Congratulations

One of our mommies is now a new mommy! Nicole just had a baby boy on Monday morning. Nicole and baby N are doing great. From what we hear, J is very excited to be a big brother.

We love you Nicole! Take it easy and get lots of rest...if you can.

Walking

I need some help please. My son is 14 months old and refuses to walk. He has been cruising for over six months now. We thought he'd be walking by the time he was 10 months old! But no. He still prefers to crawl. It's not a balance problem. He'll stand on his own and play with toys, but as soon as he realizes he's standing, he'll grab on to something or sit down. And yes, he'll sit. He doesn't fall, he sits on purpose. So I know he has good balance and control.

What he lacks is motivation.

He doesn't eat a lot of candy, so candy isn't really a motivator. We can't hold up a toy or something to get him to walk because he loses interest and just crawls to the toy. If we put something in his hands so that he can hold that instead of our hand, he stops and plays with it.

Any other ideas we haven't tried?

I think this important!

I received the following information from a work email. I thought it important to share!

Some knew about the red light on cars, but not the 112.

It was about 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her
and put his lights on. Lauren's parents have always told her never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road,
but rather to wait until they get to a gas station, etc.

Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called 112 on her cell phone to tell the police dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to
tell the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing red light on his rooftop behind her. The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren't, and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back up already on the way.

Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground. The man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes.

I never knew about the 112 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe place. *Speaking to a service representative at Bell Mobility confirmed that 112 was a direct link to State trooper info. So, now it's your turn to let your friends know about 112.

You may want to Send this to every woman (and man) you know; it may save a life. This applies to ALL 50 states

1. snopes.com: Cellphone 112 Emergency ��
Will dialing 112 connect you with an emergency call center when your cell phone has no signal?
...Claim: Even when your cell phone signal is blocked, dialing 112 will connect you with an emergency call center. Example: [Collected on the Internet,...
...your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call...
...The global mobile emergency number, 112, is "special" in the sense that (unlike other local emergency numbers, such as 999) it will use any tower your...
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:18:08 GMT http://www.snopes.com/science/mobile.asp

Taking Advice. Even from family members.

With the holidays in full swing, we are bound to spend a few hours, if not a few days, with our friends and family members.

An interesting thing can occur if you spend enough time in the same room as people with children: everyone starts comparing notes. You don't know when to wean your child from a binky? You ask when everyone else did. Soon you will be overwhelmed with advice, not only on the binky matter, but on everything else as well. We've all learned things, we all have our opinions, we all know what works the best for our children. So naturally, we want to share it all. Isn't that what we do here?

But with the flood of advice and warnings and well wishing scoldings, you may be confused by what advice to follow. Surprised that so many people can think so differently about one subject. Embarrassed that no one thinks your way is a "good" way.

My advice to you? Just smile and nod. Sometimes, without meaning to, friends and even family, can make us feel bad about the way we parent.

Don't.

You love your child, you do your best, and that is all anyone can ask for. You know your child better than anyone, so if someone gives you advice you know won't work, just smile and nod. Say thanks. Add your two cents. Go home and feel good about the fact that even though we all parent differently, we can still get along nicely.

On the flipside of the coin, if someone asks for your opinion, give it to them but don't force it on them. Your idea is a good idea, but is it the best for someone else's child? Maybe, maybe not. Let the parent decide.

By the off chance that someone decides to attack you (I've heard mother-in-law horror stories but, thank goodness, have never had to deal with that!), don't get angry. That's the worst thing you can do because one tends to lose their logic when they are angry. Stay calm, breathe, tell the person whatever you want about why you do things the way you do. If they persist or you can't remember the reasons, just tell them that you appreciate their advice (even though you really just want to kick them in the shin), but you are doing what is best for you child. And then move on. Get up, walk away and leave them there. If you can't walk away, strike up a conversation with someone else immediately.

Anyone else have advice on how to deal with advice? :)