A 4-year old boy in Miami fell from a 17th floor balcony to the 10th floor pool deck and lived to tell the tale. This was about a 70 to 80 foot drop. The boy, who was taken to the hospital for observation, didn't appear to have a single broken bone. Authorities believe that his fall broken by a palm tree.
Palm tree fronds may have saved the life of a 4-year-old boy who on Friday morning fell from a 17th-floor balcony at the Doubletree Grand Hotel, Miami police said.
Wearing Crocs shoes likely saved a little UK boy's life.
Harley Sutton-Dormer and his Mom were getting ready in a swimming pool changing room when the little boy picked up a hair dryer. The plugged in hair dryer sent a bolt of electricity down his little body and exited his side. According to the Mother, 3-year old Harley was screaming in pain, his clothes were singed, and he suffered from burns. The paramedic on the scene, however, felt the situation could have been much, much worse.
"The paramedic said he was really lucky he was wearing Crocs shoes at the time as they stopped the electricity going through his legs and coming out of his feet and probably saved him from serious injury."
What a difference a year makes. Journalist Laura Ling, who was held in captivity in North Korea for 5-months in 2009, gave birth on Wednesday to a healthy baby girl.
Laura and her husband named the little girl Li Jefferson Clayton in honor of two of their favorite people. Li for her sister Lisa Ling. Jefferson for former President Bill Clinton. As many of you will remember both played an important roll in getting Laura Ling and Euna Lee freed.
Some schools, tired of dealing with inappropriate and sexual behavior at school dances, have started requesting their students sign a dance contract.
To attend dances, the contract states, students must agree to avoid "grinding, freaking or any mimicking of sexual acts"; "front-to-back touching"; straddling one another; or doing anything that requires resting their hands on their knees or the floor.
Some school contracts also require students to submit to taking alcohol breath tests and bag searches. So far the contracts appear to be a success. Students at high schools with a dance contract appear to be abiding by the new rules.
Samantha Melamed has the full story: http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20100602_Dirty-dancing_cleanup.html?hpt=Sbin
A South Carolina woman gave birth on the Ravenal bridge during morning rush hour after they took a wrong turn on the way to the hospital. The beautiful baby Gonzales was the fourth child and first girl for the family.
As most Charlestonians were making their morning commutes, Maria Gonzales and Mery Martinez were heading to the Medical University hospital when a wrong turn put them on the Ravenel Bridge instead of heading onto peninsular Charleston. A crowning Sherlyn Gonzales forced Martinez to park the car in the middle of the Ravenel Bridge and help the mother through birth.
Moral of the story: Make sure who ever is driving you to the hospital knows the way. You just never know how long you have, especially when this is your fourth baby.
Bob Behanian of WMBF has the full story: http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12581666
An elementary school in China has decided that its boys need to man up. The school is tired of the boys playing girls games and and crying at the drop of a hat. No more whiny Mamma's boys for them. The school is taking matters into their own hands and has big plans to teach their boys how to be real men.
Qinlinglu Elementary School in Zhengzhou, Henan province, has launched an initiative called 'Looking for a Real Man' to encourage boys to act more like boys.
As part of this the youngsters are taught how to act more masculine and must take an oath swearing to act like 'real men', reports the Dahe Daily.
Any suggestions on what they should ad to the curriculum? I'm thinking how to start home improvement projects and never finish them.
Babble's L.J. Williamson wrote a funny little piece on their top 10 crush worthy children's show hosts. The list includes mostly men, but there are a couple of hot babes thrown in there for the Dads. Personally some of the picks are not for me. In fact a couple of them I found down right creepy. Their picks were:
10 Shane and David from The Upside Down Show
9 Bill Nye The Science Guy
8 Chris Kratt from Zobomafoo and Kratts' Creatures
7 Mister Rogers
6 Pee Wee Herman
5 Melanie Martinez
4 The Wiggles (especially the old blue one)
3 Xuxa (also known as Maria da Garca Meneghel)
2 Sportacus (also known as Mangnus Scheving) from Lazy Town
1 Steve From Blue's Clues
What do you think? Who would you boot or add to their list?
"C" is for the celery that is taking over my yard!
Let me start by saying that I love to garden. My kids also love to garden (play in the dirt). The problem is I am a down right lousy gardener when it comes to growing vegetables. I never know when to harvest. I always plant in the wrong places. More over, I often just totally forget about the plant. Case in point the giant zucchini we grew two years ago. It was part of the Caption Monkey contest. Link
Last year I once again felt inspired to teach my kids about agriculture. We planted a little six pack of celery in the same place I planted the giant zucchini. ( I am starting to think this area is cursed.) The little guys grew, but not that much. So, I decided to just leave them and not bother harvesting them. Big mistake. Fast forward to this year.
The giant celery plant isn't the real problem. The bigger problem is that we now have little celery plants every where in the yard. Who knew they would seed themselves like that?
The positive spin that I am trying to sell my husband: I just read that store bought celery is full of pesticides. According to a report on CNN, store bought, non-organic celery can contain between 47-67 pesticides per serving. Link
And, there was that study a few weeks ago about ADHD being linked to pesticide exposure. Link So, really if you think about it the kids and I are doing us all a favor by growing lots and lots of healthy organic celery.
What do you think?
Regardless, I figure there is still plenty of celery for show and tell at school. I bet there will be even more when the fall semester rolls around.
I love Etsy. Where else can you find a wool and cashmere diaper cover with a methane molecule affixed to the back. This hilarious fashion statement is made by Soulyluna.
Impress your friends with the methane molecule - CH4! Yep, your little darling emits 4 little hydrogen atoms attached to a carbon atom on a regular basis. These super soft two-tone pink soakers are bullet proof. Made from double layers of dark pink merino with light pink cabled cashmere cuffs and waistban
If you ever find yourself in Irvine, California and you have little kids you should try to squeeze in a trip to Pretend City. This great little Children's museum is housed in a big warehouse. Inside they have built a child sized city comprised of about 15 permanent exhibits where kids can pretend to work, earn money, shop and live. This place really takes pretend play to a whole new level.
Our favorite exhibits include:
Doctor's Office: Great for playing doctor, nurse, and patient. It includes a table, x-rays, coats, masks, etc.
Farm: Fake trees to pick apples, fake dirt (rubber bark) and shovels for planting, and a real incubator with baby chicks hatching from eggs.
House: Inside the house is a living room with pictures and a documentary type video running on the television that describes the life of a local family. The video changes periodically. The house also has a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom play area.
Restaurant: This place has a fully stocked kitchen with fake food, toy ovens, and sinks. It has a cash register and counter seating. It also has table seating.
Amphitheatre: Here bench seating is provided for parents so that they can sit back and relax while their little one takes the stage. At this exhibit kids can find instruments and costumes to make the performance even more memorable. Those who don't like being on stage can play with the stages light and sound board instead.
Grocery Store: The grocery store is by far my kids favorite place. Here they can shop from the refrigerated section all the way to the produce aisle. They can also work in the store if they want to and ring up other kids at the cash registers.
These best part about this place is that it tends to be pretty well staffed. There are lots of people around to help all those little professionals put back all that stuff they were playing with.
After the Baby Beluga post John Farrier suggested that he might just switch to teaching his kids only Klingon songs. What a great idea. I am all for encouraging your kids to learn a second language.
I could only find one reference to a real Klingon lullaby. The Doctor on Star Trek Voyager called it "Sleep Little Warrior." ( You Tube Link ) The problem is the Doctor never sings the actual song. But, don't worry I did find a great website that lists a bunch of songs in Klingon. They even have the lyrics for a few children's songs. Below is a sampling of what they offer:
Row, row, row your boat or I should say ro' ro' ylbot
toghmeH bom a counting song for the number 0 to 9
There Was an Old Lady Who Swollowed a Fly or yIH ghupbogh be' qan
I don't speak Klingon so I can't verify the accuracy of their translations, but these people seem like pretty serious scholars so I am just going to trust them.
Forget hanging the "Shhh...Baby's Sleeping" pillow on the outside of the door of your baby's room. We found something so much better on Etsy. Whatnomints makes an adorable felt pillow in the shape of a moon. Embroidered on the moon is the melatonin molecule.
Melatonin regulates our sleep-wake cycle and it's what makes us sleepy at night-night time.
According to the Daily News in New York a feuding couple forgot their 8-month old baby boy in a parking lot and headed out separately. It wasn't until the mother arrived at home that she realized that the father didn't have him either.
Little Ezra Isiah Reyes was left in an E.161st St. parking lot after each parent thought the other had him following an appearance in Bronx Family Court, sources said.
"He wasn't even strapped in," said Lorenzo Carse, 23, a street vendor who found the boy in his stroller. "He was sitting in the sun, on the hot concrete.
The little guy was a bit dehydrated, but otherwise fine.
The police say it was parental confusion. I say wow, that must have been some heated discussion.
When you send your child off to preschool you are well aware that they will probably come home with all kinds of infectious diseases. What you probably aren't expecting, at least I wasn't, is how catchy their silly songs are.
It's been nearly 3 weeks of non-stop Baby Beluga in my house. Thanks to two very wonderful preschool teachers we eat sleep and dream the Baby Beluga song. According to my daughter the song is going to be sung during their promotion (preschool graduation ceremony) so they have have to practice it every day. She sings it to us, which of course we love. The only problem is now we find ourselves singing it at the office, in the car, or waiting in line at the grocery store. We cannot escape the little white whale on the go.
I am starting to think that there is actually something more sinister going on. Could these two incredibly sweet preschool teachers actually be plotting to drive us insane with the Baby Beluga song? They clearly spent the last 10 months being lovingly tortured by our children. I could see wanting a little payback.
Any preschool teachers out there willing to chime in?
Colorado State University students have designed a neonatal transport incubator that is a backpack. They believe the device will help medical personal safely move babies over rough terrain.
In just one six-month period in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2006, 96 newborn babies who were in need of medical care died before they could get help. In many developing nations, these deaths can be prevented simply by providing better ways for medical responders to transport infants properly over rough terrain and keep them alive until they can reach hospitals and clinics. Now, a group of Colorado State University seniors have designed and filed a patent for a medically equipped incubator backpack unit that they believe can reduce baby deaths in medical emergencies both in the United States and in newly industrialized nations.
