So here’s the deal: you need to head over to Go Graham Go RIGHT NOW and enter to win a $50 gift certificate from JoJo Designs.

JoJo Designs make some truly cool bedding for toddlers and kids. You can also find accessories and clothing there!

But you can see that all for yourself when you visit JoJo Designs and Go Graham Go!

Get going!

This doll will help Calli learn to potty ... right?

OK, I’m pretty sure around the time that Calli was born I read somewhere that girls generally start potty training at 18 months. ‘Woo-hoo!’ My inexperienced father’s brain cried. Only a year and a half of foul-smelling, foul-colored, unidentifiable, unexplainable messes in diapers? I can handle that!

Nearly three years later, I’m still changing diapers. I’ve failed. You can see pictures of the wife and I in the parenting Hall of Shame. There’s a failed potty-trainers wing, and we’re the star attractions.

Then again, maybe not!

I came across an article on WebMD called ‘Potty Training: Seven Surprising Facts’ tonight that gave me some encouraging news. They quote Dr. Andrea McCoy of Temple University as saying:

“Children can’t stay dry at night until they start producing a hormone that signals their body to stop making urine at night, that doesn’t happen until it happens.”

A hormone. A hormone that ‘doesn’t happen until it happens.’ A blessed hormone controls my child’s ability to use the potty! Handel’s ‘Hallelujah’ playing in my head, I can now relax. It’ll all happen when it happens…

That shouldn’t keep me from using all this potty training gear I’ve littered around this post, right?

We would love to achieve potty trained status for Calli before her brother’s born in August, but if that doesn’t happen, it won’t be the end of the world. Our theory for the moment is that she just enjoys being a baby. If she gives up the diapers, she won’t be a baby anymore. Especially with the new baby on the way, I’m sure she’s wanting to hang on to that for just a little longer. We won’t push it or hold our breaths. Well, maybe we’ll still hold our breaths, when appropriate…

Anybody have any ‘tricks of the trade’ to share? I’m always willing to follow the advice of those that have been there, done that!

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• This mother to try potty training at 3 months (thestar.com)
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Fahrenheit 451 cover courtesy of amazon.com

If you’ve read Ray Bradbury‘s brilliant ‘Fahrenheit 451‘, you probably still have visions in your head of homes being destroyed because they dared to have books inside them. I know I do. That’s why an entry at bookshopblog really disturbed me. In their post, ‘Book burning on Feb. 10th 2009 due to CPSIA‘, they claim that according to new CPSIA laws, a book store or library can not sell or distribute items that do not have a certificate stating that they have been tested and proclaimed lead-free. Furthermore, this law is retroactive, meaning that even if the item was published fifty years ago, if it hasn’t been tested, you can’t distribute it!

What Does This Mean?

This means that you can’t trust anything. Even books. Destroy everything you own! (Not really, calm down and keep reading.)

I found another bit of reporting over at kreelanwarrior.com. In the post ‘Lead In Books – Another Reason To Get An Amazon Kindle‘, Michael R. Hicks makes the point that all this talk of lead in books should push everyone to buy an Amazon Kindle. He was immediately rebuked by his readers, who told him that books were lead-free. He posted a correction on the blog, but kept the entry there to preserve the discussion.

There’s a lot of information and misinformation out there concerning this topic. Just scan the folks talking about this at twitter!

Bottom line that I’ve discerned from all of this? 

Books are safe. Give them to your kids. Read them to your kids. Talk about them with your kids. They need books to awaken their imagination!

While I’m on the subject of books, there’s a great organization co-founded by Jimmy Gownley that I’d like to give a shout out to. It’s called Kids Love Comics, and they promote literacy through comics and sequential art. I remember comics being a huge part of my life growing up. (Who am I kiddin, they’re a huge part NOW!) They increased my vocabulary and got the creative juices flowing. When I did (do) pick up a novel or some other book without pictures, I could often imagine the art that would be in the comic version even more so than I could see the film. So to hear that there is actually an organization that promotes such things, all I can say is bravo! And. Let’s not let Fahrenheit 451 happen to us!