West Coast Avengers cover with
Hawkeye wearing a hearing aidLittle Anthony Smith was absolutely sure about one thing -- superheroes did not wear hearing aids. So when his mom Christina D'Allesandro asked the 4-year-old to put on his hearing device -- which they dubbed "blue ear" because of it's color -- he naturally put up a fight.

She told him that crime fighters did in fact wear hearing aids, but Anthony wanted proof. As with most good moms, Christina didn't give up. She emailed Marvel Comics to see if, on an off chance, there were any superheroes who fit the bill. "I am likely to get stuck in your spam filter," she wrote from their Salem, New Hampshire home. "But you never know..." The long shot paid off.

Parents of autistic toddlers are now getting help from an unexpected place: The iPad and a growing range of apps for autistic kids. These apps can help children express themselves, learn to talk, help you measure their stress level. It's like an amazing shortcut to communicating with your child.

And while an iPad seems expensive, it's far less expensive and smaller than other equipment that does the same things for autistic kids. You can customize some of the apps, uploading photos of the exact things your child wants so they can just point -- without having to negotiate any other distracting images or ideas.

The app revolution is a boon to parents, but experts warn it's not THE answer to everything.

Of all the incredibly cute, funny videos lately featuring kids doing incredibly cute, funny things in backseats of cars (singing, falling asleep while eating, etc.), THIS is my absolute favorite.

Because not only does this 3-year-old wake up happy, he wakes up on the beat!

And personally I give his big brother and sister a lot of credit for bypassing that whole "Wheels on the Bus" phase and going right for the good stuff (Nirvana's "Breed").

Truly, this child's air-drumming talents are something to see. I don't know his name, so I'm just gonna call him mini-Dave Grohl.

When I woke up this morning and caught news of the instantly infamous Time Magazine cover featuring a young mom breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son, I thought it had to be a joke. Time Magazine. Time. Freaking. Magazine. 

So that happened. And then the Internet exploded. 

What’s up with the provocative cover, Time? I mean aside from the desperation for people to buy your magazine? The coverline reads, “Are You Mom Enough?” and the associated article by Kate Pickert talks about the Attachment Parenting trend brought to us in recent years by Dr. Sears.

Cue the Battle Hymn of the Mommy Wars. That was my first thought when I saw the cover of this week's Time magazine, which features a 26-year-old mom breastfeeding her almost 4-year-old son.

Rather defiantly, I might add.

Though the little boy looks like he's kind of in a hurry to get back to his Thomas the Tank Engine set, so, if it's all the same to you Mommy, can I just have a juice box instead?

Just in case the headline "ARE YOU MOM ENOUGH?" isn't enough of a tip-off:

The article inside is all about attachment parenting and how it "drives mothers to extremes" and how if you do it you're a complete freak and if you don't you're a complete failure and how the guy who started the whole thing, Dr. Bill Sears, has somehow become this combination messiah/dictator type figure (depending on your particular side of the fence).

Being a toddler is exhausting work. What with the potty training, the tantrums, and the endless display of insanity, it's no wonder the Sandman sometimes tries to tackle them at the worst possible times -- like when they're eating something really good.

Of course, toddlers are stubborn if nothing else, so they're certainly not going down without a fight. Some even manage to eat and sleep simultaneously, which is pretty darn entertaining. Here are five kids who make a valiant effort to fight off sleep for food, such as this first guy, Mason, who REALLY wants to eat his ice cream cone. He's just soooooo sleepy though.

Do the words "screen-free week" send shivers of utter horror down your very spine? Hello, friend! Pull up a chair over here at the Lazy Moms Anonymous table!

Don't get me wrong -- I truly respect and admire the parents I know who are somehow managing to raise their kids without the aid of on-call entertainment.

As for me?

I'm a far-from-perfect parent in many ways and for many reasons, not the least of which is my approach to limiting screen time: I don't.

Never have. My (probably brain-damaged by now) children's fate was sealed that fateful day when my daughter, then a fussy, wailing infant, was miraculously silenced by the sight of the baby-faced sun on the Teletubbies. Time for Teletubbies, indeed! I was tired. I was desperate. TV not recommended for kids under the age of 2?

You can take your recommendations and stick 'em where that baby-faced sun don't shine, American Academy of Pediatrics.

Should kids have to take a maturity test to get into kindergarten? Tennessee legislators seem to think so. They think some young whippersnappers are trying to get into kindergarten too young. So they've introduced a new bill that pushes the cut-off birth date for kindergarten earlier. Kids who aren't yet 5 by August 31 next fall will have to take a maturity test to get into kindergarten. The kindergarten cut-off date was September 30. 

Now a lot of people are saying this is just about money. About 4,200 kids will be affected if this bill passes. But that maturity test? Sounds like a loophole to me. A loophole asking for trouble.