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Hooray! Lego is finally marketing a line of its plastic building bricks towards little girls. At long last, girls will be encouraged to build and create, developing the same set of critical math, fine motor and spatial skills boys are urged to use. Except... the products the company has developed for girls use big bricks, which are easily assembled, thus not helping girls develop those fine motor and engineering skills. After conducting lots of product research, Lego decided that girls like more imaginative play, less building. So, the new Friends line, features larger dolls that all come with their own back story and lots of girly accessories. This move has many calling Lego execs a bunch of blockheads for reinforcing gender stereotypes with this new line and failing to provide girls with a brain-stimulating new toy.

Is the hot, hot, hot new job for work at home moms really phone sex operator?! Some of these moms say that while the ethical dilemmas of the gig can be a bit uncomfortable, the pay and the ability to work it from home, more than make up for any morality issues. Taking the term, MILF, to new levels, these saucy mamas say they're able to make hundreds of dollars a day with little effort and without leaving the house. Some say that the number of mothers of young children, who are now steaming up the phone lines, have increased a whopping 400 percent in the past 18 months. Who would have thought there'd be so many telephonic suitors on the line during naptime to make this such a viable business?

Every couple who's been pressured by their parents to hurry up and make them grandparents, knows the reaction's going to be good when they finally do make their big announcement. However, few reactions will beat the pure joy and enthusiasm shown by this gay couple when told they were about to be grandfathers. If you watch this video, which you should, you might want to turn the volume down a bit, because these two have sufficient vocal capacity on their own. This video, which was uploaded a year ago, has just recently gone viral. We're hoping everything went well with the pregnancy and can't even imagine how spoiled that baby's about to be this Christmas.

Hanukkah's on the way, which for kids means eight days of presents (and, oh yeah, the menorah, latkes and religious observance). One mom is none too happy that her young toddler has already thought to ask for Hanukkah presents this year -- including a Dora the Explorer sleeping bag. While this mom's glad that her young daughter's enthusiastic about the holiday, she's not necessarily thrilled about the more (possibly arbitrary) commercial aspect of it. She feels that Hanukkah's a relatively minor holiday on the Jewish calendar, but one that's gotten to be a bigger deal, simply because of its proximity to Christmas.

Finally, some good news in the war on childhood obesity. Kids in New York City are reporting the largest decline in obesity rates to date. Some are crediting the common sense approach of better food and more exercise, combined with early intervention for kids seen as at-risk for becoming obese. Schools in New York have started serving better cafeteria food and requiring better nutrition in the foods served. They've also given kids more time to get some physical activity into their days. School nurses are in on the act too, watching out for kids who are in danger of becoming obese and working with their parents early on to curb the problem. Kids in California have also reported success in slimming down.

Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com

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