I'm sure I could research this 'til the cows come home, but I have a question for the sages of the Internet. I know a gal is supposed to take folic acid every day when (and before) they're pregnant, but is it possible to take too much?

Folic acid is recommended for pregnant women or women who plan on becoming pregnant to help with spinal and brain development. Although many foods contain folic acid pregnant women are generally prescribed prenatal vitamins containing a good amount of folic acid to take in addition to a healthy diet.

For a while I was taking folic acid supplements, a one a day. Then, when I got pregnant, I got a prescription for prenatals which I started taking right away. I sort of forgot one day and took both. I would assume, and, really, it's more like hope, that I didn't get too much folic acid. Getting too much of certain vitamins and minerals can be harmful, while others, as I understand it, you just tinkle out if they're in excess.

So, any thoughts on this? I'm sure the web knows all, but thought I'd springboard that idea off you guys first to see what you think.

Pic of vitamins by DRB62.

For quite a while, I've been lusting after one of those half bikes. You know, it's basically the back half of a bicycle that you attach to your bike so you can drag your kid around with you. The problem is, Sara's really still too young for one and Jared has his own bike now. Jared's not really up for a long ride, though, so a solution where I could pull him would be great.

That's where the Trail-Gator Bike Tow Bar comes in. It gives you the functionality of a half-bike -- being able to ride a fair distance together -- while still retaining the kid's autonomy when appropriate. You can ride around town or on a long trail, then when you get somewhere, disconnect the kid and let them rid around on their own. That's pretty darn cool, if you ask me.

Now, I just need two of these, plus a bike for Sara, and we're off for some long distance rides around the bay, right?

In my day, there was BASIC -- the Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, a purportedly easy-to-learn, general purpose programming language. When microcomputers started to become available, it was often included as a way to let new owners -- and their kids -- do something with the computer. Then there was LOGO with its "turtle graphics". Designed for kids, it was meant to teach the basics of programming and was heavily used in schools, thanks in large part to the version distributed by Apple Computer.

While both of those languages are still in use, there's a new kid on the block in the educational programming world. It's called Scratch and was designed at the MIT's Media Lab. One of it's developers, Professor Mitchel Resnick, was also responsible for the Lego Mindstorms robotics toolkit. Speaking of Legos, this new language works much like building with the little bricks. "Kids make programs by snapping blocks together," said Professor Resnick, whose position is in part supported by the toy company.

Each block contains a single command such as "move" or "change colour" which can then be stacked together to create the program. Blocks can only be stacked in ways that make sense, programmatically. Kids "don't have to worry about the obscure punctuation and syntax common in most programming languages," according to Resnick.

Scratch is available for free for Mac OS X and Windows and a Linux version is coming soon. Kids can also share their work on the Scratch website. This looks like a fun introduction to programming, especially in today's graphics-rich world.

I sit in front of my computer screen about fifteen hours a day. It's true that I do it for work, but I have often wondered if I would do it even if I didn't get paid for it. Honestly, I "talk" to my friends in the computer, especially those I work with, way more than my real life friends. It's easier. Effortless, actually. And I can just turn on my little red gmail chat light when I don't want to be bothered.

So I wasn't surprised to see this article (even if it is slightly alarmist because it is from the Daily Mail) that notes that
an informal study showed that students are having a more difficult time developing social skills because of their reliance on cell phones, the Internet, text messaging. School teachers participating in the survey said that what kids do at home -- and how much time they spend messaging at home -- impacts the way they interact with other children at school. And most say that the impacts aren't good ones.

I can totally see how the Internet could dent a child's budding social skills. I don't have a whole lot of social skill to begin with, but what little I did have has been mostly eaten by my computer, I'm sure. I find myself sometimes yearning for voicemail over a person, an email over a face-to-face meeting. Why should it be any different for my kid?

Your unborn baby has a lot on its mind. What to wear to the birth, which parent to like best, reading up on strategies for getting the most loot out of grandparents, and so on. What she doesn't need is added stress from the outside. In fact, it turns out that a mother's stress increases the risk of a number of problems for the baby, including doubling the risk of ADHD, according to research done in the UK.

"It has big public health implications. About a million children in the UK have neurodevelopmental problems - ADHD, cognitive delay, anxiety and so on. About 15% of this might be due to antenatal stress," says Professor Vivette Glover of Imperial College London. Most damaging is stress caused by rows with or violence by a partner. It seems the stress hormone cortisol crosses the placenta and the babies exposed to high levels of cortisol during their development had lower IQs at 18 months. They were more likely to be anxious and fearful as well.

Don't just blame the mothers, though. According to the professor, "We found that if the woman had a partner who was being emotionally cruel to them while they were pregnant it had a really significant effect on their baby's future development. It really shows that the partner has a big role to play." So, dads, mothers-in-law, and unsympathetic bosses, leave off the pregnant women, okay?

What were you doing when you were ten? Were you playing with dolls? Out in the backyard with your friends? By the time I was 10-years-old, I was far past liking dolls, preferring to ride my bike or hang out with friends. I also spent way too much time being boy crazy.

Thanks to consumerism and technological onslaught, kids today are growing up pretty darn fast. Your third grader wants a cell phone. Your 10-year-old wants to date. Her best friend is wearing belly-baring shirts and re-enacting dance moves from rap videos.

According to the linked article, "tweens" have major influence over family purchases such as cars. Hey, parents! Your 11-year-old doesn't need to tell you what you should and shouldn't be buying! Some listen to songs with questionable lyrics, see who-knows-what on TV and have too much freedom.

The article mentions how many younger children are acting like teenagers would. That makes me worry that the child will start doing other "teenage" activities, which definitely aren't appropriate for a "tween."

My daughter is two. She''ll be considered a "tween" when she's nine. That gives me seven more years to get rid of all media and outside influences out of our lives and move to a commune in the woods.

Experience plays a crucial role in the normal development of many perceptual and cognitive functions such as speech perception. For example, between 6 and 10 months of age, the infant's ability to discriminate among native speech sounds improves, whereas the ability to discriminate among foreign speech sounds declines. However, a recent investigation suggests that some experience with non-native languages from 9 months of age facilitates the maintenance of this ability at 12 months. Systems underlying face processing may be similarly sculpted by experience with different kinds of faces. In the study, it was demonstrated that, in this case, faces of Barbary macaques, facilitates the discrimination fo monkey faces, an ability that is otherwise around 9 months of age. These data support, and further elucidate, the role of early experience in the development of face processing.

Personally, I'm not terribly interested in whether or not my baby learns to discriminate among monkey faces. What impresed me about this article were teh comments regarding the ability to discriminate among foreign speech sounds. Do you think that experience with foreign speech might improve our children's ability to later learn foreign languages? It sounds like it might be so. What do you think?

One of my single friends once asked me just how it was that I was able to cope with being pregnant and then having a wailing, unsleeping baby who then turned into a toddler who then began talking. and so on and so on. It mystified her that I could remain in the trenches with this being who constantly disrupted my life  -her words, not mine. Well, the answer to her question, other than the fact that babies are super cute and maternal love and instincts kick in almost immediately, is that it all happens in stages. We don't birth these creatures only to have them up and walking 20 minutes later and demanding, in complete sentences, for a bowl of Cheerios. The hitch with the stages theory is that once we parents settle into a nice comfort zone with one stage, the next one begins and our once peaceful existences become tumultuous for a few weeks. As I am in the midst of a toddler upheaval of my own, I have very much enjoyed reading a couple of other blogs that chronicle other mom's issues in the same area.

Today Rockstar Mommy posted about trying to baby proof her home for her 8-month old son who is suddenly pulling himself up on things and rapidly exploring his environment. Baby gates that in the package look so easy to assemble prove to be quite the opposite for her. Dealing with the plastic anchors, vague directions and the realization that putting up a baby gate is not a piece of cake make for an enjoyable read.

An educational and inspiring read is Leery Polyp's post on her efforts to rid her home of toxic substances. It seems that every time we turn around there is yet another study about something in our homes that we have long thought safe is actually toxic. She is starting in her kitchen with utensils, food storage  and items her family uses on a daily basis and will rid her home of all toxic items. She has composed a very detailed list of the items she wants to replace with more environmentally friendly ones. In addition, Leery Polyp has included some helpful links for more literature on this all too important subject.