Loving It Lately

Lately, we have been loving this little, green lap tray I picked up at Michael's for a few dollars. I filled the sides with crayons and he likes to sit and color. It also makes a great little table for breakfast! Today, little man is using his green tray to enjoy toast with peanut butter, apples and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (his favorite cartoon)!

Loving It Lately

Little man loves to play on the iPad! We try to not to let him play on it every day. We save it for when we need it: out to eat, long car trips, Dr's office... basically, whenever we are out of options and need 20 minutes of silence!

Finding apps that little man likes is a bit of a challenge. I often download about ten (free) apps just to find one that he really likes. So I thought I would share with you the ones we LOVE. The ones he goes back to time and time again. 

Best Kids Songs

This has been his favorite app since he was about 6 months olds. The app is free but you can buy songs/stories within the app. (They have several free songs/stories and often run 30% off specials, etc.) We have purchased about $20 worth of songs and books-- he likes them so much and I can honestly say, "It has been money well spent!" 

The songs are nursery rhymes, lullabys, phonics songs,etc. that have cute animation set to the tune. Their stories are also musical and sing-songy. 

Specifically, little man's favorites songs are Rock-a-by Baby and Feliz-Navidad. For a long tine it was Twinkle Twinkle, but we have since moved on! His favorite story is "The Happy Prince" which is a nice change from "The Giant Turnip" which we have heard at least 500 times! 

Pepi Bath

We started out with the lite version of this  app and went on to purchase the full version. The app has a dirty kid that needs his hair combed, teeth brushed, nose blown and hands washed. It took little man a little bit of time to conquer all of the steps but now he is a pro. Also in the free version, you can do the laundry (dirty clothes in, add soap, press start, put them on the clothes line). 

Peekaboo 

This app is completely free. It's a goofy little monkey that hides his face and when you touch his belly he shouts peekaboo. Little man thinks this is hilarious. The monkey also hides behind plants and in the trees. Little man has almost outgrown this app. He gets bored with it pretty quickly now. 

Plic-Ploc

We call this app "his puzzles." This is another app that we started with the free version and soon upgraded. 

The puzzle has the outline of each colored shape and you have to drag each shape to its correct location. This is one we are still working on mastering. Some of the shapes, particularly the different shaped triangles, are still pretty challenging! 

Block Builder

This app is completely free. You can start with a pre-made tower or build one yourself. Then you use your finger to knock over the blocks. Then you can build them back up, knock them back down. Pretty simple! 

PBS Kids

This a free app that has full episodes, short clips and songs from PBS cartoons. It works by streaming the video so unlike the others, this app needs to be connected to the Internet. Little man's favorite show to watch on this is Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. He also likes The Dinosaur Train (as you already know, we can't get enough dinosaurs). He really likes being able to scroll through the shows and select the clips himself. 

And, I can't list our favorite apps without mentioning one that I absolutely dread: Yo Gabba Gabba videos.  The songs are so catchy, they stick in your head for days.  YGG is a carton on Nick Jr with large, goofy creatures that sing and dance.  We have bought several episodes from iTunes and little man watches the videos on the iPad. I think they are $2-3 per episode or you can buy them in groups for less. It is nice that they are downloaded onto your iPad and you don't have to be connected to the internet in order to watch them.

So, there you have it! I am sure the grandmas are already loading up on all of the above! :) Have a good Monday!!

Loving It Lately

We LOVE adding color to our baths. Little man likes to pour water from one cup to another and making the water colored is always exciting.

The tablets are red, yellow and blue.  You can add more than one to make additional colors (ie: blue + yellow = green). The dropz do not stain skin, the bath tub, wash cloths or bath toys. We highly recommend them! 

A normal bath lasts 5-10 minutes for us.  Bathtime is usually right before bed and little man is tired and easily bored.  When I add in the color dropz, however, he will play for 30-45 minutes!  Lately he has even been pointing to the cupboard I keep the colors in.  Then we go through the list, "Do you want blue? No? Do you want Red? No, Green? Ok"  His favorite seems to be blue or green.  Eventually, I have to drag him out of the tub, kicking and screaming.

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Minor melt-down when told he has to get out of the tub.
Exhausted and ready for bed! 

** Regrettably, Crayola did not pay me to say these nice things about their product. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Loving It Lately!

Lately we have been loving the Melissa and Doug Stack and Sort Board. We really like all of the Melissa and Doug toys. They are good, old-fashioned, wooden toys.

Melissa & Doug Stack & Sort Board

This one we received as a Christmas gift and little man has always liked it but about a month ago he really figured out how to sort the colors and now it is his favorite puzzle. He will do the puzzle on repeat and I coach him, "Faster! Faster!"

Sometimes he likes to "be silly" and will put a piece in the wrong place. Then he waits for an exaggerated response. "That's not yellow," I exclaim and he giggles and claps his hands. He has so much personality lately!

Here is a video of him playing with the toy, enjoy!

Loving It Lately!

Lately we have been loving gel window clings! We found ours in the dollar bin at Target (courtesy of Gram P).  The Easter bunny also brought some in little man's Easter basket!

Little man loves peeling them from the plastic and sticking them on the window ... then resticking them on another window... then sticking them again.

In our old apartment the love seat was up against the window. We would let him sit on the back of the love seat and play with the stickies. He loved this!! Now that he is much (MUCH) more mobile he likes to run from window to window.

Loving It Lately

Our latest obsession - bath markers!!! Every night for a half an hour we color all over the bath tub. Even during the day we sneak into the bathroom and try to find the markers! We are obsessed!

We color on the tub, tub walls and even our selves!  (The photos below were taken over the course of a few nights)

Yes, that is blue marker on his face.

We love them so much we actually had to buy a second package and throw out our old, dead ones! Luckily they are only $5.

Loving it Lately!

Lately, we have been loving to READ! Little man loves to bring us books, hop up on the couch, snuggle with a blanket and read.

Right now he really likes books that he can 'lift the flaps.'  We read "Dear Zoo" at least 25 times a day, every day.  He likes to read "Open the Barn Door" by himself. It is a very small book and he likes to carry it around with him.

 

His two favorite books right now are "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Hiccupotamus."  Wild Things is not a board book so we have to be "extra careful" while turning the pages.  The Hiccup book is very cute and funny (Thanks, Gram Min!). It rhymes, is fun to read and makes little man giggle when I bounce him on my lap at the "hics."

  

I love reading to him. I have always loved getting lost in a good book and understand the importance of reading to kids when they are little. "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents"

Loving it Lately

Lately, I have been loving Children's Tylenol. Little man has been teething a lot and I can see a HUGE difference when I gave him Tylenol. He hates drinking it but about 15 minutes after he is bouncing off the walls, back to his happy self.

Waiting for the Tylenol to kick in

I used to have a bottle of generic Tylenol -- no good!! We had gotten it free from our pediatrician. Little man hated it. So my Mr. taste-tested it and reported back it was menthol and burned his throat! So we got the name-brand stuff and he said it was delicious, pure sugar. So be sure you stick with the real deal!

He likes to carry the bottle around

Back to playing!

Loving It Lately

We couldn't have made it through these last few weeks without patience, understanding, flexibility, and most importantly, OUR iPAD!!

How people can even raise kids without an iPad is still a mystery to me.

Exhibit A: Out to eat.

Set up for success!

We also have this iPad case that is pretty handy.

Eddie Bauer iPad Case (Target, $20)

Here's why I love it:
1) Nice, big handles are made of rubber and protect the iPad when dropped 
2) Nice, big handles make it easy for the little guy to hold it all by himself
3) Clear protective covering makes the screen less sensitive so little fingers don't accidentally close out their sing-a-long songs.
4) Strap on the back is for attaching the case to the headrest in your car, Voila! DVD player.
5) Stand on the back pulls out to prop up iPad

Little man now navigates the iPad better than most adults. He knows which aps are his and how to get back to the home screen.  Just this week he figured out how to unlock the screen! Child genius? Hopefully the next Steve Jobs :)

Loving It Lately...

What have I been loving lately? Baby bowls. Yep, you read that right, baby bowls. Here's why I'm into them:

1) I love snacks
2) I love anything that helps keep my home/car/stroller clean
3) I love new and improved technology. Bowls have remained unchanged for hundreds of years, then, BAM! They've come up with something new.

What?! New baby bowls? Yes, and here are my top two picks:

The Gyro Bowl

The Gyro Bowl

This bowl came to us as a birthday present from Great-Grandma Connie. It is a small weighted bowl inside a larger bowl. The larger bowl has handles and looks like a saucer. They are connected by a ring and two small pegs which allow the inner bowl to rotate. The way the inner bowl is weighted allows for it to remain upright even as the outer bowl is jostled, turned or tipped. So, in theory, the bowl can never spill!

As little man walks and tries to hold the bowl one-handed, its contents do not spill! It's a miracle of physics!! The only downside, if you drop the bowl, everything does spill out. So when your child (mine doesn't do this obviously but...) has a fit of rage at a restaurant and throws his bowl on the floor, expect goldfish to go flying.

  

Notice how the bowl is still upright? And yes, we are ready for Halloween.

The Munchkin Snack Catcher

The Snack Catcher

These bowls came to us from the lovely land of Target and let me say they were a great pick. Grandmas, stock up on these!

Its design is simple. A small bowl with handles and a removable lid. But not just any lid, this lid is spiral cut. Little hands easily push through the precut silicone lid while the silicone catches the snacks so they can't fall out (even when dropped!) The downside is that it's not ideal for mushy snacks (bananas or watermelon) and really small snacks (like Cheerios) can still fall through the flaps. Overall though, I would consider this a huge success and a staple item in our kitchen. Grandmas, run out and get a few of these. At $3 ea or $7.50 for a four pack, you too will be loving it.

  

 

PS- I'm also loving these socks!