OK, nostalgic types: Volumes 1 and 2 of “Sesame Street: Old School”, a new DVD series, are now available for purchase. Volume 1 includes segments from the 1969-74 seasons, and Volume 2 covers 1974-79.

Interestingly, the DVDs come with the following warning: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

Wha?

OK I do remember some fairly trippy animated sequences from early Sesame Street episodes. Remember the kid on the bike who gets lost and winds up somehow in the world of Yellow Submarine? But even though it’s a kinda creepy little piece, it teaches a valuable lesson about how to find your way home if you wander astray (these days we pretty much expect kids to stay chained to us so there’s little chance they need to know how to “get unlost” before they hit their twenties, but still…).

My husband and I have been having fun for a while now combing through the old Sesame clips on You Tube and offering them up for our kids’ amusement, and even more so for our own. So the news of the release of these DVDs gives me an excuse to be a little self-indulgent (actually, I have an additional excuse, revealed below). For what it’s worth, here are some of the old Sesame Street clips we’ve been watching most around here (making no guarantees, content can be removed from YouTube without warning) :

Fat-cat-sat-hat. Classic Sesame nonsense that teaches rhyme and…well, I’m not sure what the point is otherwise. My husband suggests it’s exploring an historic cultural battle between beatniks and hippies.

Jellyman Kelly: This one we watch more for my benefit than the kids’, as I will always have a thing for James Taylor.

ABCDEF…Cookie Monster: This one always cracks my two-year-old up.

Swamp Mushy Muddy: Oscar and two decidedly odd backup singers deliver an ode to a smelly watering hole.

Pinball Counting: Someone spliced a few of these together for a nice long, groovy sequence.

Ernie Counts Sheep: It’s hard to choose a favorite Ernie and Bert, but this one probably gets the most mileage at our house.

Superstition: Stevie Wonder performs, one kid dances like a maniac. Fantastic.

Grover Big Hamburger: We love all the “Grover the Waiter” skits, of course. Poor Mr. Blue Headed Guy! One hopes he eventually gets something to eat.

Captain Vegetable: A new superhero emerges from somewhere in New Jersey. It’s a later skit, but I remember it fondly from when I was babysitting my niece and nephew. (To give you an idea of my age, I still consider Telly to be a “new” character.)

What’s the Name of that Song? This is probably our favorite - the original cast harmonizing sweetly. They’re so young! And there’s Mr. Hooper! (I think my husband likes this one in particular because it has Maria in a midriff-baring top.)

As for why I “get” to be so self-indulgent today: This is my last day as blog editor and regular contributer here at MomSquawk! I’ll likely remain an occasional blogger (it’s hard to shut me up completely).

Much thanks to Michelle and Damon for the opportunity to mind the shop - it’s been a fantastic learning opportunity, and a whole lot of fun. Much love to my fellow MomSquawk bloggers, our readers, and all the great folks who link to us and tuck us into their blogrolls.

Here’s a final plug from me: If you enjoy the company of curious, funny, and generous fellow mothers, sign on with the MomSquawk community. You won’t regret it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Posted by MommaSteph.

Not as satisfying as virtual bubble wrap - and in fact, if you’re having a frustrating day, the online Etch-A-Sketch may actually make things worse, but I found it cathartic to produce this portrait of me, roughly 7:30 last night, with two hot kids fighting over two identical balloons, and my husband working late:

Not my finest moment as a parent. (Though probably my height of abilities as an artist, freehand or etchy. And the typo is perfectly in character.)

(Via Parent Dish.)

Posted by MommaSteph.

Nicotine Patch and Pregnancy: A UK study is currently recruiting 1000+ expecting women to test the safety of nicotine patch use during pregnancy. Newly pregnant women who smoke will be invited to participate, and half will receive the patch, half a placebo. They will receive support for dealing with cravings and avoiding smoking. The women will be followed throughout their pregnancies, and their children’s cognitive development and respiratory health will be studied until they are two.

Slimmed-Down Mom, Big Baby? Researchers have known for some time that overweight women are likely to have large babies, but a new study finds that even when large women lose weight before subsequent pregnancies, they tend to have big babies. It may be that extra weight can have long-term effects on future pregnancies, the research team speculates. Large babies are more likely to suffer birth trauma or to require C-sections for delivery.

It’s a (Backstreet) Boy: Former Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson and his wife Kristen welcomed a baby boy this past Tuesday. Little Mason weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and 20 and 1/2 inches long. Here’s a little trivia: The proud parents met back in 1993 at Disney World, where she danced in the Beauty and the Beast show and he was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

As I learned over on the boards, the folks at American Girl are introducing a new historical character to their lineup. Joining Addy, the Civil War girl, and Kit, of the Great Depression, is Julie, a young girl facing the trials and tribulations of growing up way back…

… in the 1970s!

Julie Albright doesn’t want to move away from her San Francisco neighborhood near Chinatown, even if her new home is just a few miles away. Moving means leaving her best friend, Ivy, and her pet rabbit, Nutmeg. Worst of all, it means leaving Dad, now that her parents are divorced. It’s the mid-1970s and lots of things are changing: Julie’s teacher wants to be called “Ms.” Mom works full-time now, running her own store. America is trying to switch to the metric system, and school sports teams sometimes include a new kind of player - girls!

Well, the good folks at American Girl didn’t consult me, so I had no input in the six Julie books soon to hit the stores (with, I imagine, a doll in the works). Too bad, the titles look deadly dull (Julie and the Eagles, I learned, has nothing to do with the Hotel California tour). But then again, it was that kind of decade. For what it’s worth, here would be my suggestions for the Julie series:

• Watergate Hearings Pre-Empt After School Special
• Julie Sees Grease for the Fourteenth Time
• Sneaker Rollerskates In, White Boot Skates Out?
• Julie and the Insane-Making Bicentennial Mattress Sale Ads
  
• Disco vs. Rock: The Playground Square-Off
• Julie’s Rainbow Suspender Christmas

Hang in there, Julie! And remember, no matter how bad things get, they could be worse. Make that, will be. Parachute pants and hair bands are right around the corner…

Posted by MommaSteph.

My boys’ pediatrician is fairly anti-juice. She doesn’t lecture, but at every appointment she reminds me, “Water and milk. Limit the juice.” And I nod and agree, and we go home and the boys ask for juice and I give it to them. It’s the 100% kind. And I water it down by at least half. And usually it’s organic! But it’s juice, and I know I cave too often.

But at least it’s not Zarex.

Zarex was our drink of choice in the 1970s, at least where I grew up, in the suburbs of Boston. It was a thick, gloppy syrup that came in a few “fruit” varieties. Basically, it was corn syrup and artificial flavoring and colors. A friendly zebra graced the bottle. You’d pour some into a glass and add water. The beauty was, in my house at least, we made Zarex by the individual cup, which meant I could make it as strong as I liked. And I liked it nice and thick.

Eventually, Zarex went the way of the pogo stick in terms of hipness, and we switched to Funny Face (anyone else remember Goofy Grape? Loud Mouth Lime?) and, eventually, Kool Aid. I doubt they were any healthier, but for junk food beverages, nothing matches the decadence of Zarex, in my estimation.

And so in my continued efforts to lower the bar of what constitutes good parenting, I offer this thought for the day: Juice may have an evil side, but at least it’s not as bad as Zarex. I may try that line on our pediatrician one of these days. She’s about my age and may well understand the reference, and if not, I may at least puzzle her long enough to get out the door without a scolding.

Posted by MommaSteph.

They still make these? New research published in the July issue of Preventive Medicine finds that current and former smokers are more likely to have played with and consumed candy cigarettes than their never-smoking peers. Which makes us wonder…what vice is associated with childhood consumption of wax lips?

Hope for preemie eyesight: New studies published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences find that the protein IGFBP-3 is key in eye development, a discovery that may provide hope for preemies who are born before their eyes finish growing. This discovery has a big future in helping premature babies, said Alexander V. Ljubimov, Ph.D., a professor of medicine at UCLA and director of Ophthalmology Research Laboratories at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The idea is to administer this already clinically available protein to premature babies to stabilize the existing vessels in the retina, prevent their loss and block the compensatory growth of new, aberrant vessels.

Hold the door! Researchers out of the Indiana University School of Medicine find that when it comes to preventable elevator-related injuries, infants are most at risk among children. Children up to two years of age had the greatest percentage (28.6%) of elevator-related injuries. What really surprised us was the number of infants with head injuries in our study.  As the elevator doors closed mothers may not realize the vulnerability of babies in strollers or in their arms, said Joseph O’Neil, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and lead author of the study.

Hollywood baby news: Julia Roberts has given birth to her newest addition, a boy, named Henry Daniel Moder. He joins his older siblings, twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, who will turn three in November. And Waitress actress Keri Russell and her boyfriend welcomed a baby boy, whom they named River.

Every morning I put on the Today Show, but most interviews are just background noise as I go about my morning with my toddler. This morning, however, something caught my eye. Pictures of a little girl being pulled out of a well.

Remember Baby Jessica? How could anyone that was old enough forget?

It seems like just yesterday 18-month-old Jessica fell 22 feet into that small well hole, and for 54 hours, people worked feverishly to get her out. People she now calls her heroes.

That was almost 20 years ago: October 14, 1987.

I couldn’t believe it’s been twenty years.

Granting an interview to Matt Lauer, “Baby Jessica” is now 20 years old, married, and has a toddler of her own. Many surgeries later, Jessica still has physical proof of her ordeal, but it seems that scars and an injury to her foot which prevented her from playing sports has not dampened her love for life.

This very lucky little baby has turned into a beautiful young woman. Best of luck to her and her family.

You can watch a video of the Today Show interview.

Posted by Mally

Every year, most of us are are faced with the responsibility of planning a birthday celebration. Sometimes it is a huge party with family and friends and other times�it’s just a small cake and some juice.� Either way we always have the question in our mind: How are we going to celebrate this year?

I always remember how my mom and dad used to celebrate my birthdays, and they were the best.  Since I had knowledge, I always remember my dad opening the door singing Happy Birthday and putting in my lap a breakfast tray. Afterwards I went to my parent’s room and got in bed with my mom who used to check how big her girl was getting.  In the afternoon they took me out to dinner and gave whatever present they had for me. Some years we had great celebrations, but having my family birthday ritual�was�something that I always looked forward to.

Celebrations and rituals are not just limited to families.  According to�TwinCities.com there are different birthday traditions around the world.  I particularly remember when I turned fifteen.  According to many Latin countries, fifteen is the age where a girl becomes a woman and can be presented to society. I put on a dress, got a nice party and people started to treat me like an adult (well… most of the time).  Here are more traditions from all over the world.

Guess what? Today is my birthday, and I also have new traditions with my kids.  They will wake me up with hugs and kisses and most likely they will try to give me a massage (sometimes it hurts but I say I love it anyway).  After our daily schedule we will go out to dinner.  After ordering our food my sons will have major stomach pains and they will have to go to the bathroom.  Secretly (I see them every year) they will speak with the waiter and they will ask him, actually they will beg him, to sing me the Happy Birthday song during dessert.  I will be “surprised” about the celebration and they will smile to each other in a confident way.

This little ritual is done whenever we have a birthday of a�family member, and each year we all look surprised even though we all know what’s happening.  I just love our little rituals, and I know that when my sons have their families they will remember those specials moments. I just love that our�rituals are not based on how many gifts we get but rather on how�much time we spent together. They surely makes family time very, very enjoyable.

Posted by momcrazyforkids.

When I was poking around online as I was writing yesterday’s post about boys and toy guns, I came across an article onThe Dangerous Book for Boys. Written by two British 30-something brothers, Conn and Hal Iggulden, the very successful guide has been reconfigured for American boys and will be released in the U.S. on May 1.

The book teaches boys essential skills such as how to tie knots, how to make “the greatest paper airplane in the world,” and even how to kill and skin a rabbit. The brothers made a rule for themselves - they had to make or do everything outlined in their book. (Apparently their rabbit stew turned out “pretty rubbery” - but they ate it.)

The authors include a chapter called “Girls”, but it’s not for females - it’s about them. “They think and act rather differently to you, but without them, life would be one long football locker room. Treat them with respect.”

What if some complain that girls are excluded from the Dangerous Book? Conn Iggulden explains:

“I think we’ve come through the period when we said boys and girls were exactly the same, because they’re not. Boys and girls have different interests, different ways of learning, and there’s no real problem in writing a book that plays to that, and says, let’s celebrate it. Let’s go for a book that will appeal to boys.”

Will it eventually appeal to my boys? If they’re like their dad, probably. I showed my husband the table of contents and asked him what he thought.  He approved.  My boys are at least seven years away from the targeted age group, however. If you have older kids, I’d be curious to hear your input.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Right now, I don’t plan to introduce my sons to play pistols.  And that’s not because I don’t have fond memories of making a good, smelly racket with my brothers’ cap guns when I was a kid - I do.  (When I could get a turn, that is.)� But toy guns just don’t seem appropriate any more.  Squirt guns, OK.  Star Trek phasers � Required.  But those old-fashioned silver pistols?  I’m just not comfortable with the idea.

But what also makes me uncomfortable is the outlawing of finger guns and stick swords in schools.  Before I had my children, I worked in a preschool.  There, the children were not allowed to use any toy, pine cone, or craft Popsicle stick as a play weapon, or pick up a stick and yell “En garde!” or make a finger gun and say “Bang!”

So, presumably, if two children decided to reenact a scene from Star Wars, they would have to skip the Obi-Wan/Vedar face off, or the shoot out between the good guys and the Stormtroopers, and stick with, oh I don’t know, the scene where Luke first meets C-3PO.

In her opinion piece in Newsweek, Peg Tyre says these no finger gun policies are seriously misplaced:

Some experts say when we push that kind of zero tolerance for violence on children we are getting it exactly wrong. Children, and particularly boys, are acutely sensitive to the violence around them. They play out violent themes to help relieve themselves of the natural fear and confusion they feel. Jane Katch, a longtime kindergarten teacher and author of “Under Dead Men’s Skin: Discovering the Meaning of Children’s Violent Play” (Beacon Press), says these outlets are vital. “Thinking about violence and playing about violence is not the same thing as being violent. When we tell them not to pretend to shoot things, we don’t teach them not to do it, we teach them to lie.”

(more…)