South Bay

Warm enough for you there in the East and South Bay? Sure would be nice to go to the movies. What’s on? Let’s see here. WALL-E? Seen it. Iron Man? Sure, if you want to raise a sociopathic arms dealer. Journey to the Center of the Earth? I didn’t get a lobotomy to go with the C-section, so no.

Sample the popcorn-fare instead at AMC’s Summer Movie Club, weekly $1 movies each Wednesday until August 6. No San Fran theater is offering the program, but theaters in Emeryville, Saratoga, and San Jose are. This week’s feature in Emeryville is the fun Shrek the Third. Go princess squad!

When: Wed., 7/16, 10am; All ages; $1.

Where: AMC Bay Street 16, 5614 Shellmound Street Ste. 220 (at Christie Avenue), Emeryville, 510-457-4AMC, amctheatres.com.

Conventional wisdom has it that the best way to get kids to eat healthy food is to have them help you cook it — but when you get home at 6:15 and have to have dinner on the table by 6:45, there’s not a heck of a lot of time to let your kid futz around with some carrots and a butter knife. Make up for your home ec lag at DooF-a-Palooza 2008, a day-long food festival for kids.

The event gets its name from DooF (food spelled backwards), a PBS kids’ cooking show set to air in 2009, and thus auditions for the show are a centerpiece. Look sharp for a bunch of moms with combs at the ready, and kids wearing blush.

There are lots of other fun things to do for the camera-shy: a cook-off competition, make-your-own-snacks and quesadilla stations, a recipe-themed treasure hunt, food science demos. The ticket price includes tons of food, so I’m thinking this is one time you don’t have to haul a giant bag full of Snack-Traps and Boon balls.

When: Sat., 7/12, 11am-3pm; All ages; Free-$20.

Where: Google Headquarters, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway (at North Shoreline Road), Mountain View, foodbackwards.com.

The cheap/cute Liz Lange Target line aside, maternity wear is expensive if you want anything at all stylish. It’s a little nervewracking to splash out and pay $200 for a skirt that you’ll drop like a hot rock after your nine months are over.

Your alternatives: the scanty selection of flowered tents at consignment and thrift stores, cheap schmattes from Ross, empire waist tops from the mommy shops. Or the discounted designer clothing available at Maternity Xchange.

Each month, the San Francisco Maternity Xchange is held in the Sports Basement store in the Presidio (by Crissy Field). Shoppers can buy quality used clothing from better labels (”Gap and up,” says the Xchange website); moms get to drop off their used maternity clothing and receive 40-50% of the selling price.

It’s a win-win for everyone. Stylish pieces are priced in the deeply discounted $30-$80 range, meaning that those who consign their clothing get a nice bit of cash when they’re sold. This is where you should look for that nice pair of black pants that’ll stand you in good stead until you deliver. Just don’t be depressed if you’re still in them three months after your kid is born.

The next Maternity Xchange sale is at the East Bay Baby Fair, 7/12, 11am-3pm, at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1345 Portland Avenue (at Ramona Avenue), Albany. The next San Francisco sale is Sat. & Sun, 7/19-20, 11am-4pm in the Presidio Sports Basement, 610 Mason Street (at Sutter Street), San Francisco. Call 510-814-1848 or visit maternityxchange.com.

I know several San Francisco moms whose kids take swimming lessons at La Petit Baleen in San Bruno, so I assumed they’d be jumping ship for the new location in the Presidio.

“Absolutely not,” one mom assured me. “The kids fall asleep in the car on the ride home. And besides, if I drive to San Bruno, I can experience the wonder of Mollieland.”

Mollieland is the child-minding center at Mollie Stone’s (upscale, expensive) grocery store. As long as they stay in the store, parents can drop off their potty-trained kids aged 2-12 in a clean, attractive little room staffed by a smiling babysitter who urges them to play games, fiddle with the computers, color, or encrust something with stickers. The kids are on closed-circuit TV, so parents can stop by the monitors in the store and make sure their kids aren’t screaming.

It is so much fun, says my savvy mom friend, that her children regularly beg her to take them grocery shopping (!) and to leave them in Mollieland longer (!!), and my friend gets to slowly peruse all the types of cheese, and maybe even sit down and have a salad from the superbly appointed salad bar, in total, blessed silence. There’s a Peet’s coffee too.

Since I regularly find odd items in my cart due to my daughter’s sticky fingers, or my own distractedness, see you there.

Mollie Stone’s Market is located at the Bayhill Shopping Center, 851 Cherry Ave. (at Bayhill Dr.), San Bruno. Call 650-873-8075 or visit molliestones.com. There is another Mollieland at the San Mateo location, 49 42nd Ave. (at El Camino Real) but none in San Francisco. Hey, Mollie Stone’s: Where is the love?

Cinemark’s Summer Movie Clubhouse, ten weeks of bargain-basement-cheap film showings for kids, is probably an easier sell in cities where it’s actually hot in the summer. No one weathering a San Fran summer is dying to spend a couple of hours in an air-conditioned theater…although at least it’ll keep you off those windy playgrounds.

The weekly special engagements are $1 a throw or $5 for a card good for all showings, and take place at several Bay Area theaters, including San Francisco’s CineArts @ Empire in the West Portal. All of the screenings are revivals, a treat in a summer when the new kids’ movies all look like crap. The first movie is Annie. Just try to leave without getting It’s The Hard-Knock Life stuck in your head.

When: Tue., 6/17, 10am; All Ages; Free.

Where: CineArts @ Empire, 85 West Portal Ave. (at Vincente), San Francisco, 1-800-FANDANG, theater number 963, cinemark.com.

A small-but-interesting study suggests that babies delivered by C-section are more likely to develop asthma and allergies. Researchers analyzed the umbilical cord blood of 50 babies born by Caesarean and 68 babies delivered vaginally, with at least one of the baby’s parents afflicted with asthma or allergies.

Says Dr. Ngoc Ly, one of the study’s authors and an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF, “We found a dysfunctional cellular response in the normally protective immune system among C-section babies. And although more work needs to be done to follow how long this response might endure, we think this disrupted immune pathway may influence the development of asthma later on.”

The researchers also theorized that vaginal delivery could expose infants to immune-building microbes.

This seem particularly rich to me given that the U.S. has the highest rate of C-sections in the world. And despite UCSF’s pride at their C-section rate of 22.8%, lower than the national rate of about a third, and also lower than the going San Francisco rate of about a quarter, that’s still almost 1 in 5 women going home with a big slice across their bellies, and an infant who may be affected for life, in ways we don’t even really yet understand.

Interestingly, another of the study’s lead authors, Dr. Wilfried Karmaus, is involved in other crunchy-compliant projects, such as a study to determine the best diet for breastfeeders and a long-term project linking exposure to environmental toxins to immune system damage. Could be a good idea to keep an eye on that guy.

So how are you celebrating Children’s Book Week (May 12-18)? Themed cocktails? A festive backyard barbecue? Sex with the spouse? With the focus on kids and books, why not give your commemoration a local spin with these six great reads from Bay Area authors.

The Bad Beginning, by Lemony Snicket. The first and still the best of the delightfully dismal chapter-books in the “Series of Unfortunate Events” penned by SF’s answer to Edward Gorey.

It’s Okay to be Different, by Todd Parr. Local law dictates that you own one of the primary-colored picture books by this Berkeley resident Parr, who espouses Bay Area-friendly values like “Some mommies drive motorcycles” and “It’s okay to have a different nose.”

Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco. Polacco recently moved to Union City, Michigan, after living in Oakland for almost four decades. But just because she defected from the Bay Area is no reason to blow off this sweet, simple tale of an amazing goose that lays eggs brilliant enough to wow the crowd at a Russian spring festival.

Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride by J. Otto Seibold. Seibold is best known for his endearing Olive the Other Reindeer, but this particular book, with its hectic illustrations and wacky inventions (like a “scientific super cake” where every piece is a different flavor), is my family’s favorite.

Hannah Is My Name by Belle Yang. Yang is the author of several adult memoirs about her family, but this lyrical and moving picture book focused on a Chinese family desperately trying to secure American citizenship is aimed squarely at kids who may not know enough to appreciate their luck at being born in the U.S.

The Many Adventures of Pengey Penguin by John Burns. Ideal for families with adopted kids, this three-handkerchief illustrated tale for school-age kids follows Pengey’s misadventures as he searches for his human “mother” across several continents.

Outdoor festivals abound, but if you’re not at the Maker Faire, you’re so square.

Maker Faire

There’s one event this weekend that should have been red-circled on your calendar for months: Make magazine’s Maker Faire. The family-friendly weekend-long San Mateo conference is intended for creative weirdo types: sculptors, knitters, robot makers, and the like. Ideally you’ll be there all weekend enjoying the exhibitions, workshops, and vendor booths, but particularly appealing to kids will be the the Life-Size Mousetrap, the Bike Rodeo and Power Tool Drag Racing, while parents should make sure to attend Saturday’s lunchtime lecture, Five Dangerous Things Your Kids Should Do. In between, make sure to get a good viewing spot for the Diet-Coke-and-Mentos Fountain (going off at 4pm daily), listen to live music, stroll around the Expo Red kids area, and bring some discarded wearables for the Swap-o-Rama-Rama (plus a bag to carry the new clothes you scoop up).

When: Sat., 5/3, 10am-10pm; Sun., 5/4, 11am-6pm; All ages; Free-$25 daily.

Where: San Mateo Event Center & Expo Address, 2495 South Delaware St. (at Concar), San Mateo, makerfaire.com.

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Everybody’s Mexican today at the Cinco de Mayo celebration in Dolores Park. Bring a blanket, spread on some sunscreen, and watch performances from Latin music and dance troupes.

When: Sat., 5/3, 10am-4pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Dolores Park, 18th St. (at Dolores), San Francisco, 415-647-1533, sfcincodemayo.com.

“See Me” Let’s Go!

This free city-sponsored party is gentle fun for the little ones: bounce houses, face-painting, puppet shows, storytelling, live music. UCSF doctors and dentists will also be there to do on-the-spot health and developmental screenings.

When: Sat., 5/3, 11am-3pm; All ages; Free.

Where: Civic Center Plaza across from City Hall, Polk (between McAllister and Grove), San Francisco, 415-934-4849, first5sf.org.

Stay Tooned, Kids!

Offbeat animated offerings for sophisticated cinephile kids. Short films screened during this San Francisco International Film Festival event include “When I Grow Up,” illustrated conversations with children about their dreams.

When: Sun, 5/4, 10:15am; Age 7+; $10-12.50.

Where: Sundance Kabuki Cinema, 181 Post (at Fillmore), San Francisco, 925-866-9559, fest08.sffs.org.

Holy moley, it’s already the end of April. Did you plan to let your kid hang around the house all summer, starting fires and eating handfuls of Cap’n Crunch? No? Then you’re going to have to figure out what to do with the little darlings, and your best friend in this endeavor is the monthly Bay Area Parent magazine, which publishes a mammoth, essential Summer Survival Guide each springtime. Every blessed page of it is online, so you don’t have to go scouting for it at libraries or grocery stores. Just about every article is clip-and-save worthy: primers on local ballparks, beaches and pools, calendars of local outdoor concerts, spotlights on unusual summer camps. Fire up your printer, drag out your calendar, and schedule yourself an unforgettable summer.