Slow on the uptake
 

Should have read farther.

I've always told my MIL (the hockey fanatic) that hockey's too physical and violent, and that I don't want my kids constantly injured.

I'm losing my credibility on that.

Two had matching casts for a bit. Didn't slow 'em down at all. One broke his cast twice in various sport activities.

I have active kids, I think.

Take them Kayaking much?

(sorry, someone had to say it)

Bilmore's med insurance
 

My sympathies again. Native Son is also an 'active child'. In fact, that's what his grandma calls him 'thee' active child. Fortunately, except for the virus at 6 weeks, he's also very lucky (knock, knock). He LIKES the dangerous/defensive positions (goalie, catcher) where he gets charged into.

P.S. Native Son's ER visit was for the same virus that killed my sister's first child at 8 weeks and put my mother in the hospital for a week. I never want to see the inside of an ambulance again.

New Shoes
 

The Brazenette started walking a few weeks ago.

Today, we went for new shoes. She got some very cute white baby shoes, with little pink and purple flowers.

Can someone please explain why these shoes had the unfortunate effect of making her scream her pretty little head off, as if she were being beaten with them, rather than having them placed upon her dainty little feet?

New Shoes
 

There's a school of thought that says that development of walking skills is better without shoes in the early stages. To the extent you can avoid them (i.e., when in moderately hygenic conditions), do. After all, shoes are a pretty recent invention, evolution-wise. She's probably freaking out that she can't feel her soles anymore.

For all crawling through early walking stages, the Grinches recommend Robeez. They're real leather, machine washable, adaptable to both crawling and walking, and extremely durable. They're soft-soled, which helps kids learn to balance. Plus, they're Canadian!

New Shoes
 

She has 5 pairs of Robeez. I love them.

But she's really walking, not just tottering around, and conventional wisdom says now is the time for shoes.

I think she'll still be mostly barefoot.

New Shoes
 

Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact you are making her wear shoes with pink and purple flowers on them. Oh, the horror. The baltspawns' feminist grandmother would never approve. And since she buys most of the baltspawns' clothes, we go with that. Of course, she's my problem, not yours, so YMMV.

The baltspawn did not like their shoes at first either. It took a couple of days to get used to them at all, and a couple of months before they began to connect putting on shoes with going outside and therefore a good thing.

One piece of advice: tempting though it may be, stay away from shoes with Velcro closures at this age. You may get away with them for this pair, but by the time she's the next size up, she will have figured out how to undo the Velcro and fling the shoes off. Then at some point they stop messing with them and its okay again. But stores really shouldn't sell size fives and five 1/2s in Velcro at all.

New Shoes
 

This seems easy. At this age, we say what we feel; we have not yet been beaten into supressing our emotions.

Shoes suck. They constrain your feet, limit their mobility, and get sweaty and gross. They block you from feeling warm and comfortable things like rugs and blankets and sofas. Don't we all kick off our shoes and let the dogs breath when we get home?

This is one of the first of many occassions when you will be forced to make her come to grips with a world of constraints, limits, and pain. A world where people wear things like ties, bras, high-heels, chastity belts and other instruments of torture. And, in time, you will want her to wear just about all of these things (well, maybe not ties).

New Shoes
 

This explains nicely why I enjoyed buying all of my kids their first shoes.

TV for tots
 

So, I've started letting the Lexling watch Teletubbies for 1/2 hr in the morning and I feel as if I may be leading him down the path of the couch potato - he's only 4mos old (tomorrow!), but he LOVES the tv (lots of lights and sounds). Am I a wicked bad mommy?

-TL

TV for tots
 

Only because it's teletubbies.

TV for tots
 

Oh, come on - they are pretty cute and they're a hell of a lot better than that annoying Caillou - it will be a dark dark day before he gets to watch that.

-T("Eh-Oh!")L

TV for tots
 

This is a regular issue in our house; my wife is convinced all TV is evil and that one of the worst things in the world is letting our kids get in the habit of vegging in front of it. I believe we all need a bit of down-time, and as long as it is kept under control, TV is a perfectly acceptable form of down time. (And as long as Kim Possible is tuned in, but that's a different issue...)

Kids are different. One of our kids has no interest in the television, another would watch for half the day if permitted. We on occassion hope that the one with no interest will calm down enough to sit still for a half hour in front of the tube. So I'd watch the kid, see if they're showing signs of dependency or lethargy, and then keep them away from the tube by engaging them.

You're not a bad mother. But try some Little Bear, sometime. It's much better for the same age group.