On The Real Houswives of Beverly Hills recently -- no, this mom doesn't watch the wildly popular show much if at all, but this point makes sense here -- one of the sideline characters mentioned how smart her baby was. Apparently, at 18 months Dana Wilkey's baby genius reads, speaks Thai, is learning from the encylcopedia, and he models -- of course! He is so smart Mama Wilkey doesn't have any idea where to put him in school when he's five. Kyle, a main character who was meeting Dana for lunch, said later with as much sarcasm as she could muster: "I mean, he counts, he reads, he speaks Thai, …

Lilliana has been hacking during the night for a few nights now, she has dark circles under her eyes, and her energy level is down, though she has gotten enough sleep.  I actually think now it may be a reaction to the changing seasons and maybe allergens, thank goodness, but all I could think for a day or two there was, "Oh great!  Here comes the practically unending cold and flu season until next spring."Once it starts, it seems like she barely gets over one before she starts to come down with another one.  It's terrible!  And, after she gets it, inevitably she gives it to one of us as well.…

I may be biased; in fact, I know I'm biased. Lilliana is beautiful. Heck, every mom out there is certain that her little girl is absolutely beautiful. And, I will admit I participated in a couple -- scratch that -- several beauty pageants in my time.Lately, I have seen a couple of those shows about pageant moms and dance moms, and let me just say -- no. Uh-uh -- no way. Not me, not her, not us, not ever. Because it seems to me that is what is happening. It seems like these moms are driving these kids to fulfill a dream for them. Maybe it was something the child wanted in the beginning, but do…

The official beginning of autumn is Friday, September 23, but it seems we can almost feel it in the air already. Soon, the trees will be all kinds of reds and yellows and orange, and the days will grow shorter and cooler. Autumn is the host of two favorite kid and adult holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Children are already getting excited.Autumn is also a wonderful and exciting outdoor time of year for little ones.  It's a perfect time to enjoy some outdoor family activities and capitalize on children's naturally inquisitive natures.  Georgia boasts some absolutely beautiful parks, and …

As we remember the 10th anniversary of 9/11, many of us experience a lot of deep, mixed emotions all over again.  We are being bombarded with images again.  There has been quite a bit of coverage on the TV leading up to this date.As parents of small children, we must remember that while we are seeing these images, our children are also being exposed to a lot of scary stuff that they didn't go through with us 10 years ago. Lilliana is only 4 years old, so she wasn't even close to being in the picture during the tragedy and the aftermath. She didn't see the Towers fall in 2001. But she is here …

Do your kids know what Labor Day really means?  Growing up, it basically signalled the official end of summer and outdoor barbecues.  We were usually heading back to school soon afterwards, although these days most kids have already returned to school.  The Labor Day three-day weekend has become a chance to spend quality time with family and take rare, much-needed time away from work to bring family and work life back in balance.But the original intent of Labor Day was more about providing a holiday to honor the economic and social achievements of our American workers.  Its intention was and …

Gwinnett County schools are scheduled to start today, and whether we are ready or not the school year has begun. Lilliana's preschool doesn't start until this Wednesday, and I am still wondering where the summer has gone.She has been attending a reading program twice a week all summer. She enjoyed it, but she can't wait for her actual school year to start. I was like that. I remember that sense of having a clean slate and new books and a whole new school year ahead of me for learning new things. I loved learning, and thank goodness Lilliana does, too.For many small children, starting school …

Did you know that July 21st is National Junk Food Day? National Junk Food Day -- like we need a day to honor junk food.Maybe we need to use it to remind us that childhood obesity is at an all-time high.  Just typing in "childhood obesity" in the Google search box gives you more choices than you can believe for information and resources.  The CDC website has states that "obesity now affects 71% of all children and adolescents in the United States--triple the rate from just one generation ago."  How ridiculous is this?  And there are correlations between obesity and diabetes.Part of the problem…

As soon as it was warm enough to play outside, Lilliana wanted to be out there all day long.  And many of our children are participating in summer sports where they lose a lot of water by sweating.  In addition to protecting them from the sun and bug bites and dressing them in cool clothing, it's important to remember to keep them hydrated.  Our bodies create an incredible amount of internal heat naturally, and sweating is our natural response to cool down and radiate heat through our skin.  It's an awesome AC system--don't you just love a cool breeze blowing across you when you're sweating…

We just returned from my brother, Cortney's, wedding in Stillwater, Okla., and let me tell you that Lilliana was a pro! There were three little flower girls of varying ages, one younger than Lilliana and one older than Lilliana, and they all did great jobs actually!They didn't walk together or hold hands and the moms were both in the wedding, so we couldn't really help them.  But there was a stroke of genius involved here that I have to include in the DO's of small children in weddings.  They had a young lady named Torie in charge of the flower girls for the entire two plus hours before the …

Every summer we see at least one headline, "Child Left in Vehicle Dies."  According to the Department of Geosciences, there have been at least 15 deaths of children in hot vehicles in 2011 so far. And I have to ask myself who in their right mind leaves a child in a car in the summertime? How distracted do you have to be to forget there is a child dying in a car whose temperature can rise 19 degrees in just 10 minutes? And I don't care what you just have to "run in and get." I don't care how inconvenient it is to unbuckle them and take them with you and then rebuckle them, you simply do not …

Summertime is in full swing, and lots of folks are taking their little ones for fun in the pool and respite from the heat. Gwinnett County has some awesome pools, folks! Whether it is a public one or the one in your backyard, along with all the fun we can have, the incident in Doraville the other week reminds us that water can be very dangerous, as well. So my editor and I thought it would be a good idea to review some very important water safety tips.There is an awesome website called Pool Safely that gives all sorts of information, tips, and resources for public and private pool and spa …

We drove through Tuscaloosa, Ala., last Saturday on our way back from a family function. Lilliana, who is rarely quiet for any length of time, was speechless for a few minutes. Then she just kept saying, “Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh, look!”  I was moved to tears.  I had worked as a property inspector for FEMA several years ago in Florida and Pensacola helping folks get their reimbursements from when Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne wreaked havoc down there. Seeing it on television is one thing, but it was my first exposure to up-close devastation on that level. And I guess it has …

So Lilliana was in her first wedding this past weekend. She was a flower girl. She was so excited! She got to wear her “wedding dress” as she called it, and she dropped rose petals for her Auntie Tina to walk on. She shared this responsibility with her cousin, Claire, who is a year older and helped direct her. Her cousin, Thomas, 2, carried the pillow.  I think it was brilliant to have them all walk together.They encouraged each other, and there was safety in numbers for these little guys. They were all adorable, and the bride was a dream. Lilliana dropped more petals walking the bride out …

School is letting out and it is about the time that everyone is beginning to think about summer trips.  We have a couple of car trips planned, and with a preschooler, you have to think ahead.  I have been busily compiling all the best tips I can find for making the long drive as smooth as possible.  Personally, we prefer to drive during the night, so that Lilliana is sleeping.  She doesn’t have to be miserable, and neither do we.  If that’s not possible, we have a portable DVD player with some of her favorite movies.  We have tried letting her look at books or play with the Leapfrog Explorer …

I am firmly convinced that Lilliana is pretty darn smart for her age.  I understand that most parents feel that way, but I am pretty sure she really is.  For instance, when we would go to the pediatrician when she was much smaller, and she would ask if she had a vocabulary of eight to 10 words, I was surprised and answered that she had a vocabulary of well over 50 words.  The pediatrician didn’t believe me at first, but we proved it.  She could put together whole sentences when other children were saying one word commands.I have no idea whether this is genetics -- wouldn’t we all like to …

Lilliana just had a trike-a-thon.  Her preschool did a St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon and raised donations to be donated in a little girl’s name they all know.  She was really excited.  They had talked about bike safety at preschool the whole week leading up to it in preparation.  She must have been paying attention, because she will quote one of the rules to you out of nowhere.  “Never ride your bike in the street.  Always wear your helmet.”  It’s really cute.They were allowed to use whatever they wanted to ride, such as a bike, tricycle, etc.  Lilliana doesn’t really have a tricycle.  She has a …

Another Mother's Day has come and gone, and it’s hard to believe that five Mother's Days ago I was in labor, which gave me my very best Mother's Day gift of all.  Our little Lilliana is growing up so fast.This year she was old enough to really make me her own gift.  They made them in her preschool.  She brought it home Friday tied up in a little bag.  Her teacher told her not to tell us what it was and that we couldn’t open until Mothers’ Day.  Can you imagine how hard that is for a 3-year-old?She didn’t tell me -- not a word.  She did, however, ask me every morning and after every nap if it …

A few weeks ago Lilliana found a caterpillar out on our front porch.  She has a little bug box, so when she asked to bring it inside I said she could.  Like many little girls, she is obsessed with butterflies, and she thinks that all caterpillars turn into butterflies.  She has plans for this caterpillar.  She is going to keep him and make him turn into a “beautiful butterfly.”  She even named him “Pilly.”  Don’t ask -- I have no idea.So I looked up the caterpillar online, and after some searching, I believe I was able to identify him pretty accurately.  He was not going to be a butterfly.  …

Lilliana had an egg hunt this weekend.  It was so much fun to watch her!  Last year we had to help her so much, telling her to, “Pick up the eggs!  Pick them up!  No, they have candy in them!  Wait, open them later!  Put them in the basket and get some more!”  It was hilarious!This year she could do it herself, and it was so obvious while I was kind of hanging back watching her that she is a girly-girl.  Our church egg hunt doesn’t hide them hard.  They are just lying everywhere.  Clumps of them are lying in the grass and in the bushes.  She is a selective egg-hunter, too.  She is not a …