As I mentioned in Dana's Mother's Day thread below, Markos and Eli have been in El Salvador with Markos's grandmother who is gravely ill. They spent this weekend with her and will be coming home tonight.

I was reminded how much I miss them when advance copies of Markos's new book, Taking On The System: Rules For Radical Change In A Digital Era, arrived in the mail. Please allow me a hokey moment. I've only read one chapter as I spent too much time reading the acknowledgements and telling people about it. He dedicated the book to me and the kids and gave us two whole paragraphs in the acknowledgements section! Completely unexpected. I love that man.

Thank you for letting me gush. Now onto the serious political stuff: We have six more contests left and Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are expected to win three each. Probably most importantly, the Democratic National Committee is meeting on May 31 to determine the fate of Michigan and Florida's pledged delegates. I am wondering if we want open threads for some or all of these events? I have noticed that they have died somewhat, so I will poll your preferences. Thanks!

What's up with you?

At 22 months, this was the first year Lucy could actually make me a gift for mother's day.  Her class painted flower pots, and hers was smeared with purple and green, which is coincidentally one of my favorite color combinations.  She and I stopped at the "flower store" (our favorite little nursery) on the way home and picked out a hot pink dahlia to plant in it.  Today, about 90 seconds after planting and admiring it, I dropped it on the concrete sidewalk and broke that adorable little pot into several pieces.  At which point I also fell to pieces.  DH promised that he would glue it together for me, but I'm doubtful.  

I'm fighting the "what a crappy mother I am" feelings, mostly successfully.  The "what a clumsy ass mother I am" feelings are still lingering...  So much for the "I'll have this pot when I'm 90" sentimentality I had been harboring.  

Did you know that Julia Ward Howe also wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic?  Women of that era who suffered through the Civil War, knew just as we do today that matters of war and peace are never simple.  It's easy to read the Mother's Day Proclamation and think of it as a naive sentiment, but really looking back at Julia Ward Howe's life, I think she and her contemporaries well knew just how much they were asking.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers Who Talk, and to all the other moms out there.

Having preschool teachers who make sure your son brings home two handmade flowerpots for Mother’s Day?

Priceless.

Betty Crocker sponsors a yearly cookie recipe contest, called "Bake Life Sweeter".

Contestants were asked to use one of the nine Betty Crocker Cookie Mix flavors and to get creative using additional ingredients, decorations and serving ideas.  

I've included Lynette Spence's winning recipe for "Cinna-Spin" Cookies.

Cookies
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, mix cookie mix and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in butter and egg until soft dough forms.

2. On piece of waxed paper, shape 1 tablespoon cinnamon into a line about 5 inches long. Using floured fingers, shape 1 tablespoon of dough into a rope 5 inches long. Press one side of dough rope into cinnamon.

3. On ungreased cookie sheet, coil dough rope tightly, cinnamon side facing center, into cinnamon-roll shape. Press end of rope into roll to seal. Repeat with remaining dough. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

4. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

5. In small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Decrease butter to 1/3 cup.
Prep time is 1 hr 10 min, and the recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies!

The web site includes other fabulous recipes that received honorable mentions. I'm planning on making the winning cookies for Mother's Day.

Please, share YOUR recipes for baked goodness. Give this single mama options for baking! I just bought a new cookie sheet that I'm DYING to use!!

According to Perez Hilton, Beyonce's clothing line, House of Dereon, is introducing a new kids line.

To celebrate the launch, B has come out with this ad featuring young girls dress like.....and looking like.

Work the lipstick and blush, babies!

Hmmm...thoughts?

After winning a court case that changed a California law against men taking their wives' last name, Michael Buday picked up his new driver's license bearing his new name -- Michael Bijon, according to Reuters.

Two years ago, Michael and wife Diana Bijon were surprised to learn that for him to take her surname, he would have to pay $350 and face a barrage of bureaucracy, including court appearances and paper work usually not obstacles for women. The couple took their case to the American Civil Liberties Union -- and won.

"Women have fought for so long for equal rights and it feels like this is part of that fight," said Diana Bijon. "When we got married, the law basically said, 'Don't be silly, only a woman can change her name when she gets married."'

"I am really, really proud of him. Not many men would do this," she said.

A subsequent lawsuit led to a new California state law guaranteeing the rights of both married couples and registered domestic partners to choose whichever last name they prefer on their marriage and driving licences.

"This disposes of the rule in California that the male surname is the marital name to the same trash bin where dowries were once tossed out," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the Southern California chapter of the ACLU.

Michael said he decided to take his wife's last name because he is closer to his father-in-law than his own father.

I learned about this story through Salon's Broadsheet.

Jo Frost, "Supernanny from the hit ABC show, just answered Washington Post reader questions on everything from potty-training to discipline. Here is a sample:

Minneapolis, Minn.: Hi Jo -

I have a just-over-three-year-old boy who is not yet potty trained. I have tried everything I have read about in books ('potty prizes', encouragement, positive rewards, special underpants, praise, stickers...) to encourage him to use the potty but he is just not interested! I feel like he is ready and capable of using the potty - and we had a streak over Christmas when he actually was using it, but then stopped. Should we keep trying (and if so, what do we do next?) or should we back off for awhile?

Jo Frost: He's more than capable of being potty trained. However you have played and toyed with the idea and he has half-heartedly done so. You need to make up your mind one way or another (and the answer should be yes). Number one: take note of his fluid intake. 2: take him completely out of diapers, no half-measures. 3: Diapers only at bedtime. 4: you will need to spend a week doing this - stay local, no big trips. You can find a step by step guide in my first Supernanny book...

Arlington, Va.: Hi, Ms. Frost!

We are new parents to a 7-month old, and I am wondering about how best to incorporate a routine into our day. Specifically, our baby isn't a great sleeper and doesn't have set napping times. She'll usually take a 1 to 2 hour nap in the morning, but we have trouble getting her to sleep in the afternoon. And we always get her to sleep by walking her in the stroller, as she will cry if we put her down in her crib. Do you have any tips on starting a baby on a routine?

Jo Frost: She should be taking a midmorning nap and then one straight after lunch. Creating a framework is going to be key for her. She may doze off around 5 for half an hour. Not until her eating schedule is in hand should you implement the sleeping technique. In my new book I detail my "controlled crying" technique. In short - Put the baby in the crib, go out, the baby will cry, you go in and say shh and rub the tummy... repeat, doubling the time in between.

The death toll in Burma after a vicious cyclone hit the country this past weekend could reach 60,000, the number of people reported dead or missing, according to the Washington Post.

Because the country is headed by an incompetent, despotic regime, the people are not easily receiving aid. MoveOn.org passed around a link to donate to Burmese monks, who in turn, have been giving food and shelter to the country's poorest people.

These People Scare Me: I was recently perusing the responses to New York Times Magazine's green edition, when I came across this gem:

(Michael) Pollan asserts as self-evident that a small carbon footprint is always a moral good. But suppose a child is very sick and the nearest hospital is 50 miles away. You can ride a horse and the child might die, or take a helicopter and ensure the child lives. In that case, using more fossil fuel is clearly a moral good. Offering this same sort of choice, if played out less dramatically, is why the green movement may fail.

Pollan is asking for human beings to deliberately make their own lives harsher, duller, perhaps even shorter for the sake of an abstraction. Whatever your belief in the merits of cutting carbon emissions, it’s easy to see why this neo-Romantic argument may not win many converts.

Especially inane, though, is Wendell Berry’s suggestion that “specialization” has been bad for humanity. Division of labor has allowed man to rise from savannas and caves to cities, to feed multitudes and to cure deadly disease. Specialization is precisely what will produce the experts who will ultimately figure out how to make cheap energy without fossil fuels. That process, not some Arcadian fantasy that all humanity will voluntarily regress to a semi-industrial state, is the way to a cleaner world.

HAMPTON STEVENS

Kansas City, Kan.

Okay.

Other Strange Encounters: Here is another one of those quirky Berkeley Parents Network letters, although I bet this woman's situation is not as uncommon as we'd like to think:

My husband recently had a one night stand with a woman with whom he previously (about 2 years ago) had a longer-term affair. The one night stand resulted in a pregnancy, and they've decided to keep the baby. The woman lives in another city so he will be parenting from afar - we also have a child together. We started marriage counseling a couple of weeks ago and, at least right now, we both think we'd like to stay together. We definitely have issues outside of this one that we need to work on, and are both committed to doing so. I'm honestly not that hung up on the affair at this point - it's the realization that there will be another child in his life, with another woman, and that child will likely be incorporated into our family in some way, shape, and form in the future. Plus, the fact that the child will be in another city means he will probably spend time away from us, which is hard to handle. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? This is all very fresh and new and I know my feelings will change over time (because they already have a million times in about 3 weeks!) but I need a little long-term perspective on how this situation might ever really work...thanks!
anon

Whew. This woman sounded remarkably calm for what her husband did. Can't wait for the responses...

Leaving Foster Care: The Washington Post followed around this remarkable young woman as she was leaving the foster care system. At 21-years-old, Marie Willis is learning to live on her own, and is handling it with such aplomb.

What else is in the news? What is on your minds today? Have a good weekend all!

Before experiencing the joy that is pregnancy, I heard stories of weird cravings. Ice cream and pickles, anyone? When I was pregnant with Karina, the cravings were very real. Initially, it was crushed ice, then it was frozen snickers bars, and it finally culminated to hot dogs...and no, it couldn't be just any hot dog, it had to be from Pink's, and it had to have chili and bacon. AND I had to have it when I craved it; if that meant getting into my car at 2am...so be it. Sure, I craved the standard pickles too, but I never mixed them with ice cream.

When I was pregnant with Cristian, the cravings were different, but still there. With Cristian, I craved Mexican chile sauce and it had to be HOT. I could eat spoonfulls of it. Straight. Yup...I'm that Mexican.

I also had food aversions. Before having my kids I LOVED In-N-Out Burgers; and yet, when I was pregnant with each of my children I couldn't even smell them! Another aversion was eggs...and oddly enough, both my children LOVE In-N-Out burgers AND eggs. So, do these cravings and aversions mean anything?

Some people say that craving ice means that you're low on iron. Some alternative medicine practitioners believe that a shortage of vitamin B can trigger a craving for chocolate. But if people craved what the body needed, wouldn't we all be eating more fruits and vegetables, instead of...say, cement or dirt?

So my question is, did you have any interesting cravings during your pregnancies? What were the theories you heard associated with your cravings? Did you indulge your cravings? Please share!

In light of all the grief teen pop star Miley Cyrus received in posing provocatively for Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly shot back with evidence that if Miley were Miles she would not have had to endure the public's disapproval. The magazine dug up at least four instances, in which male teen celebs were given a pass for racy photos:

Vanessa Hudgens apologized after a nude shot hit the Web last year, while Pete Wentz got away with warning fans against taking risqué photos after his own pics leaked in 2006.

When Lindsey Lohan re-created a topless Marilyn Monroe photo shoot for New York magazine, the website received millions of hits--and so did her struggling career. Yet frenzied fans snapped up tickets to see Daniel Radcliffe get naked in Equus.

Sundance 2007: Dakota Fanning's Hounddog--featuring the actress in a rape scene--bows amid a public outcry and calls for an investigation. Sundance 2008: Audiences shrug off a sex scene in The Wackness that involves Nickelodeon star Josh Peck (Drake & Josh).

Blogs went nuts over video of a slurring Ashlee Simpson at a Canadian McDonald's in 2005. But after Shia LaBeouf was arrested for allegedly refusing to leave a Chicago drugstore in 2007? Lots of talk about his supercute mug shot. Oh, and the charges were dropped.

Then again, for the exception of Daniel Radcliffe, I have never even heard of these guys! Nonetheless, there does seem to be a pattern of double standards here. What do you all think?

In related news, R&B singer R. Kelly was charged with child pornography. This is the same guy who married the late artist Aaliyah when she was only 15 -- and has not served a day in prison for it. Ick.

REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin wrote a column for Newsweek about his son Paris's drug addiction. While Paris has been sober for two years, Cronin claims it was "tough love" and his son's own determination that helped him get back on track.

The turning point for me came one cold, dark winter's night, as my wife and I rested in the peaceful mountains of Ojai, Calif.

When the telephone rings at 1 a.m., it is rarely good news. The voice on the line that night was that of a fearful, obviously shaken Paris Cronin calling from the Burbank city lockup. My head pounded and my stomach sickened. He had been busted for possession of heroin, and would spend the next four nights in jail ... unless someone bailed him out. The thought of my son's sitting in a cell scared and alone, going through narcotics withdrawal, was unbearable. My immediate instinct was to drop everything and run to his aid. How could I leave him in such horrible circumstances? But a deeper part of me knew that if I really wanted to help my son, I must turn him down. When a parent is racked with guilt, it helps to have someone with a more detached perspective by one's side. One look into my wife's eyes reassured me that this heart-wrenching decision was the right one. It was time for some serious tough love.

Paris would survive the ordeal. But from that point on we would no longer enable him in any way. And after a five-year battle, complete with relapses, alienation, hitting his "bottom," a final trip to rehab, family therapy and sheer determination on his part, Paris is now a sober young man.

It has got to be so hard to see your child hit rock-bottom. I am sure it took a lot of restraint for this man with a lot of resources to withhold financial support, too.

What do you think? Have any of you dealt with addiction? What did you do to weather the relapses?