Make your way to Bagel City, today if you can!

Rumors abound that the beloved Bagel City on Rockville Pike will be forced out by a new Walmart in 2013!

Don't be fooled by their vanilla website, Bagel City is a bagel destination! It's loaded of charm, character, and delicious bagels and schmears. Of course you can also get a black & white cookie, or rugelah, or any variety of Brown's soda.

Needless to say, the thought of them being forced out by Walmart makes me hungry for an egg & cheese on a sesame bagel.

Who wants to go with me tomorrow for lunch?

New guidelines for safe infant sleep

Announced today:

HHS AGENCIES EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR INFANT SAFE SLEEP RECOMMENDATIONS New recommendations based on research identifying risks for all infants

The AAP's recommendations are available at <http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/10/12/peds.2011-2284>.

Best Booster Seat

This article on best booster seats was shared on the NIH Parenting Listserve today, but I thought it was worth reposting.

How to bully-proof your child: start early

My mom, a teacher of elementary and middle school children for 35 years, shared this article from CNN today on how to keep your kid safe from bullying. She thought the techniques suggested would be good for Michael. So, I'm passing them along to you guys as well.

And now let's talk about the other (and FIRST!) major relationship in our lives

[Additional note: I just finished reading all the recommendations... only to realize that the author is a bit 'preachy' on God stuff. Take it for what it's worth. I didn't write it.]

I'm always posting about our kids. Let's not forget our spouses.... another repost from Design Mom on how to have a happy marriage. Nothing earth-shattering here, but a nice reminder for us all as we head home for a long weekend with our lover, friend, partner, and co-parent of our children.

What we say to our kids matters... and the science to prove it

I saw a link to this article on Design Mom (a blog I often read that is mostly about the American author's experience raising children in France, where they are living at the moment. She has 5 children. I think they are Mormon.)

The meat of the article is a few paragraphs in. Here's the highlight to pique your interest:

Her most famous study, conducted in twelve different New York City schools along with Claudia Mueller, involved giving more than 400 fifth graders a relatively easy test consisting of nonverbal puzzles. After the children finished the test, the researchers told the students their score, and provided them with a single line of praise. Half of the kids were praised for their intelligence. “You must be smart at this,” the researcher said. The other students were praised for their effort: “You must have worked really hard.”

The students were then allowed to choose between two different subsequent tests. The first choice was described as a more difficult set of puzzles, but the kids were told that they’d learn a lot from attempting it. The other option was an easy test, similar to the test they’d just taken.

When Dweck was designing the experiment, she expected the different forms of praise to have a rather modest effect. After all, it was just one sentence. But it soon became clear that the type of compliment given to the fifth graders dramatically affected their choice of tests. When kids were praised for their effort, nearly 90 percent chose the harder set of puzzles. However, when kids were praised for their intelligence, most of them went for the easier test. What explains this difference? According to Dweck, praising kids for intelligence encourages them to “look” smart, which means that they shouldn’t risk making a mistake.

New Elmo Documentary

I read about this new documentary film about the puppeteer behind Elmo on another blog, "Cup of Jo".

I thought our little gang might be interested.