Dear Carrie: It’s been reported lately, most notably in the Wall Street Journal, that Mattel has had some trouble lately because of slumping sales in its flagship line, Barbie. In order to get the company back on track, Mattel wants to give Barbie a makeover due to lost sales to The Bratz. How would you makeover Barbie?

Oh, Barbie. Bless your heart. It’s hard to compete with The Bratz when you’re 46.
I think this is what they call a mid-life crisis. You spent so many years dating a man who may or may not have loved you back (we all know he didn’t love Skipper, just her boyfriend). You’ve had over 80 careers. You worked tirelessly as a doctor, an astronaut, a businesswoman, a police officer, a UNICEF volunteer, and an athlete (a World Cup soccer player, no less). You were a firefighter, the Princess of Ireland, and even a Presidential candidate. You did all this and more all while maintaining a 39-23-33 figure. No wonder no one likes you anymore. (more…)

Dear Carrie: We hear your son is a big fan of The Wiggles. We have to ask… who is your favorite Wiggle?

Sometimes I think I know the Wiggles as intimately as I do my own family. Not only can I recite every single one of their songs (should I be embarrassed to admit that?), I also know just what makes Greg, Jeff, Murray, and Anthony tick. I’m very familiar with their nearest and dearest –including but not limited to Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Captain Feathersword, and Henry the Octopus – and I often worry about Jeff’s apparent narcolepsy, which no one else seems to take seriously. If one of your friends fell asleep throughout the day, wouldn’t you think something was up? (more…)

As a pet person, I always think it’s a good idea to get a puppy. In fact, I just recently gave up (at least temporarily) trying to talk my husband into getting another dog. However, there are a lot of things you need to take into consideration before you make a big purchase like a pet. Here are what I think are the most important:

Frank (pictured left) is a Wheaten Terrier,
Ruby (right) is a Chocolate Lab

Make sure you have enough time to train a puppy. Lilly and Reid are four and two, and I don’t know how I’d teach a dog what I’d want it to know. I just don’t think I’d have the time. (more…)

It’s nearly impossible to have friends with small children and not talk about sleep – how much your kids got the night before (and maybe more importantly, how much you got); what time they went to bed; what time they woke up; if they woke up during the night, and if so, the reason(s) why.  I usually hear things like this:

“Well, I put him down at 8, but he didn’t fall asleep until almost 8:30.  Then he got up around 8 this morning.”

Or, “The girls are usually asleep by 7:30 because I have to wake them up at 7 to get ready for school.”

Or even, “You know, he was so exhausted he fell asleep in his high chair at 6:30.  We put him in his crib and he didn’t wake up until 7 the next morning.”

WHAT?  Are my children being held hostage by some sort of invisible sleep monster?  (more…)

Dear Carrie: What advice do you have for flying with small children?

Airplane travel. I vaguely remember the days of throwing a couple of magazines into whatever I was using for a carry-on and maybe a snack (or not, since in those days you were relatively well-fed on a plane). Those days are long gone in our family!

Looking back on it, I remember that flying with Lilly, our now almost-four-year-old, was a breeze. We had a couple of minor incidents, like when my husband realized an hour into our first (five-hour) flight that her diaper had leaked all over her clothes. She ended up flying out in a turtleneck and a diaper (very classy, I know) while the remainder of her attire dried on the floor below us. Thank heavens it was just wet. I got to learn my lesson gently that time. See, that was our first flight with a baby. I didn’t think about taking extra clothes, though I had enough entertainment to keep everyone on the plane busy for at least a couple of hours. Of course, everyone was already entertained because our child was standing in her seat half-naked – singing, dancing, waving. My husband quickly grew worried about the extrovert that appeared when the clothes disappeared, but that’s a whole different story. (more…)

Carrie is so clever she doesn’t even know she’s clever….
I don’t feel very clever today. I’m really struggling over here. I keep sitting down to add on to what I’ve written and it’s just not happening. Come to think of it, I could probably tell you why I’m NOT clever. All from the past two days, too.

• Reid figured out how to turn the key in the lock, let himself out, and got on his big wheel in the driveway before I realized where he was (this took at most 30 seconds).
• Prior to this, Reid figured out that he could untangle himself from the safety belt in his high chair and stand up in the chair, thereby giving him great access to a countertop in the kitchen (above which lives our crystal goblets and 2 fish, among other things). All this was accomplished as I was unloading the dishwasher five feet away. Talk about quiet. (more…)