Cross-posted at Daily Kos.

Good morning fellow moms, dads and caregivers! How are you this morning?

I just got back from a trip to Orange County to visit Erika and her family. What a lovely Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures from our trip to Legoland and a photo of your founding MotherTalkers.

What else have we been discussing here at MT?

We talked about the crass graduation weight requirement Lincoln University of Pennsylvania imposes on its students. Basically, only students with body mass indexes of 30 or above must complete a fitness course to graduate. There was consensus that if the university is going to require such a course, then it should be free and required of all students.

We have had a lot of holiday stories lately. Here is one on how to manage your time more efficiently. Once again, I have vowed to do holiday shopping throughout the year rather than wait until December. In another holiday story, we discussed what to tell children who do not believe in Santa Claus, especially if they are surrounded by peers who are believers.

USA Today exposed loopholes that allowed recalled beef tainted with E. coli and salmonella to make it into school lunches. In related news, Consumer Reports just released a study showing that two-thirds of store-bought chicken harbor salmonella and/or campylobacter, another bacterial cause of foodborne disease. The publication recommended cooking chicken at at least 165º F and to prevent raw chicken or its juices from touching any other food.

We doled out tips on how to fight classroom bullies, particularly girl-on-girl bullying.

My heart breaks for this mother. An Egyptian mom on her way to show off her 4-week daughter to relatives, accidentally smothered the baby on the flight when she fell asleep while breastfeeding, according to the Daily Mail of the UK.

What else is in the news? What's up with you?

Both my husband and I went to talk to the teacher today, which was of course her first clue that something was wrong.  She seemed confused when I told her we were here to discuss the bruises, and it just turned into bewilderment when DD told her how she got them.  The teacher hadn't seen the bruises before then, certainly hadn't seen anything happening.  She asked DD a good question we hadn't thought to ask:  did this happen while they were playing "mommy and baby"?  DD said no, and then we sent her off to play while we talked to the teacher alone.

Last week we went on our summer vacation.  It was a whirlwind of visiting inlaws, a trip to the beach and a wedding.  A lovely time was had by all of course, except for one small glitch.  My oldest had his first experience with a bully.

I know we've discussed bullies here in the past.  Over the past couple of months our family has been dealing with a preschool bully.  Up until today we've been treating it like any other developmental issue.  We tell our 2 year old how to put his hand up and say, "Stop.  That's not nice.  I don't want to play with you."  We've been completely focused on teaching him how to manage the situation.  I've been telling myself that our son is just more sensitive than the other children.  He needs better coping skills.  But today I had just about had it and went in to talk with the teacher (who is a lovely woman, BTW).

Like most mornings in the past several months, our boy had a violent reaction to going to preschool this morning.  He wakes up each morning informing me that "today is not a school day."  He does pretty well but eats breakfast very slowly.  When I mention putting on his clothes, he loses it.  Once dressed, he gives in and does well until we pull up to the school.  Then he cries and tells me how he doesn't want to go to school.  After I got him calmed down, he told me he's afraid of the bully, as he's done a few times.