Over at Babble, Katie Allison Granju says she knows how Katie Holmes feels with the recent scrutiny she’s received about Suri still being on the bottle. Her almost-2-year-old is also still on the bottle. And people are looking at her funny.

My only child that used a bottle self-weaned at 12 months, but I can relate on the weaning issue with my daughter. She was long past 2 before I finally managed to talk her into weaning from the boob, and it was a hard fought battle at that. The “when are you going to wean her from breastfeeding” conversations had started when she was about 6 months old, both from strangers and family. By the time she was ready to wean, we were no longer nursing in public (try being discreet with a giant toddler flapping your shirt up for all to see, ha!) so the only people I was hearing it from was my family. And that was hard.

There is the worry of rotten teeth from the late weaning, but I’m also of the mind that children who need the extra comfort should receive it. I feel lucky that I only had to worry about this with one of my children. My youngest son, like my oldest son, self-weaned at 12 months. Neither of those rough and tumble guys needed the extra comfort.

It’s often hard to judge another person’s actions because the world is so seldom black and white. The woman in this article adopted 2 boys from Guatemala. She had a hard time bonding with them. So hard, that 6 years later she contacted the adoption agency she got the kids from to find them a new home.

The mama bear in me rages at her actions. Imagine, the only mother you’ve known for 6 years suddenly decides to give you up. How cruel and unfair. But, the woman states that she would avoid their hugs and would be stricter with them than she was with her other children. What child deserves to grow up without hugs? What child deserves to be treated worse than other children in the house?

So my opinion is split. On one hand, I think what she has done is cruel. On the other hand, perhaps now the children will have a shot at a loving home. Tell me what you think, Shak parents. Cruel and unusual? Or she did the right thing?

You would think, after looking at this picture of these sweet kids, that they would be perfect little angels and they’d get along exquisitely. Of course, you’d think wrong.

After this summer, I’ll have all three of my kids in school. I almost feel terrible to be so excited about that, since once kids are in school, they slip away from you so quickly. On the other hand, to have some free time during the day again is a very exciting thought.

For now, I’m just trying to enjoy the summer. Tomorrow, we’ll take a long walk on the Greenway, and I’m trying to hunt up pools to go to that aren’t too busy. Tell me, Love Shak-ers, how are you spending your summer at home with the kids?