“Up close, his curly brown hair is shaggy and long, tufting delicately out over his ears, but he’s hardly shy or clingy. Instead, he’s bold and gregarious: He immediately jumps out of his stroller to meet me. Nothing about Joseph seems notably feminine, until he holds up a doll dressed in a bright pink dress. “See my Barbie?” he says, proudly.” - TheVillageVoice

“Turn those pieces into a more enduring favorite with the help of Friends with a Fish. The service is the brainchild of photographer Juliette Conroy, who after realizing she didn’t have time to sew her kids’ clothing into a quilt, took pictures of them instead. The result? A series of beautifully abstract, color-intense photos.” - DailyCandy

Available by e-mail order (orders@friendswithafish.com). For more information, go to friendswithafish.com. Or just do it yourself.

“WASHINGTON, June 18 — China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.” - NYTimes

“TSA has banned most fluids at airport security checkpoints for nearly a year because of concern about possible liquid explosives.

“I was distraught. I opened my son’s sippy cup. I twisted off the top. I wanted to drink the water. It spilled out,” Emmerson said Saturday.

Emmerson said an officer threatened to arrest her after the water spilled, telling her she was “endangering the public.” She said there was no place to dump the water near the security area, and that she was worried when her son started wandering away from her.” - USAToday

When is it good to ‘throw up’ your kids on a wall? When you’re illustration/graf dad Ward Jenkins.

“It’s been about two years since I last painted one of my characters on a wall. Two years in graffiti-time is like two lifetimes. I’ve been missing it. Why such a long sabbatical? Life. Life just moves on, as some things become more important to me than others. I don’t mind that, actually. I’ll be the first to admit to other graffiti writers that graffiti is not my lifestyle, and I’ve received nothing but love from them for being honest. Graffiti takes time away from the family, and I value my family more than anything. I’m not trying to be something that I’m not, and other writers pick up on that, and give me respect.” - Ward

“PALATINE, Ill. - An elementary school science teacher in this Chicago suburb doesn’t have to turn on the news for an update on NASA’s space mission. She just turns on her video baby monitor.

Since Sunday, one of the two channels on Natalie Meilinger’s baby monitor has been picking up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis. The other still lets her keep an eye on her baby.” - Y!News

“About 1.5 million wooden vehicles, buildings and other train-set parts for young children are being recalled, the CPSC said in a statement. The toys were sold in the United States from January 2005 through June 2007, the statement said.

Lead is toxic and can pose a serious health risk to young children who often put objects in their mouths. Children under 6 are most at risk.” - Y!News

Now I’m kinda happy that kid wouldn’t share with my son…

Hey ladies,

Does your hubby like seafood? Has he been eating more Red Lobster than you-know-what? Want to renew his interest in all things you? Here’s a solution: Get this sexy set of lingerie complete with crawdads printed all over it. Send Junior off to the sitter. Get dressed in the outfit, lay on the dinning table really still and wait for him to get home. Thank me later.

“As the scientists who study male germ cells will readily attest, sperm are some of the most extraordinary cells of the body, a triumph of efficient packaging, sleek design and superspecialization. Human sperm are extremely compact, and they’ve been stripped of a normal cell’s protein-making machinery; but when cast into the forbidding environment of the female reproductive tract, they will learn on the job and change their search strategies and swim strokes as needed.” - NYTimes

While Upstate recently my son decided he was bored and wanted to play a game… he chose darts. Now a traditional game of darts may seem dangerous with the pointy metal missiles one has to aim and toss at the cork bulls-eye, but the particular game my son laid eyes on was of the magnetic variety.

We took it out, hung it on the side of the cabin and I watched as he had a blasting tossing and missing and tossing again. It was a moment that deserved a couple of cold pints.