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Even if you’re not Irish, it’s fun to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with your family. Here are some ideas:

• You can read some Irish folk and fairy tales. 
• You can learn more about the a history of the holiday by downloading St. Patrick’s Day: Not just for the Irish. (Includes traditional recipes, too.)
• You can march in your local St. Patrick’s Day parade. (One of the healthy tips I give for Staying lean and green this St. Patrick’s Day at my blog, This Mama Cooks! On a Diet.)
• You can download a St. Patrick’s Day Coloring Book and draw. (Make sure you have plenty of green crayons on hand.)
• And of course, you can cook!

Many kids might balk at eating corn beef and cabbage, so why not try an Irish breakfast pudding?

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Seems that Shawn, the organizer of the Carnival of the Recipes, and I are having one of those weeks. I got the time of my son’s basketball game wrong (he was an hour late) and nearly sent my husband to see Chris Rock a week later than the concert date.

Shawn on the other hand thought I was supposed to do this week’s Carnival. Actually, I’m supposed to do next week’s. But since it’s all done, go over to Food History for next week’s carnival…I think. We’ll get it figured out.

Enjoy these wonderful dishes with your family:

Lane presents Vegan Cream of Asparagus Soup posted at Vegan Bits. Don’t tell the kids is asparagus. Just tell them it’s green slime soup instead.

Bobby presents Chicken Parmesan Recipe posted at Free Online Recipes | Free Recipes.

N. & J. presents Sunday Morning Yum Yums- Baked Broccoli Frittata posted at Bad Human! Don’t take chemicals from strangers!.

Lovelyn presents Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe posted at The Art of Balanced Living. Nothing better than making pizza with the kids!

Keith presents Gorgonzola Salad posted at The Screaming Saucepan.

Marsha Hudnall presents Healthy Recipe: Genuine Northern Thai Style Papaya Salad with Peanuts posted at A Weight Lifted.

Arvid presents Indian Mango Ice-cream posted at Arvind Devalia.

Karen Dowell presents Oatmeal Gingerbread (and a cure for dizziness) posted at Wiggly Wigglers.

NerdMom presents Strawberry Amaretto Pastries posted at Nerd Family Food.

Kathee presents CHICKEN SPAGHETTI posted at Chicken Recipes. Also the name of one of my favorite children’s book blogs.

Michele presents Toscana Soup at Meanderings.

Jean Mosher presents Kelly’s New Vegetarian Cooking Blog « Always in Motion posted at Always in Motion.

Bill presents Amish Friendship Bread posted at World Famous Recipes. Baking bread is always a terrific family activity.

World Famous Recipes presents Braised Oxtails posted at Recipes.

Thelly presents Chicken Recipes - 4 Clove Garlic Vampire Chicken posted at Chicken Recipes.

Famous Recipes presents Butternut Squash Soup posted at Famous Recipes. My favorite soup to make for sick friends. And my kids love it!

Slow Cooker Recipes presents Slow Cooker Turkey Breast posted at Slow Cooker Recipes. A slow cooker (crockpot) is every parents best friend.

Diabetic Recipes presents Diabetic Recipes: Cocoa-Date Oatmeal posted at Diabetic Recipes.

East Valley Living presents Cauliflower Potato Salad posted at East Valley Living. Sneak those veggies into your kids’ diet!

Cookie presents Helen’s Meatloaf at Cooking Capers. Meatloaf - everyone’s favorite comfort food!

I was first exposed to the world of Baby Einstein videos when my friend - an occupational therapist - and her family stayed with us a for a few days. Her son was less than a year old and an extremely high need child . They took drastic measures from a darkened room with music and a special swing just to get him to sleep. (It ended up being severe GERD and the poor kid was in pain.)

One thing that always calmed their little boy down were Baby Einstein videos. They limited his viewing time, and only relied on the videos when they needed a break. My friend worked with many special needs children and knew that the videos were a great tool in getting her son comfortable and quiet.

In August 2007, Frederick J. Zimmerman, PhD., Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, and Andrew N. Meltzoff, PhD. came out with a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics that supposedly found that among babies ages eight months to 16 months, every hour spent daily watching programs such as Baby Einstein translated into six to eight fewer words in their vocabulary.

The media picked up on it immediately and Disney asked for an apology. Yet, no one pointed out that the study was preliminary and not very scientific. In fact the researchers were very biased since Dr. Christakis had a reputation for blaming TV for a variety of behavioral problems in children  and had been targeting Baby Einstein videos since 2005. I was so ticked off that I wrote “The Real Scoop on Watching Baby Einstein (just because you have a Dr. in front of your name doesn’t mean you’re right).”

I’ve been a big defender of QUALITY videos and television ever since. In fact, I support groups like the Smart Television Alliance, a coalition of nonprofit organizations committed to helping parents use technology to find and watch quality television programming. With this in mind I whole heartedly support parents use of Baby Einstein videos so they can take a break to shower, eat a snack, answer the telephone or make dinner.

Videos like Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves are meant to be shared with your child. In fact, the Baby Einstein website gives parents tips on ways to use the videos. Here’s one:

Make it a Family Affair
Consider using DVD time as a way to interact with the whole family. If baby has an older sibling(s) around, you can invite them to watch the DVD with you. (Nathan enjoyed watching videos like this with Lucie when she was a baby.) Encourage your older child to point out the names of the animals, say the colors or even make animal sounds. They will love playing with baby and will be excited about showing off how much they know!

Also, it’s not about your baby sitting like a big lump in front of the TV watching a video and drooling. With Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves, which was sent to me by Baby Einstein/Disney to review, it’s about getting up and moving! The video is an interactive “celebration of babies’ movement milestones.” This includes walking, clapping, jumping, and dancing.The purpose of the video is to get parents and their children discovering movement together. So grab a copy of Baby Einstein - Baby’s First Moves and get your jiggy on!

I’ve always collected Lucy books for my daughter, Lucie. I’m always on the lookout for books for my son, Nathan and my two nephews. For Nathan there’s the Nate the Great series of books. For my nephew Adam, I have been challenged to find anything. But for his big brother, Oliver, it’s easy. There’s:

• Oliver Who Would Not Sleep - For ages 4 to 8, this book is about a little boy named Oliver, who’d rather go off on all types of exlporations - painting, reading, racing and a trip to Mars, than go to sleep. Perfect for those Olivers and Olivias who’d rather do anything but GO TO BED.
• Amanda Pig and Her Brother Oliver books - For ages 4 to 8, these easy readers feature the adventures of Amanda Pig and her big brother, Oliver.
• Oliver’s Vegetable, Oliver’s Milk Shake and Oliver’s Fruit Salad books by Vivian French’s For ages 4 to 8, French’s books deal with the finicky Oliver and how his mom gets him to eat fruit, vegetables, and a milk shake.
• Oliver Finds His Way - For babies and toddlers, this book looks at Oliver the bear who gets lost in the woods and finds his way back to his parents. We got this book out from our local library and enjoyed the story and the beautiful illustrations.

There’s obviously a bunch of wonderful Oliver books out there, but I have to mention one more - Oliver Has Something to Say! by Pamela Edwards and illustrated by Louis Pilon. From Lobster Press, this Oliver book is for ages four to eight, though it should resonate mostly with the pre-kindergarten crowd. (Kudos to Edwards to mentioning pre-K. Since it hasn’t been around that long, most books only use preschool and kindergarten in their stories. This drives my daughter crazy. Lucie always tells me, “I’m in pre-K, mommy, not preschool!)

Oliver Has Something to Say! is about Oliver who just turned four and is starting pre-K. Having involved parents and a bossy sister means that everyone talks for Oliver. Finally, at school, his pre-K teacher, Mrs. Samra encourages Oliver to speak up. And boy does he ever, telling his parents what he wants to eat and telling his sister that he’s not afraid of dogs. Oliver Has Something to Say! makes us realize that quiet kids do have opinions and we need to encourage them to express themselves.

Do you collect books with your child’s name in the title? Comment below!

(Looking for more Oliver books? Jen Robinson’s Book Page recommends Oliver’s Must Do List.)