Slow Down, Gym Shoe!

Learning Spanish With Professor Pocket!

The people at Connecting Moms sent me this CD of Our Silly Farm Adventure, by Professor Pocket. The CD's are designed to help kids learn second languages. Our Silly Farm Adventure is a story about three friends (who just happen to be a professor, a dinosaur, and a chicken) take a trip to the farm to visit Chico the Chicken's family. Most of the dialogue is in English, but the characters often repeat themselves in Spanish, and al of the songs are in Spanish.
The songs are pretty catchy, too! You can visit the website to preview them. My very favorite is "los Politos," which is a remake of an actual Latin American song!
I like to put on CD's at lunch time and play time in my house, so that we have something interesting to listen to. When I put on "Our Silly Farm Adventures," Pufferfish danced to it, and Little Bear seemed to listen intently to the story! They didn't start speaking Spanish right away, or anything like that. But I like to think that, by listening to the CD multiple times, they'll be at least getting a background in Spanish, which they can build upon later. Add this CD to Dora and Diego, and the kids in my house will be bilingual in no time!

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The Alarmingly Overpriced, Overrated LegoLand!

A few weeks ago I mentioned how I had taken the kids to the mall and ended up going through some sort of sales tour for the Disney Vacation Club, and they had given us four tickets to Legoland Discovery Centre!
So, the other day Monkeyboy and Pufferfish had the day off of school. The kids across the street, Dravion and Jamaiah, also had the day off of school, and their mother had asked me if I could watch them for the day. I figured it would be a great time to use our free Legoland tickets, so that all of the kids would have an extra-fun day! I only had four tickets, but it worked out great because kids under two years old are free, so I didn't pay for Pufferfish. I used the fourth ticket for one of the kids, and paid the children's price for another kid, so altogether I only had to pay fourteen dollars for six people to go in!
But, dude. Let me just tell you. I am so glad that I had those free tickets, because if I had paid to take the kids there, I would have felt like I was royally gypped!
First of all, in a lot of ways its more like a museum than a playplace of any sort. They have a lot of giant Lego statues and life-sized scenes that I have to admit are pretty cool. There's a little dragon ride which is like a slow train through a tunnel of Lego scenes. And there's a 20-minute 4-D movie starring Lego characters. The kids had never scene a 4-D movie before (in case you haven't either, its a 3-D movie, but the fourth dimension is that you actually experience things happening, such as the wind blowing on you, water splashing on you, your seat moving, confetti falling on you, etc) so they thought the movie was awesome! But it was a lot of walking around and looking at things, while being shoved elbow-to-elbow with other people.
The part that we spent the most time in was the play area at the end. They have a climbing structure with tubes and slides and stuff, and tons and tons of Legos of all different sizes and shapes, including pits of Legos for kids to sit in! And they had a section where you could build Lego vehicles and race them. The kids really liked that because they got to run around and play with all of the Legos.
All in all, all five of the kids really enjoyed the place, so I'm glad we went. The thing I have a problem with is the price. Legoland was pretty cool, but I live in an area with several awesome children's museums, and several regular museums with very cool children's areas and interactive exhibits, which I could have taken them to for $7 or $8 a person. Legoland was perfect this time because I had the free tickets... but I doubt I'll take them back there anytime soon, unless I get more free tickets!
Here are a few pictures snapped with my phone. I had a lot more, but most of them, for some reason, didn't turn out! Instead of pictures, I saw little broken puzzle pieces on my screen! So, oh well. Can't wait until I get a new connector for my camera! In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure...

Pufferfish on the climbing structure. She loves climbing, and can go through climbing things independently, along with all the big kids, with no problems! I love it when she goes down the slide, then runs past me and says, "Bye-bye!" as she goes to start over at the beginning! Just like a big kid!

Monkeyboy and Dravion building Lego cars, which they would eventually race on a track. Brandon won one race, and got to go on to a second race, which he swears he would have won if some random girl hadn't cheated!

   

Monkeyboy, Dravion and Little Bear with a giant Lego giraffe outside!

Need a Kaboost?

I'm so excited to have won my first product to review, courtesy of Connecting Moms! They sent me this cool Kaboost chair booster! Yes, I said chair booster, not booster chair. This actually fits underneath your regular adult chairs, making the chair itself taller! Check out this picture of Pufferfish using it to eat her cereal!
Actually Pufferfish is a little younger than the recommended age for Kaboost, because obviously there's no way to strap her into the chair, like you might be able to do with a regular booster chair or high chair. We still use the regular feeding chair for longer meals, but right now the Kaboost works great when Pufferfish wants to sit up at the table to eat a snack or do an art project with the big kids! We'll probably get a lot more use out of it as Pufferfish gets older.
I know for a fact that the Kaboost is sturdy and safe, because 5-year-old Little Bear tested it out too. And then, Jimmy actually sat on that chair for about an hour while he used the computer! I don't think he realized the Kaboost was there, but I wonder if he felt awfully tall sitting there? Neither the chair or the Kaboost collapsed, so I'm pretty sure the Kaboost is designed to hold up under pressure!
It also folds up, so you can take it with you to restaurants or to visit other people's houses. If you've ever gone to eat at the home of a friend or relative who doesn't have small children in the house, you've probably gone through the hassle of trying to eat with a kid on your lap or finding someplace else for your kid to eat. I myself have a distant memory of having to sit on a couple of phone books while eating at my parents' friends' house! Now you can actually bring the Kaboost with you and let your kid eat with dignity!
Anyway, I was really glad to have won this product, and I know its going to have a long and happy life in our family!

PS: They have funny commercials, too! Watch!