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In the mail the other day I received a letter asking if I’d be willing to sign my son up to be poked and prodded for the good of science. His clinic is participating in a study about asthma, and because he’s been treated for breathing problems a couple of times, they wanted to take a look at him.

He’ll get a free medical workup and I’ll have to answer a bunch of questions. But, because his clinic is in the control group, he won’t get any special treatment, drugs, or information. All we get (aside from a little stipend) is the feel-good knowledge that we have helped doctors learn a bit more about a medical problem that affects thousands of children around St. Louis.

If you have a baby younger than 6 months of age, you can do your own part for the good of science by signing up to be part of a control group in an autism study. Washington University is part of the Infant Sibling Study, a nation-wide look at babies who have an older sibling with an autism diagnosis as well as babies who have an older sibling who is typically developing.

The study’s local organizers are actively seeking children in that latter group, according to Beth Prusaczyk of the Washington University Medical Center.

Your kids likely see images of bald eagles lots of places, but you can take them to see the real thing at several events this month in and around St. Louis.

Eagle Days is one of the most anticipated outdoor events of the year. Don't let the chilly weather stop you from venturing outdoors. The sights are well worth it (and there are warming tents too).

If you’re looking for a delightful way to spend some time together as a family in January, especially if you have young children, take in COCA’s production of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical.
 

Greg Miller and his wife, Heather, first founded My Handyworks in Broken Arrow, Okla., in the mid-2000s soon after the birth of their first child. At that time, the couple was creating lion and fish designs using handprints and footprints, and selling their creations via craft shows.
 

To Mr. Andy Cohen, Senior Vice President of Original Programming and Development for Bravo:

Worried about how many video games your kids have played over the holiday break?  Based on conversations at the Y’s family swim this afternoon, my mom friends practically had to drag their sons out for some actual exercise.

My boys went to the pool willingly enough – probably because they’d had their fill of Wii hockey and Angry Birds (and they can’t find the Nintendo DS). It’s kind of amazing how much time they can spend with screens if you let them.

And while you should boot your kids off the couch now, there are plenty of benefits of computer games.

Like 85 percent of new moms, Erica Heslop suffered the baby blues after the birth of her first child. When she became pregnant with her second, this mom and nurse vowed not to let post-partum gloom steal a moment of happiness again.

Explained Heslop, “After I got pregnant with Drew, I looked back on my first weeks with Jay and realized that my mood swings, fatigue and tearfulness had clouded my early time with him. My husband even referred to the shower as my ‘sobbing box’ because every time I would shower, I would cry. I wanted the time after our second child’s birth to be less crying and more joy.”

Heslop’s solution: placenta encapsulation.

Now, in all honesty, when Heslop mentioned the practice to our moms’ group, I gagged a little. All I could picture was a placenta simmering in the crockpot with some Lipton’s onion soup mix. But the more she shared the benefits of encapsulation, the more I began to respect the practice. Instead of serving up the placenta with a side of au jus, Heslop explained, it’s cooked, dried and formed into caplets for taste-free ingestion, restoring necessary hormones that are lost within three to five days of giving birth and helping reduce the risk of the blues.