When I'm a Parent, I'm Totally Going to Heckle

Yeah, that's what it felt like even when I was in the chorus.

Shameless Plug and the Scariness of Babies

Hey, guess what I wrote--this article!

Working at a children's hospital has made me terrified to have kids. So many things can go wrong with them! Their insides could fall apart at any minute! And you wouldn't know it until there was a bunch of organs on the floor!

Fortunately, the little girl in this article is doing fine and the outlook for the future is bright.

But seriously, kids (all you child blog-followers), take care of yourselves!

You Must Be This Tall

Another fun summer day via Lady Faces--amusement park ideal.

That Twain Keeps a Wolling

Man, what's with all the cool kids? When I was this age, I was running around the house, singing along with the Little Mermaid soundtrack.





I just love the little lisp!

These Days Are Ours

Oh my lord, that poor child.

At least she's not alone in family photo awkwardness. This blog makes me feel a lot better about my middle school pictures.

Everybody Wants to Be a Cat

This kid is the coolest cat around.

Good For Your Health

Sometimes blogs are about funny videos and cute pictures of puppies and all the snark you can sit into a post. But sometimes they have a greater purpose. Sometimes blogs bring pediatric health news to curious readers.

Hence the reason the Lady Faces gets the occasional shaft-of-the-day. For at least the next few weeks, I'm a blogger (and doctor-blogging-helper) for Thrive, the official Children's Hospital Boston blog. CHB is one of the country's top children's hospitals, with lots of fantastic programs for children, so the blog has great experts weighing in on health topics.

Plus, you can see the serious side of Annie's writing. Check it out--swimming safety! ACL surgery! French fries! You just know you want to comment.

Really though, you should check it out. One day your child will need ACL surgery, and you'll know just what to do because of Thrive.

(I just saved your child's life!)

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other

Forget about the Addams Family. I'm all about the Munsters, mostly because I feel like Marilyn half the time.

You Might Cry at Your Office Desk

Oh my lord, Pixar. As if I needed a reason to love you more. Now you go and fulfill the wish of a dying ten-year-old? My heart just grew three sizes.

Colby Curtin, who was suffering from vascular cancer for the last four years, was desperate to see Up. She was supposed to get a special wheelchair to go, but then that didn't work out and suddenly she got a lot more sick, so she couldn't get out of bed to go to the theater. A family friend got in touch with Pixar, who brought Colby a DVD copy, along with stuffed animals and other Pixar film memorabilia. Colby got to see the movie (or rather, she got to hear it, since she couldn't really open her eyes at that point) and died later that night.

And how perfect that Up is about dealing with grief and appreciating the people you loved in your life? Colby's mom said:

"When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie. I just know that word 'Up' and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven."

Oh my lord, I cannot handle this article. I hope the Curtin family can think back on these last moments with their daughter and know that she was happy.

Seriously, Pixar? You already made me cry with Carl's story, and now this? What's next? When will the tears stop?!

(I hope they don't! Keep tugging at my icy heartstrings, guys!)

Bee Happy

Kavya Shivashankar is the winner of the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling, beating out lots of other awkward kids who can spell words I never even knew existed. Congrats, Kavya!

To celebrate, here are a few adorable/awkward/hilarious Spelling Bee moments. Below is my favorite:





I started giggling, too!

Is She a Fan of Dadaism?

This is the reason you have kids--so you can use them for your own comedic interests. Like Bill Zeman and his four year-old daughter. On his blog, Tiny Art Director, Bill posts his drawings and his daughter's critiques, which are pretty hysterical. (Bill also promises that TAD is not a major brat; why post all the cute, sweet things a child says when you can post their hilarious freak outs?)

A favorite:

The Brief: A Crocodile
The Critique: What's he going to do to that bird? Is he going to eat him? That's not what I want. You have to do it with him killing that bird.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Killing Daddy killing! Can you do it killing him?

A girl after my own heart.

In about five years, she'll probably be embarrassed by all of this. But that's just part of the joy of being a parent. And until then, I'll enjoy the Tiny Art Director.

Sing Along Friday

If you were a little girl around 1989, you probably tried flopping around a pool with your legs stuck together so you could be a mermaid.





Seriously, I freakin' love this movie.

It's Not Easy Being Green

"First Celebrity Swine Flu Fatality
And we all know who gave it to him……………"

Hehehe. Love hurts.

Hoppy Halloween!

Oh my lord.

Check out more of photographer Amy Stein's Halloween in Harlem series.

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!

As a redhead named Annie, you can bet your bottom dollar that I watched the movie Annie every single day when I was little. There was that brief period in which I hated the musical, since kids would sing "Tomorrow" at me, but those days are over and I sincerely love it again. Sometimes when I'm down I'll put on the soundtrack and sing, "She's like a shine on your shoes, or hearing a blues that's great..." Except I can't sing well, so there was never a chance that this Annie could have been in Annie.

And maybe that's a good thing. Check out Life After Tomorrow, a documentary about women who played Annie (or were one of the orphans) on Broadway. Even though you can tell they all love the musical, it did kind of mess with their heads. One minute they're huge Broadway stars, and then next they're out the door because there's a more adorable kid taking their place. Also, they were kind of let run wild. (Sarah Jessica Parker mentions how they all used to run around Broadway before it got cleaned up, making fun of the prostitutes.)

Nowadays, I hope kids in theater are under a little more supervision, but there are still stage parents forcing kids to be perfect, and I'm guessing kids don't get therapy after their lose a role to kids who are younger and cuter. One person in the film makes a good point--if your kid says they want to be an astronaut, you don't send them to NASA. But if your kid says he/she wants to be a star, you can potentially make that happen. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

But it is nice to see that the women in Life After Tomorrow don't hate Annie. They all just say it was a wonderful but overwhelming time in their lives.

I can't embed the whole documentary here, but here's a taste from 20/20:

You're Not Fern, Child

Bad parenting--the cause of the swine flu.

Get Out the Scary Lighting

Michael Emerson, you may just be the creepiest man alive. Not just on television. The creepiest man alive. Thank goodness you use your powers for good.

Like reading nursery rhymes aloud!





This also just made me like Jimmy Fallon a little more.

Earth Rocks!

If you didn't love Paul Rudd before, you have to love him now. Who else would get so into wearing a giant earth suit on Sesame Street? I really bet the producers came up to him and said, "Okay, so we've got this song that involves you wearing a giant globe," and Paul Rudd said, "Hell yeah you do!"

Paul, if you're out there, we should totally be friends.







Earth rocks!

(Although I kept thinking of that as a pun--literal rocks. Hehehe.)

The Berenstain Bears Have a Dark Side

Sometimes bears get vicious. But that doesn't mean they don't need their juice. More through the link.

(via bookshelves of doom)

Beckett Wishes He Wrote This

I would love to see this hit Broadway.





"Why couldn't they do Oklahoma? I understand Oklahoma."