Dr. Michael Salzhauer said so many moms brought kids to their appointments that he was motivated to stock up on lollipops in his Bal Harbour, Florida office. In My Beautiful Mommy, he explains mommy's recuperation, changing look and desire for plastic surgery.

"Many parents don't explain to their kids what's going on," said the father of four, with his fifth child on the way. "Children are very perceptive. You can't hide a major surgery from them. When mom goes down for two weeks after a tummy tuck it affects them."

Illustrations show a crook-nosed mom with loose tummy skin under her half shirt picking up her young daughter early from school one day and taking her to a strapping and handsome "Dr. Michael." Mom explains she is going to have operations on her nose and tummy and may have to take it easy for a week or so. The girl asks if the operations will hurt, and mom replies, "Maybe a little," warning she will look different after the bandages come off. The girl asks: "Why are you going to look different?" Mom responds: "Not just different, my dear — prettier!"

The new supporting Barbie Mariposa toy line, complete with glittering butterfly-winged fairy dolls, styling heads, accessories, playsets and lifestyle products, allows girls to bring the Mariposa story to life and relive their favorite whimsical moments from the movie.

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"The brand new world of Barbie Mariposa gives girls a way to celebrate spring with an entire new line of butterfly fairy-inspired dolls in vibrant, glittering colors with magical transformation features that truly bring the butterfly theme to life," said Jamie Wood, vice president, Barbie Marketing, Mattel. "Barbie Mariposa engages and delights girls in ways that only Barbie doll can."

Barbie Mariposa DVD

This spring, Barbie stars in Barbie Mariposa, an all-new story set in the world of Butterfly Fairies! Mariposa (which means "butterfly" in Spanish) is a beautiful butterfly fairy who loves to read and dream about the world outside her home in the land of Flutterfield. The land of Flutterfield is protected by the Queen's glimmering magical lights, but when the Queen is poisoned by an evil fairy, the special lights begin to go out one by one. It's up to the brave Mariposa and her friends to journey beyond the safe borders of the city in search of a hidden antidote that will save the Queen forever! The heartwarming storyline of Barbie Mariposa features a wonderful lesson to instill self confidence among its viewers, showing them that "the most beautiful thing you can be is yourself." Join the butterfly fairy friends on an exciting and enlightening adventure that will transform them. Available on February, 26, 2008, for a suggested retail price of $19.98.

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The Barbie Mariposa DVD is partnered with a magical toy line that captures the vibrant, glittery aesthetic and whimsy inspired by the movie. With beautiful bold colors and incredible features, the Barbie Mariposa toy line is a great way to inspire girls to use their imagination and celebrate the spring season. Girls will enjoy playing out their favorite scenes from the full-length adventure with butterfly-themed dolls, styling heads and much more. The Barbie Mariposa toy line includes:

Barbie Magic Wings Mariposa Doll

Based on Barbie doll's newest made-for-DVD animated movie Barbie Mariposa, the Magic Wings Mariposa doll features a beautiful transformation. With the press of a button, Mariposa doll's butterfly wings change and grow from pretty purple wings to giant, sparkly, pink wings. The doll also features beautiful accents, including a butterfly tiara and removable skirt. Suggested retail price is $17.99 for ages 3 and up.

Willa Doll Barbie Mariposa In the Barbie Mariposa made-for-DVD movie, Willa is not only the best friend of Mariposa but also of the beautiful butterflies! Girls can play out the feature of Willa speaking with the butterflies by pressing a lever on Willa doll's back. When the lever is activated, girls can watch her butterfly friend flutter up Willa doll's arm to share a "secret" in the doll's ear. Suggested retail price is $12.99 for ages 3 and up.

Barbie Mariposa Color Change Rayla and Rayna Dolls

Catch butterfly fairy twins Rayla and Rayna -- the beautiful sisters and best friends of Mariposa from the Barbie Mariposa DVD -- on their exciting journey to save the Queen. Each fashionable butterfly fairy doll features color change sparkly wings and beautiful color change hair when girls apply icy cold water. Their pretty butterfly wings and gorgeous reversible skirts can also be mixed and switched between sisters and friend Willa doll for a dramatic transformation Each doll also comes with a brush to style their beautiful long hair. Suggested retail price is $12.99 for ages 3 and up.

Mariposa Styling Head

The Mariposa styling head offers girls fashion play, hair play and transformation play all-in-one! Girls can use the pretty tulip hair braider for the styling head or themselves by snapping two pieces of hair in and squeezing the handle to create beautiful twists! There are lots of share-and-wear pieces including a tiara with removable butterfly clips that also become barrettes, a necklace, hair extensions, ribbons and more. The Mariposa styling head also includes a color change feature. When girls use the special applicator and cold water, eye shadow, lipstick as well as a cute little butterfly design on the cheek are revealed. Suggested retail price is $19.99 for ages 3 and up.

Other items in the toy collection include:

Barbie Mariposa Prince Doll

Barbie Mariposa Mini-Character Giftsets

Barbie Mariposa Flutterpixies Dolls Assortment

Barbie Mariposa Playset

Headquartered in Portland, OR, Hanna Andersson, which is known for its superior quality and colorful designs, is a leading brand in the specialty children's apparel market. Utilizing a multi-channel distribution strategy, the products are marketed through the company's catalog, 18 retail stores and its website (HannaAndersson.com). Sales for 2006 were approximately $100 million.

Founded by a Swedish mother, Gun Denhart, and her American husband, Tom, in 1983, the company is named for her grandmother, Hanna Andersson. She started a children's clothing business in America when she could not find beautiful quality, pure cotton kids clothes like those she had known in Sweden. Gun commented "It's terrific to know the little company Tom and I started, with a simple commitment to the customer, high quality and strong sense of corporate responsibility, has the opportunity to partner with Kellwood to help Hanna realize its full potential."

Skinner stated, "The Hanna Andersson acquisition complements our business and brand portfolio corporate strategy in several ways. As we have stated, one of our goals is to expand into upscale brands, and Hanna Andersson positions Kellwood in the better category of children's apparel. Another part of our strategy is to connect more directly with the consumer. The Hanna Andersson business model is focused on a direct to consumer format with a rich media eCommerce web site, colorful catalogs, and an inviting store format. In addition, Hanna Andersson complements and strengthens our successful and strong children's business platform that we have established with Gerber Childrenswear."

The Hanna Andersson management team will continue to be led by Philip Iosca, president and CEO. "Phil and his team have done an excellent job building the Hanna Andersson business over the last 12 years," added Skinner.

Iosca commented, "I am excited Hanna is partnering with Kellwood, a company that appreciates our brand and its position in the marketplace. Kellwood has the resources to help us grow and a leadership team that shares our corporate values and vision for the future."

Kellwood will purchase the company for approximately $175 million, and the Company anticipates the acquisition will be accretive in the first full year before purchase accounting. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the fiscal second quarter. Kellwood was represented by J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Hanna Andersson by CIBC World Markets. The current ownership principally consists of Castanea Partners, Dorset Capital, and company management.

Certainly, Mattel has tried to keep its brands Internet-savvy for more than a decade. Mattel's Barbie.com and EverythingGirl.com have the highest concentration of girls age 2 to 11 on the Web, according to researcher Nielsen NetRatings, but their overall audience hasn't grown much over the years.

The company is also being pressured by toys like Webkinz and an avalanche of virtual worlds designed for kids. Bratz, for example, the racier fashion dolls that have eaten into Barbie sales in recent years, plans to launch a virtual world called Bratz World (Be-Bratz.com) and a Rescue Pets (my e-pets.com) this summer.

"Mattel is the 800-pound gorilla in the toy industry, and it's worked hard to continually reinvent itself," said Lisa Bradner, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "I think they'll continue to be a very strong player, but it's hard to innovate at the speed and agility that a company like Webkinz can." The overall audience for Barbie sites has declined slightly over the last year, and has failed to grow over the last three years. According to Nielsen NetRatings, the Barbie site attracted about 1.9 million unique visitors from home and work in April 2007, down from 2.1 million in April 2006. Those numbers are in line with about 2 million visitors in the same month in 2004.

In contrast, Webkinz--plush pets with corresponding virtual homes on the Web--have exploded in popularity over the last year. In April, Webkinz attracted 3.6 million unique visitors from home and work, up from just 285,000 a year before. Webkinz has even usurped the long-reigning virtual pets site of the Web--Neopets, which went from 2.6 million unique visitors in April 2006 to 3.2 million in 2007. Another major contender in the kids category, ages 2 to 11, is Club Penguin, a virtual community of penguin avatars for children. It drew more than 4 million unique visitors in April. And Disney.com, the generalist playground of Mickey Mouse and other characters, attracted more than 11 million visitors that month.

1. Sophisticated word filters to keep chat secure, prevent the exchange of personal information (e.g. phone numbers, names, etc.) and block inappropriate, hurtful or offensive language.
2. Easy-to-use safety features that give a girl the ability to lock or open her room to other characters, the ability to block users and prevent them from contacting her on the site, and the ability to report other users for inappropriate behavior.
   
   
3. Robust moderation tools that provide BarbieGirls.com administrators with the ability to monitor chat that occurs in the environment, track and monitor reported users and ban users who attempt objectionable behavior.

He was the logical go-to guy, who showed Smith how to get all of the colored sides to match in less than 10 hours of instruction. But if you want to learn just to impress your friends, Mao can teach you in a lot less time.

Typically, he says, "After an hour and a half, (people) can solve the Rubik's Cube with a sheet of instructions on it, without any input from me. After 10 hours, Will Smith was able to solve the Rubik's Cube on his own, without anything. Not only learning the process, but committing it to memory. And Will is a pretty busy guy with many responsibilities. Basically, he had to memorize lines for his scenes and all that other stuff as well."

Initially, Mao was enlisted to help fake Smith's manipulation of the Cube.

"The first thought was that we could get a hand double," Mao says. "It turns out that, first of all, Will Smith didn't want that. It seemed to me he wanted to really just understand the character, so he wanted to learn to solve the Rubik's Cube on his own, and he wanted to do this genuinely on camera.