Missing

Missing: One Front Tooth
Last Seen: Elise's Mouth
Description: Gigantic Front Tooth.

If Found, please put in box for Tooth Fairy.

Hockey

Howdy, sports fans! We here at Steingruebl World Enterprises have got a serious case of hockey fever. Don't worry, it's highly contagious and completely normal around playoff time. We've discovered that it's a chronic condition. You've been warned.

First off, I'd like to announce that Elise had her first pre-hockey class on Wednesday afternoon. Andy ditched work early and met us at the rink. A nice lady helped me get Elise's skates on just right, and then ended up being Elise's teacher! Here is our girl, ready to get out on the ice:




For those of you who, like us, have never been to skating classes before, the system by which they sort out the class groups is clever and fun to watch. They get the more experienced skaters out there first, and then instructors get stacks of buckets for the newbies to hold on to, and take them out on the ice. Once everyone is there, they do a few little exercises to sort of sort out both skill and apprehension levels. The kids who have never skated before but are willing to try moving around a bit go in one group, the ones who stay rooted and frozen and (in some notable cases) crying for their mothers are in another. It works well for everyone except maybe the teacher who has a dozen immobile and thoroughly terrified little people with whom to contend. I thought Elise's teacher was really good. She also did a great job of getting Elise fired up for next week, which I loved.

Then, the big surprise of the week was that we secured a spot at a session of "Girls Only-Give Hockey a Try." Pretty good, considering that when we signed up there was a hefty waiting list. This program allows girls aged 5-12 to gear up and spend an hour, well, giving hockey a try. And, it's free. Which is a good thing when you start thinking about the cost of the gear. In theory, this is a great program. In execution, it is a phenomenal program. I had not expected to see so many of the Jr Sharks Girls there, but they turned out in force to help with the gear and to mentor the new girls. Their parents were amazing, and one mom spent a vast portion of the morning introducing Elise to the big kids and helping her get comfortable. And then, there was the alumna who dedicated her morning to Elise. She is my new personal hero, and you'll see why as this story continues.

When we arrived, Elise was assigned a giant bag with all of the necessary gear. We headed for the locker room with Kelly, who showed us the ins and outs of dressing for hockey.



When Elise was mostly suited up, Cori came through and helped us get skates on and laced up properly.

It was then determined that the gear felt "funny" and we slowed down a bit and got the helmet on. Not so sure about the helmet...



All geared up and ready to go!
This was the point at which the tears began to flow. The gear felt funny, the ice looked scary, etc. A thoroughly wonderful mom of one of the big girls (age 7!) sat with us and talked all about hockey and the wonder of all that padding and insulation.

Still unconvinced, Elise was determined to sit on the bleachers and not get near the ice. Then, Cori arrived. And Elise let her carry her out on the ice and skate with her in her arms. They came back for a bucket to sit on and be pushed. They came back for a stack of buckets for Elise to push. Elise didn't want to go back out, until she asked Cori about the penalty box.

All of the earlier resistance disappeared when Cori told Elise about just how much time she's spent in that very box. They skated across to the box, and spent a few minutes pretending that Elise had got a penalty. My truly amazing camera work shows them waaaaaaay across the ice.

Now, in regular skating class, the teachers want kids to let go of their buckets so they get them to drum on them and do head and shoulders touches. Elise wanted none of that, but had no problem letting go of the bucket with one hand in order to to "rough" Cori and try to draw a penalty.

When Elise got tired of skating, Cori sat her on a bucket and they worked on stick handling.



Near the end of the session, a coach helped with a few more skating skills, and discovered that Elise needed smaller skates than I put on her, so now we're all set for our future lessons!

All in all, this was an absolutely amazing experience. And now our girl is ready to play! Thank you Junior Sharks Girls, and thank you Cori, our new hockey hero!

Who is Jenny McCarthy, and Why Does Anyone Care?

Up until several months ago, I'd never heard of this gal. Then she wrote a book. I refuse, on principle, to read it. Jenny McCarthy imagines that vaccinations cause Autism. Jenny McCarthy also believes she has a magical cure for Autism. In honor of World Autism Awareness Day, I would like to call attention to the delusions she shares with entirely too many parents. Why do we care? Because McCarthy and people like her are a public health risk. Arm yourself with actual information. And if even one vaccine preventable illness or death is prevented by what you learn here and share with others the world will be a better place.

Autism and Autism spectrum disorders seem to be everywhere. Here in Silicon Valley, we seem to have more than our fair share of people suffering from this. It's a horrible malady, and people are justifiably desperate to find some dadgummed answers.

Many times, this disorder begins to present right around the developmental age at which kids get vaccinations. Worried parents swear everything about their kid was "normal" until the day their kid got protection against measles, mumps rubella, diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. The Autism must've been caused by the vaccines! Just like global warming is the result of declining pirate populations. Just because these things happen at the same time doesn't mean that one causes the other. There's a way of checking for that, using some clever ideas called "science."

Unfortunately, there are some real cretins out there. One guy, one guy I tell you, published a study a good while back in which he made up results to show vaccines causing autism. Thoroughly discredited and even admitting to having his pants afire, this guy's nonsense lives on. And lots of innocent people don't.

A lot of well-meaning parents do "research" on vaccinations and decide that, based on faulty studies and the woo of people like Jenny McCarthy, they just can't "risk" their kids getting autism. So they don't vaccinate their kids. That's right. They have the power to spare their children pain, misery, disfigurement and even death but refuse to do so based on the insane ramblings of fearmongering nutbags. Yeah, it sucks that we don't know how to prevent Autism and to cure the most debilitating aspects of it. Causing a whooping cough epidemic that kills old people and little tiny babies "just in case" is almost Pope-like in its arrogance.

In recent years, there have been increasing numbers of outbreaks of entirely preventable diseases because of falling vaccination rates. This is not based on the superstitions of has-been centerfolds, it is measurable. And it is killing people.

Many others have written about this, and I'd like to point you to them now.
The Bad Astronomer
StopJenny.com
JennyMcCarthyBodyCount.com

So, the next time someone expresses reservations about vaccinating their kids you have the knowledge. You have the power to encourage them to use their brains and not be a public health menace. Use that power for good. Save some lives. And then someday we can all forget about this Jenny McCarthy person.

Earth Hour!

Wanna take a good look at what the sky used to be like? And maybe spend some time thinking about your energy consumption?

This Saturday, people (and cities!) all over the world are turning off lights from 8:30-9:30pm local time.

Visit the nice Earth Hour people to see what the fuss is all about, and to get some ideas for your own Earth Hour celebration!

Dogs in the Tot Lot

I used to like dogs a lot. And I still do. It's their owners who sometimes leave me unhappy. Take, for example, the events of this morning.

We had a fab time at our monthly playgroup at the park today. There was one smallish incident that added some unnecessary excitement, so this is the e-mail I sent to the parks department for clarification. Feel free to comment folks, and even to write your own note to the parks department if you feel so moved.

Hello-
I was at a neighborhood playgroup at the tot lot at Cahill Park this morning, when an issue with a dog arose. A parent had brought his son to play, but he also brought his dog into the fenced tot lot. Always leashed and well-behaved, but still, a dog in an area designated for children. All of the moms who left their dogs at home were surprised at the dog owner's defensive response to their request that he tether his dog to the fence on the outside of the lot.

The situation degenerated into a group confrontation, and an angry denial by the dog owner that there should be any restriction on his dog being in the tot lot. His kid was there playing, his dog likes to play on the equipment too, he keeps the dog leashed and always picks up poop so he reasoned that he had been unfairly singled out by moms bent on making their own rules regarding playground use. I felt badly that this parent chose to leave rather than simply keep his dog outside of the gate. Given the perpetual issue of out-of-control off-leash dogs in the grass at this park, it doesn't seem an unreasonable request to have one dog-free place at the park for children to play.

It is my understanding that dogs are not permitted inside the gates of fenced tot-lots, but I don't see this posted on the parks website so now I'm wondering just exactly what the policy is. I walk from a bit of a distance for my child to use this beautiful playground, but it's not worth it for me if it is a dog playground too. Thank you in advance for your time and attention to my question.

Sincerely,
Heather Steingruebl

The thing that killed me about this whole interaction was that it started out friendly, and only got ugly when the dog-owner decided to make it so. Our little playgroup loves meeting new folks and so the folks who bring snacks share with everyone and people make a point to introduce themselves to anyone they haven't met before. This guy was welcomed even with his dog in tow, but the rest of the people in the rather crowded play lot asked him-nicely I thought-to keep his dog outside the fence. The huffy, "is it a rule or is it an ordinance" questioning was just belligerent and he was probably right to split after behaving that way.

My feeling on this is that the guy loves his dog (a very nice one by the way) and is a bit blinded by that love. He knows he is at the very least pushing the limits of social acceptability by letting his dog run up and down the slides, and didn't want to be called on it. A lot of his bluster seemed to be him trying to convince the universe at large to be the way he wanted it. Probably a losing proposition, but for today it just made him look like a jerk.

Springtime!

As one loyal reader recently pointed out, it's been some time since I managed an update here. I'd like to make up for that with a post about springtime at our house. We've been getting this joint ready for a spring and summer, and are now set to spend a lot of time outside.

First, there is the new gazebo. Our patio has a southern exposure and pretty much bakes any time there's even a glimmer of sunlight. An umbrella doesn't really cut it, but so far the gazebo is excellent. Lots and lots of patio-based picnics this past week.



Then, the real excitement. I had mentioned in passing to our neighbors that I've been looking on craigslist for a swingset for the yard. Andrea (who happens to be the mom of our most excellent new sitter, Edie,) got a thrilled look on her face and said, "We have one that we need to get rid of!" It had been given to them, and they gave it to us. Wonderful! Yesterday afternoon, they helped us carry it across the street and Elise carried the (detatched) swings all by herself. A real team effort.

But don't take my word for it, listen to what Elise has to say about it:

MarchMarchMarch

As inspired by a favorite parenting blog and some disappointingly high cholesterol levels, I'm marching through March. This means making some better food choices and getting moving! My key is to make some changes I can stick to.

My goal this month is to keep moving. I've been so disappointed in my Sharks for not moving their feet lately, so I'm going to move mine! My pedometer attached to my hip, I'm challenging myself to move as much as possible. I'll put some numbers and progress updates here, but if you're just dying to know how much walking I'm doing every day, you'll have to find me on Facebook.

Who wants to play too?