High Maintenance Mom

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has persuaded the Walt Disney Company to offer a full refund to anyone who purchased a Baby Einstein DVD in the last five years. "As a result of our 2006 Federal Trade Commission complaint, Disney stopped claiming that Baby Einstein videos were educational for infants...Recent research shows that screen time is not educational for babies. Now parents who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, mistakenly believing the videos would make their babies smarter, can recoup their money." The refund is only available for a limited time. Click here to learn more about the refund. Below is more information about CCFC...

Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success discusses how summer vacation is a disadvantage for poorer kids because the more wealthy kids go to camp, read books, and have other advantages during the summer. Kids who do not have these advantages often enter school the following year behind their peers. Summer reading programs can help narrow the gap. Reading is an incredible gift and helps kids find / explore their interests. Some kids need gentle assistance in learning to love books. They need to be read to, they need to see others reading, and they need to be given books that are not too challenging or too frustrating. I've found our local librarians are very helpful in finding reading materials for our kids. Most libraries have a Listening and Reading program where kids meet some type of goal to earn a free book. This is N's first year in the "Reading" program and he loves being a "big kid". Barnes and Noble also has a summer reading program for grades 1-6.

Last week to enter this spring's High Maintenance Mom and Running Press giveaway (you must log in to enter-see log in screen to right) a copy of Missy Chase Lapine's newest addition to her sneaky cookbook collection, The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: 101 All-New Recipes and ""Sneaky"" Tricks for Creating Healthy Meals Kids Will Love. This is a follow up to her earlier New York Times bestselling book, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals, and has new chapters including low calorie recipes, allergy free recipes, vegetarian options and holiday treats.....

There are many ways you can celebrate and talk about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with your kids. On Friday, we played some of the "I have a dream" speech from American Rhetoric. Kids can hear the emotion in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voice. I wanted my kids to listen, as many did then, but they liked watching a little of the video on YouTube better. You can also read a few sentence from the speech depending on the age and curiosity of your child (see below). Because our historic inauguration is the day after, it feels like there is a lot to discuss. In addition, President-Elect, Barack Obama, is urging us to help out in our communities on Monday and throughout the year as an antidote to the recession. That's a lot to do for one day...

The most important thing you can do on Tuesday is to get out and vote. If you do not know where to go to vote, check out Rock the Vote or the Get out the Vote poll locator. And on a less serious note, if you need a break, check out the Saturday Night Live Sketches.

With a 4 and 6 year-old, the excitement of Halloween has been in the air for weeks. We've been through multiple costume changes (luckily costumes can be used year-round for dress-up and this is a great time to buy them) and had many discussions about the neighbors' decorations. In my post last year, Halloween - One of my favorite nights, I mentioned how Halloween is a fee pass to see all the remodels in our neighborhood. This year it's our turn to show off our changes, or in our case - our construction zone that may not be finished before Thanksgiving. The plastic walls are gone and the oven has been returned from our backyard, but it's not done and there is nothing I can do except focus on having an enjoyable evening. As usual, I will be paying my kids for the candy they collect and then donating it somewhere. Now I just have to figure out where I put the candy and PLAY-DOH! And to make my day even more exciting, our power is scheduled to be turned off for eight hours today due to construction on our street. Happy Halloween and more importantly, we hope you have a manageable Day After Halloween!

Want to introduce your kids to new lunchtime foods in addition to geography, math, reading, different languages, and telling time? High Maintenance Mom and The Creative Kitchen want to help you explore recipes and cultures from around the world with our lunchtime fun giveaway! Two lucky High Maintenance Mom readers will be chosen randomly from the logs to win a copy of Cricket Azima's new book, Everybody Eats Lunch...

Congratulations to our High Maintenance Mom and Knock Knock Winter Giveaway-Medical Organizer winner! One High Maintenance Mom reader was chosen randomly from the January and February logs to win a the Medical Organizer by Knock Knock...

During pregnancy, moms are accustomed to a variety of screening tests for conditions such as Down syndrome and diabetes. The rationale for these tests is not to make moms anxious about their pregnancy but to identify potential pregnancy problems to allow for timely intervention.

What is kick counting?
Kick counting, a daily systematic record of moms’ perception of their baby’s movement during the third trimester, is a reliable, harmless, simple and effective screening for the baby’s well-being. Kick counting can document changes in the fetal movement pattern and can help moms-to-be alert their healthcare provider of potential problems. A timely evaluation can allow intervention and prevention of potential problems, including stillbirth.

We're partway through the Barefoot Books giveaway and fundraiser. Our suggestions for the week include the Cleo the Cat books for younger children, almost all of the Barefoot story books with audio CDs, and several of the counting books. To participate in the fundraiser, check out books from our favorite Barefoot Books stall holder and enter the event code EV2.

To enter the giveaway, please see Back-to-School Giveaway, part 1...