Yesterday I sent Ainsley off to First Grade.

Someone asked me, Did you cry?

Cry? I did cartwheels!

Which is an exaggeration. I felt a some relief.

Have you any idea what its like to work with two small children in your cube?

THIS is the reason I'm not doing cartwheels - Yet.

Zack is bored and lonely when his sister goes to school. He needs to go to preschool. Only I didn't realize my new town has only one and it fills up fast.

I'm praying for two biters and two separation anxieties - Zack's 4th on the list.

Mother's Day Out will give me 2 days a week to work uninterrupted. It will give him social contact with other children and stimulation. He's super smart - which is why he was trying to Make His Own Popcorn For Dinner. Check out his Potty Dance debut on YouTube.

How are ya'll managing your first day of school around the country?

by Tracee Sioux

I found myself facing a modern-day dilemma when my 6-year-old daughter, Ainsley, started surfing the net.

I suppose in my mind it I thought it would go something like this:

My 10-year-old daughter would come to me and say, Mom, I need to do a report in school. Is it okay if I learn to Google now?

Of course, Darling, but you know the Internet has a lot of issues with inappropriate content, so we need to go over a list of rules about opening email and files and what pages are off-limits.

Yeah okay. Here's how that went in real life.

Mom. Log me on to Disney.com.

I obeyed.

How do you spell Zac Efron?

Z-A-C - space - E-F-R-O-N

After 15 minutes of watching Oprah and folding laundry, I look over at the computer screen and realize my 6-year-old daughter has been randomly clicking entertainment gossip blogs and tabloid websites (read: soft porn). It's only a matter of time before Zac Efron's girlfriend, Vanessa Hudgens, appears naked on our computer screen. Not to mention all those nasty text ads advertising the actual sale of girls, she might randomly click.

Ainsley, I think you should go read a book or something.

After the kids are in bed,Honey, I think it's time to install the Internet Safety software, immediately. Ainsley learned to Google today.

Hop on over to the Internet Safety Advisor for Parental Safety Tips for guidelines on how to allow children to safely navigate their first movie-star crush.

And please, leave all the advice you've got on good software and effective rules.

By Tracee Sioux

I took my kids and my Grandma to see Hairspray (Full-Screen Edition) at the $1 movie. What a great family flick. Well, I'm not sure my grandma appreciated the subject matter (she's still not completely sure integration is going to work out.)

There's the obvious message about race and integration. But, beneath that there is an equally good message about size and gender.

The heroine, Tracy Turnblad, is a . . . what am I allowed to say without pissing anyone off. . . NOT a size Zero (not that here's anything wrong with being naturally thin).

Tracy is depicted as the hippest and most insightful and fashionable of the girls. Other girls start to cut and color their hair like hers. They imitate her dance moves and vote her Ms. Hairspray. She gets a modelling contract for a dress store. She even scores the leading man, Link Larkin (Zac Efron of High School Musical).

Edna Turnblad (John Travolta in a fat suit and a dress), turns out, hasn't left the house in 10 years due to embarrassment about her size. It brings to light that women weren't allowed to have a ton of dreams or ambition - she shares that she dreamed of owning a coin-opperated laundry mat, but gave that up. Nor did housewives "stay home and not work" which is how our Norman Rockwell memory likes to paint the wife of the 1960s, rather they took in other people's laundry to make ends meet. Tracy made her mom her manager and asked her to negotiate her contract. Such a new thing for any woman, let alone one who felt her appearance wasn't even good enough to be seen in public.

I'll teach you how to do it mom, Tracy tells her mother. We've been teaching our mothers how to think in new ways and challenge the status quo for a couple of generations now. I can't wait for the lessons my daughter teaches me.

The bottom line is that this is a movie with powerful female characters who reject their "proper place" in society. Tracy not only thought up and led an integration march, she risked her boyfriend, to do it.

Change isn't just going to happen for people who are different. We're going to have to DO something to make it happen, she tells her father.

This kind of feminine power is important for girls to see.

Plus, it came with the added perk of Zac Effron. He's Ainsley's first movie star crush and she told me she was dreaming about last night. I have to admit, he's totally crush-worthy.

(p.s. I'm perfectly aware that this movie review comes out only in time for the Hairspray (Full-Screen Edition). But, I respect my budget and that's what I can afford. Not to mention no one cares if my 18-month-old runs up and down the aisles at the dollar movie.)

My recomendation: remove a princess movie and replace it with Hairspray which has great and empowering messages for girls.