I am deliciously amused and shocked by the scandalous confessions of moms who, apparently, watch WAY too much television. I'm not saying that I haven't succumbed to a slight TV crush from time-to-time, but who knew that children's television was entertaining mothers to this degree? Take a look at Babble.com's article on the 10 Most Crushworthy Children's Show Hosts.
Not for nothing, but they could have probably included the brother from the Let's Go Show on Sprout:
I'm just saying.
Is all.
Mommy Crushes: Wow! Who Knew?
The Golden Rule: Should You Give to Receive
What's the best way to go about increasing your influence on social medium platforms such as Twitter? It's a question that draws a range of answers from the so-called experts. But among the most controversial of strategies is the one that tells you to increase your following by following lots of other people, including ones you might not have much in common with. In fact, this week we read a VERY interesting article making the rounds on this very subject, called The Twitter Law Of Reciprocity . So we pose the question to you: Does it make sense to follow lots of people with the expectation of getting many followers in return? Should you follow those who follow you (or use apps that do this for you) willy-nilly? In the end, what's the benefit?
Richard Pryor on the Alphabet
If you're a 30-something (or better) we're pretty sure you'll appreciate this, along with your little one.
Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding
We're fairly new to Oyin Handmade goodies in my house. But we're already calling Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding our all-purpose butter. We use it on every part of our bodies. We use it to tame toddler frizzies. We use it on chapped lips. We use it as a hair conditioner. We smooth it onto the little one's face before he goes out in the cold. 
If we could only have one product for everyone in the house regardless of gender and preferences, this would have to be it. Whipped Pudding is completely handmade with good-for-you ingredients like shea butter and cocoa butter. The very gentle vanilla-y, cocoa-buttery, slightly chocolate-y scent is just tooooo heavenly.
Groundhog Day Redux
We wanted to share our favorite video about groundhogs. It's from Jack's Big Music show and it stars musicians Steve Burns (former Blues Clues host) and Steven Drozd (of the Flaming Lips). Learn some fun facts you DIDN'T know about the groundhog! Or at least file it away in your mental Rolodex for next year.
"I Hog The Ground"
Erykah Badu Welcomes New Baby Girl
Congratulations to singer Erykah Badu and music producer Jay Electronica. They are the proud parents of a new baby girl. Badu gave birth yesterday at her home with a midwife... and managed to keep all us updated through Twitter! Best wishes to the baby girl and her happy parents.
Sesame Street Stars In "Scrubs"
Good news for Muppet fans! When the popular TV show Scrubs airs tonight, stars of Sesame Street will be part of the cast. The episode, called "My ABCs", will feature the Sesame Street characters Elmo, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch. The gang will be helping to teach the show's star, J.D., about the gift of compassion.
Again, the program airs tonight on ABC at 9 PM eastern, 8 PM central.
Here are a couple of still photographs of the episode from our from our friends at Muppet News Central:
Jack Johnson: Upside Down
As we wind up a truly exciting and inspiring week, we thought we'd leave you with a song that sums it all up with child-like wonder. Leave it to a 2-year-old (mine)to pick out the perfect tune and video. It's Jack Johnson's "Upside Down". We dare you to listen or watch without cracking a smile.
Who´s to say what´s impossible?
Well, they forgot this world keeps spinning
And with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks reflections fade
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread it's wings
There´s no stopping curiosity
I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I´ll find the things they say just can´t be found
I´ll share this love I find with everyone
We´ll sing and dance to mother nature´s songs
I don´t want this feeling to go away
Who´s to say I can´t do everything?
Well, I can try, and as I roll along I begin to find
Things aren´t always just what they seem
I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I´ll find the things they say just can´t be found
I´ll share this love I find with everyone
We´ll sing and dance to mother nature´s songs
This world keeps spinning
And there's no time to waste
Well it all keeps spinning spinning
Round and round and upside down
Who´s to say what´s impossible and can´t be found?
I don´t want this feeling to go away
Please don´t go away
Please don´t go away
Please don´t go away
Is this how it´s supposed to be?
Is this how it´s supposed to be?
The Dawn Of A New Day
You have to love that, down the road, our children will probably find all of this completely normal. 
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
The famous I Have A Dream speech:
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Fivescore years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination; one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity; one hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land.
So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check ; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
And so we've come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the movement. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
Nineteen sixty-three is not and end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. This offense we share mounted to storm the battlements of injustice must be carried forth by a biracial army. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?: We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for whites only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of excessive trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of the northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able to hear out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to go to jail together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning-"my country 'tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride; from every mountain side, let freedom ring"-and if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that.
Let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children - black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants - will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
The Roots on Yo Gabba Gabba
Not too long ago, I promised to find a new link to The Roots performing "Lovely, Love My Family" on Yo Gabba Gabba (similar links keep getting wiped from YouTube). Here is one that I hope will last long enough for everyone who hasn't seen this yet to catch it.
Learning About the Planets & Stars
New Year's Eve and even New Year's Eve eve are great times to teach the kids about stars and planets. Why? Because this year, for much of the country, Venus will be visible just below the moon in the southwestern sky. A short time later, Mercury and Jupiter will be visible on the horizon to the south-southwest. Find out how and why HERE.
My son is a toddler and loves the Planet Song from Blue's Clues. We don't know if he's connecting the dots, but it's a start. See this segment from Blue's Clues (sung mainly by the show's original host, Steve Burns) by clicking on the thumbnail.
Mercury's hot too.
Venus is the brightest planet
and Earth is home to me and you.
Mars is the red one
Jupiter's most wide
Saturn's got those icy rings
Uranus spins on it's side.
Neptune's really windy
and Pluto's really small.
Well we wanted to name the planets, and now we've named them all!"
Of course, poor Pluto has been downgraded since this song was recorded. But think of it as another chance to explain what separates a planet from a moon. More dazzling images at http://www.theskyinmotion.com/
Christmas Songs For the iPod
African-American Christmas Classics
This Christmas (LP Version) by Donny Hathaway
Santa Claus is a Black Man by AKIM & Teddy Vann
Give Love At Christmas By The Temptations
Kung Fu Christmas
Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas
Christmas In Hollis by Run DMC
Silent Night by the Temptations
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by the Pointer Sisters
My Favorite Things by Luther Vandross
Merry Christmas Baby/Please Come Home For Christmas by Charles Brown
Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown
Do You Hear What I Hear by Whitney Houston
Get Here by Oleta Adams
Someday At Christmas by Stevie Wonder
Little Drummer Boy by Jackson 5
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by the Jackson 5
I'm sure I left some out, so please feel free to set me straight! And Happy Holidays!!!!!!
