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The Mosquito Lifecycle To take the war to mosquitos and win, it helps to understand their lifecycle. “Like all insects, mosquitos have a complex lifecycle, meaning the larval phase is separate from the adult phase,” says Donald Yee, Ph.D., board-certified entomologist and mosquito researcher at the University of Southern Mississippi. “The adults fly around in the environment while the larva can only exist in stagnant water. Though it typically takes one to two weeks, mosquitos can go from egg to adult in five days if it is the proper temperature and there is enough food for the larva....

Larson’s father has been the driving force (hey-o!) in his son’s career, from building his first go-kart to being his publicist when he first started racing. Now that Kyle’s become a father himself, that parental guidance is helping make sure that he’s not spinning his wheels on anything but the track. On Racing Earlier Than He Can Even Remember “We would go to the races every weekend, so I was always around it....

SAD is thought to be caused in part by fewer hours of daylight. “There’s a lot of evidence available that would suggest that sunlight is responsible for maintaining… a neurotransmitter, serotonin, in our brain, and a hormone called melatonin in our body,” says Dr. Priyanka, psychiatrist and medical director of the Los Angeles-based practice Community Psychiatry. While regular depression can be caused by several different kinds of chemical imbalances, seasonal depression is associated with low levels of serotonin, which is stimulated by melatonin....

Katherine Wintsch: Unmasking Motherhood Some mothers are still trying to shape their world to reflect their Pinterest board, but Katherine Wintsch, founder of the consultancy the Mom Complex, recognized that a lot of brands like Walmart, Hasbro, and Kraft need cut it out with all the perfect mom-dom crap and start showing what being a modern mother is really like. Her TED talk is blunt, funny, very, very smart. Julia Sweeney: It’s Time For “The Talk” When you just have to laugh at the comedy of errors that is parenting, there’s comedian and former SNL cast member Julia Sweeny’s hilarious retelling of how she broke down the birds and the bees for her daughter....

Intense, transient events like blackouts and passing hurricanes can, anecdotally at least, result in a mini baby boom nine months later. But the uncertainty that pervades every aspect of life during an epidemic or a financial crisis almost invariably leads to a decline in fertility as families reassess their plans for the future. In trying to gauge what the double blow of pandemic anxiety and economic hardship will mean for the birth rate, Brookings economists Melissa Kearney and Philip Levin analyzed data from two historic cataclysms: the Spanish Flu of 1918, which claimed some 675,000 American lives, and the Great Recession of 2007–2009....

First of all, try to remember that children of the ’80s were deeply confused by this movie. I remember when, as a kid, we rented the VHS copy from Video2Go expecting, well, muppets. What we got was something else entirely–but something we went on to rent again and again, well into our teens. So don’t expect Kermit or Elmo: this is the Muppets through the mirror darkly and in the company of David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly....

We Brought Back Guitar Hero “When the pandemic first hit, I busted out my old Guitar Hero setup from when I was in college. I think my kids were aware that Guitar Hero was a thing, but didn’t really have any idea how it worked or how it was played. I was never good at it, but it turns out my wife and kids are. It’s kind of an ordeal, so we set it up in the basement every weekend and just rock out....

A newer category of speakers is emerging. These party speakers can range from about 27 to 41 inches in size. Most have internal batteries that can run for hours on one charge and certainly long enough for any single party. That makes placing them in the yard easier since you won’t have to worry about an outlet. They all connect to your smartphone, computer, or tablet through Bluetooth so you won’t need a wifi network to use them....

READ MORE: The Fatherly Guide to Baby Names What’s interesting about the name Linda is that despite its status as the most popular name of all time, it hasn’t been particularly popular in the last 50 years. As names like Jennifer (most popular from 1970-84) and Emily (most popular from 1996-07) flourished, Linda took a back seat. But it wasn’t always thus, and, importantly, Lindas never flirted with extinction. There are new Lindas being made, there just aren’t many of them....

RELATED: The Nest Cam IQ Video Monitor Can Recognize A Baby’s Face The newest Nest Cam is an always-on “smart” camera that continuously records/live streams a 130-degree view outside your door, and saves it on the cloud for up to 10 days. The big feature is that Nest can purportedly identify the difference between people and ghosts — or at least motion not caused by people— and sends alerts when it detects suspicious activity....

“The playground is like the original gym,” says Francine Delgado-Lugo, a strength coach and cofounder of Form Fitness Brooklyn. “A jungle gym inspires movement in children, teaches them to move in different directions, and gets their heart rate up — all the things that should be your goal in a workout, too.” With a few modifications, you have everything you need for a 20-minute bodyweight workout at your child’s playground....

Singleton is not naive about what it means for him to tell his kids to keep it conservative. He knows that black hair has been politicized inside and outside of the black community. He knows his sons’ friends have haircuts inspired by musicians, athletes, and artists who aren’t really striving for subtlety. He is aware that the days of the default bald fade are gone too. However, Singleton, now 44, believes that playing it safer with their hair — avoiding dyes and sprawling asymmetrical do’s — might help his boys get ahead and he thinks encouraging self-expression isn’t worth jeopardizing that....

Dana: We moved in together a little over two years ago. That meant that Marty, the kids, and I all under one roof. That shifted the dynamic in our relationship Marty: We’ve been together for four and a half years. When we were getting to know each other, I met Dana’s kids early on. But that dynamic shifts dramatically when you then move in together. Moving in — when you don’t have your own place to go to — you have to face things head on....

Fatherly spoke to the couple about about how boring they think they are, how their sex life has gotten better over time, and what they love about each other. The Details The Couple: Wanda and HenryAges: 35 (Her) 36 (Him)Years Married: 13Years Together: 13 (“We didn’t have a very long courtship.”)Number of Kids: Three: An 11-year-old son, nine-year-old daughter, and three-year-old son.Location: Augusta, GeorgiaOccupations: Freelance writer (her); non-commissioned military officer (him) You have three kids....

Broaching the topic of sex can be awkward. Parents may not know how to approach the topic in an age-appropriate way, they may be uncomfortable with their own sexuality or they may fear “planting information” in childrens’ minds. Parental influence is essential to sexual understanding, yet parents’ approaches, attitudes and beliefs in teaching their children are still tentative. The way a parent touches a child, the language a parent uses to talk about sexuality, the way parents express their own sexuality and the way parents handle children’s questions all influence a child’s sexual development....

Already the most versatile workout shoe on the market, the series offers an upgraded outer heel that adds stability and slims down the profile. The re-engineered FlexWeave knit upper provides better protection from rope climbs and blowouts. Plus, it offers better breathability than previous entries. Reebok’s Floatride Energy foam provides cushioning during runs and box jumps without sacrificing response during explosive lifts. This isn’t just great news for devout members of the CrossFit cult....

If you’re hoping your kid gets closer to wanting to read chapter books, here are some great ones to try, and some series these emerging readers will love. Mercy Watson Series by Kate DiCamillo, Illustrated by Chris Van Dusen Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osborne. Blastoff! Readers by various authors, a Scholastic imprint Owl Diaries Series by Rebecca Elliott Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat Zoey and Sassafras series by Asia Citro, illustrated by Marion Lindsay Fantastic Mr....

If you still find yourself smiling at people in public before remembering they can’t see your mouth, consider one of these funny, on-the-nose masks. Funny slogans aside, all of these funny face masks, for both kids and adults, are made of multiple layers of fabric, cover the nose and mouth, and secure to the head via ear loops or ties. The best face masks, funny or not, have spots for filters, as well as metal nose pieces, which allow users to bend and contour the mask to their face and eliminate gaps, aka germ escape holes....

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story, which opened in 1995, was a major hit. The characters were wildly loved, and it wasn’t surprising when it was announced a Toy Story 2 was on the way. However, panic set in just before the movie was set to release. In 1998, Oren Jacob, an associate technical director for the movie, sat down to watch a cut of the film. Unfortunately, there was a significant issue – the movie was literally disappearing before his eyes....