November 2005

New Market for Handmade Items

There’s a new e-commerce marketplace called Etsy that looks very intriguing. It’s quite similar to E-Bay, in that it lets people buy and sell items, but limits itself to handmade goods. Etsy is still fairly new, but has a good interface and some innovative search features, so you can easily find items by type, material, […]

A Mom by Any Other Name

What do our children call us? This is a recurring topic on several of the lesbian-mom blogs I read, and has popped up as a question on Mombian as well. Most recently, the Faggots on the Third Floor blog has asked whether “mommy” tends to be used for the bio mom, and “mama” for the

Teaching Toddlers to Read

A recent research paper suggests that simply reading to toddlers may not help them learn to read, although it may have other developmental benefits. Apparently (and not surprisingly), toddlers focus on pictures more than words. They won’t learn to read words, though, unless the reader points out letters and words as well as narrates the

Mombian Marketplace

With Halloween behind us, the winter holidays are right around the corner. Rather than plague you with too many gift ads on the main site (though I’ll always have a few), I decided to launch a separate Mombian Marketplace, with books and magazines on LGBT parenting, books, toys, and music for kids, and tools for

Follow-up on Non-Bio Moms in Washington

The Seattle Times has a good editorial reinforcing what I said in my previous post about the recent Washington state ruling that gives a non-bio mom the right to seek parental rights. The key point: This dispute could have been avoided if the Washington Legislature had given the two women the ability to get married.

New Non-Bio Mom Rights in Washington; Necessary but Not Sufficient

The Washingon State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a non-bio mom who raised a child with her partner from birth to age 6 can seek rights as a “de facto parent,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. This is certainly better than a ruling to the contrary, but doesn’t go as far as California’s August ruling that

Stroller

Baby Gear Recommendations

I thought some Mombian readers might be interested in the list of baby gear recommendations I wrote up for a friend who was pregnant. Every child is different, though, so every parent’s list of “essentials” will be different. YMMV, but this should get you started. I’ve given a few brand names for items we particularly liked, but for most things, it really doesn’t matter. (Warning: Long list ahead.)

American Girl’s Support of Girl’s Inc. Draws Fire

A Catholic school near Milwaukee has banned a fashion show put on by American Girl, Mattel’s popular brand of historical dolls, because of the company’s financial support of Girls, Inc. Girls Inc. offers a variety of programs for helping girls develop their self esteem, providing resources on topics such as leadership, science, sports, money management,

Newsflash: Same-Sex Parents Similar to Straight Ones

Another from the “But we knew that” department: The San Antonio Express-News has a good article today profiling two families, one with lesbian parents, one with straight, and showing they are more alike than different. Joking aside, it’s a timely piece, given the upcoming Texas vote (November 8) on a proposed constitutional amendment that would

Baby Took Over My Brain

During pregnancy, my partner would often excuse her hormonally induced behavior by saying “Sorry, the baby took over my brain.” Turns out there might be something to that. Scientists in Singapore, China, and Japan have conducted research on mice showing that fetal cells can migrate into the mother’s brain and develop into various nervous system

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