When you have a child with a speech delay, anytime they say a complete sentence with more than three or four words, it’s cause for a celebration. Just in the last two weeks our son has had such a language explosion that Cracked Daddy and I have been positively giddy, considering the fact that we had to temporarily stop his therapy sessions because of our craptastic insurance that considers our hospital out of network and doesn’t want to cover as much as they should. (Oh, hai United Healthcouldcareless!)

In any case, we’ve been hearing E.B. tell us what he ate for lunch at school, tell us that his stomach hurts, and tell us that he loves us. That last one is a huge, huge deal and I think it’s pretty self-explanatory as to why. Although he will be 4 next month, these are the things we have longed to hear him say…the simple little words we take for granted as being “the norm”.

Last night as I was bathing E.B. he proudly proclaimed to me, “Look Mama! My butt…it’s so pretty!”

7 words, y’all. I don’t know whether to beam with pride or run for the hills.

Is It Me, Or Is This Economy Liberating? by Amyz5 at 50 Something Moms Blog.

Only One Teacher’s Opinion by Beth at Blog O’ Beth

Clockwatching by Her Bad Mother

I’m Over Being Sexy at Now Entering Momville

Fallen Soldier Is Coming Home by Leigh at North Carolina, New Beginings

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!
My friends and I have recently been having so much fun looking at old pictures of ourselves from high school. It’s been amazing to see how much we’ve changed and remember the girls that we were. I always had a “thing” about my weight in high school, convinced I was fat. I’m almost a little angry now for being so hard on myself back then. I most certainly didn’t have a weight problem and can’t believe how focused I was on how I looked, as if my self-worth were soley based on those two things. And sadly, girls today still struggle with these very same issues.

Did you know:

75 percent of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative and potentially harmful activities, such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking or drinking,when feeling badly about themselves—compared with 25 percent of girls with high selfesteem.
· 61 percent of teen girls with low self-esteem admit to talking badly about themselves (Compared to 15 percent of girls with high self-esteem)
· 25 percent of teen girls with low self-esteem resort to injuring themselves on purpose or cutting when feeling badly about themselves (Compared to 4 percent of girls with high self-esteem)
· 25 percent of teen girls with low self-esteem practice disordered eating, such as starving themselves, refusing to eat, or over-eating and throwing up, when feeling badly about themselves (Compared to 7 percent of girls with high self-esteem

These findings were recently published as part of Dove’s Real Girls,
Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem.

Dove, a trusted authority on skincare, is on a mission to change the way girls think and help them focus on positivity when it comes to self esteem. They’ve launched the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to bring self-esteem programming to girls across the country and to encourage everyone to make a difference in the lives of girls. This new initiative is part of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund goal to reach 5 million girls globally by 2010 with self-esteem programming and have partnered with organizations such as The Girl Scouts of America and the Boys and Girls Clubs to empower as many young people as possible with the self confidence so many of them need and deserve.

To help spread this message, Dove has generously offered one Mommy Cracked reader the chance to win a prize package that includes a “Your Beautiful
Pass It On” t-shirt and 2 books titled “Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters” by Courtney E. Martin and “Life Doesn’t Begin 5 Pounds From Now” by Jessica Weiner.

To win:

Visit Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty website. There are so many resources available there to help you help a young girl develop her own positive self esteem.

Come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me one positive thing you can do to help a young girl (it can be your child or someone you know) in your life feel great about herself.

Contest will close at 11 PM Central on Sunday, February 1. U.S. only.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to Angie from Angie Says! I have emailed you!

Thank you so much to everyone for entering!

Do you remember the episode from Cosby where Claire and Cliff both come down with the flu and have to leave the oldest kids in charge? The kids start abusing their power and making the other kids do undesirable chores and things like that. The whining and tattling commences from the smaller kids and reaches epic proportions until Claire throws back the covers from her bed and declares that her sickness is over and SHE is now back in charge?

That would be my house.

Cracked Daddy started getting grouchy….E.B. was whiney….and then Cracked Daddy came down with the sickness. Today I had to throw back the covers and declare my sickness over (even though it is far from it) and take back control of the house and childrearing. It’s amazing what one can get done in a Nyquil induced stupor is all I’m saying.

But. I have made a few observations and declarations of my own.

1. I hearby further declare that all three of us must never, ever get sick at the same time again. Especially with grandparents out of town.

2. All the sniffling, snorting, coughing, and grunting sounds like feeding time at the zoo in my house.

3. Said sniffling, snorting, coughing and grunting sounds (nonstop, might I add) are FRIKKIN ANNOYING.

That is all.

Oh, and one more thing….today is the last day to enter for the Pepsi Ultimate Super Bowl Party Pack…so hurry!