A friend has a daughter with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Vijay and her husband are so honest and open about their challenges with their younger daughter, and their intelligent perspectives have helped me understand a bit more about these families. She recently posted a note about acceptance and autism, and I thought it was important to share with you.

Vijay: I was asked by a friend,

Are you telling me that you would NOT be interested in a cure for autism?

And here is my answer:

Certainly dealing with Violet has been harder than dealing with a “regular” kid, but sometimes challenges are good for people to kind of push us to open our minds. It’s humbling to be faced with someone who is difficult to figure out. But that there is a lot to be learned from the experience. There’s no way to find out if Violet understands that she’s different, or if she would change that if she could. Yet.

These kids are different. So what should change? The kids? Or society?

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Research is split on whether routinely cutting boys at birth will protect them from sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDs and HIV. Most research points to a decrease in diseases only in high-risk populations where such diseases are prevalent.

One of the groups lobbying against such a blanket recommendation is Intact America, a newly-formed group in the U.S. with the aim of lowering the circumcision rate.

But those who state simply that “circumcision prevents STDs” may need to get their facts straight.

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According to the Dallas Observer:

In one–the photo that would threaten to send Mercado and her boyfriend to prison–the infant Rodrigo is suckling her left breast.

The technician at the Eckerd thought various photos were “suspicious ” and lied to Mercado when she went to pick up the photos, returning only 3 of the 4 rolls. Later, when the police arrived, they confiscated the photos and passed them on to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, which got indictments against Mercado and boyfriend Johnny Fernandez, who had just arrived from Peru when the pictures were taken.

We thought they contained sexuality. If you saw the photos, you’d know what I mean.

(Ew! Don’t you expect a nudge and a grunt following that comment?!)

The couple was charged with “sexual performance of a child”, a second-degree felony which could carry up to 20 years in prison.

This is the photo in question, though fuzzy in the Observer, for obvious reasons,

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Now Moses is 6 months old. And you know what? He’s still getting breastmilk.

Many of the same women are still breastfeeding the little guy. But over time, some have stopped as their own children weened. Others joined this cross-nursing crew.

Together, they told their updated story to Freep.com.

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Think a romantic meal of beef tenderloin with a side of potatoes sounds delicious? Maybe with a nice Bordeaux?  Perhaps it does (especially if it’s grass-fed beef!), but it may decrease your chances of conception.

A new study shows that men who want to be fathers should increase their intake of fruits and veggies and decrease their consumption of fatty foods like red meat and creamy dishes.

Men who ate healthy diets not only had faster sperm, they had more sperm in their semen. It was both a quality and quantity effect.

Dr. Jaime Mendiola of the University of Murcia, Spain said of his research:

In this study, we have found that people who consume more fruits and vegetables are ingesting more anti-oxidants and this is the important point.

We saw that, among the couples with fertility problems coming to the clinic, the men with good semen quality ate more vegetables and fruit than those men with low seminal quality.

There are obviously many factors that influence fertility, and this is only one.

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The family made news last year when they went on Oprah and in the LGBT magazine The Advocate to announce his pregnancy with the couple’s first child, a girl. They said they made the pregnancy public because,

Hiding a pregnant man is like hiding an 800-pound gorilla. Nancy and I wanted to tell our story from our own mouths before it got out.

Early morning on June 9, the family welcomed a baby boy through natural childbirth. His wife Nancy will breastfeed the child, as she did with their daughter. (Because natural birthing is so fabulous, even men want to do it!)

So how did they do it?

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Eco-Artware

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In Toronto, a Canadian judge ordered the mother of a 29-month-old girl to adjust her breastfeeding schedule or begin pumping so her biological father could spend time with the girl. The girl is now 34 months old.

The woman, Jennifer Johne, had allegedly been limiting time for her daughter to spend with dad, Carl Cavannah, because the girl was still breastfeeding.

But Justice Alan Ingram said that must change. The law says that mothers and fathers are equally entitled to custody of a child.

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They wanted safe, eco-friendly products that wouldn’t harm their children. Kevin Tibbs has worked as a formulation chemist for the past 11 years creating over 300 products that can be found in stores everywhere. Tim Barklage is a self described dreamer with a passion for living green. Together they created Better Life.

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According to CNN Health:

Since then, the Cleveland Clinic has seen a 50 percent increase in vasectomies, an outpatient surgery that is the cheapest form of permanent birth control. Vasectomies are less invasive and cheaper than tubal ligation, which involves blocking, tieing or cutting a woman’s fallopian tubes to prevent pregnancy.

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Every Man Jack is a line of naturally-derived grooming products made just for the guys.

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A group of Michigan moms have stepped up to feed a baby boy whose mom died shortly after birth.

Baby Moses Goodrich was in desperate need after his mom Susan died of a rare amniotic fluid embolism. Breast is best, of course, but the hospital didn’t have any breastmilk available for the little guy. The grieving father didn’t know where to turn.

Then he got a call from a family friend, Laura Janowski, who was still nursing her 1-year-old. Professor Goodrich made the good decision,

That’s when it clicked in my head. I wanted the baby to be nursed. That’s something that Susan would have wanted.

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“While 95 per cent of parents have read to their children at some point, only five per cent of those polled read to their children during the day. More than one in ten said they read every couple of weeks or less, and five per cent could not remember the last time they shared a book.”

The 97% of dads who did not read to their children claimed that they could not find time due to work commitments and being too tired. 89% of the moms polled did read to their children, but half admitted that they were distracted by cleaning, cooking, and other household chores.

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Yipee!

Finally, there’s a book for moms who are looking to go green that doesn’t make them feel like a failure. I’ve always been pretty green. It was recent that I realized that a lot of my peers don’t think about sustainable living. I’d just assumed that everyone went through the same processes that I did.

What I didn’t realize is that a lot of women (especially parents) felt like they had to do everything. By “everything” I mean everything from green cleaning products to the diva cup to growing their own food, and by being made to feel like a perennial failure, many parents are unwilling to attempt any part of a sustainable life, for fear of being mocked.

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Oh, I’ve heard many reasons why we should circumcise a baby boy. Some of the popular ones are:

I want him to look like me.
He’ll be a freak in the locker room.
You have to.  Boys who aren’t circumcised are dirty.

Jennifer’s post last week, WTF? Baby Boys’ Circumcised Foreskins Used for Wrinkle Treatment made me laugh out loud.  Mostly it was her shock at upcycling foreskins.

As I commented on that blog, I’d already known they “reused” foreskins.  My sister had been involved with a skin grafting on a foot that used those circumcised scraps. If feet and penises combined for life aren’t your idea of fun, perhaps you’ve already hopped on the no-circumcise bandwagon.

Still not sure? Here are 11 Reasons to Avoid Circumcising Your Son…

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I don’t dislike it, I detest it. I don’t need yet another bill from AT&T to sit on my desk. I pay it all online anyhow. I’ve signed up for internet only billing with a few companies, but for some I’m so panicked about not receiving the email (think mortgage) that I really want it sent to my physical address.

I’ve eliminated some of the obvious junk with 41Pounds, but there’s got to be a way for me to still get traditional mail without the 42 dollar footprint (no that’s not a typo), well, someone had the idea to stop fighting the postal system and migrate to a virtual mailbox.

Zumbox.

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The last 13 years have been wonderful. I’ve had necklaces in champagne glasses, a proposal on Wesminster Bridge and gourmet dinners lovingly prepared when we lived on love (because we sure as heck weren’t living on money).

This year Valentine’s Day will be on a Saturday. I think we all know what that means.

This year Valentine’s Day is about all four of us being together. We’ll bake something pink and do a pomegrantine lemonade.

But darlin’ you’ve still got to pony up with some gifts. Here’s what I’m demanding I’d really like.

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We’re planning a trip to the Rockies in a few days, and I needed to get my husband something to keep his naughty bits warm. Long underwear are great, but when you’re from LA your jeans aren’t bought with long underwear in mind, and they just won’t fit comfortably.

I stumbled upon Christopher Anthony’s site.

As a youth, Christopher often bought thermal underwear to create his own custom, warm boxers. So when that first chilly Chicago day arrived, Christopher went to the local department store to once again buy his reliable, warm and comfortable thermal long johns.  As he had always done as a child, he cut the legs off, instantly turning them into boxer briefs.  This exact moment would soon change his life. He realized this childhood creation would transform the current men’s wear trends.

He has an organic line of men’s boxers that are made much like thermals called Toasty Boys. (nice adult photos after the jump)

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Simply put, you take that hideous gift Aunt Sally sent an item that you no longer want/need and put it up for trade. Then you search for another item that you actually need or want.

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1997: We are given a 1984 Oldsmobile, it has less than 20,000 miles on it, it was his Grandparents car. It has fuzzy blue fabric and bench seats. We are still madly in love.

1999: I’m going need acupuncture if I have to duck into that f**king car one more time to get the baby out of the back seat. Mom! Don’t sell that Explorer just yet, we want it. We need it, my aching back needs it.

Another child is added to the equation.

2001: “Honey”, I want one of these. “I begged”

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