Lucas Emilio turned 1 last week. We invited a handful of friends over very informally for a small party. We made sure to tell people not to bring gifts. Yet every one of the guests brought something.

Don’t get me wrong. We appreciate their generosity and thoughtful gifts. But we really meant it. We just wanted to have people over to celebrate my son’s milestone birthday.

We’re guilty of doing it too. My wife and I both have brought gifts to parties when the host said don’t do it.

That got me thinking of how do you get the message across in the future that we are sincere in our request without being overbearing.

It’s all in how you explain your wishes to guests, according to an etiquette expert the Emily Post Institute. Simply saying “please no gifts” won’t work.

“You’re really trying to change a tradition,” said Cindy Post Senning, who has a new book coming out next week, “Table Manners for Kids”.

If you’re inviting guests over the phone or in person, she said, tell them that you’re trying to start a new tradition in your family. You want to make birthdays about a celebration and not gifts. In a written invitation, add a sentence to the “no gifts please” note saying the same thing.

There will still be gift givers. Senning said, but don’t open the presents at the party. That would make for an awkward situation for others who listened to your wishes and didn’t bring gifts. She suggests telling the gift givers that you plan to save the gift and give it to your child at another time.

Maybe we’ll try this for Ana Isabel’s upcoming birthday. She turns 4 in August. We’ll see if it works.

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For those of us with small children something like the swine flu brings another layer of worry.

How to do you get a 3 1/2 –year-old to protect herself? It means it's time to stress to the kids what are already good hygiene habits.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control say we parents have to set good examples. Teach the kids to wash their hands often and well. Show them how to cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing.

It sounds practical. But then there’s government talk that just doesn’t make sense with small children. The CDC wants us to teach our children to stay at least six feet away from people who are sick. And if there’s a swine flu case in South Florida, keep the children away from crowds.

What toddler is even going to know what six feet means? Never mind to stay that far away from another sick child. And how are they supposed to recognize when a playmate may be sick? And are we supposed to keep the kids out of day care? It just doesn’t make sense.

It falls to us parents. And really, we have to depend on the judgment of other parents to keep their sick kids at home.

For now, we have not changed the routine for Ana Isabel or Lucas Emilio, who just turned 1. But if things get worse, it could mean cutting out trips to the playground they so enjoy. No more visits to the children’s museum that Ana asks to go to almost every weekend. We could be spending a lot more times in the backyard with fewer playmates coming over.

As parents we have to be even more vigilant than ever. And worry just that much more.

Here what the CDC's says are the symptoms to keep an eye out for and what to do if your child gets sick.

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Don't just hide the junk food. Talk up the superpowers of the carrots.

Or as my wife does, hide the vegetables; she purees them into a marinara sauce.

This article in Newsweek says a Cornell researcher found that telling kids they're eating "X-ray vision carrots" helped kindergartners eat 50 percent more carrots. The researcher doesn't seem to have a problem with lying to kids in order to get them to eat.

Sounds like an old trick to me. I remember my mother telling me and my friends that eating spinach gave Popeye big muscles. So we should eat our spinach to. That was a lie, too, and it didn't work. It wasn't until I was older that I appreciated a good spinach dish. And I loved Popeye as a kid.

Generations of parents have faced the challenge of trying to get our kids to eat healthy. My guess is that the kids will mimic their parents' habits. So we have tried to be better role models for my daughter, 3 1/2, and son, who turns 1 this month.

Even so, we just don't leave the cookies out on the counter. They're kept out of sight and come out only as a treat.

Also, we offer the kids apples and oranges for snacks or give them broccoli or asparagus with their dinners. A crazy thing happens many times. They just eat it.

I wonder, though, when they don't want their vegetables, should we just lie to our kids? What do you think, is a "healthy" lie OK?

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My daughter Ana Isabel was one of those chunky babies. She weighed 20 pounds at six months.

If I would've read this story back then, it would have worried me. It basically says that infants who gain weight rapidly in the first months of life have a greater chance of being obese by the time they turn 3. This story is based on a study published in the April issue of Pediatrics, a medical journal.

I'm glad to report Ana, now 3 1/2, is not obese. She weighs about 35 pounds now, which is normal for her age.

Nonetheless, the study goes against the common perception that a heavier baby is a healthier baby. It also comes at a time when many experts worry about childhood obesity.

So now what are we supposed to do now put infants on a diet? What do you think?

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This issue came up recently with my daughter who is three and a half years old.

We recently let Ana Isabel spend an afternoon at a friend's house without either of us there. It was the first time we did that. We don't have family in the area. So we don't get to drop her off at grandma's or abuelita's house.

My wife was more comfortable with the idea of letting Ana spend the night elsewhere. Me, not so much. Of course, my wife had a lot of sleepovers in her childhood. In my immigrant family, it wasn't something we did.

We concluded that Ana is too young yet. But I know the day's coming sooner than I would want.

Here's what an expert says about sleepovers. And if you're ready to take the plunge here's some advice on how to organize a sleepover for the pre-school set.

How old where you when you had your first sleep over?

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Mac, our gold tabby, was there when I started dating my wife, Carrie Ann. He saw us bring home Ana Isabel and then Lucas Emilio.

Ana, 3-1/2 years old, loves the cat. We keep close tabs on Lucas when he's near Mac since he's just 10 months old and likes to grab fur.

Mac has always been part of the family. But this week we found out Ana's allergic to him.

A few weeks back, Ana had an emergency visit to the pediatrician when she was having trouble breathing. After two more visits to the doctor and a specialist there's no way around it.

Mac has got to go.

For some time, my daughter has had the classic symptoms of an allergy sufferer. We thought it was a recurring cold. The specialist is now treating her.

The American College of Asthma, Allergies & Immunology has this brochure that gives tips on controlling allergens in the house. We found out we were doing many of the wrong things.

After we get over the parent guilt of having exposed our children to an allergen, we have to deal with finding a new home for a 12-year-old cat. We've posted fliers, hit up Facebook friends and checked with other cat lovers. We'll look at rescue organization as well. But if we can't find the cat a new home, he has go either way. That's the hard part.

Anybody want a warm, lovable lap cat?

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Who knew it would be such work getting Ana Isabel into voluntary pre-kindergarten.

Broward County this week started handing out vouchers for the state-paid voluntary pre-K program for 4-year-olds. It's done on a first-come, first-serve basis. And the more popular VPK programs generally have waiting lists.

So on Monday when I got to the Southwest Regional Library to get a voucher, the line wrapped around the building. I knew beforehand that there would be a wait. But I didn't expect to stand around for four hours for a piece of paper that says my daughter is eligible to start her schooling come August.

Afterward, I went to one of the three schools we had picked as our top choices to enroll Ana. All three have had waiting lists in the past. My intent was to drop off the voucher and get her on a list. Simple, I thought. Not exactly. Administrators there haven't even started to create their waiting list, they told me. And they didn't want to take my voucher until they had created it. So why did I wait for four hours?

Next, we call our second choice school. They, too, haven't figured out the waiting list. OK. We want to make sure Ana gets in somewhere, so my wife visited the third school on our list.

Guess what? No waiting list, yet. Administrators there said last year the list didn't start forming until May. But at least they're taking applications and vouchers. So all we need to do is apply and Ana should be in.

I'm still sore about the four-hour wait. All the rush to get a voucher and then on a list apparently wasn't needed.

Vouchers are scheduled to be distributed throughout the county in March. Here's a schedule. The same thing is happening in Palm Beach County.

Can't wait for Ana to start applying for colleges. That should be even more fun.

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My daughter Ana Isabel had a cold last week. She seemed to be getting better but she had this persistent cough. Ana, at three and half, has had these cough before at the tail end of a cold.

But this was different. From one day to the next, the cough seemed to get worse.

At one point, she was coughing almost nonstop. My wife called the pediatricians' office. They told her they couldn't do anything for a cough. Don't bring her in. Give her cough syrup. We had already done that.

When my wife put Ana in the bath, she gasped for air. "Mommy, I can't breathe," Ana said. It hurts just writing that sentence. Her breaths were shallow and short.

We raced her to the doctor's office. They saw her immediately, examined her, took X-rays and put her on a nebulizer treatment. She improved right away. The color came back to her face.

It's too soon to know if the diagnosis is asthma, the doctors said. But we got the drugs and equipment to treat someone with asthma.

It's common. The American Lung Association says asthma is the leading serious chronic illness in children.
Here's an article about toddlers and asthma.

It runs in the family. So we're not surprised. Still, it's been my scariest parenting episode so far.

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We're starting to talk up school to my daughter, Ana Isabel, who turns four in August. Just in time to enroll in pre-kindergarten.

Aside from getting her ready, it seems her parents have a lot to do to get ready. I have to take a day off of work so that we can go get a Voluntary Pre-K voucher. Then we need to bring it to our first choice of three programs that we've think fit Ana best out of hundreds in the county. Of course, we whittled the list down by asking for recommendations from friends.

After that, we wait and see if she gets in. If not, then we have to take the voucher to our second choice and pray she gets in there.

My wife already has gotten her medical records. But Ana won't have all her shots until after her birthday, which gives us very little time to get that information to whatever program has room for her. And we haven't even gotten to school supplies yet.

This is just the beginning, I know. But to me, it seems like we're not ready. I'm not ready! Ana just got here and already she's off to school.

Check the Broward County Early Learning Coalition for a list of all the sites and information on voluntary pre-K, which by the way, is paid for by the government.

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You think it would be easier since we did it for my daughter Ana Isabel, now 3 1/2 years old. But for some reason, it seems not.

My son, Lucas Emilio, who just turned 9 months old, started crawling then furniture surfing within days all in the last month. He'll soon be running around the house.

With Ana, we had one gate, latches for cabinets, outlet covers, foam bumpers for the sharp corners on walls and furniture. It worked and kept her from getting hurt (except for one encounter with a drawer pull).

With Lucas on the other hand, we already have three gates and may be getting one more. There's seems to be more foam in some rooms than furniture. We have outlet covers where we don't have outlets. OK, I exaggerate. But you get the point.

He's getting into everything. And everything that gets into his hands goes in his mouth. It's not fun for a nervous-nelly parent like me.

I went looking for some more information -- here for childproofing and here for general child safety -- to make sure we didn't miss anything. We did. We're not done yet. We have more work to do.

Mannnn!! This parenting thing can be exhausting.

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Leave it to the federal government to create problems for the little guy while it tries to fix another.

In a laudable move to protect children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission wants all products aimed at children 12 and under tested for lead. That's the good part.

Now the bad part: Small businesses that sell handmade toys or thift stores could be forced to stop selling childrens products or in some case to close. See, big retailers can pay for the equipment, but the little guys can't afford it. The LA Times wrote about it.

We bought a bunch of toys and some children's furniture at local thrift stores. In fact, my wife helped extend our Christmas budget by buying Ana Isabel, 3, and Lucas Emilio, 8 months, toys at Baby Posh Garage in Aventura and Kids Palace Inc. in Plantation.

Isn't it the government's job to stop dangerous products from getting onto store shelves? I don't have a problem with asking businesses that can afford it to do their part. But it seems unfair that the small fry, like my children, could lose out.

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Continuing on Rafael's earlier holiday-themed post, I'm thinking it would be nice to do something special with the family for the season.

But what to do that's not terribly expensive, but still fun for the kids?

I'm thinking about going to see a production of Beauty and the Beast, Max & Ruby or something else at a local children's theater.

I would probably end up going with my Ana Isabel alone since Lucas Emilio is only seven months old. She's three. I can't imagine Lucas would enjoy it.

But I'm not sure how Ana would handle it either. When's the first time you took your children to a theatrical production? And how did it go?

I open to suggestions on other family holiday activities.

What's you favorite?

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We just started researching pre-K for my three-year-old Ana Isabel.

Talk about daunting. There's hundreds of programs out there. So we've started by asking for recommendations from friends. We plan to visit some sites. And then we turned to the Internet.

That's when I came across the State of Florida Department of Education Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Program Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate Website.

A mouthful, for sure. But basically it rates VPK programs. It measures how well VPK providers prepare children for kindergarten using state standards.

You can check out one program, all providers in a city or the entire state for that matter.

I did a quick check of those that were recommended to us. It raised a question or two about one. But we'll still visit, ask those question and then make a decision.

Just for fun, I downloaded all the VPK providers in Broward and Palm Beach counties and then did a quick ranking.

The top score, or readiness rate, is 300, That means 100 percent of the students in that program were deemed ready for kindergarten. Those programs with low scores are required to provide an improvement plan to the state. And some programs, while listed, didn't have enough students for the state to measure.

Take a look. See how the program where you send your kid, or want to send or kid, did.

Broward County Palm Beach County

If nothing else, it's a starting point for questions for your VPK provider.

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Every time Ana Isabel comes home she quickly changes into her princess pajamas.

On most nights, she insists I read her a story that's usually connected to a princess. Her latest favorite, Sleeping Beauty. She even has coined her own song called "Ana Princess Rock Star." She sings it around the house.

All very cute. But it got me thinking. Why does she always want to emulate a princess? And it's one that's usually saved by a prince.

I know my niece, now six, went through the same phase. And my daughter went to a birthday party recently where all the little girls dressed in their best princess outfits. So she's not alone.

Naively, I asked my wife why all the princess stuff with little girls this age. Her answer: "Thank Disney."

Since Ana's birth, generous family and friends have given us Disney DVDs and books with stories like "The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella."

It all indoctrinates little girls into this Prince Charming myth that many carry into adult. I never really thought about, of course, until I saw it my daughter.

Don't get me wrong. Disney's not going dictate my daughter's view of the world as she grows. As parents, my wife and I will. Nonetheless, I can see how a corporation like Disney can have a real impact.

What are your thoughts?

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My son Lucas Emilio has been a champion sleeper until now.

As a newborn, he slept in three and four hour stretches overnight. As he has grown, he has given his mommy and daddy (admittedly, mostly mommy) stretches of up to six hours straight.

We have been overjoyed with how well Lucas has slept, especially since my three-year-old daughter, Ana Isabel, never slept for more than two hours it seemed for the first six months of her young life.

But now, Lucas has taken a turn and has started waking every two hours. And that's driving my wife and I a bit crazy.

We can't figure it out. We're almost to the point where we will let him cry it out. We did that with Ana. It was hard. But it worked.

We're perplexed as to why my son would seem to be regressing with his sleeping patterns.

Any idea on why this may be happening or suggestions?

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We celebrated my daughter finally learning to use the potty. She did it the week before her third birthday. What a relief.

Then came a wrinkle I really didn't think of until, well, my daughter had to go potty and her mommy wasn't around.

I went with Ana Isabel to the beach just us two for a little papi and daughter time. She loves the ocean. She played in the sand. And we had a ball in the small waves. Then came the moment: "Papi, I have to go potty!" she says.

After a brief second of panic, I blurted out: "We're at the beach, go right here." She looked at me with a blank stare and said it again. "Papi, potty." OK. That wasn't the best idea.

I picked her up and headed to the bathrooms, the public men's room. As I'm racing with Ana in my arms, I'm thinking: "Do I take her in the women's room?"

I know what most public men's rooms look like. I'd rather not take my daughter in there. As we approached the two bathrooms doors, a scraggly looking man walked out of the men's room.

"Anybody else in there?" I blurted out. He quickly answered, I think one other person. At least, it was not a public restroom full of grown men standing in front of urinals. We raced into the large wheelchair accessible stall. No one else in site.

Ana peed. I probably was more relieved than she was. Later in the day, we used a unisex bathroom at a restaurant. That was better.

I make it a point to do things with my daughter alone, especially since the arrival of Lucas Emilio four months ago. So I guess I'm going to be dealing with this dilemma for a while.

Any other suggestions for taking my daughter potty in public when mommy's not around?

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Today is Ana Isabel's third birthday. Hard to believe. Seems to me like she just got here.

Funny thing with birthdays. For the third year in a row, my wife and I talked about an appropriate way to celebrate our daughter's annual milestone.

We discussed a party but decided against it. That to me seems, well, like a waste of time and money. I know that for many people it's the only way to go.

But here's what we're doing: Ana, her little brother and my wife went shopping for the ingredients to make her birthday cupcakes. They'll plan to spend today baking.

Tomorrow, they'll take the cupcakes to a monthly book club/playdate. And next week, I'm off of work and plan to spend time with her on my own and together as a family, going to the beach and maybe even a trip to Wannado City. And she's already received a ton of presents from family and friends.

We think all those activities are fun memorable ways to celebrate. Still, my wife said to me the other day that she feels funny when she tells others that we're not having a birthday party.

Maybe we'll have one next year when it'll mean more to my daughter. But for this year, I'm really looking forward to cupcakes, the beach, Wannado City and just spending time with Ana.

Is that so wrong?

An update: Last week, I blogged about Ana's reluctance to go on the potty. Well, two days later, she decided it was time. She went on the potty. We've had a few accidents. But there's progress. Thanks to those who gave us many tips. We have used some and it has helped.

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My daughter turns 3 next week. And we have been turning up the heat on the potty talk, using different tactics to get Ana Isabel to use it. But nothing so far.

We've had a plain potty in the bathroom for about a year. A few months ago, we started pushing the issue. We bought another one, this time a Dora potty. We've adorned it with stickers.

My wife bought an Elmo potty training DVD. We have potty training books for children, even one that flushes. Nothing.

Ana has gone as far as sitting on the potty and saying her "China" is broken. (That's her version of vagina.)

As Ana's birthday approaches, we fill a bit more pressure because she's now old enough to enroll in programs we'd like for her to take, such as gymnastics. But she has to be potty trained.

Up until now, we've operated under the premise that Ana will go on the potty when she's ready. But now, we're not so sure.

My wife's thinking of taking a harder-line. She's talking about letting Ana spend a day without a diapers or pants. That way, she'll poop and pee on herself. The hope is that it will make her uncomfortable enough so that the potty looks good. Of course, we'll be cleaning some major messes that day.

Are we just being impatient at this point or should we get militant with the potty training?

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Following up on my colleagues post below about hair, my nearly 3-year-old daughter, Ana Isabel, wakes up most mornings with her hair looking like a rats nest.

I mean it's bad. Really bad. So bad my wife and I have had to cut out knots in her hair.

We're perplexed on how to prevent it.

Ana has this beautiful long light-brown, almost blond, hair. It's thin and wispy. We don't shampoo it every night at bath time and we use gentle baby hair products.

My guess is that Ana is a thrasher as she sleeps. She whips her head back and forth on the pillow, which makes a mess of her hair overnight.

For the most part, the problem comes when it's time to comb her hair. She hates it. It become this long drawn out process to get her ready to go out of the house.

For me, this falls under the I-know-nothing-about-this aspect of being a dad to a little girl. I didn't anticipate it and I'm at a complete loss for what to do. Is it even something I should worry about?

Any suggestions?

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Ana Isabel turns three next month. And all the talk among the parents of the three-year-old set is whether to send their children to Pre-K 3.

First off, Ana seems a bit young to me to be going to school. For Pete's sake, she's not even potty trained yet. (But that's a question for another post).

I don't see the benefit of sending Ana to what's essentially glorified day care. She's a bright child already reciting the alphabet and counting up to 12 in English and Spanish. She gets to 20 with a little prodding. She speaks in full sentences, albeit short ones she repeats all the time like "I don't want to!"

I know there's an argument to be made for socializing children at this age. Ana gets along well with other children, shares and plays well with others.

The certified teacher that runs the Mommy-and-Me program that Ana attends told my wife that everything Ana would learn in Pre-K 3, can be taught at home with simple lessons.

So can someone please explain to me the benefits to sending my child to Pre-K 3?

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A Newsweek article summed it this way: NO!

It details research that says people with no children, fewer responsibilities, more time and money for themselves, are actually happier than those with children. Sounds good, no?

It made me think back to my bachelor days and when Carrie Ann and I first got married. Sure, we went to more parties, traveled more and drank more wine together. It was nice, I must say.

Now try to imagine life without your kids. That means no Ana Isabel running up to me when I walk in the door, arms stretched out yelling papi. That means no watching Lucas Emilio grow from a newborn into cooing, smiling baby. That means no watching Ana try to read a book to her brother. Or no Lucas smiling as his sister tries to cuddle with him.

Thanks. But no thanks.

Being a parent is hard. No doubt. But can you imagine life without your children in it? I can't.

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There's nothing better than when I walk into the house after work and Ana Isabel runs up to me yelling "papa."

I usually pick her up and give her a kiss. I ask her if she has been a good girl and ask about the day's activities. It's usually a short conversation, aside from the fact that she's not even 3 yet, I usually arrive just before bedtime.

There are other times when I pick her up and carry her around. At the mall, during walks to the store or when she wakes in the morning. But since her brother, Lucas Emilio, arrived two months ago Ana wants me to carry her all the time. She was 35 pounds at her last doctor's visit. So my arm hurts after a while.

My wife says Ana has me wrapped around her little fingers. Maybe so. But I see the time when I'm going to have to stop just because my arm is about to be pulled out of its socket.

Any suggestions on how to encourage my daughter from making that same request over and over and over. My arm would sure appreciate it.

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My almost three-old-year old daughter, Ana Isabel, caught a cold at Mommy and Me. And she brought it home, promptly sharing it with her little brother, Lucas Emilio, who is five weeks old.

Not exactly the kind of sharing we would like. Nonetheless, we never had to deal with a sick Ana at this age since she didn't have other little children brining home germs.

Lucas mostly sounds congested and he makes a lot of noises when he sleeps. Before this came on, he was sleeping in three and four hour stretches, which was great for a kid his age. Not any more.

We have a suction bulb that we use to clear his nose. And we prop up his body so the mucus can drain when he sleeps. I know some say a humidifier can help loosen up the congestion.

But is there anything else that we can do to deal with a cold in baby at this age? I know drugs are out. A tired and sleep papa would welcome any suggestions.

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We now have a newborn and my 33-month-old daughter in diapers.

The only good thing about that is that we have races to see who can get their diaper changed faster, Ana or Lucas. He's three weeks old. That way Ana won't fuss about a diaper change as she often does.

But we think it's time that she starts learning to go on the potty. We have two: A plain one and a Dora one. But so far, no interest.

Ana says she's scared of the flush.

A friend of my wife let us borrow a couple of potty books. My mother-in-law got her big-girl underwear. And we talk about the using the potty often.

I know there's a school of thought that says she'll go on the potty when she's ready and to push her only invites a lot of cleaning up little accidents.

But I got think there's more we can do to encourage her using the potty. Any suggestions?

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Lucas Emilio was barely two days old and already someone was pulling at momma’s and papi's heartstrings to spend money. The photographer in the hospital wanted to take pictures, which, of course, she would sell to us.

My wife didn't have the heart or the energy to say no. She was recovering from giving birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy. (7 pounds 6 ounces and 19.5 inches long). So about the 15th time the photographer came in and just as we were getting ready to leave the hospital, I said no thank you. The woman seemed shocked. She actually made a pouty face.

Not that we didn't want to record the moment. We have a standard digital camera. I have taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures already. Some of them actually turned out pretty good. We're using three of them for the birth announcement and we're using one of the online photo sights to print it up and send it out. That's saving us the hundreds of dollars we paid for our daughter's birth announcement when she was born almost three years ago.

I guess we are just a little bit smarter the second time around on baby spending.

Do you have any other money saving ideas for that second child?

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Everything in our lives right now revolves around the pending birth of Lucas Emilio. He's scheduled to arrive via C-section next week.

My wife, Carrie Ann, is at that point where she can't get comfortable in any position. I worry about having all the last minute errands done.

My daughter, Ana Isabel, well she seems to be the least worried. Of course, she'll be three in August. So her focus is playing with mommy or papi or a best friend she makes that day. Still, Ana knows she's going to become a big sister next week.

My biggest worry is how will Ana handle her mommy being in the hospital for a few days. My mother-in-law is flying in to help. And I'll be off of work. So hopefully, we'll keep her busy. But still, the hospital can be a traumatic place for adults. And it's the first time Ana and momma won't be sleeping under the same roof overnight.

So what do you suggest for keeping a nearly three-year-old child from being traumatized by a hospital experience?

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We're in the final countdown for my son, Lucas Emilio, to arrive. We're all very excited, including my daughter, Ana Isabel.

My wife and I are scrambling. I'm finishing up house projects to get everything ready. My wife is pulling out all the baby stuff. And family members have booked their flights since Carrie Ann has a C-section scheduled.

That brings me to Ana. We have been telling her for months about Lucas' arrival. She's two and a half years old and seems to get it that there will be a new addition to the family.

Still, I don't want her to feel left out. I'm planning on doing more daughter and papi things with her. And we've put aside a few presents for her as well from our generous family, friends and colleagues.

Any other suggestions for keeping the jealous-sibling syndrome at bay? Or should we just be prepared to face it?

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Ana Isabel is two and half and hates shoes.

It doesn't help that my wife, who is nine months pregnant, often has swollen ankles and feet at this point. So she often ends up either barefoot or putting on sandals.

I'm the one always insisting that Ana put on her slippers or shoes. And it's not just about dirty feet either.

The other day Ana was walking with a noticeable limp. She favored her right leg.

Of course, I feared the worst. I worry that her bare feet hitting the cold, hard tiles in the house could have a detrimental effect on their development. I know that when I walk barefoot for too long, it hurts my feet.

We later realized that when Ana slipped trying to climb onto our bed in the morning she banged her ankle against the bed frame. It swelled for two days, but it's better now.

Still, it seems to me that Ana sometimes has a misstep in her walk.

Am I crazy or is it only natural for a toddler to reject the restrictions of footwear? Should papa stop being a fuddy duddy and just let Ana run wild bare foot?

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This falls into the category of something I never thought about on my way to parenthood. But it happened one day a few weeks ago.

Sometime back, my wife and I agreed on teaching our children the anatomical correct name for their body parts. It wasn't a big discussion, just something we sort of agreed on almost in passing.

Of course, most of this teaching goes on while I am at work. So I never really have given it that much thought until my daughter caught me off guard.

Her mother was at the doctor. And we were playing in the living room. She opened her mouth wide. I did the same. We did the aahhhh thing, each of us getting louder by the moment. Finally, I stopped and pointed in her mouth and said: "What's that in there? Is that China?"

That stopped Ana Isabel. "No, papa. That's not my China. This is my China," she said while doing a full-on Michael Jackson crotch grab. Vagina, China. It's all the same to a two and half year old. I just about fell out of the chair trying not to laugh.

I relayed the story to my wife. We laughed. It's better than the name her grandmother used to for the same body part, Carrie Ann said. Tootie. It confused her as a little girl when the sitcom "The Facts of Life" had a character with the same name.

So, how do you handle teaching your children about their body?

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So I've painted Ana' s old room a hue of blue as we wait for her little brother to arrive. Lucas Emilio is going in there and we moved Ana into the "big girl room," formerly the guest bedroom.

This week, the doctor scheduled my wife, Carrie Ann, for her C-section. So we have a deadline of April 29 now to get everything ... and everyone ready.

I still need to insulate, put up drywall on the ceiling and paint the converted Florida room. That's going to be where our guests stay now that we don't have a guest bedroom anymore. We also have to buy a pullout couch. All that is the easy part, if you ask me.

Coordinating grandparents and friends visits without hurting feelings seems to be the bigger challenge. They're all coming from New York, New Jersey and Maryland. And they all want to come around the baby's birthday.

We want them all to visit. But we don't have a large house to fit everyone at the same time. Sometimes we feel like we're playing traffic cops.

So what do you think is the best way to handle our influx of well-meaning visitors who want to celebrate Lucas' arrival?

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My wife, Carrie Ann, and I have disagreements like any married couple. But most often we're careful not to get into heated debates in front of our daughter, now two and half.

We've never had a yelling match in front of her. (Fortunately, those are rare.) Still, even when we are having a serious discussion; not a fight, with a lot of back and forth, Ana interrupts.

At times, it seems to me that it's more than her just wanting all the attention. She has even told us to stop. I've thought that maybe we should not have these talks in front of Ana. But sometimes they're hard to avoid.

It turns out, according to this piece on CNN and Parenting.com, that it's OK to fight in front of the kids. It's even healthy. So long as you're not nasty with each other. Interesting.

How do you handle fighting or having adult conversations in front of your children?

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Ana Isabel has been an incredibly healthy child. She's had one bout of the sniffles with a runny nose before last week.

We figure since Carrie Ann works from home and watches Ana, my daughter, now two and half, has had limited exposure to other children and germs. So she has been able to avoid a bad cold, up until now.

And now with all the news about cold and cough medicine not being good for you child, I'm not sure what we should do to try and relieve her symptoms. I suggested taking Ana to the doctor. But my wife says that while Ana has a cold she's mostly in good spirits. So a doctors visit may be premature at this point, since we'd rather not start dosing Ana with antibiotics just yet.

She had a slight fever the other day, nothing serious. We gave her Motrin for that and it seemed to work.

I just wonder what else we can do besides trying to find some contraband cough and cold medicine that was taken off the shelves for children. I figure if Ana's cold gets worse or is not getting better by next week, we're off to the pediatrician.

Meanwhile, what works for a stuffy head, cough and runny nose so that Ana can sleep through the night.

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