I don’t like these.

And I don’t just mean the bad Photoshopping of the backgrounds.

Little girls in bikinis are a big pet peeve of mine, even before I had a daughter.  And now Liz Hurley has decided to jump on the early sexualization of young girls bandwagon with her own clothing line.  I think the purple one, with the ring on the top piece, is especially egregious.  Little girls are not women, nor should they dress exactly like them!

I just don’t get the whole little girls in bikinis thing.  If anything, we should be covering our kids’ skin as much as possible, not exposing most of it to the sun.  I don’t do a long sleeve rash guard, but both of my kids wear short-sleeved ones.

I know that Jessica Simpson also took some heat for posting photos of her infant in a bikini, which although the baby is cute as a button, I’m not totally down with it.  I read that it was supposed to be a retort on how Simpson should be in “bikini body” shape after giving birth, but still.

Fight the bikinis, girls, fight the bikinis!

90% of you do not agree with the rather heavy-handed tactics planned by New York City to promote breastfeeding to new moms.  While I think we can all agree that it would be ideal if everybody could breastfeed, the harsh reality is that no, not every single mother can breastfeed.   Whether it be due to health conditions, failure to latch properly, failure to produce enough milk, or simply having to go back to work, breastfeeding is difficult for many.  To assume all mothers should breastfeed exclusively is to not live in reality.

Today I’m sort of excited about this.

What’s that, you say?  I wasn’t here Friday or yesterday?

Well, you can blame my computer for that.  Even though it isn’t that old, there was something wrong with the cooling system and we had to get it fixed.

Boo.

Anyhow, 55% of you say that the best meal you ever ate was in a restaurant, and I would have to agree.  I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy a dinner at the famed Club 33 at Disneyland (thanks, Marc!) for our 3rd wedding anniversary.   Not many people get to go up a French lift to get to their meal. And man, it was good.  My flat iron steak was tasty, but the memory I have of the cheese course still makes my mouth water.

And now, with summer breathing down our necks, I want to know what you think about cruises.  A friend of mine recently took her first cruise with her husband and son, and has already signed up for their next one.

You may have heard by now that Lego has come out with a new line designed specifically for girls.

And you know, I’m good with that. I think that even though the concept of Lego is universal, not every girl wants to build police cars and assault vehicles and whatnot.

But this?

This seems just a bit too genderized for me. I don’t have a problem with having things like the tree house or the pet house, but why oh why does everything have to have pink and purple? Could they have not launched the new sets with regular colors?

This is an old advertisement from the 70’s (I think) in which the girl, admittedly a bit tomboy-ish looking, is holding a creation built out of standard Lego bricks.

What happened between then and now?

I had my own Lego sets in the 70’s, and granted, it was a “house” set with a kitchen and living room, but I loved it. It wasn’t pink or purple or glittery, and yet it was one of my favorite toys.

Imagine that!

According to an article in the LA Times, some schools in Britain are sick and tired of the “skirt creep” that some young girls are wont to do and are solving the problem by banning skirts altogether.

As someone who was FORCED to wear skirts EVERY SINGLE DAY for all twelve of my school years (uh, not including college, natch) I applaud this decision heartily.

Skirts, as school wear, generally suck.

Nothing is more miserable than having to wear a skirt in cold, rainy weather.  And tights don’t quite cut it in the warmth department.  In fact, we were not allowed to wear tights, only socks.  I remember attempting to pull my thick wool skirt over the tops of my knees outside at lunch in order to keep my kneecaps from becoming frostbitten.  I was in Southern California, so it wasn’t actually all that cold, but try telling that to my poor, shivering kneecaps.

Also, nothing is more embarrassing than having your skirt fly up, and this can happen due to more reasons than you would think.  Bloomers are an option, as are bike shorts, but can get uncomfortable sitting in class all day long.

So, in cold weather, pants for the win!

In hot weather, culottes do the trick.  Practically impossible to roll up by the waistband (unless you like having a seam embedded in your crotch all day, and hey, maybe some people do) and equally impossible to roll up the legs.

I know, because all my friends and I tried.

Not because Mr. Beckham is a talented soccer player/underwear model.

And also not because he is married to Posh Spice.

He is jealous of David Beckham because mere days after the birth of his daughter, he is surfing.

You see, my husband barely saw the light of day when I was recovering from both of my C-sections.  I think he went out of the house to possibly buy diapers and get me food.

Being rich does indeed have its privileges.

47% of you agreed that summer camps are a bit on the expensive side. 15% said that they weren’t sure, but the $800 a week robotics camp I mentioned sounded a bit pricey.  And then, a full 36% of you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and chastised me for expecting a robotics camp to be cheap.  Well, I hope all 36% of you are feeling better today.

Of all the official royal wedding pictures, the one making the most impact is the one where young flower girl Grace van Cutsem is doing a bit of a glower and covering her ears whilst the newlyweds kiss.   Young Grace has become the hottest internet meme (although with the news of the death of Bin Laden, she might be usurped by tomorrow) around.  But, is it appropriate in the first place?

When asked last week about A & F’s push up bikini top for girls, you responded with an overwhelming “WTF!?” Only nine percent of you thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. I beg to differ with that nine percent, though. This type of product is yet another in a long line of products that sexualizes our young girls. I’m not even cool with regular old bikini tops for 8 year olds, much less padded, push up ones.

We’ve discussed this topic a bit before, but Consumerist reports that airline Ryanair advertised their intention to start “child-free” flights starting in October.  Now, this was released on April 1, so let’s take that with a grain of salt.  However, it is an interesting idea, is it not?