Last weekend the kids and I were playing on the driveway. Vivian was playing with sidewalk chalk by the garage. I bent over to help Ben get a rock out of his shoe. In a blink Vivi was running down the driveway full speed heading towards the street. To my left I saw a van coming around the corner. I swear time stopped and I flew down the driveway in a blur. One arm outstretched waving wildly at the van and scooping up Vivian with the other. Luckily it was a neighbor who drives slowly and cautiously down the block. Many don’t. My heart was up in my throat as I carried her back in my arms. A reminder, that it just takes a split second for the unthinkable to occur.

This morning, Gail Rosenblum’s column made my heart go right back in my throat as she discussed the recent tragedies of children hit by cars. She also mentioned something I had never heard. Children’s peripheral vision isn’t fully developed until they reach their teen years. You can read her column here “Kids can’t help being kids, so let’s keep them safe”

Ahhhh….summer in the cities.

It almost makes up for the long wintry days. Almost.

This is Zoe and Maya (and Marcie) relaxing after an afternoon watching free music and dance at Rice Park in St. Paul two weekends ago at the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival.

We bumped into some friends (Cribsheet regular Sherry and family) watching the local Sumunar ensemble perform. Kids playing traditional Indonesian music - drums, bells and gongs - in the middle of a giant Target logo in front of the Ordway center.

Surreal and yet so right on a Saturday afternoon with the sun so bright it hurt your eyes. ”Who knew?” asked Sherry’s husband Tom in wonder. 

If you missed it, don’t fret. There’s still a whole summer of fun stuff ahead.

Here’s Star Tribune’s interactive guide to summer festivals, free music and water parks. Also, as Kay mentioned, Free rides at Como this week and Free weekends coming up at national parks.

It’s almost like Minnesotans become a different people when the sun comes out.

A few summers ago, my parents visited from Malaysia. They spent their days pushing the stroller around the lakes, beaming each time someone stopped to coo over their Number One Precious Grandchild.

After a few days, they said to me: “Everybody says ‘Isn’t it a beautiful day?’” They looked bemused. “We tell them: ‘In Malaysia, everyday is beautiful.’”

Ah, but Minnesotans sure know how to appreciate lovely weather when it finally does arrive.

(Wouldn’t you know…the morning I post this, it’s cool and cloudy outside….)

(10:45 am update: Now it’s raining. Great timing, May.)

Study Animal Movements?
Visit the Bowels of the Internet?
That Site is a Dump?

What should my headline be?
So many possibilities…

How can I NOT link to this article on StarTribune.com about the new poop promotion for the Minnesota Zoo. The bottom line is too raise awareness and educate visitors about the zoo’s new Africa! exhibit.

I have a newly potty-trained 3 year old boy who is all BOY and fascinated with all things scatalogical. Now to introduce him to what giraffe’s and zebra’s do (do)? He will be all over this like a fly.

I happen to enjoy my share of potty humor - so you will see why my co-workers just heard me guffawing and snorting as I played this game at Minnesota Zoo’s whopooped.org. Complete with gross-out sound effects. And yes it was lunchtime and no it didn’t bother me a bit.
It’s actually very educational and interactive. Give it a whirl.

MN Zoo - whopooped.org - you bowled me over.
Log on. It’s your duty.

Pregnant women should eat for two, right? Unless you were already eating for two before you got pregnant…

New weight gain guidelines are out for obese women who get pregnant. They were previously advised to gain at least 15 pounds, with no upper limit. Now they’re told to gain 11 to 12 pounds.

Click here for the story. (Sorry about the bizarre transition to the bacteria story…)

Seems these guidelines change all the time. My mother-in-law, who is petite with a tiny waist, and in NO WAY close to obese, was told to gain no more than 20 pounds when she had her babies 40 years ago. When I had my two, it was 25 to 35 pounds for women of normal weight. I came in right bang at 30 pounds with both kids.

(Three years after the second, I still have 3-5 of those pounds sitting around my waist…sigh.)

How much did you gain with each pregnancy? (And have you lost it again?)

Lenore Moritz and designer hubby Michael Rabatin are on the cover of Metro Mag this month….along their Mill City condo, which they share with their two little ones. It’s a meditation on how kids and design need not be mutually exclusive concepts. Oh, and the pix are gorgeous.

Cribsheeters may remember Lenore from her guest blogs on MomCulture.

I particularly like this line in the Metro article:

“Rabatin, who prefers to decorate with a tonal base and then let people and art add color and energy, designed this home on exactly those principles.”

We like a neutral base too, though our splashes of color tend to be inadvertant and of the spaghetti sauce and juice variety. Just kidding, Michael. Your condo is gorgeous.