Yearly Archives: 2011

iPad Games for Toddlers

Leave a reply

A reader asked if I had suggestions for iPad game that toddlers would enjoy. Here are a few that Jax loves!

For young babies, Look Baby! is great!It has four simple activities: a teddy bear you can tickle, a butterfly that changes color, bubbles you pop and shapes that bounce around. Jax sends himself into a fit of giggle when he “tickles” the teddy bear and it laughs at him!

The graphic designer in me loves Interactive Alphabet. The illustrations are so bright and fun! Ever letter has a fun activity, plus you can sing along to the ABC song and watch a robot dance (the robot, of course!) at the end. Jax adores the train, the hamster hiding under a hat and the zipper. It’s on sale right now, so snap this one up!

The first game he fell in love with was Peekaboo Pets. We got it when it was free – it now costs $1.99. It would have been money well spent. Jax learned many animal sounds from pushing the buttons and popping the animals out. He calls the iad “Baa” because of the sheep in that game. He also learned to use one finger to push the button after starting out smacking it with his whole hand.

A more recent purchase was Nighty Night. Jax was enchanted by this half ebook/half game as soon as the narrator started to speak. The graphics are beautiful and the animations and sounds are cute. You can interact with all the farm house animals, then put the light switches to put them to bed. Jax used to just wave “night night” to them, but now he clicks off the lights and is so proud of himself! He loves the fish pond because the fish make silly faces and sounds.

I also recommend all of Sandra Boyton’s ebooks: The Going to Bed Book, Moo, Baa, La La La! and Blue Hat, Green Hat. It’s fun to be able to read those books when we are away from home. Plus, they all have fun interactive elements.

We most recently got Pat the Bunny. It is adorable! You can record your own auto, which I did on the iPad, and if you have a camera (like I do on my iPhone) your baby can see himself in the “mirror”. Every page has a different activity. Jax’s favorites are the nesting dolls, the velcro shoes and the kitchen band.

Hope these suggestions help!

Playground Bullies – What would you do?

6 Replies

Jax is currently napping off our morning adventures… His daddy worked the overnight shift and Jax had trouble sleeping. That lead to him being crazy and loud right when my husband was going to sleep in the morning, so I got him out of the house.

I drove out to one of Jax’s favorite playgrounds that has an airplane theme. He likes that there are objects of all sizes to climb and play on – like this blue plane – and I like the the rubber ground. After playing for a while, we sat in the breeze and shared a mango smoothie. We walked hand-in-hand to the pet store and he pulled my hand to his mouth and gave me a loud kiss: “Mwah!!” So sweet.

To read more about our morning (we rescued a lost dog from a busy road!) visit my personal blog.

So back to the playground… There was a little girl around 2-year-old who had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. He mom was outside of the playground enclosure reading a book. Jax was steering the plane and she came up and edged him out of the way. “Okay, let’s give her a turn now!” I said and helped him step down. She followed us, reached out and shoved him by his head!

What would you do?

Luckily, Jax had no clue he was being bullied. I decided to speak up, and in the same calm voice I’d use for Jax, I said to the little girl, “No pushing, please!” before we headed off to another section of the playground. I heard her mom look up from her book and tell her to stop pushing a few minutes later, so I guess she found another victim.

I’m not looking forward to run-ins with bigger bullies later on. Have you had to deal with this situation?

Sunday Souvenir

2 Replies

In April, my aunt and a dear family friend visited for three days from Colorado. They brought a wonderful surprise of boxes from my grandparents old house. Many things were my mother’s. I loved seeing them, as she died when I was very little. I plan to make a shadow box with some of her trinkets. I have a huge stack of drawings and letters I sent my grandparents over the years to go through. Looks like they kept everything!

The biggest surprise was the old kiddie car I remembered as always being at my grandparents house. I knew it was old, but my grandpa said on the phone that it had belonged to my grandma’s mom. Grandma was born in 1916, so that car is old! A metal piece was added to the steering rod by my grandpa at one point, and one of my mom’s cousins added a target sticker to the handle from a model airplane kit. But otherwise, it’s remained the same. I have a photo of myself riding it as a little girl.

It will have a place of honor in our home, and one day Jax can pass it on to his children.

Check out Ronalyn’s Sunday Souvenir: The Adventures of Esa and Zed

Leave a comment if you’d like to be added!

Introducing Sunday Souvenir

Leave a reply

Souvenir: Something that serves as a reminder of the past, from the French word for remembering.

Every Sunday, I will be posting about a photo, an item or even just a memory that is dear to me. I’d love for you to join me!

Write your own Sunday Souvenir post and comment me the link. I add a link to everyone’s posts every week. Make sure you post one of the following graphic and link so everyone will be able to browse through each others’ memories.

Hopefully this will grow in the weeks to come so we have a lot to share and explore!

 

Link to: http://www.imagineourlife.com/category/sunday-souvenir/

Link-o-rama!

2 Replies

We are recovering from colds – quick ones, thankfully. Jax never got more that the sniffles, though he nursed more. I don’t use medicine because I nurse, so I was grateful it was quick. We rested, upped our fluids and vitamins and used a humidifier. What do you do when you are sick?

Here are some links and articles that caught my eye recently:

photo via Martha Stewart Living

Happy Saturday!

We Tried It: Sandpaper Crayon T-shirt Transfers

Leave a reply

When I saw this craft idea on Alphamom, I had to try it out with Jax! All you need is sandpaper, crayons, a t-shirt and access to an iron and dryer. I bought my t-shirt for a few dollars and got a 24 pack of Crayola crayons for 40 cents (the 8 pack was 79 cents!)

Check out Alphamom for all the details on how to make your own!

I love how Jax’s drawing came out looking like a subway map shirt. I still need to throw his shirt into the dryer to set it, but we had to try it out!

New Playroom Shelves

3 Replies

I finally got shelves for Jackson’s playroom! Target had blue cube shelves on sale this week. They match our walls perfectly! I also chose three bins for the bottom row in fun colors found around the room. We put cars in one bin, balls in another, and random toys in the third.

I used a power screwdriver (and a stud-finder) for the first time while anchoring it to the wall! I need to load up my old iPod with kids tunes for when he is playing in there.

The shelves are a big novelty to Jax right now since they are so new. He wants to take everything off of them and dump out the bins! But he’s been learning to put toys away, so we’ll be working on that with these new shelves.

We need some posters or art for that wall still. There may a fun DIY project in our future!

 

Cupcakes For Two

Leave a reply

When I saw this post on How Sweet It Is, I knew I had to try it! So today before making lunch, Jax and I whipped up some. I also made a mini batch of chocolate frosting. The cupcakes were tasty, though I agree with the comments that they were heavy – more like muffins or bread. Mine also took 20 minutes to bake. Our oven always takes forever. Jax provided moral support throughout the whole process. I gave him a small bowl and spatula to “help” with.

To make your own, follow the cupcake recipe here (I added some mini chocolate chips to mine.) While they are baking, grab the ingredients for your frosting:

  • 2 oz melted semisweet chocolate*
  • 1.5 c powdered sugar
  • 1/2 stick butter, chopped up
  • 1.5 tbsp milk
  • .5 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt

Throw everything in the blender! Yeah, I’m lazy. Mix, stopping to stir regularly until you have delicious, chocolatey frosting. I added some unmelted chips because I wanted to match them chocolate chip cupcakes. I had more than enough, but I don’t like to pile on frosting. *I melt my chocolate in the microwave on 50% power, stirring every 20 seconds.

We cooled the cupcakes in the fridge while we ate lunch, the frosted them and enjoyed!

Yummy!

Toddler Nursing – A Taboo Subject?

22 Replies

This week (August 1 – 7) is World Breastfeeding Week. The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) was founded in 1991 to “protect, promote and support breastfeeding”. Their day of promotion and celebration has since become a week-long event.

Jax will turn 18 months this Friday. We are still nursing, a year and a half into this journey. If you’d asked me before I had him if I thought I’d still be breastfeeding at this point, what would I have said? “I hope so!” I’m certainly glad I have the benefit of a lowered risk of breast cancer (my mother died of it when I was little), not to mention the nutritional gains for Jax.

I’m not here to tell you how great breastfeeding is (and extended breastfeeding.) More governments and organizations are beginning to realize the importance of promoting breastfeeding. And, I’m not here to say that more moms could be successful at breastfeeding given the proper resources, aide and patience (I recommend this book – I loved it!) Like vaccinations and circumcision, breastfeeding discussions can get everyone all hot and bothered. Let’s just leave it at: it isn’t always for everyone, but it is wonderful if you can! This post is just about my experiences.

How much does he nurse? It depends… On a normal day, he nurses: when he wakes, before his nap, in the afternoon/before nap if he has a 2nd one, before bed and a couple times overnight. He has a healthy appetite for solid foods and drinks water with meals. If he is teething or in a growth spurt, it’s anyone’s guess how much he’ll nurse! We are nursing a lot this week. Yes, it’s a big commitment, but one I don’t hesitate to make.

The question I get asked most often is, “How long will you nurse him? I’m not really sure the answer, but most likely, as long as he wants/needs to. I don’t see myself nursing a 4 year old. I think it’s unlikely he’d go that long without self-weaning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that “There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychological or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.”

Research done by Anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler, PhD states, “The natural age of weaning for human children is between 2.5 years and 7 years. (via Breastfeeding.org)

I definitely am aware that not everyone is comfortable around an older baby nursing, so I no longer do it in public if I can avoid it (though I always was discrete and covered up in the past.) He is good about waiting until home, and I can always take him out to the car if I need to. (There are exceptions – like our all-day outing in NYC. I can nurse in the baby carrier without anyone knowing.)

What are your thoughts on extended breastfeeding past the first year? The subject seems so taboo, but I’d love to hear others’ experiences.

Homemade Baby Ice Cream

2 Replies

You may have seen “1 ingredient ice cream” recipes before. But, I call it baby ice cream! I recently had an ice cream party for my birthday, and since all the guests were bringing babies, I whipped up a batch of this frozen banana puree for them. Two out of three babies loved it!

Here’s what we did:

This is really tasty – and not just for babies! You can add a dash of vanilla for an adult palate if you’d like. It’s really good with chocolate syrup!

Cloth Baby Shoes

Leave a reply

We have a little niece on the way this autumn so I am excited to get to look at girly craft projects to do. One thing I’d like to try is sewing some little cloth baby shoes. You can make them with fabric scraps and there are plenty of free patterns out there (and lots of affordable ones for sale on Esty.)

Shwin & Shwin has super cute pleated mary janes I want to try. HomeSpun-Threads has several. I really like the kimono shoes and the ballerina slippers. Michael Miller Fabrics has a simple but cute cloth shoe pattern. The ribbons on these Etsy ballet slippers won me over!

Now I just need some toddler-free time to get downstairs to my sewing machine…

Thrift Store Gems

Leave a reply

I got lucky at the children’s thrift store in town today and got two great books for $0.75 each! Good Night, Gorilla is an adorable bedtime book that I knew we needed to add to Jax’s library. And, Good Dog, Carl has been my go-to baby book when I am putting together a baby shower gift – especially for my dog-loving friends. The illustrations are beautiful and whimsical. Makes me want a big, sweet Rotti to babysit Jax!

They had some other gems such as Goodnight Moon and The Going-To-Bed Book, but we already have those.

What are some of your must-have books for your toddlers?