• The top 10 things kids stick up their noses, including how to get them out

• Saving at the supermarket: 15 great grocery store tips

• Managing clutter with baby toy alternatives from around the house, part 1 and part 2 — love the paintbrush idea!

It’s our first birthday, and we’re celebrating over here.

We’re having a garage sale Saturday and getting ready to head to the cottage next weekend — keeping us occupied enough — but there’s also a ton of things going on in this fun region of ours the next week or so as we roll into Canada Day:

• Parent Source’s Canada Day Guide: Find out what your town has planned to celebrate our country’s 141st birthday, including where to go for fireworks
• Durham events from the local paper: Check out Metroland’s day-by-day event listings from across the Region
• Durham Tourism: All our local attractions
• Beach water testing: See if your local waterfront is safe for swimming
• SummerActive: Want out of Durham? This government of Canada website has event listings by age group from across the country

Extraordinary Breastfeeding: Girl, 7, still drinking from her mom.

People, they draw art with boobs in it. And they’ve named them: Milky for “the one with the most milk in it” and Lady for “the one with the pink dot.”

“I’d rather have lots of breastmilk than a million melons!”

Ahhhhhhh!!

Further proof the nickname for my in-utero babies is appropriate:

“Scientists have known for a while that parasites can induce “behavioral modification” in its hosts - but this one is new: a parasite that turns its host into a bodyguard!

Inside the caterpillar host, a cruel drama takes place: the eggs of the parasitoid hatch and the larvae feed on the body fluids of the host. The caterpillar continues feeding, moving and growing like its unparasitized brothers and sisters. When the parasitoid larvae are full-grown, they emerge together through the host’s skin, and start pupating nearby. Unlike many other combinations of host and parasitoid, the host remains alive but displays spectacular changes in its behaviour: it stops feeding and remains close to the parasitoid pupae. Moreover, it defends the parasitoid pupae against approaching predators with violent head-swings.”

Do many of you get Today’s Parent? It’s a Canadian parenting magazine put out by Rogers, and I quite enjoy it. The past few months they’ve had a few fabulous articles on greening your house for baby and just in general:

How green is your home?: A room-by-room tour (kids’ rooms, bathrooms, kitchen etc.) to learn about the “environmental baddies” you may be harbouring, and how to fix ‘em. I really liked how they focus not just on the standard, big-ticket, expensive stuff such as new furnaces and windows, but on mattresses, bedding, paints, shower curtains and cookware. Literally the best resource I’ve read that compiles everything together. A must read.

The green nursery: Thoughts and tips on carpeting, paint, furniture and bedding in a vulnerable newborn’s bedroom. Did you know the glue that holds together many new cribs (particularly cheaper ones like *ahem* we bought from Sprawl-Mart) can off-gas formaldehyde for years?). Another excellent read.

Guide to less toxic products: From the Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia, via the above story. Endorsed by the Big Man himself, David Suzuki. The article includes this warning: “You  may find out more than you really wanted to know about the chemical soup that is modern life.” Yeah…proceed with caution.

Easy recipes for non-toxc house cleaning: Love them.

Now you see it, now you don’t: Cookie magazine and Apartment Therapy’s ohdeeoh recently held this neat contest to find parents’ best solutions for kid clutter and storage. There are some really neat, funky ideas here.

The 50 best Sesame Street moments: Walk down memory lane with these. Can you believe this show has been on the air for more than 35 years?! You must watch # 9 (Mr. Hooper isn’t coming back — oh, how heartbreaking…) and of course, #1, Ernie singing “Rubber Duckie.”

The source of women’s housework — their husbands!: You hardly even need to click here to know this, but still an interesting read.

The best baby laughs: A compilation from YouTube. Absolutely hilarious. Not as funny as my girl, of course, but up there (I still watch this video once a week, and each and every time it totally makes me cry with the happy).

NASA’s top 10 view of Earth, taken by astronauts on the International Space Station.

They are stunning. And really put our place on this planet in perspective.

Hope you did something nice for the world today.

Ever wondered where babies come from? Or need a rather no-holds-barred, to-the-point guide for your kids?

The Germans (is anyone surprised at this?) show you, in hilarious picture book form.

(Note: If you are educated on where babies come from, you’re smart enough to know picture book+ that = the book has nekkid people in it. Illustrated, yes, but the drawing of the smiling baby emerging from spread le…it’s probably not safe for work, people, is all I’m saying.)

Link via reader Athena of How Soon is Now. Thanks!

Are you shutting off the lights tomorrow?

It’s Earth Hour between 8-9 p.m. Residents and corporations around the world are turning off their power to make a statement about climate change.

Almost every municipality and many businesses in Durham are participating. I’m dying to see whether the Region shuts off the eye glaring, power-sucking lights of their monstrous parking garage and headquarters at Rossland Rd. and Garden St. in Whitby. Everytime I drive by at night, that corner is absolutely shining. I bet the residents who live behind the lot will love it.

We will of course be participating. Already got the candles and bbq lighter ready to go. I’ve told Eric that watching COPS in the dark does not count. Which sucks ’cause this weekend’s new episode has spike strips and foot pursuits and helicopters.

*sigh*