Tag Archives: toddlers

Hymie is in the house

  By Amy | December 5, 2012 - 10:20 pm | , , ,
2 Comments

Our favorite little elf, Hymie, is about to make his second annual appearance at our house. Last year, he did some pretty funny stuff while everyone was asleep. Witness some of his antics here:

Not sure what to expect from him this year. I imagine we’ll all get some good laughs. Hymie came to us from Elf Magic. There’s still time to adopt one of these unique 10-inch tall elves into your family. They’re all pretty adorable.

elf-magic-elves

We didn’t have a tradition like this when I was growing up, so I’m happy to incorporate it into my family now. My girls will wake up tomorrow morning to find that Hymie has returned from the North Pole to hang out with us through Christmas. Can’t wait until tomorrow morning when they see their Elf Magic Elf!

iPad App Review: Madagascar Preschool Surf N’ Slide

  By Amy | November 12, 2012 - 11:11 am | , , ,
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Now here is an app (for your iPhone and/or iPad) that is entertaining and educational for the preschoolers.  My 3 year old (and more advanced 7 year old) both love the Madagascar Preschool Surf N’ Slide app.

The app is very simple for a preschooler to navigate.  The options are to choose one of four characters (baby Marty, Gloria, Melman or Alex) and then choose from a selection of magic carpets or surfboards.  Next, the character is guided through various scenes, where they collect stars and miscellaneous objects along the way.

My favorite part of the app is when the character gets to the “challenges” along the way.  These challenges are great educational stops for the preschoolers.  After each challenge is completed, they get to choose a “sticker” and can place it on one of the various “sticker book” scenes.  Then, they are prompted to go back to surfing and collecting more stars and tackling more preschool-level challenges.

The app is priced at $2.99 in the iTunes store and in my opinion, it is worth purchasing.  It’s one of the more visually appealing and easy to use apps out there for preschoolers.

We were given a promo code to download this app for review on ParentSphere. All of the opinions above are my own. My kids would tell you the same.

Lovable Labels

  By Amy | December 2, 2011 - 11:22 am | , , ,
1 Comment

lovable labels

Having a daughter who’s been shifted from babysitters to two different preschools to kindergarten over the past five years, it’s been important for us to make sure her belongings are labeled.  Belongings such as: shirts, pants, shoes, lunch bags, backpacks, hats, gloves…are ya pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down?  Everything.  Every item needs to have her name on it.

starter-set-lovable-labels

So, writing her name on everything is big fun.  Truthfully, I opt for placing durable labels on her stuff.  And now, we have a toddler who is about to get labeled, too.  Oh, then there’s this fact – the girls’ clothes are getting harder to separate when coming out of the dryer.  The bigger the little one gets, the more often her clothes end up in her big sister’s pile.  Then, big sister ends up wearing a size 3T shirt.  Anyway, easy to spot, color-coded labels are where it’s at.  Things like this make sorting piles of little girl clothes much easier.

ethernet-cables-white

Lovable Labels aren’t just limited to identifying kid’s stuff.  One of my biggest pet peeves is a slew of unlabeled wires.  Label your wires! Please?  And, hey!  Whaddayaknow?  We’re so close to the holidays, Lovable Labels would make great stocking stuffers.  Kids love stickers.  They can then help you label all of their stuff!  Win!

christmas-stockings

We were sent a free pack of the Toddler Toes labels, so we could check out their quality.  These sturdy, waterproof, multi-colored labels will not only serve as a means of identification, but will also help her learn her left foot from right foot.

Just browse through Lovable Labels‘ website.  They have many ideas for organization and identification.

Big Kid Life Apps from Fingerprint

  By Amy | December 1, 2011 - 2:28 pm | , ,
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We love exploring new apps for our iPhones, especially the ones that entertain our kids. That being said, I’m pretty happy that Fingerprint has been brought to my attention.

Two of the apps in the Big Kid Life series (there are five apps in the series) that we’ve been exploring have been quit exceptional. Great quality, fun and interactive learning for the kids and for the first time, insight on what they’re doing and what they’re learning, just for us, the parents.

It’s no surprise that these apps are innovative and visually appealing. The team of professionals who created and designed them come from successful entertainment companies such as; LucasFilm, Electronic Arts and LeapFrog to name just a few. The Fingerprint team is pretty impressive.

Here is some quick information on two of the apps we’ve been playing with that were just released today!

First up is, Big Kid Life: Fairy Princess.  I have two little girls, so of course, this app is right up their alley.

fairy-princess-app

This app is simple and easy for kids to understand.  My 6 year old plays it on her own and I help my 2 year old navigate through it. The suggested age range for the app is 4-7, which I do think is appropriate.  What I like about this app in particular is the ability for kids to help create a story from start to finish and then, recall the pieces of the adventure and finally, listen to the story played back to them.

Next up is, My Big Kid Life: Veterinarian.  A perfect app for boys and girls and one I highly recommend getting.  It’s chock-full of interactive fun and learning and I just love it.

big-kid-life-veterinarian

This app allows kids to become virtual doctors.  They have animal patients to care for and a purpose, they must bring the animals back to good health.  They x-ray the animals and are whisked off into a touch-and-seek game, which incorporates identifying sounds, shapes, letters, and different objects.  Identify as many as you can before the time runs out and you’ve helped your patient heal!  They’re learning and also feeling a sense of accomplishment throughout their playing.  Big Kid Life: Veterinarian is hands down, one of my favorite apps for kids.  The suggested age range for this app is 3-6 years, which is spot on.

Here’s the coolest part – four out of five of these brand new Fingerprint apps are FREE for a limited time.  You can’t not download them. You just can’t.  Your kids are going to dig them, I promise.

Click this link to open iTunes and download four of the debut apps from Fingerprint.  The titles are:

  • Big Kid Life Firefighter
  • Big Kid Life Veterinarian
  • Big Kid Life Fairy Princess
  • Fingerprint PlayMaker

Giveaway: Holiday DVD Gift Sets from Lionsgate

  By Amy | November 30, 2011 - 11:24 am | , , , ,
43 Comments

Suddenly, I am consumed by the holiday spirit.  Maybe it’s because I put up our tree the other day.  It’s got to be that.  Or the girls.  The girls make everything so exciting.  My youngest has already visited with Santa’s helper and my oldest has already written out her Christmas list.

I hope I can channel my holiday excitement right back at you through ParentSphere.  Let’s start with a huge holiday DVD gift set giveaway. Yes! Let’s!

This giveaway is being offered via Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment.  I have three holiday DVD gift sets up for grabs.  Each gift set includes three DVDs.  So, you’re getting a total of nine cheery DVDs to pass along to your kids or grandkids or nieces/nephews.  Yeah. That’ll make you pretty darn cool.

Here are the titles included in the giveaway:

Thomas & Friends Holiday Favorites

  • Merry Winter Wish
  • Ultimate Christmas
  • Holiday Express

Barney Holiday Favorites

  • Night Before Christmas
  • Christmas Star
  • Frosty Friends

Angelina Ballerina Holiday Gift Set

  • The Nutcracker Sweet
  • Love to Dance
  • Ballet Dreams

thomasHoliday3DVDgiftset

Thomas & Friends Holiday Favorites

A new collection of adventurous, holiday-themed DVDs featuring Thomas and his engine friends.  Whether reveling at the Misty Island Christmas Party, sharing holiday cheer with the Sodor townsfolk or ringing in the holidays with smiles, laughter and song, Thomas & Friends continues to teach timeless life lessons such as discovery, friendship and cooperation, inviting children to enter a world of imagination through the tracks of a train and the words of a story.

Barney-Holiday-Favorites-Gift-Set

Barney Holiday Favorites

Spend the night before Christmas at Santa’s Workshop, search for the perfect gold star to top the Christmas tree and welcome fellow preschool favorites Bob the Builder™, Kipper™, Thomas & Friends™ and Pingu™ for additional frosty, festive fun.

AngelinaBallerinaDvdHolidayGiftSet

Angelina Ballerina Holiday Gift Set

Celebrate the season with Angelina and all her friends as they prepare for the holiday showcase and learn all forms of dance at Camembert Academy. With games and karaoke, it’s the perfect present for little ballerinas everywhere!

This giveaway is definitely big entertainment fun for the toddlers and preschoolers.

How to enter:

It’s pretty easy, actually.  Just leave your entry comment on this post.  In your comment, tell me something fun, like, who you’d give these gift sets to if you win them.

This giveaway is open to residents within the continental US.  Deadline to enter is Monday, December 12th at midnight, PST.  A winner will be chosen at random from the comment section of this post and notified via email (Be sure to double-check your email address when you leave your comment).

*Here is a free holiday coloring sheet for you!  Click on the image to open it full-size and save it for printing.

Holiday Coloring Page

*While you’re shopping for the little ones, don’t forget to check out these other new holiday DVD titles offered from Lionsgate and HIT Entertainment (these titles are not part of the giveaway listed above):

Shaun the Sheep: We Wish Ewe A Merry Christmas
Barney™: A Very Merry Christmas – The Movie
Angelina Ballerina: Dancing on Ice
Thomas &Friends™: Merry Christmas, Thomas!

My Rooster is using the Little Looster for the Loo

  By Amy | November 23, 2011 - 4:27 pm | ,
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little looster booster

I don’t generally show off my loo on the internet but this is a special circumstance.  Notice the curved stool in the above photo.  That is the Little Looster.  That thing is awesome and I’ll tell you why.

When I was introduced to the Little Looster, I needed to have one and most definitely wanted to promote it to anyone in the process of potty training children.

Now, it’s nothing fancy.  Come on, you don’t need fancy when it comes to potty training.  You just want to git ‘r done…am I right or am I right?  I’m right.  Want to know why?  Because I am currently in the middle of potty training my very own child.  Joy!

As you can see from the above photo, my bathroom is small.  Before we had this awesome potty training stool, we had two small step stools in there.  They were a pain in the you know what.  We had one in front of the toilet and one in front of the sink.  We were always walking into them; they were always in the way.  Sometimes, it’s the little things that drive you crazy.

We took out the two stools and replaced them with the Little Looster.  It’s curved, as you can see, so it fits snug around the base of the throne.  There are two “openings” in the front of it, so the man of the house doesn’t have to move it or kick it when nature calls.  It also fits around the base of our pedestal sink.  #Win!

little looster booster

It also works great for the girls when they brush their teeth.  Do we sometimes kick it accidentally?  Sure, on occasion.  However, after years and years of using those little step stools that were either not high enough, awkwardly placed in front of the toilet and sink, the replacement of the Little Looster has been a welcome change.

little looster

The tag*a*long. Now I don’t mind if they do.

  By Amy | November 22, 2011 - 8:01 pm | , , ,
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tag-a-long-teagan

Earlier this Fall (is it still Fall?), I was sent the tag*a*long.  I was excited to check it out because I have one, usually two, tag-along’s. Seems like I’m always trying to round up one or the other…or both.  The older one is bouncing off of me and we’re tripping over each other because she’s walking too close to the stroller, or the little one doesn’t want to sit in the stroller and I can’t keep her close enough when she’s out of it.

This unique stroller add-on has actually been a big help.  Not just when we’re out with the stroller, but also when we’re at the grocery store, attached to the shopping cart. There are many handy uses for this product and we’re discovering them along the way.

It is easy to attach to things.  The tag*a*long, which is lead and BPA free (and meets CPSIA standards), has loops at both ends.  Just wrap one end through the other around the stroller’s frame and voila!  You have a magic handle that extends about arms-length and allows just enough distance between you.  Less bumping.  Less tripping.  Less wandering away.  Awesome.

tag-a-long-hailey

Both my big girl and my little girl are making good use of the tag*a*long and we, the parents, are now believers.