It seems like the only political story breaking to me, but how important is John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, to you, and what parts of her story have affected you most?

I have to say that I’m particularly focused on her family choices. Since she (and the McCain campaign) brought them up — her infant with Down syndrome, her eldest son shipping out for Iraq, her status as a “hockey mom,” and (eventually) her pregnant teenage daughter — what do you think? Can you raise five kids and have enough time to be Vice President? Leaving aside her experience and political views for a moment (we can talk about them later), does the shape of Sarah Palin’s family, and the attention it requires, affect your opinion of how much time she can/should spend on politics?

I’m still thinking about whether it’s a good idea to buy Boy Wonder (maybe I should just call him BW) a Nerf Longshot, the brightly colored gun that shoots foam bullets I wrote about in my column this weekend. What I’m REALLY wondering about, though, is how an Airsoft gun is good for any kid. Thoughts?

Sometimes you come across a story that you just can’t believe, and here is my gasp-inducing story for today: From the Today show (hat tip to poynter.org, every journalist’s must-read) comes an amazing story about increasing trend of pre-teen girls getting BIKINI WAXES! OMG, it’s bad enough when you’re a grown-up to have to worry about “unwanted hair,” but how many ways can we come up with to make our daughters feel bad about themselves? There’s even someone quoted in the story about how if you wax “virgin hair” (can’t believe I’m even typing those words), you can get rid of it permanently in 2-6 treatments. That means waxing has to start at 8. Gawd.

I know that the place I get my pedicures has “Little Ms. Diva” manicures, and though I get why they are fun, it still seems like trying to make little girls into big girls too soon. But this? Can you imagine letting your tween daughter get a bikini wax? Maybe I’m just out of the loop … what do you think?

As you read in my column Sunday, my son and a baseball had an unfortunate collision. More traumatic for Mom than for him, and it looks like he won’t lose any teeth. At the end of the column I asked readers to share a time they hurt for their kids … this from Vickie Sweeney … Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, the celebs have been pulling out all the stops on the baby names lately, huh? Just this week we’ve had Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban and Levi Alves McConaughey. I think this latest round of the unusual was precipitated by Gwyneth Paltrow & Coldplay’s Chris Martin naming their daughter “Apple.” Yes, Apple Martin, who you just know is going to be called “Apple Martini” when she gets to be a teenager.

Jason Lee’s “Pilot Inspektor” and Penn Jillette’s “Moxie Crimefighter” are silly in the realm of “Moon Unit Zappa.” David Duchovny and Tea Leoni naming their kid “Kyd” and Rob Morrow choosing the name “Tu” (get it? Tu Morrow) makes you wonder if heavy doses of Demerol were involved.

I kind of like Honor (Jessica Alba) and Harlowe (Nicole Richie). A recent celebrity trend is the name “Jagger,” which has been used four times this year alone and I think is totally going to be my next Starbucks name. Read the rest of this entry »