Do pediatricians play miniature golf ?

Bang! Bang!

• An awesome gift for Mother's Day..... I am currently reading Lenore Skenazy's Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry. Skenazy is the Official World's Worst Mom who let her 9 year old ride the NYC subway by himself and then began the Free Range Kids blog (required parent blogger reading, in my opinion.) Anyway. I normally would wait until a book is finished before writing this, but this is the sort of read that is compelling me to fist pump into the air during the introduction. I am nearly halfway finished and damn, y'all. This is one of my new "required" readings for new parents (along with Your Pregnancy: Week by Week, Baby 411, The Science of Parenting and Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent.) I will do a proper review (I am taking notes!) when I am finished, but I am afraid that may take another week or so. I want parents reading this book now. It is chockfull of data and humor. I want parents letting their children play in parks without hovering now. I want parents putting away their unfounded fears of stranger abduction now. I want parents letting their children play in the front yard now.
  

• Daddy's Girl Bethiclaus asked me about Anjali's hair and if it was going straight or not. Eh. I am not sure The new hair coming in is actually still curly. When I wet it down and scrunch it, we still get ringlets. The reason it was looking straight in some snaps I uploaded is that I was brushing it straight to experiment. Frankly, she looked like a bag lady and we are back to Finger Picking and Scrunching. I can report that X needs a hair cut and when he gets out of the shower, before he brushes it straight, Anjali's hair looks suspiciously like his.

• Backpack...Backpack....Anjali Sr. wanted a reporting back on the backpack. I love, love the backpack itself. I am still not 100% happy with carrying a backpack and not a handbag. But time and time again, the backpack is proving itself far more convenient. I am also not having a problem with the drawstring enclosure, but I am the type to keep all loose odds n' ends enclosed in pockets. If the backpack gets knocked over and a few dinosaurs or Little People happen to tumble to their deaths, we are none worse for the wear.

• Paging Dr. Clooney.....The other day, it became obvious that Anjali needed to go to the doctor. However, it was 4:30pm and the doctor recommended a visit to Urgent Care, rather than waiting. So, off Anjali and I went. For two hours. Two hours. Where Anjali got to eat two special popsicles while we waited for a urine sample. While we waited. And waited. And waited some more. While Anjali gleefully played in the exam room taking her dinosaurs on a tour, spinning them around on the fancy chair, showing them the bright lights of the x-ray display. When we were finally done? She screamed and pitched a fit "Wanna see doctor again. Doctor! DOCTOR!" And the next day when we went to drop off some more sample? Both kids were peeved and complained that they did not get to go in. Are my children the only ones who love the doctor?

Future Free Rangers of America