If you knew Nina, you'd like her as much as I do. She's an old school New Yorker who grew up with an uptown dad and a downtown mom and seems to know every crack and trick of this city. Now she's learning it all over again as a new mom.

Cartoonist and Illustrator David Heatley was commissioned to do a piece for The New Yorker, but it didn't make the final cut. In his cartoon Heatley points out some of our favorite things about Queens, like the Queens Farm Museum and the Jackson Heights Halloween Parade. His basic answer: No, it's not as cool as Brooklyn (and he's kinda glad), but it's great for families. [via Jackson Heights Blog]

We have hundreds of great articles in our archives and we'll be plucking out the best to share every week, but you can also search our archives using the search feature in the upper right corner of the page or click on some of the category links in the left sidebar.

Here's a different activity. Ever been to The Skyscraper Museum

Four years ago, when my little one was a baby, slings were not as popular as they are today. They were still a little on the "alternative" side, as in, the people that I work with would say, "Remember when you came in to the office with your baby in that sling?" the way one might say, "Remember the time you shaved your hair into a mohawk and stretched your earlobes until you could poke a hot dog through the hole?" Like it kind of scared them, I think.

But I loved my sling so much. I had one of the first simple tube slings, just a ring of fabric, actually fleece, that you just slipped on and put the baby in. You didn't have to adjust it or anything. That sling was so great and they were so hard to find, my friend and I actually contemplated starting a business making and selling them ourselves.

Why am I such a crazy sling devotee? Let me count the ways...

I like to help out in my son's Pre-K classroom when I can. This morning some of the kids were doing a really cute little craft project that I had never seen before. Apparently if you take those potato starch packing peanuts and wet them, they dissolve just enough that they can stick together. So simple!

Kids can then use them to build anything their imagination thinks of and no fasteners are needed, which is great for toddlers and preschoolers and just plain cool for older kids.

UPDATE January 2009: The ECRIC early childhood research materials have moved to the Mid-Manhattan Library Branch, but the Family Room is still at the Hudson Branch. If you are looking for more information about the Family Room, click on the Hudson Branch link. If you are looking for more information about ECRIC, click on that link.

Right upstairs from the Hudson Park Branch Library on Leroy Street in the West village, you'll find the Early Childhood Resource and Information Center. This is a unique resource in the NYPL system, a place dedicated to serving the needs of young children (birth to age 6), their parents, caregivers, teachers, and other early childhood professionals.

The Family Room is the heart of ECRIC. The room holds a special collection of books, toys, and learning tools and includes a carpeted block area, housekeeping and dramatic play spaces, drawing easels, climbing & sliding equipment, puzzles, and other learning tools.

Apparently hugging and kissing your children is important for more than just making them feel better after getting boo boos. New science is showing that being a nurturing parent could keep them from getting serious illnesses as adults.

A most incredible NOVA episode on PBS called Ghost in Your Genes gave a huge insight into how the environmental effects of our lives, including our prenatal experience and how nurturing our mother was, can actually affect our health and even the health of our grandchildren.

I can't describe half the things that it talked about because it was so dense and informative, but here are a couple of summary thoughts:

Take your babe baby to the movies.

You may not get out for date night too often any more, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the quiet darkness and a big bucket of popcorn at the movies. Landmark Sunshine Rattle and Reel