t want to stop parents from having that right to teach sex education, but there’s a big difference and there’s a line you should not cross when teaching.”

KidGlue readers, are you as outraged at this outdated law as I am?

With so many bad things happening in the world, more and more parents are becoming overprotective.  Helicopter parenting is becoming more and more common as the parents are trying to be there and protect their children before they fall, get hurt or anything bad happens to them.  You see these parents at the park with their kids and they are following them all over the playground.  If the child goes into a tunnel the parent will freak out because they can’t see them, even watching them go into the tunnel.  It’s overprotective and really annoying.

In Britain, the Watford Borough Council policy now states that parents are not allowed in playground areas.  There will be appointed “play rangers” to look after children in the public parks.  The reason for this change?  Simple, the parents are not background checked.  Just because someone is a mom or dad, that doesn’t make them a good person.

Of course many parents don’t agree with this, while others are claiming it is a joke.  Should every parent be considered a potential child abuser?  Is it fair that a grandmother can no longer go push her grandson on the swings?  Of course parents are outraged at this new law, while many refuse to abide by it.  The council simply states that with this day and age we have to take stronger measures to protect our children.

I would have to say this is over-the-top and a government totally going overboard.  How can you tell a parent they are not allowed to supervise their child.  It is insane.  While I’m far from a helicopter parent, I still like to know where my child is.  I let them be on the playground and allow them to play by themselves, but I want them to be in my view.  I wouldn’t trust someone else, that I don’t even know to watch after my child.  What do you think?

Let’s teach our girls early to go for a sugar daddy, I mean, they would get nice expensive things, right?  There is only a “small price” to pay.  It’s amazing that Mattel would go this far.  When I first saw the article introducing this doll, I thought it was a joke, but I found more and more articles about it.  Entertainment Earth already shows it available in April 2010 for the small price of just $81.99.  Be sure to pre-order yours now!  Wouldn’t you hate to miss out on this doll.

My goodness, all joking aside, what is wrong with these companies?  Do they really think we want our daughters playing with a “Sugar Daddy” doll?  This goes on the same list as the Pole Dancer doll that was released.  Buy your daughter the pole dancer doll to teach them how to dance, then they can score a sugar daddy like Ken.  My goodness.  Even if it was made as a collectible doll, who would want to collect a sugar daddy doll?  Really.  What message are we sending to our daughters with companies selling dolls like these?  Grow up, get a tramp stamp, dance on a pole and get a sugar daddy….life is then complete.  Right?

Here is a breakdown of what was discussed:

• The dogs were given back to the breeder during the separation because she didn’t feel she had enough time and energy to care for both the dogs and her children.
• She does not regret renewing her vows in Hawaii and admits she was genuine at that moment.
• She is unsure how the holiday’s will be this year and she will do her best to make it comfortable and as “normal” as possible.
• Kate only gets about four-to-five hours of sleep a night.
• She admitted to yelling and flipping out, although she normally flips out for something that she isn’t really upset about.  Her anger is often deferred and she blows up at a later time.
• Cameras are not allowed in the bedrooms, but other than that the cameras can go to every other room of the house.
• Kate thinks it is funny that the “Kate wig” is a top seller for Halloween and actually owns one just to laugh about.
• She wants to do the New York Heel Marathon because she says she is fast in her high heels and wears them most every day.
• She has a full-time baby sitter, along with people that clean the house and keep up the yard work.
• Jon and Kate have put away a “healthy amount” of money for the kids education.
• Kate still clips coupons like she did in the past.  She still likes to save money and buy the same things she needs, but on sale.

I think Kate was much more down to earth and likable during this Q&A session.  I like that she was able to admit she flips out for things that don’t really matter.  With eight kids I can understand why she would flip out sometimes, I do with three kids. As far as the children, she believes the cameras do not affect them and if she doesn’t make it a big deal, they don’t react to them.  She says they do have friends over, play sports and everything else an every day kid does.

Kate isn’t sure if she will ever marry again.  She says she doesn’t really want to be married again, but at the same time, “aloneless is so alone.”  I don’t blame her for these feelings.  Having been through a divorce myself, it is a life-changing event and your outlook on life changes.  Her feelings against a relationship may change as time goes on and the spotlight fades, but you never know.

So is this the last of Kate or the Gosselin bunch?  Probably not and I’ve never thought it was.  I hope the kids can start living a more normal life, but who knows how long it will be before they can go to play at the park without people following them to snap a picture.  She projects in ten years her television career will be a success.  Let’s see how things work out for her.

With school budgets going further and further into the red, many schools are taking drastic measures to help cut costs.  One way some districts are cutting back is by going to a four day school week.  Some districts are off Monday’s while others take Friday’s off.  By cutting a day out of the week they save on energy, transportation and overhead costs.  Schools that do this would have to extend the school day to ensure the children are receiving their proper education.

Ask my kids and they will say this is a great idea.  They would love to have a three-day weekend every single week, but is it really a good idea?  I’m not sold.  I understand the kids would still have the same amount of school time, but what about the parents?  What would all these working parents do with an extra day to try to find childcare?  I’m lucky that I stay home but I’m the minority. Most families have two parents working outside the home.

Taking the parent-perspective out, it is a great way to save money, and if it would help to be able to have all the teachers we needed and supplies our children need, then I say go for it.  My daughter is in the first grade and has 26 students in her class.  This is way over the standard, but the school district is out of money and could not hire a teacher for one that left.  Being a teacher down, the remaining teachers have to pick up the slack and are overwhelmed with too many students and not enough time to spend individually with each student.  If cutting out their half-day Wednesday and adding an hour to each other day of the week would solve this problem, I say go for it. I hate half day Wednesday’s anyway and don’t understand why they do it.

This has already been implemented in some states, including Hawaii.  Parents in Hawaii are upset that their schools already are ranked some of the lowest in the country and now their school days are cut more, leaving the extra burden on parents.  With President Obama discussing the idea of lengthening the school year, how will four day school weeks come into play?  He is already calling to shorten the summer break and lengthen the school day, but how would this be possible with four day school weeks? I agree that summer break is entirely too long and my kids can’t go two weeks without having a day off for this or that.  It is ridiculous.  They just had “fall break” two weeks ago and are now off for two days at the end of this week for conferences.  Couldn’t these be combined?  Why do they need a “fall break” anyway, they just went back to school?

This four day school week is being picked up by more and more districts nationwide.  Keep a close eye on local news to see if it is something being looked at in your area, I know it is for me.  With the budget-crisis we are in though, I welcome any idea to get us out of the mess we are in.

In 2006, Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood went to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to complain about Disney promoting the educational value of these videos.  Then last year, Linn began to threaten a class-action lawsuit due to the deceptive marketing.  The Disney company has agreed to refund consumers $15.99 on up to four videos per household for any Baby Einstein videos purchased between June 5, 2004, and Sept. 5, 2009.  The videos must be returned to the company.  Instead of receiving a refund, you may also exchange the videos for another title.  There is no receipt needed for this refund or exchange.

I believe kids do spend too much time in front of the television, but I think this suit is a little extreme.  My three-year-old is still watching the Baby Einstein videos and is now proud of himself that he knows the shapes before the video tells him what they are.  He watches other types of videos too and his preschool teacher is amazed at his number recognition, which I had to tell her was thanks to the good ol’ Thomas the Train videos we have been picking up.  After he started watching those, we would be at a store and he would point to the checkout and tell me what number we were at without prompting.  Is it bad that my son watches television? Maybe, but he is learning from it.  He isn’t a couch potato that only watches television all day, but he does enjoy his shows.  I allow him to watch and he does learn from them, regardless of what others say.  He knows letters, colors, shapes and some Spanish from various shows.  He lost interest working with me on these things, but the shows keep his interest and keep him motivated.

According to the Baby Einstein website, the return/refund policy is as follows:

To participate, you must have purchased a Baby Einstein DVD between June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009.

If you are not satisfied with the Baby Einstein DVD you purchased during the period mentioned above, for a limited time beginning on September 4, 2009 and ending on March 4, 2010, you may exchange it for one of the following:

• One (1) Baby Einstein Book of your choice
• One (1) Baby Einstein music CD of your choice

- Or -

• One (1) coupon for 25% off the purchase of one Little Einsteins™ product. Redeemable with promotion code only at DisneyStore.com.

or you may return it, and we will refund the current retail value of the DVD ($15.99).

To request your DVD exchange or refund (limited to four (4) per household), you must follow the steps below for each DVD returned (note: you may return more than one DVD in the same mailing envelope, but you MUST include a completed mail-in certificate or completed 8½x11 sheet of paper for each DVD you are returning) :

1. Package the DVD, in its original DVD case (if available), into a suitable mailing envelope or package.
2. Include the completed (hand-printed) request form below or an 8½x11 sheet of paper with your signature, name, address, telephone number and email address.
3. Indicate the DVD title you are returning and date of purchase.
4. Check the appropriate box on the exchange/refund request form found below or write in on your sheet of paper your choice of :
(a) An exchange for one (1) Baby Einstein Book OR one (1) Baby Einstein music CD. Please write in the product name or title in the appropriate space found on the refund request form below OR on your sheet of paper;
(b) A coupon for 25% off one (1) Little Einsteins™ product purchased online at DisneyStore.com; or
(c) A refund.
5. Submissions must be postmarked by March 4, 2010.
6. Mail to:

The Baby Einstein DVD Guarantee/Upgrade Offer
P.O. Box 3200
Neenah, WI 54957-3200

Grapes

Buy an all purple sweat suit.  Pin on tons of purple balloons with small safety pins.  Be careful not to puncture the balloons when attaching them.  Finish off the ensemble with a brown cap.  You can also cut leaf patterns out of green felt and attach to the cap for a complete outfit.

Crayon

Choose any color crayon you would like.  Buy sweats in that color.  Attach a wrapper made of paper, craft foam or felt.  To form a hat, find a like-colored plastic planter (or paint one to match).  The face can also be painted to match the crayon color.  Very cute!

Domino

Take all black sweats and place a piece of white duct tape around the waist.  This will be the middle portion of the domino.  Pin white circles made of either thick paper, craft foam or felt to create the amount of dots you would like.  Black shoes and a black painted face finish off the complete outfit.

Care Bear:

Take a pair of sweats, with a hooded sweat shirt to match your favorite Care Bear.  Add ears made of matching felt to the sweatshirt hood.   Using felt or white fabric, create a white circle and decorate with your Care Bear symbol.  To complete the look, add mittens in a matching color.  If you want to be a little more creative, follow this tutorial by Craftster user TravTrav.

Dalmatian

Use a white hooded sweatsuit and pin black felt spots all over.  Add felt ears to the hood, tail on the pants along with a dog collar and your ready to go.

There are lots of ideas for a simple sweatsuit.  Most any animal or round fruits or vegetable can be easily made with just a few alterations.  Buy some sweats, get some felt and you are able to create most anything you can imagine.

So what is price-fixing?  In a nutshell, price-fixing means they carry products and make a deal with the manufacturer that they must enforce retail-price maintenance.   This means that each product must be sold for a certain amount, not allowing Web sites to offer at a discount.  Stores which are online do not have the overhead that brick and mortar stores do, which gives them the ability to sell items at a discounted rate, in most cases.

What products does this include?  You know those really fancy, high-priced strollers? Yep, the ones that are on every “must-have” list.  Notice that you can’t find them anywhere else at a good price?  They are all about the same price because the manufacturer has made a deal to ensure they all stay that way.  Know those fancy breast pumps that you can ONLY find at Babies “R” Us?  Everyone will tell you the Medela is the best out there and not to waste money buying the other brands, but $300 is a steep price to pay.  If you want a Medela you will have to pay it though, because that is what the manufacturer says it has to be.

This isn’t the first time Toys ‘R’ Us has been in this trouble.  In 1998, they were found guilty of strong-arming toy manufacturers.  Toys ‘R’ Us told the manufacturers that they would not carry any toys that were also carried by Costco and other warehouse clubs.  An order was put into place and Toys ‘R’ Us agreed to stop the act.  But they are at it again, but this time under the Babies ‘R’ Us name.

The FTC is currently reviewing emails back and forth between Babies ‘R’ Us and manufacturers.  Hopefully they can figure out how to stop this and get some prices to go down.  Babies are expensive enough as it is, we don’t need price-fixing on the quality products we all want.

The U.K. Company Park Company Saving created a poll asking for the Best Celebrity Mother of the Year.  I was very surprised to hear that Britney Spears received a huge 74 percent of the votes!  Wasn’t it not that long ago that Britney freaked out, shaved her head and had the kids taken away?  How is she mother of the year?  Does it really mean you should get an award because you get custody back?

I understand that she has straightened up quite a bit.  She has been granted 50/50 custody and is able to take the boys with her when she tours.  Although I do think it is pretty funny that she still has to pay Kevin Federline a whopping $20,000 a month in child support.

It is amazing to me that she can freak out, get some therapy and seem to be back on track and the public gives her mother of the year.  She doesn’t even have the boys all the time.  Even if she takes them on tour with her, she has to provide a place for Kevin to stay.  I guess the (British) public has spoken, but what about Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes or even Christina Aguilera?  Are these mothers, who have been great moms from the beginning, being forgotten?  Not exactly, Christina took second place, Angelina third and Katie fifth.  Still baffles me, but I guess the public likes to see moms that clean up their acts.

Jon showed up looking like a dirty mess. Seriously he didn’t shave, his clothes looked dirty and he looked like he had been partying the night before and didn’t take a shower or anything.  He looked gross.  He then shows up with a cake that says, “Happy Birthday Maddy.” Notice how her name is spelled?  He brought a cake with Mady spelled with two D’s.  Wow!

Kate is looking better and better every day, without having to do a thing!  In the middle of the party, Jon leaves to talk to fans and paparazzi.  He was reading emails from Kate off his Blackberry and signing autographs.  Way to spend time with the birthday girls!  Geesh.  Can’t he just disappear already?  Seriously, the kids would be better off.

What caring father shows up to your birthday party looking dirty and like he just woke up?  What father doesn’t know how to spell his own daughter’s name?  Jon Gosselin, that’s who! Wow!  If he isn’t the biggest loser on Earth, I don’t know who is.  He has stopped production of “Kate Plus 8″, thus taking away the family’s source of income. He pulled money out of the joint account, leaving Kate without money to pay the bills.  He keeps showing up with all these random young girls and partying all over the place.  I know sometimes people go a little crazy after a divorce, but isn’t this all overboard?  Seriously Jon, get it together and be a father!

On Wednesday, Miley tweeted “FYI Liam doesn’t have a twttr & he wants ME 2 delete mine w/ gd reason.”  Her twitter account was deleted shortly after that.  She is referring to Liam Hemsworth, who she is co-starring with in the upcoming movie, “The Last Song” and is reportedly dating.  Shortly after Miley deleted her account, her mother’s account was also removed.

So did she really delete her account for a boy?  She seemed to really enjoy Twitter and was a very active user.  Why all of a sudden did she delete it?  Is it for publicity?  Possibly.  She does have a movie coming out.  If she did delete her account because her boyfriend told her to, she has a lot to learn in life.  She obviously enjoyed tweeting and a boyfriend shouldn’t make her give that up.  She upset many of her fans by deleting the account and for quite some time #mileycomeback was the top trend.

I am sure that Miley will be back in the near future.  Give it enough time that people quit talking about it and she will reopen her account, again getting her name into the headlines.

Upon accessing the H1N1 Flu (Swing Flu) Response Center Web site, you are able to access a self-assessment.  Upon answering a variety of questions, you are given a response.  You could be told you probably don’t have the flu, you may have the flu or that you may be very sick and need to seek immediate medical attention.

Although this doesn’t help us with our little one’s, it is nice for our older children or ourselves.  Many people that have the swine flu do not even know it, because they are treating it at home.  There is a huge panic over the majority of the population, but many people that do become infected are healing within a few days.

In our school district there was a little girl, Trinity Olivares, 5, that passed away with H1N1.  She only had symptoms for one day, and was not running a fever.  This, of course, caused a huge panic amongst our community.  We have since found out that every school in our area has cases of H1N1, but they are not being made public to help alleviate panic.  After the notification came out about Trinity, many parents kept their children home from school, with my son having nearly 1/4 of his class out.  Parents may not realize that H1N1 is everywhere and if children are testing positive for  it, then your child has probably already been exposed.  Since little Trinity had no prior health conditions, I feel the main reason her heart stopped was not H1N1, but because of dehydration.  If you see your child is getting sick, be sure to pump them full of liquids and call your pediatrician.  Remind your children to wash their hands frequently and get them a small bottle of hand sanitizer to keep in their desk, backpack and/or cubby.