GoodyBlog

A Spoonful of Sugar DOES Make the Medicine Go Down

Props to Poppins. Seems like there was something about Mary's advice after all. According to New York's Cherry's Pharmacy for kids, voted Best Drugstore by New York magazine, the best way to counter the icky taste of medicine so your child will actually take his dose is chocolate: Give him a few M&M's before and right after.

Some of the award winning services Cherry's offers are custom blending specific flavors of medicine (if your child doesn't like bubble gum, they'll whip up something else, like peanut butter), and liquefying tablets for kids who can't swallow pills. They ship anywhere in the world, in case anyone's interested.

Now, we know that sugar is a touchy subject for a lot of moms and dads, and you might not want to dance with that devil. Perhaps it can serve as a last resort, though, for a kid who simply isn't taking his much needed medicine?

In light of cold and flu season coming down the pike, any other pill or medicine taking methods that you parents have perfected? What's worked for you? What hasn't? And if you have any tips for giving pills to cats, post those too. A friend's cat has caught on to the sudden windfall of fresh turkey that was coming his way.

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Spankin' New Headlines

Is it wise to work out intensely during and right after pregnancy? New mom's NYC Marathon victory has people wondering. Yahoo! News

A mother fights for diagnosis of her baby’s medical condition only to have her taken away. Boston Globe

Surgery to remove 2-year-old’s four extra limbs is a success (video). Yahoo! News

Coaching by camera: A marine in Iraq watches his wife give birth via video conference. Chicago Sun-Times

A mom’s guilt over playing the tooth fairy. Washington Post

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A New Way to Eat Cake

If only I'd seen these awesome "cakesicle" pans before today--I would have whipped up some ghoulish ones for Halloween! Oh well. Thanksgiving dessert, anyone? You know they'll go over big at the kids' table (and probably the adult one too.)

Thanks to yumsugar for the cool find. You can get the pans here.

Do You Have Recurring Dreams?

Normally, what happens in my bed stays in my bed. But here's an exception I feel I can share with the entire Goodyblog world. I had a dream last night that I was pregnant. This is not the first time this theme has shown up in my dreams. I'd say at least once or twice a month for the past 6 months or so, I've dreamed that I was in some stage of pregnancy (and, weirdly, I get more and more pregnant each time). Editor's note: I'm not preggers, nor am I planning to be preggers any time soon.

What could these dreams mean? According to this online dream dictionary (totally legit, I know): "Symbolically, pregnancy dreams may indicate the birth of a new project or idea in one's life, or being pregnant with emotion." Hmm...I'll have to think more about that.

So, do you have recurring dreams? Are you willing to share them with us (please post them in the comments!). And have you looked up their meanings?

Got A Picky Eater?

Don't blame your kids for turning up their nose at anything green. And don't blame your cooking either. Instead, blame your genes. Yup- a new study found that kids' aversions to new foods are mostly inherited. So for those of you who would sneak your broccoli under the table to the dog or wouldn't go within fifty feet of a mushroom as a kid, don't be shocked if you see the same traits in your children. But although neophobia (the fear of new foods) may be 78 percent genetic, there's still an environmental influence. Which is why we want to know: how do you get your kids to eat their veggies or try an unusual dish? If your answer is, "I don't", then check out the sneakily smart tactic that Jessica Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld's wife, used.

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Looks Like I Made It

My 6-year-old niece just lost her first tooth last week and my mom decided to get her a diary as a gift "from the Tooth Fairy." The sales lady scrunched her face in disapproval of my mom's gift choice, risking losing a tooth or two herself. (My mom has got a mean right hook.) But what Ms. Snooty Saleswoman didn't know is that my niece has been diary obsessed since her friend gave her a used one from a garage sale recently. My mom simply thought that my niece should have her very own, and the loss of the tooth provided a convenient occassion.

Now, at barely 6, my niece can pretty much write her name and maybe one or two other small words. But she dictates to my sister-in-law, who dutifully takes down what cartoon she liked that day, what time she went to bed, how many times my nephew bothered her, what her favorite animal of the minute is, and other important life-changing events in my her ever so adorable 6-year-old life.

This weekend, I got to thinking about the diaries that I kept as a kid. Depending on how you look at it, I was either very, very smart (possibly) or totally over-the-top neurotic (yup, more likely) because I never EVER wrote any secrets or potentially embarrassing things in there. Totally defeating the purpose of HAVING a diary, I know, but my innermost thoughts never got past my internal standards and practices committee. Even though my diary had a lock on it, I just knew my brother would steal it and read about how I'd just choreographed a dance (complete with costume and lighting ideas) to Barry Manilow's "Daybreak" or something. Not that I ... uhm ... ever did that. Okay. So what if I did? Maybe I was a kiddie Fanilow. Well, laugh all you want, cause I was a smart Fanilow. Up until two minutes ago, at least, when I decided to go public and Manil-out myself.

So did anyone else ever self-edit their diary as a kid? If so, what would be one of the most embarrassing secrets you would've penned as a child ... but you didn't? And if you didn't self censor, did anyone write something sacred only to have it exposed to the whole world by a snooping sibling or parent? Now's the time to come clean, people. Don't you all dare hold back on me. We're Goody family, so there should be no secrets among us. Let's have 'em!

A Hangout of One's Own

Over the weekend I found this "place" called Her Bad Mother's Basement. I'm saying "place" in quotes because it's, you know virtual, but the point is real. It's a space for parents to go and say whatever they need to get off the chests and then recieve supportive feedback from others. I found it both heartbreaking and sincere and really good to know about, because there comes a time in everyone's life when you have a thought, a feeling, a fear, or a problem that you really can't tell another soul—but you wish you could. I've always loved Post Secret but more as a reader—I don't think that's where I would go if I was really tortured by something. So, if ever you need an irony-free, snark-free zone (and who doesn't) to just chill anonymously check this out.