SillyThing

KidBits

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:44:45 GMT

I cannot remember the last time I did these so I apologize if I already shared some of these. I just like to keep track of funny things he says/does so putting them in here.

Jan 27 2013
We really need to get groceries and are down to slim pickings but I haven’t had a chance to get to the store yet.. Levi opened the fridge and said “Where did the groceries go!? They’re all gone and I am hungry!”

Jan 30 2013
During breakfast this morning Levi held his phone to his ear and said “what? I have to come to work? Ok Mark!” then “hung up” and told us “I got called in.. I have to go to work and get my paycheck” I had to attend a meeting and had intended to bring him with me but after he did that Jeremy and I exchanged some looks and decided to have him go ahead to the barn with Daddy instead.. we played right along with “oh wow! That’s pretty important!” He was so excited and got ready and in the truck with Daddy and they went off to the farm. I came back from my meeting a few hours later and Levi met me at the door with “I missed you Mom! I went to the farm and I tended heifers with Daddy! I bigger now!”

We went to the farm show with Billy Jo today but Levi decided he was afraid of her now. He told me “Billy Jo is scary because her has glasses” He decided he didn’t want her riding in the car with us and I told him that she had to because she was going with us. He held up his finger and said “I know! She can follow us in her car!”

Feb 1 2013
When Levi’s nose is stuffy he rubs it furiously and says “no! you get away you snuffy!”
Cute things Levi says wrong:
Horse – Forse
Railing – Rallor
Button – Bunnet
Baby Chick – Baby Chip
Magazine – Madzeen
Simpsons – Stimpsons

Feb 18 2013
Jeremy was looking online and saw a tractor for sale and we talked a bit about it while Levi played. Apparently he overheard us because later he told me “Daddy went to buy a new tractor with his money! It’s big and huge and you can ride on it too”
Later he told me that “Daddy is going to get a bicycle with a seat for me on the front and we’re going to go for a bike ride”

Feb 20 2013
Levi and I were at the library and we saw John there (our neighbor) he stopped us and while chatting he started poking at Levi and said “you smell like ginger ale” Levi responded “I do not! I smell like Levi!”

Levi was giving me a hard time taking a nap and refusing to lay still beside me so after I warned him several times I would get up if he didn’t stop- I finally had to get up. He laid on his bed and said “I hate Mommy! I hate her! I hate her!” Oh dear…

Feb 21 2013
We were driving today and discussing the local nursing home when Levi piped up from the back seat “Can we go to the Nursing Home?” We responded with asking him why he would want to go there and he says “Uhh to Nurse!”

Billy Jo was here visiting the other day and Levi brought over a tractor catalog and was showing her different tractors. She asked him if he was going to buy her one and he reached inside his pants pocket and says “I don’t have any pennies!”

Speaking of tractors Levi can tell you what kind some are such as Massey, John Deere and Case. He also recognizes and tells you what is a combine.

“Mommy I want you to lay down.. flat like a lily pad"

Levi is constantly asking you what things mean or say. He is starting to point to words and say “Tell me what this means. What does this want to say?” or the other day he comes downstairs and says “Mama what does function mean?” I tell him as best I can and he shows me a broken toy truck and says “This truck not function”

Levi was being too quiet so I went to check on him in the living room. He came running to me and said “no! you go look at your parrot (what he calls a computer) and I will look at what I am doing” turns out he was messing with the Wii console. haha

Me: Levi, what do you want to eat?
Levi: “um. Food”

March 10 2013
Driving to the farm and Levi asks if he can get out and do chores. I tell him no not today and he responds “You are so mean.”

Levi was being naughty at the table and not eating his food so I raised my voice and told him to take some bites. He got big tears in his eyes and said “You hurt my heart when you yell!”

“Gingerlas are shooting your butt!” aiming his toy soldiers at Daddy’s butt.

“Daddy. I found gum on the floor and it had hair in it. I ate it and it was very tasty. I liked it. It was lovely.”

Sitting in the bath with Levi after he had talked to Mark (Daddy’s boss) on the phone. I say “So I hear you talked to Mark” Levi put on a serious face and said “Yes. I did. He said ‘You get your butt to this farm Levi’ so. I have to get rolling.”

March 13 2013
Levi got an Easter card in the mail from Grandma and Poppas with $5 inside. He saw the money and announced “yay! Now I can buy THREE lollipops!”

Do you honestly think you know more than GOD?

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:17:55 GMT

You MUST watch this.. if you disagree or agree just watch it. Learn something. God, Creation, Evolution.. we are born with a foreskin. It serves a purpose.

"God is knitting you in your mothers womb; for you are fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalms 139

And yet some still feel they have the right to alter what God has made..

Genital cutting of a minor

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:16:22 GMT

It really fires me up when people try to debate Circumcision.
I am sick of feeling afraid to post stuff on it for sake of stirring up drama. But simply put

IT IS NOT YOUR CHOICE. There IS NO debate. If you are the owner of the foreskin by all means cut it if you want to cut it. But if you are NOT owner of the foreskin?? LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE.

Honestly? I lose major respect for you if you choose to do this to your son. You are disrespecting his body, his choice and his future partner's choice.
As far as comments like "Well I don't agree but I respect your choice so you should respect mine" I say Hell NO. You lost my respect when you made a choice to take your son's choice away. Respect HIM and I will respect YOU. And for people who continue to circumcise knowing the risks involved and having the research and knowledge in front of them proving that this isn't necessary and IS A COSMETIC procedure? I have no words.. simply disgust.

If YOU like an uncirc'd penis then you take that up with your partner (if you're into men) you don't just hack off your son's body part because YOU prefer it.
There are so many debates in parenting it makes my head spin. But this just shouldn't even be a debate. The "tradition" bullshit is just that.. bullshit. Chinese girls feet used to be bound to the point they were crippled. There is a fucking tradition for you. Look how that worked out. Banned (Finally) and how many of those girls suffered because of that stupid tradition. Crippled. Don't think that cutting the penis is just as bad?

There are over 20,000 nerve endings in the foreskin. That's 20,000 less nerve endings you just took from your kid
http://www.circumcision.org/foreskin.htm

The foreskin PROTECTS the penis -
http://www.penisfiles.com/foreskin.htm

Circumcision doesn't protect you from HIV/Aids & STD's... Using protection and common sense helps though!

Circumcision doesn't protect against Penile cancer http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/cancer/
Men who die from penile cancer are usually over 70 yrs old and there are about 300 deaths a year from that.
Deaths from circumcision? An Act that is absolutely not necessary? Oooh it's estimated that 500.. That's 500 - baby boys die a year from that http://www.noharmm.org/incidenceworld.htm

Lots goes wrong with Circumcisions
http://newborns.stanford.edu/CircComplications.html

Think it doesn't hurt?
Watch this video and please do make sure sound is on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDuDhkiDdns

Study halted because of... what's this?? TRAUMA??
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/23/circumcision.anesthetic/

Oh and while you're at it.. why don't you google Nurses against circumcision for some personal stories coming from actual Nurses who have been involved with this practice.. pretty shitty stuff on there like the Dr who allowed the MED STUDENTS to perform on the newborn for the first time only after just watching the Dr do one. Botched much?

Want more information with resources? Check out these pages
http://www.facebook.com/#!/WholeNetwork

http://9davids.blogspot.com/2010/11/50-reasons-to-leave-it-alone.html?spref=fb
http://www.intactamerica.org/
http://www.stopinfantcircumcision.org/
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/links.htm <------- READ THIS ONE ESPECIALLY

Here's a take on the female point of view
http://womanuncensored.blogspot.com/2009/12/would-you-circumcise-your-daughter.html

Here are words from Mothers themselves after seeing it done to their son
http://www.circumcision.org/mothers.htm

I heard him cry during the time they were circumcising him. The thing that is most disturbing to me is that I can still hear his cry. . . . It was an assault on him, and on some level it was an assault on me. . . . I will go to my grave hearing that horrible wail, and feeling somewhat responsible, feeling that it was my lack of awareness, my lack of consciousness. I did the best I could, and it wasn’t good enough.

I have never heard such screams. . . . Will I ever know what scars this brings to your soul?

All I could think of was holding and consoling my child, but his pain felt inconsolable—his body rigid with fear and anger—his eyes filled with tears of betrayal.

Here look at this page - And in answer to their main question? Yes... yes it has.
http://www.noharmm.org/separated.htm

And don't get me started on the religious side. How many of you practicing religious people actually follow ALL your "traditions" Yeh I didn't think so.
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/ <-- especially heart touching is the letter to his son
http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/brisshalom.htm

http://www.circumcision.org/

http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/glass2/

Is the foreskin a mistake of nature?

No. The Bible says that God pronounced creation 'very good' (Genesis 1:31) and that humans were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). The Apostle Paul also said that God made every part of the body as he wanted it. (1 Corinthians 12:18).

http://www.udonet.com/circumcision/christian.html

DAMN that feels good to get out my system. This issue just deeply moves me beyond anything else. More than home birthing, more than breastfeeding more than ANYTHING.. this issue.. THIS is what I fight for. What I want to be more opinionated on. What I want to see Change.
If you can't accept that? Delete me now. Please. I want to be more open on this topic. I want to spread the news of what damage this causes.

And to sum it up. I'm not against circumcision.. but I am against it being done on children. If you are of age to consent than by all means if that is your thing.. do it. But DO NOT take that right from a boy who has no voice. Just. Don't.

http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/circumcision-what-i-wish-id-known.html?spref=fb

How much is removed?!!!
http://www.noharmm.org/snip.htm

Different than Daddy
http://www.noharmm.org/daddy.htm

I am also considering cutting a few more people off my list who are FOR this practice I AM CUTTING PEOPLE FROM MY LIST WHO ARE FOR THIS PRACTICE simply because I find the more I learn about it the more I am against it and therefore find these people more and more irritating and disturbing. We choose who we hang out with in our real lives and I think I'm going to make that choice for online friends as well. I'm tired of the status posts such as

"Poor A he had his 'procedure' today and is pretty sore"
"Ugh back to the Dr S has to be re-circ'd"
"On the fence with the big C but I think were gonna do it for health reasons"
"It's a BOY! He's getting his pencil sharpened as I type"

Disturbing. Disgusting and I want nothing to do with you.

Well written and I agree whole heartedly

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:22:03 GMT

Credit: DrMomma.org

Stepping Away from Friendship in the Name of Human Rights

I've read a few comments lately on the FB page that are along the same lines as this particular one:

I have concerns with people who talk about not being friends with someone who circumcises their children. Some people also call it 'child abuse'!? This is a bit disheartening. How can we possibly educate people and lead by example if we alienate ourselves and live in a bubble surrounded by people who think exactly like us?

I certainly appreciate the genuine care and concern this wise question poses. Here is my response:

I do not believe that people let friends go who made past mistakes. We all make mistakes - we can all learn, grow, move on and do things in more baby friendly ways in the future. When we know better, we do better. Some of my very closest friends are those who circumcised ALL of their sons before they had access to accurate information - or because they believed at the time that was what was best for their child.

The difference comes when someone is willfully choosing not to become informed on a subject (such as genital cutting) even though the resources and opportunity exist, and/or they elect to continue the practice of FGM/MGM on future children despite knowing its degree of detriment. Why would anyone stand silently by and say, "It's okay we can still carry on as usual."

Would we speak up if our friend or sister or cousin was going to circumcise their infant daughter?

What if they wanted to amputate a toe or an ear or a pinky finger from their baby 'just because' - without medical necessity?

If I wanted to circumcise my 10 year old - not because he needed it, but because I decided I just felt like doing so - I wanted his penis to look a certain way to me - would you say anything?

Would we continue a friendship with someone who repeatedly sexually assaulted babies or children without ever acknowledging their actions?

There are certain things that are choices, that do not inflict direct and lasting harm on others:

I might cloth diaper, you use disposables;
I might wear my baby everywhere, and yours rides in his carseat all day;
I might homeschool, and you send your kids to private school;
I may play with my children outside each day, and yours stay inside;
I may prep homecooked meals, and you frequent McDonalds.

There are many differences among us that do not violate basic human rights. Surely we can befriend those who are not exactly the same as us, or the world would be a boring place of no learning/experience/growth. Differences color the world beautiful!

But there are also actions that are grave offenses to basic human rights, and to stand by and continue on as though nothing is wrong with these assaults is just as bad as being the one to perform them.

For this reason, while I will never attack or hurt anyone (we all deserve to be gently loved, respected, and given yet another opportunity for growth), I also do not choose to continue friendships with those people who refuse to become educated on the subject of genital mutilation and insist on continuing to amputate healthy body organs from non-consenting girls or boys without medical need. To inflict permanent harm upon another's body is as violating as we can possibly be.

I also believe we can separate the act of FGM/MGM from the parents who've been involved, as well. Most parents love their children very, very much (including those parents who have had their daughters circumcised). They are not 'child abusers,' even if they are not informed of the consequences of this action. Yet the actual ACT of genital cutting -- to amputate or mutilate (alter beyond repair) healthy organs without medical need from a non-consenting person, forever impacting his/her body and life -- certainly qualifies as abuse.

On a broad scale, this is not about 'judging' people - this is about standing up for human rights and not bending in our position just to conform to injustices around us.

It very much reminds me of the antebellum era when those standing up for the rights of slaves were offending slave owners and judging the wrongful actions around them. It took someone to stand up!

This is also not about denying our gentleness with other parents and lovingly befriending people of all walks of life -- everyone makes mistakes. Again, I have many close friends who have circumcised sons in the past. But they have since looked into the subject and would go to great lengths to educate their children, and protect their grandchildren.

If an individual refuses to become educated on the matter and elects to remain willfully ignorant and/or sadistic in their treatment of children, why would any advocate for humanity (especially babies) desire to continue a close relationship with that person?

It once again brings up MLK Jr.'s true statement:

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

I pray I never become passive in the fight against injustices in the world around me.

Dear former LJ friend(s)

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:52:27 GMT

And that is where our paths split my friend..

You on one side and me on the other.

All boys are born with a foreskin for a reason. Just because you are not familiar with what a normal penis looks like - that doesn't mean your son wouldn't want his whole body or enjoy the benefits of his whole body.

Bet you didn't know girls have foreskins too.. if we get to enjoy OUR foreskins well our sons should too.

Circumcision is barbaric and disgusting.
Altering a perfectly normal body part for cosmetic reasons on a child is wrong.

Is THIS what you consider "cleaner" "healthier" and a good choice for a new baby boy?

So he can grow up with less nerve ending, no normal function of his penis and end up with a dried out glans like THIS?

(intact on left. circumcised on right)

Do you not respect your child so much that you take away the very first right he has? The right to his own whole body?

Sorry but I respect my child enough to leave him as GOD made him. I am smart enough to research the topic completely and understand the actual function of a foreskin. My child's penis is normal. And looks as it should.

He'll never have to ask me why I allowed a Dr to alter his body. He'll have full function of his foreskin which contrary to what you believe actually protects his penis from bacteria and infection. Provides a healthy normal sex life for him and his future partner and gives him the pride of knowing he kept his whole body.

You should be thankful YOU'RE not circumcised. Female circumcision was legal until 1997 in the goold ole USA... It was people like ME who spoke up against it and got it made illegal. And one day people like ME will also be proud and happy to see Male circumcision illegal.

If you want to learn more about why this means so much to me check out more information (on my profile) or even just watch a video
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ceht-3xu84I?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://youtu.be/Ceht-3xu84I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2PKdDOjooA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb39r6CvhqU

Watch and view how different intact vs cut infant care is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXtsuePnIoQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=367CR4EqyWo

The difference between a circumcised penis (left) and an intact penis (right) over the years the head of the penis rubs on the inside of the child's diaper and then underwear causing the skin to roughen and lose sensation.
Notice how dry the cut penis is compared to the intact penis which contains all it's normal functioning (including natural Lube!)

Learn MORE about how the penis is supposed to glide and perform here
http://www.sexasnatureintendedit.com/10F/2hook_pumps.html

Circumcision affects more than the child it is performed on. Sex with an intact man is the way sex was intended to be. Gentle/rolling/gliding/ and with the right amount of natural lube. Nothing quite like it! Why not let your son decide for himself if he wants his penis to be altered as an ADULT.

Misinformed Americans. Please do check out the History of Circumcision website..

http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=8&id=73&Itemid=52

Cut & Dry

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:29:07 GMT

I am generally pretty laid back when it comes to Parenting choices..
cloth diapers or disposable? I use cloth but don't really care if you use disposable.. heck I have used them too!
Breastfeed or Formula? I Breastfeed but I have used Formula in the past.. do I think formula is Ok to use? Not really but I'm not going to be up in arms if you feed your child it.
Vaccinate or Vac-Free? I choose not to vaccinate myself or my family this does not mean I will judge you if you choose to vaccinate..
Homebirth vs Hospital? I am a Homebirthing Mom and if I can help it I will *never* birth in a Hospital. It doesn't mean you're wrong to choose a Hospital birth.

So while there are parenting choices we will disagree on these are all things we can look over because it's just that.. choices.
However there is one thing that gets set into this category of parenting choices that I cannot overlook because it isn't a parenting choice.. it's a taking away of the choice of a child.
I'm talking about Circumcision.

I've been called a Freak I've been called a Crazy Extremest and I've been told to Mind my own Business. But I cannot let this one go so easily. Funnily enough it never really mattered to me before. I had seen intact penises and I had seen cut penises and I honestly thought penises just looked different that way naturally. It wasn't until my son came along that I really became fired up on this subject and began to research. I began to ask questions like

*Why are we still practicing this?
*Who has the right to make this choice?
*IS it a parenting choice?
*What are some side effects from this?
*Does it hurt?

I won't lie.. now that I have researched this and continue to research it I am sickened that people still allow this procedure done to children.
I beg you to DO YOUR RESEARCH! Watch videos of the actual procedure and Research some more. Asking a circumcised man if he is OK with being circumcised really isn't going to give you the answers or research you need. Of course he is "ok" with it.. it's all he knows! But what that guy might not know is that because he was circumcised he is now missing
Sensitivity
Protection
Skin!
Lubrication
Immune defense
Nerves

and so much more! Here is a little experiment for you..

Run your fingertip down the back of your hand.. Now run it down the palm of your hand. Notice how even after you stopped touching the palm of your hand you could still feel the line you drew with your fingertip.
Your palm has Meissner’s corpsucles (touch-sensitive nerves) that the back of your hand does n...ot. The male foreskin has 20-70,000 of these.
Pretty sad that people think the foreskin serves no function!

Here is a pretty good link with some great information on what circumcision takes away
http://www.foregen.org/learn-more/picture-gallery/
http://www.foregen.org/learn-more/regaining-sexual-function/

It is a website for Men wanting to restore what has been taken away from them as a child. So for those people who say "I have never met a man who regretted losing his foreskin" well... here you go.. Meet them.

I'm not going to sit here and type a bunch of facts out. But I WILL encourage you to please check out the following links for more information. Please.
http://www.thewholenetwork.org/
http://www.drmomma.org/#uds-search-results
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/
http://www.cirp.org/library/

There are plenty of websites with all the research placed in easy to find and read ways.
Did you know that Circumcision does NOT:

Make the penis cleaner
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/151612/a_circumcised_penis_is_not_necessarily.html?cat=5

Protect against STDs
http://www.circumstitions.com/STDs.html

Protect against penile cancer
http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/notcancer.html

Did you know Circumcision rates are dropping in the USA?

Did you also know that the Aids link is a Myth?
http://alirizvisblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/male-circumcision-and-hivaids-myth.html

Did you know Circumcision was practiced at first to stop children from enjoying masturbation??
http://www.coloradonocirc.org/myths.php

And last but NOT least.. are you aware that babies die EVERY YEAR from being circumcised?
http://www.icgi.org/2010/04/infant-circumcision-causes-100-deaths-each-year-in-us/
http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html
http://www.examiner.com/family-health-in-washington-dc/new-study-estimates-neonatal-circumcision-death-rate-higher-than-suffocation-and-auto-accidents

Do YOU want to be risk placing your child in those Odds?

Were you aware that circumcision was done on baby girls as well in the past? Now baby girls are protected from this but boys are not? Girls also produce smegma (in fact they produce MORE than a boy!) Girls also are at risk for STDs and cancer and yeast infections... wow. But girls are taught how to wash themselves with soap.. shouldn't the same be done for boys? Girls are treated for their yeast, UTI, STDs ect with antibiotics.. shouldn't the same for boys?
http://www.ajc.com/news/mom-accused-of-circumcising-363230.html

I shake my head at articles like the one above.. if only. IF ONLY the same would be done if that baby was a boy. How can we have such a double standard? How?

I leave you with two photos.. an Intact Baby and a Cut Baby

You tell me that doesn't Hurt.

Christmas Card

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:38:50 GMT

Lactation Cookies

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 03:15:57 GMT

2 sticks Margarine
2 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix with beater until blended
Add

Flour
Pinch of baking soda
dash of salt
Oats
Almond crunch cereal
a few chocolate chips
2 teaspoons fenugreek tea
Pour in some flaxseed
Pour in some wheat germ (honey toasted is yummy)

Bake at 375 until browned on bottom

Nursing a Toddlby

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:13:01 GMT

Breastfeeding a toddlby: the myths and the reality
it took me a long time to realize i wanted to breastfeed beyond a year. well, actually that's not 100% true. it took me a long time to figure out i wanted to breastfeed– once i was in it to win it i was ready for the long haul. i'm pleased to be still nursing our toddlby at 14 months, it works for me and him and us. it feels much less strange than i thought it would; it's been a gradual evolution. i didn't just wake up one day to a huge kid on my boob and think, AHHHHHH! to me, he's still just a little dude.

before we continue, i'm not saying everybody needs to breastfeed to the age of five– i'm just saying do what works for your family. some kids don't want to breastfeed that long. jon's mom could never get any of her kids to even make it to a year, they just weren't interested. what i do find silly is stopping because of some arbitrary date, a year, etc. the idea that any specific age is "too old" rubs me the wrong way. each mom is different, each child is different. you wean at 6 months? 14 months? 24 months? good for you. stop because you want to! because it's not working for you anymore! amen sisters, i certainly feel that way some days.

to people who aren't all that comfortable with breastfeeding, full-term nursing can have an ick factor. just as during pregnancy people love to butt-in and give you all kinds of unrequested advice they continue to drop these lovely gems on you throughout parenting. (advice that sometimes isn't particularly advice even, just flat our judgment) i had someone tell me to never let the jude sleep in our bed because he would never leave and he would sleep there until he was in middle school. i kept my trap shut and didn't tell her, hi, we're cosleeping right now and it works great for us. it should come as no surprise that nursing a toddler or older child definitely falls into that category of unasked-for judgment, especially with how rarely it is seen in public or portrayed in the media. unfortunately it just isn't customary in america anymore.

if they can ask for it, they're too old.
i've always found this argument laughable, because what exactly do you think a crying infant is doing? asking for it. maybe a better way to phrase their point would be, if they can ask for it with words they're too old. what about the 7 month old who can sign milk in sign language? is that asking for it? the 10 month old who calls for mimimimimi? is that asking for it? it's a silly offhand rule that doesn't take into account the special circumstances of each child. and so what if they CAN ask for it in a complete sentence? is the child who asks, "nurse now, mama?" less deserving of having his or her needs met?

part of this argument stems from people who are afraid of kids running around screaming BOOBS, BOOBIES and flinging their mother's shirts up in the grocery store. that's a manners and discipline issue, not a breastfeeding one. (also, learn some compassion for frazzled moms, i'm sure she isn't crazy about that either!)

he/she should really be eating solid foods. (implied, only solid foods)
one of the greatest advantages to nursing a toddler is nutrition. as picky eating begins it gets harder and harder to force their little butts into a chair to sit down for a meal. they are too busy learning to stop and eat! offering breastmilk is a guarantee that a toddler will get some good stuff into their belly today. as they learn to feed themselves it's like a fail-safe backup plan– nursing can be there to fill in the cracks on the days they don't consume much.

but wait– breastmilk loses nutrition after 6 months/ 9 months/ etc.
this myth is a straight out lie. at no point does breastmilk lose nutritional value or lose the protection of antibodies. "Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins." and, "Human milk expressed by mothers who have been lactating for more than one year has significantly increased fat and energy contents, compared with milk expressed by women who have been lactating for shorter periods. During prolonged lactation, the fat energy contribution of breast milk to the infant diet can be significant."
(more about the continued nutritional content of breastmilk)

he/she really needs to be drinking cow's milk.
why? the recommendation for switching formula-fed babies to cow's milk around a year of age does not apply to breastfed babies. why would you switch them away from milk made just for them to milk made just for baby cows?

if you don't wean him/her soon they'll never stop! / you're going to raise her/him to be a titty-baby!
sorry kids, this one doesn't hold up either. breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding are in no way related to how needy or dependent your child will be. studies show that children who are allowed to wean at their own pace have increased confidence that their needs are being met and are therefore more comfortable. children who are breastfed longer are at no further risk of having social problems.
(more about the social adjustment of breastfed children)

there's no reason to keep doing that, you're just getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of it
yeah, people really say that one. sorry to break their hearts, but there are a lot of times that i am definitely NOT getting any enjoyment out of being a human jungle-jim and dairy bar. it works for us but "enjoyment" is not the right word. enjoyment implies a certain amount of selfishness, which is ridiculous when you consider that mom and child are working together as a dyad. it takes two to tango, and as any parent will tell you, you can't FORCE a toddler to do anything. if they don't want to nurse, trust me, they won't. closeness, bonding, comfort, nutrition, definitely! it can even be a valuable tool in your parenting toolbox. but sick selfish enjoyment? pretty unlikely.

well, it's just not natural!
oh dear. really? the WHO emphasizes nursing to the age of two and beyond. the AAP recommends through at least the first year and then, "Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother... There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer." (more on breastfeeding past a infancy is normal)

it is scientifically recognized that nursing beyond infancy is best for mother and child (as long as each wishes to continue). it is a biological fact that nursing beyond infancy was the norm for the human race prior to the industrial revolution. so normal, natural, yes, it is. it has certainly fallen out of favor these days but 100 years doesn't erase the impact of many hundreds of years.

this is the best way i've seen it explained: mammals nurse their young. we are mammals; we nurse our young. in nature, most mammals nurse their young for twice their period of gestation. we gestate for 9-10 months, therefore we should continue to nurse through 18-20 months. it makes sense, no? i've always liked that way of thinking about it. it's very straightforward.

here's the reality of nursing a toddlby: some days we nurse less, some days more. some days he is hungry, some days he is sad. he is healthy and happy and we're going to keep doing it– even when he tries to do a handstand on my throat to get there. because my son is over a year old doesn't mean he doesn't need that comfort available to him, or that awesome nutrition in his diet. we'll just see how it works out for us and go with the flow. get yourself educated, haters. word.

(the links on this post all lead to kellymom, which provides a great resource for information about breastfeeding. follow any of the above links and click "show references" to view the specific studies and articles referenced for this information. this isn't just bullshit i'm putting out there, it's based on actual reliable data.)

Aww

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:22:39 GMT

I found this video online today it's the family that I lived with as a teenager.

www.vnews.com/faithandfamily/

I never really got along with Todd.. (or Poppa Todd) as I called him. I wanted a Dad so much and I did care about him but I also hated him for being a Father figure to me when my own would not.. yeah.
Terri is the sweetest person you could ever meet.. I miss them!!!!!!

A Pygmy Model for Partnership Relations

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:05:19 GMT

by Ushanda io Elima

The Efe Pygmies are “wholly non-aggressive,” Jean-Pierre Hallet told me. Could that be true? Since Hallet largely grew up with the Efe in equatorial Africa, and has lived with them for much of his sixty plus years, I figured he might know.

And since aggressive people increasingly threaten our lives, both locally and internationally, his claim seemed worth checking out. Whether or not humans are genetically violent, as some maintain, has significant relevance for we who are peace activists. The root causes of aggression, both interpersonal and international, matter greatly regarding effective strategy for prevention and elimination of human violence. And, while I cannot tolerate false hope, I was feeling a need for first-hand information that could offer genuine hope of a better world for our human family.

My fascination with the African Pygmies began in the 1960s, when I read The Forest People by Colin Turnbull, who had lived with the Mbuti Pygmies for three years. In the late ‘60s I attended Turnbull’s lecture series at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

In the early 1970s I heard Jean-Pierre Hallet speak about the Efe Pygmies at the University of California in Berkeley. At that time he showed his 1972 documentary film on this indigenous African tribe. Later I read Hallet’s book, Pygmy Kitabu. Hallet has lived with the culturally pure Efe Pygmies from early childhood. He gave startling evidence of the trusting, cooperative, and joyful lifestyle of these forest people.

Thus I was pleased to meet with Jean-Pierre Hallet in his Malibu home. He is six feet and four inches tall, far from pygmy size, and speaks with passion. He lost his right hand while dynamiting Lake Tanganyika for fish to feed a group of starving Africans in South Mossi. Dubbed “one of the most remarkable men of the 20th century,” he is the only white man to become a member of the Bwame Secret Society, and a blood brother of the Lega, Tutsi, and Nande tribes. He is also an initiated Maasai warrior.

Mr. Hallet was born in Belgian, but went to Zaire’s Ituri Forest, where his artist father had been living, when he was only six months old. Hallet told me that, for the most part, he grew up with the Efe Pygmies. He went barefoot, wore a loincloth, and did everything that they did. He still spends time with them every year.

The following account of Pygmy life draws upon my meeting with Hallet, as well as other firsthand reports from him and Colin Turnbull. What emerges is a picture of a culture based on honoring—to use a Native American concept—“all our relations.”

Sexual Maturity and Pregnancy

The Pygmies are well aware of the connection between sex and conception, Hallet explained during our meeting, and sexual relations before marriage are accepted. If a girl becomes pregnant, she always knows who the father is, because it is customary to have only one lover at a time. Should the couple wish to marry, they do. If they choose not to, then many men will want to marry the mother-to-be, because children are most desirable.

Birth

Hallet said he has delivered more than 500 African babies, Pygmy and non-Pygmy. He described Pygmy labor as being very short, natural, and easy, even for a first-time mother. And this is in spite of the fact that Pygmy babies are, proportionally, the biggest babies in the world. For example an 80-pound Pygmy mother typically gives birth to an eight-pound baby, about one-tenth of her body weight. This would compare to a 130-pound woman birthing a 13-pound baby.

When the mother’s membranes rupture, she notifies her two midwives, who then walk with her to the river, one on either side. “At the time of the pain,” Hallet said, “she will walk and sing, sing and be joyous.”

Once at the river, the pregnant woman squats on a flat rock. The midwives hold her on each side, and breath deeply with her in what Hallet referred to as “a tremendous feeling on oneness.” When they feel the time has come, the women hold their breath. “They pause together,” said Hallet, “and then you see the baby coming out.”

One of the midwives briefly holds the baby upside down, washes the upper part of the body to make sure the baby is breathing well, and then returns the child to the mother for nursing. The other midwife works her teeth down the umbilical cord until she finds the narrow part, a few inches from the infant’s abdomen. “This is the place where, if a baby were dropped from the womb of a standing mother, the weight of the child would be enough to break that cord at that point,” said Hallet. The midwife bites this narrow part very slowly, and then gently squeezes the cord with her fingers. There is usually very little bleeding.

To celebrate the birth of her child, Hallet noted, a mother will sing this song:

My heart is so joyous,

My heart flies in singing,

Under the trees of the forest,

The forest, our home, our mother.

In my net I have caught

A little bird,

A very little bird,

And my heart is caught

In the net with my little bird.

During the birth, the father stays away. Birth is considered to be women’s business. After birth, when the mother and baby have returned to their leafy, dome hut, the father comes to them and asks permission to enter. Then the father might clap his hands and thank his wife for their very wanted child.

Newborn Care

According to Hallet, there is no bonding ritual, but there is a bond — “like a fruit to its branch” — a physical attachment for the first year or so. During this year, the baby is “never separated from the mother.” In Hallet’s view, this constant contact is one reason why Pygmy infants rarely cry. Pygmy babies appear to feel good. “They are satisfied in all of their requirements,” he stated. On the rare occasion when a baby does cry, it is only for a moment, because the baby’s need is immediately taken care of. Often this means nursing, which satisfies the baby’s necessity for close contact and attention, as well as for nourishment.

Hallet remarked that the baby is usually carried in front, although sometimes on the back. In either position, Pygmies feel it is essential to maintain skin-to-skin contact, with the child naked against the mother’s bare skin. If clothing is needed for warmth, the mother wraps a clothe around both herself and her child, not between them. This constant skin contact continues for at least the first six months. Thereafter, the mother continues to provide plenty of touching as well as baby-led nursing.

A Pygmy baby continues to nurse for about five years, Hallet reported. If there’s any milk left after the new baby is finished, the breast may go to the baby before, and then to the child before that one, in turn. The priority is always the newly born child.

Hallet said, “Sometimes you’ll see little children playing, perhaps making a bow and arrow. They interrupt their play to go to their mother, reach for her breast and suckle a little bit . . . still finding the warmth of a few drops of milk.”

The breasts of women with many children may be really flat, going all the way down to the waist, commented Hallet. I thought this might result from a combination of breastfeeding along with a physically active lifestyle and no bras. Although such “droopy breasts” may be unattractive from a modern point of view, to the Pygmies it is a good sign, I learned, because it indicates a woman has been feeding a lot of children. Prolonged, child-led nursing also provides a natural form of birth control and child spacing.

The Pygmies do not equate breasts with sexual stimulation, Hallet claimed, and they do not use the breast for erogenous foreplay. The breast is considered sacred, reserved for the child.

The father takes great interest in his baby. He plays, holds and hugs the child as much as the mother does. Men and women equally manifest love and care. In fact, fathers will sometimes hold their babies for very long periods of time. Hallet recalled, “The most beautiful time for a father is when he holds his baby for the very first time. He will hold his newborn with great . . . tenderness. And usually he will cry, because he is so touched by his baby.”

Close physical contact, nursing as often as the child feels the need, emotional warmth, and loving care are among the basic requirements of very young children, according to the Pygmies. Fulfilling these needs maximizes the child’s potential to develop into a naturally sociable and responsible human being who can enjoy a good life.

Childhood

Family members sleep together. The big girls cuddle on the left side of the hut with the mother. The boys line up beside the father, on his right. The youngest child who is still breastfeeding sleeps between the father and mother. Pygmies feel that this is an intrinsic part of life, Hallet said. Since their only blankets are each other, they cuddle and fit against one another’s bodies in a very natural way.

This feeling of closeness carries beyond the family hut. Hallet said that children refer to their parents’ peers as “mother” or “father.” Children outside the immediate family are called “brother” or “sister.” As Hallet’s documentary revealed, there is a great deal of affectionate touching among all of the Pygmies. Babies and small children are held and carried. Older children and adults frequently hold hands or sit with an arm around a friend, or place their head in another’s lap. Anyone feeling the need for reassurance may touch someone briefly or go for a hug. Many enjoy cuddling.

Girls and boys are treated and valued equally, according to Hallet. Marriage involves no dowry or bride-payment, but rather simple exchanges. Most areas of work are not limited solely to one gender or the other. A man will gather food if he passes something tasty and his hands are free. And all the people—men, women and children—play a part in the hunt.

Hallet never saw a Pygmy adult hit or criticize a child. Nor do they tell their children how to behave. When I asked how they control their children, Hallet answered, “They don’t. The children do not need to be controlled. Whatever the adults do, the children do. The woman goes to gather wood for the fire, and the little girl follows and picks up a few pieces too.”

Once he saw a toddler heading straight toward a blazing fire, and called out to alert the mother. The mother calmly replied, “Let him go.” As Hallet put it, the mother knew the child would soon feel the heat and slow down. She trusted nature, including the instinctual wisdom of her child’s human nature. The child might touch a glowing twig and learn about fire without serious harm to either his fingers or his budding self-confidence.

“This is probably the most striking difference between the Pygmies and our society,” said Hallet. “They do not tell their children what to do or what not to do.”

Adulthood

After an easy birth and attentive childcare, what quality of life do Pygmies experience in maturity?

According to Hallet, Efe Pygmies are physically healthy. Living traditionally, they do not succumb to such modern diseases as high blood pressure, heart disease, or cancer. Death is usually due to pulmonary diseases like pneumonia, a result of the constant nearly 100 percent humidity of their forest environment. The second leading cause of death is what Hallet termed “accidents,” such as being crushed by a falling tree.

For simple ailments like an infected cut, the Pygmies have natural medicines derived from various combinations of roots and plant juices. They have a cure for every normally occurring illness, according to Hallet. They either eat the substance, drink it, or make a little scratch and absorb it into the bloodstream much like an injection. Through centuries of trial and error, they know what works and what does not.

The emotional health of the Pygmies is also impressive. Hallet, constantly touched by their goodness, believes that the simplicity, harmony, and serenity that the Pygmies experience are qualities we could learn to incorporate. “They are not afraid,” he said. “They are totally secure.” They have a high level of respect for themselves and others.

Most significantly, Efe Pygmies are free of hatred, greed, and competitive feelings. Physical violence against others is forbidden.

Hallet’s documentary reveals the role that social responsibility plays in a telling scene of conflict between an Efe wife and husband. The argument heats up with much shouting, hands on hips, and dramatic finger waving. Suddenly the husband picks up a stick. The wife disappears from the screen—but soon reappears bearing a club taller than herself. At this point, the women hold back the wife, and the men hold back the husband.

What usually happens when a husband and wife fight, says Hallet, is that they are encouraged. “If a man is about to hit his wife, the others will give him a stick and say, ‘Hit her with this. You are a strong man. You can kill her!’ By this time, the husband already feels a little ashamed. The others group around and call out, ‘Okay! Go! Go for it!’ And then he realizes how foolish he looks. They end up making a joke out of it, a sort of soap opera. Then every body claps, and they are happy.”

Pygmies express all of their emotions freely. According to Hallet, if Pygmies feel like crying, they cry. If they want to scream, they scream. They yell. It is acceptable for a man to cry openly. They pygmies do not suppress their emotions; instead, they say, “Tell the truth. Do not hide it—let it out.”

Turnbull referred to the bright-eyed, open look of the playful Pygmies, and was surprised by the extent of their emotional freedom: they may even fall to the ground and roll around when expressing intense sorrow, or laughter.

Even though Pygmies usually do pretty much what they feel like doing, community relationships do not suffer. As Hallet sees it, a major part of their great personal freedom comes from a mutual feeling of trust. As he spoke I thought, because the innate trust human babies are born with is not betrayed by their caregivers, that trust can continue. According to Hallet, Pygmies concentrate their attention on the betterment of their personal relationships. He said that the entire Efe society had not one criminal, not one rapist, one molester, or one case of incest.

Although a man might think of making love with a woman other than his wife, knowing how that would threaten the root of their sacred marriage for life, he would resist the temptation.

The Pygmies have no chiefs, no courts or prisons. Turnbull wrote that they did not want individual power, preferring shared decision-making.

More than anything else, what forms the basis of the healthy relationships that Pygmies enjoy is respect. For instance, respect is shown in the handling of food, which is shared with all. If food is scarce, the first to be fed are the children and then the elders—those who are the most vulnerable.

Great respect is shown for the elders. In Pygmy society, the elders are “the stars of the show.” According to Hallet, they are the most important people because they have the wisdom, the honor, the beauty that deserves respect. They have worked all their lives. They have given a lot of love to other people. They naturally reap the reward of becoming truly important in the eyes of all others. The Pygmies have a saying: “Thank God if you live to grow old.”

When I heard that I wondered how many of our modern elders feel as honored and grateful in old age.

Pygmies also show respect for their forest environment and resources. “Never cut the tall trees,” they say in Hallet’s Pygmy Kitabu. Ecology is a natural part of their religion.

According to Hallet, the Pygmies believe in one God, one Spirit, one Creator of all life. They consider no form of punishment, no hell or revenge, because they see God as being only benevolent. In The Forest People, Turnbull records the words of a song he heard his Pygmy companions sing: ". . . If darkness is, then the darkness must be good.” So completely do the Pygmies experience a trustworthy world.

The Future: Danger of Extinction

Pygmy lives are now endangered. “It is impossible for them to survive with their traditional hunting and gathering because their forest is being destroyed at a tremendous rate,” said Hallet. In fact, many experts predicted that the Efe Pygmies would be extinct by 1977. In that year, their population numbered 3,800—not yet extinct, although a significant decline from the two or three million who were once the only inhabitants of central Africa.

“The forest, that perfect ecosystem that took millions of years to be established, is destroyed now to less than ten percent of its former glory,” said Hallet.

He repeatedly stressed the view that humanity needs to help the Pygmies survive because they are also the key to our own survival. “The Pygmies are the living evidence of our innate goodness.” In a world threatened by oppression, conflict, and violence, these forest people demonstrate that when we gently birth, nurture, and guide our children, without violence and other repressive controls, we human beings can live together in freedom and harmony.

Nurtured by a community that reflects the loving care adults received early in life, children develop freely in an environment of safety, warm concern, cooperation and shared pleasures. The Pygmies say, “Love the children extravagantly, with all your heart!”

Summary: A Sustained Culture Reveals Possibilities For Humanity

The images and expectations we hold in our minds powerfully influence our children’s development. The picture of “human nature” given by some modern people depicts a human “inheritance” of violent and selfish “instincts.” When we believe that humanity is innately violent or greedy, we fearfully demand obedience from our children, and strive to maintain rigid controls over the emotional responses that we have been taught to fear in our own childhoods. Dominance over others’ behavior, and over our own natural emotions, brings neither inner nor outer peace. Instead, viewing human nature as dangerous has helped to create perilous consequences for the human race.

The image of human nature demonstrated by the living Pygmies offers us the hope of better ways of relating, arising from a more accurate view of our original nature. The Efe Pygmy culture reassures us that we need not assume that human beings are genetically violent or greedy. Therefore we need not teach our children to suppress themselves or to blindly obey others. Pygmy society shows us that when children’s needs (life requirements) are lovingly provided for, they will not grow up harboring unmet needs that may become greed. They will not develop the rage and fear that result from early neglect and punishment, and may be destructively expressed for the rest of some lives.

Startling to our modern minds, it becomes clear that it is unnecessary to teach our children to love. Instead we can trust and support their innate tendencies toward empathy and generosity, which I too experienced while living in Africa and elsewhere. We can safely allow our children emotional freedom, while gently guiding them in appropriate, mutually respectful ways of behavioral expression.

In short, the Pygmies demonstrate that we do not have to war with our children. We do not have to teach them violence by our example when they are small. Instead we can cooperate with them in the graceful unfolding of their inborn integrity and kindness.

What happens in our parenting as we begin to act from this harmonious image of human nature? For one, we find ourselves reviving such ancient practices as natural homebirth, unrestricted breastfeeding, carrying our infants and maintaining close physical contact with them. Rather than punishment, we teach our children by example. In so doing, we are not simply returning to our roots. Rather, in our individual ways, we are weaving a new synthesis appropriate for our times, one that creates fresh possibilities for the whole of humanity.

From the self-respecting awareness of our inherent human goodness, a sweeter, grander version of ourselves will emerge.

Pygmy Proverbs

“Goodness and kindness put an end to badness.”

“God returns the good that one does.”

“With truth one may reach God.”

“A bad mother is not a mother.”

“Children are people’s treasures.”

The Case Against Circumcision

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 23:07:17 GMT

"Routine circumcision of babies in the United States did not begin until the Cold War era. Circumcision is almost unheard of in Europe, Southern America, and non-Muslim Asia. In fact, only 10 to 15 percent of men throughout the world are circumcised."

"The natural penis requires no special care. A child's foreskin, like his eyelids, is self-cleansing. Forcibly retracting a baby's foreskin can lead to irritation and infection. The best way to care for a child's intact penis is to leave it alone."

Western countries have no tradition of circumcision. In antiquity, the expansion of the Greek and Roman Empires brought Westerners into contact with the peoples of the Middle East, some of whom marked their children with circumcision and other sexual mutilations. To protect these children, the Greeks and Romans passed laws forbidding circumcision.1 Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has passed many similar laws.2,3 The traditional Western response to circumcision has been revulsion and indignation.

Circumcision started in America during the masturbation hysteria of the Victorian Era, when a few American doctors circumcised boys to punish them for masturbating. Victorian doctors knew very well that circumcision denudes, desensitizes, and disables the penis. Nevertheless, they were soon claiming that circumcision cured epilepsy, convulsions, paralysis, elephantiasis, tuberculosis, eczema, bed-wetting, hip-joint disease, fecal incontinence, rectal prolapse, wet dreams, hernia, headaches, nervousness, hysteria, poor eyesight, idiocy, mental retardation, and insanity.4

In fact, no procedure in the history of medicine has been claimed to cure and prevent more diseases than circumcision. As late as the 1970s, leading American medical textbooks still advocated routine circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation.5 The antisexual motivations behind an operation that entails cutting off part of the penis are obvious.

The radical practice of routinely circumcising babies did not begin until the Cold War era. This institutionalization of what amounted to compulsory circumcision was part of the same movement that pathologized and medicalized birth and actively discouraged breastfeeding. Private-sector, corporate-run hospitals institutionalized routine circumcision without ever consulting the American people. There was no public debate or referendum. It was only in the 1970s that a series of lawsuits forced hospitals to obtain parental consent to perform this contraindicated but highly profitable surgery. Circumcisers responded by inventing new "medical" reasons for circumcision in an attempt to scare parents into consenting.

Today the reasons given for circumcision have been updated to play on contemporary fears and anxieties; but one day they, too, will be considered irrational. Now that such current excuses as the claim that this procedure prevents cancer and sexually transmitted diseases have been thoroughly discredited, circumcisers will undoubtedly invent new ones. But if circumcisers were really motivated by purely medical considerations, the procedure would have died out long ago, along with leeching, skull-drilling, and castration. The fact that it has not suggests that the compulsion to circumcise came first, the "reasons," later.

Millions of years of evolution have fashioned the human body into a model of refinement, elegance, and efficiency, with every part having a function and purpose. Evolution has determined that mammals' genitals should be sheathed in a protective, responsive, multipurpose foreskin. Every normal human being is born with a foreskin. In females, it protects the glans of the clitoris; in males, it protects the glans of the penis. Thus, the foreskin is an essential part of human sexual anatomy.

Parents should enjoy the arrival of a new child with as few worries as possible. The birth of a son in the US, however, is often fraught with anxiety and confusion. Most parents are pressured to hand their baby sons over to a stranger, who, behind closed doors, straps babies down and cuts their foreskins off. The billion-dollar-a-year circumcision industry has bombarded Americans with confusing rhetoric and calculated scare tactics.

Information about the foreskin itself is almost always missing from discussions about circumcision. The mass circumcision campaigns of the past few decades have resulted in pandemic ignorance about this remarkable structure and its versatile role in human sexuality. Ignorance and false information about the foreskin are the rule in American medical literature, education, and practice. Most American medical textbooks depict the human penis, without explanation, as circumcised, as if it were so by nature.

What Is the Foreskin?
The foreskin is a uniquely specialized, sensitive, functional organ of touch. No other part of the body serves the same purpose. As a modified extension of the penile shaft skin, the foreskin covers and usually extends beyond the glans before folding under itself and finding its circumferential point of attachment just behind the corona (the rim of the glans). The foreskin is, therefore, a double-layered organ. Its true length is twice the length of its external fold and comprises as much as 80 percent or more of the penile skin covering.6,7

The foreskin contains a rich concentration of blood vessels and nerve endings. It is lined with the peripenic muscle sheet, a smooth muscle layer with longitudinal fibers. These muscle fibers are whirled, forming a kind of sphincter that ensures optimum protection of the urinary tract from contaminants of all kinds.

Like the undersurface of the eyelids or the inside of the cheek, the undersurface of the foreskin consists of mucous membrane. It is divided into two distinct zones: the soft mucosa and the ridged mucosa. The soft mucosa lies against the glans penis and contains ectopic sebaceous glands that secrete emollients, lubricants, and protective antibodies. Similar glands are found in the eyelids and mouth.

Adjacent to the soft mucosa and just behind the lips of the foreskin is the ridged mucosa. This exquisitely sensitive structure consists of tightly pleated concentric bands, like the elastic bands at the top of a sock. These expandable pleats allow the foreskin lips to open and roll back, exposing the glans. The ridged mucosa gives the foreskin its characteristic taper.

On the underside of the glans, the foreskin's point of attachment is advanced toward the meatus (urethral opening) and forms a bandlike ligament called the frenulum. It is identical to the frenulum that secures the tongue to the floor of the mouth. The foreskin's frenulum holds it in place over the glans, and, in conjunction with the smooth muscle fibers, helps return the retracted foreskin to its usual forward position over the glans.

Retraction of the Foreskin
At birth, the foreskin is usually attached to the glans, very much as a fingernail is attached to a finger. By puberty, the penis will usually have completed its development, and the foreskin will have separated from the glans.8 This separation occurs in its own time; there is no set age by which the foreskin and glans must be separated. One wise doctor described the process thus, "The foreskin therefore can be likened to a rosebud which remains closed and muzzled. Like a rosebud, it will only blossom when the time is right. No one opens a rosebud to make it blossom."9

Even if the glans and foreskin separate naturally in infancy, the foreskin lips can normally dilate only enough to allow the passage of urine. This ideal feature protects the glans from premature exposure to the external environment.

The penis develops naturally throughout childhood. Eventually, the child will, on his own, make the wondrous discovery that his foreskin will retract. There is no reason for parents, physicians, or other caregivers to manipulate a child's penis. The only person to retract a child's foreskin should be the child himself, when he has discovered that his foreskin is ready to retract.

The foreskin has numerous protective, sensory, and sexual functions.

Protection: Just as the eyelids protect the eyes, the foreskin protects the glans and keeps its surface soft, moist, and sensitive. It also maintains optimal warmth, pH balance, and cleanliness. The glans itself contains no sebaceous glands-glands that produce the sebum, or oil, that moisturizes our skin.11 The foreskin produces the sebum that maintains proper health of the surface of the glans.

Immunological Defense: The mucous membranes that line all body orifices are the body's first line of immunological defense. Glands in the foreskin produce antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as lysozyme.12 Lysozyme is also found in tears and mother's milk. Specialized epithelial Langerhans cells, an immune system component, abound in the foreskin's outer surface.13 Plasma cells in the foreskin's mucosal lining secrete immunoglobulins, antibodies that defend against infection.14

Erogenous Sensitivity: The foreskin is as sensitive as the fingertips or the lips of the mouth. It contains a richer variety and greater concentration of specialized nerve receptors than any other part of the penis.15 These specialized nerve endings can discern motion, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations of texture.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Coverage During Erection: As it becomes erect, the penile shaft becomes thicker and longer. The double-layered foreskin provides the skin necessary to accommodate the expanded organ and to allow the penile skin to glide freely, smoothly, and pleasurably over the shaft and glans.

Self-Stimulating Sexual Functions: The foreskin's double-layered sheath enables the penile shaft skin to glide back and forth over the penile shaft. The foreskin can normally be slipped all the way, or almost all the way, back to the base of the penis, and also slipped forward beyond the glans. This wide range of motion is the mechanism by which the penis and the orgasmic triggers in the foreskin, frenulum, and glans are stimulated.

Sexual Functions in Intercourse: One of the foreskin's functions is to facilitate smooth, gentle movement between the mucosal surfaces of the two partners during intercourse. The foreskin enables the penis to slip in and out of the vagina nonabrasively inside its own slick sheath of self-lubricating, movable skin. The female is thus stimulated by moving pressure rather than by friction only, as when the male's foreskin is missing.
The foreskin fosters intimacy between the two partners by enveloping the glans and maintaining it as an internal organ. The sexual experience is enhanced when the foreskin slips back to allow the male's internal organ, the glans, to meet the female's internal organ, the cervix-a moment of supreme intimacy and beauty.
The foreskin may have functions not yet recognized or understood. Scientists in Europe recently detected estrogen receptors in its basal epidermal cells.24 Researchers at the University of Manchester found that the human foreskin has apocrine glands.25 These specialized glands produce pheromones, nature's chemical messengers. Further studies are needed to fully understand these features of the foreskin and the role they play.

Care of the Foreskin
The natural penis requires no special care. A child's foreskin, like his eyelids, is self-cleansing. For the same reason it is inadvisable to lift the eyelids and wash the eyeballs, it is inadvisable to retract a child's foreskin and wash the glans. Immersion in plain water during the bath is all that is needed to keep the intact penis clean.26

The white emollient under the child's foreskin is called smegma. Smegma is probably the most misunderstood, most unjustifiably maligned substance in nature. Smegma is clean, not dirty, and is beneficial and necessary. It moisturizes the glans and keeps it smooth, soft, and supple. Its antibacterial and antiviral properties keep the penis clean and healthy. All mammals produce smegma. Thomas J. Ritter, MD, underscored its importance when he commented, "The animal kingdom would probably cease to exist without smegma."27

Studies suggest that it is best not to use soap on the glans or foreskin's inner fold.28 Forcibly retracting and washing a baby's foreskin destroys the beneficial bacterial flora that protect the penis from harmful germs and can lead to irritation and infection. The best way to care for a child's intact penis is to leave it alone. After puberty, males can gently rinse their glans and foreskin with warm water, according to their own self-determined needs.

How Common Is Circumcision?
Circumcision is almost unheard of in Europe, South America, and non-Muslim Asia. In fact, only 10 to 15 percent of men throughout the world are circumcised, the vast majority of whom are Muslim.29 The neonatal circumcision rate in the western US has now fallen to 34.2 percent.30 This relatively diminished rate may surprise American men born during the era when nearly 90 percent of baby boys were circumcised automatically, with or without their parents' consent.

How Does Circumcision Harm?
The "medical" debate about the "potential health benefits" of circumcision rarely addresses its real effects.

Circumcision denudes: Depending on the amount of skin cut off, circumcision robs a male of as much as 80 percent or more of his penile skin. Depending on the foreskin's length, cutting it off makes the penis as much as 25 percent or more shorter. Careful anatomical investigations have shown that circumcision cuts off more than 3 feet of veins, arteries, and capillaries, 240 feet of nerves, and more than 20,000 nerve endings.31 The foreskin's muscles, glands, mucous membrane, and epithelial tissue are destroyed, as well.
Circumcision desensitizes: Circumcision desensitizes the penis radically. Foreskin amputation means severing the rich nerve network and all the nerve receptors in the foreskin itself. Circumcision almost always damages or destroys the frenulum. The loss of the protective foreskin desensitizes the glans. Because the membrane covering the permanently externalized glans is now subjected to constant abrasion and irritation, it keratinizes, becoming dry and tough. The nerve endings in the glans, which in the intact penis are just beneath the surface of the mucous membrane, are now buried by successive layers of keratinization. The denuded glans takes on a dull, grayish, sclerotic appearance.

Circumcision disables: The amputation of so much penile skin permanently immobilizes whatever skin remains, preventing it from gliding freely over the shaft and glans. This loss of mobility destroys the mechanism by which the glans is normally stimulated. When the circumcised penis becomes erect, the immobilized remaining skin is stretched, sometimes so tightly that not enough skin is left to cover the erect shaft. Hair-bearing skin from the groin and scrotum is often pulled onto the shaft, where hair is not normally found. The surgically externalized mucous membrane of the glans has no sebaceous glands. Without the protection and emollients of the foreskin, it dries out, making it susceptible to cracking and bleeding.
Circumcision disfigures: Circumcision alters the appearance of the penis drastically. It permanently externalizes the glans, normally an internal organ. Circumcision leaves a large circumferential surgical scar on the penile shaft. Because circumcision usually necessitates tearing the foreskin from the glans, pieces of the glans may be torn off, too, leaving it pitted and scarred. Shreds of foreskin may adhere to the raw glans, forming tags and bridges of dangling, displaced skin.32
Depending on the amount of skin cut off and how the scar forms, the circumcised penis may be permanently twisted, or curve or bow during erection.33 The contraction of the scar tissue may pull the shaft into the abdomen, in effect shortening the penis or burying it completely.34

Circumcision disrupts circulation: Circumcision interrupts the normal circulation of blood throughout the penile skin system and glans. The blood flowing into major penile arteries is obstructed by the line of scar tissue at the point of incision, creating backflow instead of feeding the branches and capillary networks beyond the scar. Deprived of blood, the meatus may contract and scarify, obstructing the flow of urine.35 This condition, known as meatal stenosis, often requires corrective surgery. Meatal stenosis is found almost exclusively among boys who have been circumcised.
Circumcision also severs the lymph vessels, interrupting the circulation of lymph and sometimes causing lymphedema, a painful, disfiguring condition in which the remaining skin of the penis swells with trapped lymph fluid.

Circumcision harms the developing brain: Recent studies published in leading medical journals have reported that circumcision has long-lasting detrimental effects on the developing brain,36 adversely altering the brain's perception centers. Circumcised boys have a lower pain threshold than girls or intact boys.37 Developmental neuropsychologist Dr. James Prescott suggests that circumcision can cause deeper and more disturbing levels of neurological damage, as well. 38, 39

Circumcision is unhygienic and unhealthy: One of the most common myths about circumcision is that it makes the penis cleaner and easier to take care of. This is not true. Eyes without eyelids would not be cleaner; neither would a penis without its foreskin. The artificially externalized glans and meatus of the circumcised penis are constantly exposed to abrasion and dirt, making the circumcised penis, in fact, more unclean. The loss of the protective foreskin leaves the urinary tract vulnerable to invasion by bacterial and viral pathogens.
The circumcision wound is larger than most people imagine. It is not just the circular point of union between the outer and inner layers of the remaining skin. Before a baby is circumcised, his foreskin must be torn from his glans, literally skinning it alive. This creates a large open area of raw, bleeding flesh, covered at best with a layer of undeveloped proto-mucosa. Germs can easily enter the damaged tissue and bloodstream through the raw glans and, even more easily, through the incision itself.
Even after the wound has healed, the externalized glans and meatus are still forced into constant unnatural contact with urine, feces, chemically treated diapers, and other contaminants.

Female partners of circumcised men do not report a lower rate of cervical cancer,40 nor does circumcision prevent penile cancer.41 A recent study shows that the penile cancer rate is higher in the US than in Denmark, where circumcision, except among Middle-Eastern immigrant workers, is almost unheard of.42 Indeed, researchers should investigate the possibility that circumcision has actually increased the rate of these diseases.

Circumcision does not prevent acquisition or transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In fact, the US has both the highest percentage of sexually active circumcised males in the Western world and the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. Rigorously controlled prospective studies show that circumcised American men are at a greater risk for bacterial and viral STDs, especially gonorrhea,43 nongonoccal urethritis,44 human papilloma virus,45 herpes simplex virus type 2,46 and chlamydia.47

Circumcision is always risky: Circumcision always carries the risk of serious, even tragic, consequences. Its surgical complication rate is one in 500.48 These complications include uncontrollable bleeding and fatal infections.49 There are many published case reports of gangrene following circumcision.50 Pathogenic bacteria such as staphylococcus, Proteus, Pseudomonas, other coliforms, and even tuberculosis can cause infections leading to death.51, 52 These organisms enter the wound because it provides easy entry, not because the child is predisposed to infection.
Medical journals have published numerous accounts of babies who have had part or all of their glans cut off while they were being circumcised.53, 54, 55 Other fully conscious, unanesthetized babies have had their entire penis burned off with an electrocautery gun.56, 57, 58 The September 1989 Journal of Urology published an account of four such cases.59 The article described the sex-change operation as "feminizing genitoplasty," performed on these babies in an attempt to change them into girls. The March 1997 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine described one young person's horror on learning that "she" had been born a normal male, but that a circumciser had burned his penis off when he was a baby.60 Many other similar cases have been documented.61, 62 Infant circumcision has a reported death rate of one in 500,000.63, 64

Circumcision harms mothers: Scientific studies have consistently shown that circumcision disrupts a child's behavioral development. Studies performed at the University of Colorado School of Medicine showed that circumcision is followed by prolonged, unrestful non-REM (rapid-eye-movement) sleep.65 In response to the lengthy bombardment of their neural pathways with unbearable pain, the circumcised babies withdrew into a kind of semicoma that lasted days or even weeks.
Numerous other studies have proven that circumcision disrupts the mother-infant bond during the crucial period after birth. Research has also shown that circumcision disrupts feeding patterns. In a study at the Washington University School of Medicine, most babies would not nurse right after they were circumcised, and those who did would not look into their mothers' eyes.66

Circumcision violates patients' and human rights: No one has the right to cut off any part of someone else's genitals without that person's competent, fully informed consent. Since it is the infant who must bear the consequences, circumcision violates his legal rights both to refuse treatment and to seek alternative treatment. In 1995, the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Bioethics stated that only a competent patient can give patient consent or informed consent.67An infant is obviously too young to consent to anything. He must be protected from anyone who would take advantage of his defenselessness. The concept of informed parental permission allows for medical interventions in situations of clear and immediate medical necessity only, such as disease, trauma, or deformity. The human penis in its normal, uncircumcised state satisfies none of these requirements.
Physicians have a duty to refuse to perform circumcision. They also must educate parents who, out of ignorance or misguidance, request this surgery for their sons. The healthcare professional's obligation is to protect the interests of the child. It is unethical in the extreme to force upon a child an amputation he almost certainly would never have chosen for himself.

Common Sense
To be intact, as nature intended, is best. The vast majority of males who are given the choice value their wholeness and keep their foreskins, for the same reason they keep their other organs of perception. Parents in Europe and non-Muslim Asia never have forced their boys to be circumcised. It would no more occur to them to cut off part of their boys' penises than it would to cut off part of their ears. Respecting a child's right to keep his genitals intact is normal and natural. It is conservative in the best sense of the word.

A circumcised father who has mixed feelings about his intact newborn son may require gentle, compassionate psychological counseling to help him come to terms with his loss and to overcome his anxieties about normal male genitalia. In such cases, the mother should steadfastly protect her child, inviting her husband to share this protective role and helping him diffuse his negative feelings. Most parents want what is best for their baby. Wise parents listen to their hearts and trust their instinct to protect their baby from harm. The experience of the ages has shown that babies thrive best in a trusting atmosphere of love, gentleness, respect, acceptance, nurturing, and intimacy. Cutting off a baby's foreskin shatters this trust. Circumcision wounds and harms the baby and the person the baby will become. Parents who respect their son's wholeness are bequeathing to him his birthright-his body, perfect and beautiful in its entirety.

http://noharmm.org/appeal.htm

Video of a circumcision
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=749747&fr=yfp-t-501

Lots more info here
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=44