My youngest son has a knack for asking the questions his older brothers never got to. Classics like "Why don't we eat fries every Friday?" and "How do babies get in your penis, Mommy?"

He just lost his first tooth which has prompted a question I'd never really thought about.

"What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth?"

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I have no idea why the tooth fairy started such a bizarre collection.

As a child, I was just thrilled to get money under my pillow for something that was no longer useful to me and never really thought about it.

Internet research was inconclusive. One site said that the tooth fairy uses teeth for her castle, which sounds like a pretty expensive and weak choice for a building material and just raises more questions.

Is her builder a dentist? Does she have to power wash the place with toothpaste several times a day? How does she hang pictures on the wall?

Another site said old baby teeth can be seen up in the sky at night, which I found even creepier than the castle story. Somehow "like a diamond in the sky" is more comforting than "like discarded molars in the sky."

So what does this increasingly-crazy-sounding fairy wand with kids' teeth do?!

Will you let your kids watch shark week

So I'm sitting in my living room minding my own business one evening earlier this week

when I flip onto a program about baby seals searching for food. "Oh, how cute!" I think to myself. Gee, I just LOVE baby animals, don't you?

I imagine that even though my son is not allowed to watch television--he's barely over four months old--that the gentle sounds he hears on the television and my love of animals will instill in him a sense of respect for wildlife, an appreciation for animals and, heck a love for them too. They're just so darned cute.

Then, out of nowhere, BAM: a giant--and really, folks, it was the size of a boat--massive great white shark came spiraling out the water and attacked the baby seal. Luckily for the seal, death was instant.

Not so in the next scenes, where some seals were torn apart and others rather artfully dodged the predators for their lives.

Wireless networks in schools dangerous

I spend approximately eleven million hours a day glued to some form of wireless device -- whether it be my cell phone, my Blackberry, or my laptop.

I have vaguely considered the notion that wireless technology might be impacting my brain in some unknown, nefarious way (because after all, they make you shut off your wireless devices on airplanes and in hospitals - why) but never enough to bother to do anything about it.

But according to this article (taken with a grain of salt, considering the source), wireless technology in schools should be reconsidered.

Apparently, a Secretary of a teacher's professional association has said that wireless technology has been linked with loss of concentration, headaches, tiredness, and memory loss.

There are also claims of a link to long-term risk of cancer. Scary.

The majority of primary and secondary schools in the UK have not introduced wi-fi technology in their computer labs, but opponents argue that children are more vulnerable to electro-magnetic radiation because of their thin skulls and developing nervous systems.


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I'm skeptical, but I'll still be watching for further reports on the issue. It seems like every household item is a lurking danger these days, but I would hate to give up my wireless.