School Prep Reading That's Fun!

Back to school is my favorite time of year. The weather starts to cool down; I get to buy new boxes of crayons, notebooks of paper and pretty pencils; and school begins. I'm sort of a nerd. I recognize that and have even learned to embrace it. I love school. I love new books; I love learning; and sometimes I even love homework!

Since the girls are still too young to really embrace the back to school frenzy, I do what I can to get them excited about buying crayons and learning about things related to school. That's why I was really excited for the chance to review I'm Your Bus by Marilyn Singer published by Scholastic. Sammi was so excited when it arrived in the mail.

Sammi loves buses. For over a year now she has talked endlessly about when she'll get to ride a bus to school. One day she even went to far as to tell me all the rules of riding on a bus and that she would help the bus driver tell the other kids to follow the rules! When she saw we had a book with a giant school bus on the front, she was ecstatic. She dropped everything she was doing and wanted to read it right away.

I'm happy to say that the book didn't disappoint. It's written in rhyme and introduces all the different times kids ride the bus as well as different aspects of the school day. Sammi loved that it gave names for the children riding the bus. She points to the different kids and asks who is who. She also likes to read the marquee on the buses on the different pages.

I liked the rhyme scheme because it's not your typical four line rhyme. It has three lines in a row that rhyme and then the next two lines are like the chorus ending with "I'm your bus." I've enjoyed reading it with her again and again. It's given us something concrete to hold and look at as we've talked about the unknown that is school.

It's fun to see Sammi get excited about school. She's just aching to go. I finally found a "preschool" program I'm comfortable with here. I can take her just two days a week for about 2 1/2 hours. She's so excited to start and I'm interested to see how she adjusts to spending that kind of time away from home on such a frequent basis.

Cherish Bound and The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

I love to tell stories! Don't we all? I love the build up, the climax, the laughter at the end. It's the greatest. It's one of the reasons I love bogging so much. It's a place to record stories. Here I am with a few other local (in Utah) bloggers.

Last November I had the privileged of meeting Carol Rice, co-founder of Cherish Bound, at a retreat for women entrepreneurs sponsored by Startup Princess. She was lovely to chat with, very approachable and down-to-earth. I never even guessed the size of the company she and Bruce Jensen oversee. So when I was invited to learn more about the company and their commitment to storytelling, I was excited to help out this "small" startup.

Boy was I surprised to find this company is nationally well-known. Although not surprising once I saw the products they offer for capturing family stories. They have everything you need to tell a great story from chat cards and daily journals to story starters and celebrations. Then the icing on the cake! Once you have discovered a story you want to tell, they have the software to record your story with pictures and then publish it into a beautiful book.
As a treat, we were invited to choose a story from our own lives, record it and then publish it. We received story starter books to help us along the way. I received the story starter My Family intended to help children discover an record their stories. So, I decided to interview Sammi and have her write the story. I pulled out the voice recorder and opened the book and talked to her while she was eating. Probably not the easiest to understand her with a mouth full of food, but she was stationary and quite talkative. Since we just moved I thought it would be fun to record some of our memories from our home in Utah as well as her first impressions of Tennessee. These were combined with her own descriptions of our family. About Daddy she said, "Daddy's good at ducks. He just waddles and tries to catch one." We have no idea where this came from! But it'll be fun to laugh about with her when she's older. She also said he's "good at telling stories and singing songs." Which is very true. She and I had a lot of fun talking about different memories and all the members of our family.

Once I had her story, it was easy to pick pictures to illustrate what she said, except for the ducks. Then I went onto Cherish bound's website and logged in to the publishing center to put the book together. The editing software was very easy to use. I figured it all out without ever using the help function. I like that in software! I chose page layouts then added photos and text. When you go through a Cherish Bound consultant you get a personal coach to walk you through all the steps of organizing and compiling. They're wonderful.
Once I finished my book and read through it, I had Brent read it and then I submitted it for publishing. It went so smoothly. My book arrived yesterday and Sammi was so excited to sit down and read her book. She loved the pictures. As I read the questions again, she answered them again. Some answers were different, but most were the same as we had recorded in the book. When Brent came home, she told him about the book first thing then drug him off to her room so he could read it to her. What a great experience for her to have a book she helped write that is about the people and memories she loves best!
Cherish Bound didn't stop here! Their commitment to storytelling led to becoming a sponsor this year of the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Utah. This is a great event where storytellers from around the nation come together to entertain, educate and enlighten their audiences. I am so sad we'll miss it. But my friend Rebecka is going and will give us a full report of how she and her family enjoyed it. This year the festival runs September 3-5, 2009.

Posh in Clover Review

At the beginning of May I had the chance to attend the Utah Valley Women's Expo. This is a great annual event where companies come to showcase their products and services. My birthday also happens to be at the beginning of May. I finagled a day to myself to explore the Expo. Even with a day all to myself, it's hard to take off the Mom hat!

I found myself drawn to children's products at every turn. My first purchase was an adorable tea set for the girls made from recycled milk jugs. It was a big hit. But my next find won my heart as a solution to an endless problem: eczema.

The company is Posh in Clover, which I love because it sounds luxurious but I don't actually know what it means. According to their About page, "All of our products are artistically crafted by hand using the finest natural ingredients. Our art studio, where our products are crafted, is filled with the raw ingredients we use to craft our products. We do not simply buy a base from wholesale companies and add scent to it. We are passionate about creating natural, cruelty-free spa products that are far beyond the ordinary. Every ingredient we use to create our products has been carefully chosen based upon how it will benefit you. We pride ourselves on using luxurious ingredients that make our products stand out from the crowd and leave the least environmental impact."

Posh in Clover carries two lines I was particularly interested in: Mother & Baby and Kids. I decided to get the spa soap, whipped butter cream, and bubbling bath bomb to try on the girls hoping that it would help Sammi's eczema. Let me back up just a bit. When deciding between the spa soap and the wash, I was leery of the soap because it was so big-twice the size of a regular bar of soap. I wasn't sure how to handle such a large bar of soap and not have it get ruined in the shower. I was hesitating and the gal in the booth said she uses a butter knife to cut off a slice of the soap. That way it fits perfectly in a child's hand and helps the soap last longer. Immediately I could sense Sammi's independence rejoicing at having control of the soap as she washed herself. I was sold.

I brought home the new products and endured Brent chuckling at me since I spent my birthday money on things for the girls. I was excited for bath time and that was enough for me! Sammi was intrigued by my cutting the soap with a knife. And, as I had suspected, relished in holding the soap herself. I love the scent of the soap and the way the girls smell after the bath. Then we tried out the whipped butter cream. Sammi has been rather resistant to lotions after the Eucerin stung her skin so badly. But I let her scoop some out of the tub and apply it herself and she was game. The cream smells like an orangesicle in a light, summery kind of way.

What I noticed first thing the next day was that Sammi's skin was so soft. It felt like silky baby skin again. She hasn't had soft baby skin since she was 5 or 6 months old when the eczema started to flare constantly. She still had some rough patches but the overall feel of her skin was soft and smooth. I am happy to see such quick results. I have tried a lot, a lot of products and this is the first that I have seen such a dramatic improvement in such a short time.

The bath bomb was a big hit too with both the girls. It's made of Dead Sea and Peruvian salts along with a host of other natural ingredients that work wonders on the skin. It dissolves into bubbles under running water. Sammi had fun holding it under the tap and feeling the bath bomb dissolve in her hand.

I now use the baby spa soap for myself and always rub a little extra cream into the back of my hands after their baths. My hands feel soft and even look younger. I'm so happy! No more cracked and bleeding knuckles. I love this company and its products.

If you're interested in trying Posh in Clover out for yourself, you can save 15% by entering the code "posh15" at checkout. Enjoy!

Review: Bingo by Eeboo

We had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday. We spent most of it in Kaysville at my in-laws. I love going there because I always get a nap! Grandma has plenty of toys to entertain Sammi (although she spent at least an hour on Grandpa's hair, spraying it with water and combing it) and there are plenty of people to hold and entertain Elli so I always get a little break. And to me, that was the perfect Mother's Day.

There was one toy, that was worth waking up from my nap to play with Sammi. It was a Bingo game by Eeboo. Each player's card had pictures centered around a theme: nature, animals, clothing. Then, in a bag are little tiles to draw. Each tile matches one picture on one player's card. Whoever fills their card first wins! We passed the bag around and took turns drawing tiles out. Sammi loved the level of participation and I was impressed with how quickly she could find matches among so many choices.

All of the illustrations used in Eeboo toys are original and from beloved children's book illustrators. The game was sturdy and vibrant. A combination I appreciate in toys for little ones. After browsing through all their games and writing accessories I have quite the wish list.

They have some really cool preschool games of matching and dominoes. These types of games are great for preschoolers. They are so engaged in the game while they are expanding their attention span, practicing cognitive skills like attention to detail and memory, and learning how to follow rules. And all while they are having fun and not even aware of the progress they are making in their development!

Review: Guide to Pirate Parenting

Parenting is hard and full of difficult decisions that will affect our children for the rest of their lives. No one knows this better than Cap'n Billy "the Butcher" MacDougall who shows parents a great alternative in his Guide to Pirate Parenting. Parenting is always best when taken with an extra dose of humor and Tim Bete delivers.

Guide to Pirate Parenting is a quick and witty read. I read it in various public places and got many curious stares as I read it and occasionally laughed out loud. This book has everything you'll ever need to know about raising pirates, from nursery rhymes to converting your minivan to a schooner and then naming it! I laughed my way through this book, which was a welcome release from the tension of having a toddler in the house.

Aside from the humor, I really enjoyed this book because Bete incorporates useful tidbits about kids and parenting in a casual way. I saw a lot of real advice and insightful comments underlying many of the humorous anecdotes.

Well done, Tim. Now I'm off to get my hands on his first parenting book, In The Beginning...There Were No Diapers. If you're antsy for some Pirate Parenting guidance while you wait for your book to arrive, you can follow Cap'n Billy on Twitter or check out the website, Pirate Parenting.

Review: Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Pirate Treasure

The cutest DVD showed up in our mailbox a week or so ago and we have been thoroughly enjoying it. Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is a Nick Jr. cartoon about an adorable Wubbzy and two friends Widget and Walden. I really enjoyed the animation style and the sounds, i.e., voices, sound effects, songs.

The DVD we received features the episode Pirate Treasure. Wubbzy and his friends find a treasure map and decide to follow it to the X. They dress as pirates and Wubbzy assigns everyone a pirate name. They have such an engaging adventure with a fun ending. At the end, there's a cute song that recaps the lesson and theme of the episode.

We invited Sammi's pirate friend over to watch it with us. While Sammi ran around Jack stood mid-step entranced with the whole episode. He is so fascinated with all things pirate and absolutely adored the episode. His mom wasn't sure she could get into the animation but I really like it. It's all made of simple shapes with happy, bright colors.

We also enjoy all the other episodes that are on the DVD. Each episode begins with an introduction from Wubbzy: Wow! Wow! Hi Everbody, My name is Wubbzy. Sammi ran around all afternoon yesterday saying, "Wow! Wow! My name is Sammi!" I love to see her adapt what she sees into her play. It shows me that she understands the content and gets what it means in her own life. What a smartie!

Review: Baby Einstein World Music

In another life I am destined to be a globetrotter! I love to travel, to see new places, meet new people, and experience new cultures. With a student-husband and two small children we have not yet traveled as extensively as I hope to someday do.

However, based on the few travel experiences my husband and I have had combined, we enjoy sharing the cultures, foods and languages of Japan, Austria and Bulgaria (and others) with our girls. We are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to introduce them to the various aspects of different lands.

So when the opportunity to host a World Music Premier Playdate presented itself, I could hardly believe our luck. Baby Einstein recently released a new DVD and CD entitled World Music and we had a huge party to enjoy the experience.

The music of the CD exceeds the quality of music I have heard on previous Baby Einstein CDs. I thoroughly enjoyed the familiar melodies along with the new ones. While watching the DVD the little ones really enjoyed all the animals from around the world. We had lions and tigers running around the room; I think I even heard a monkey at one point!

One thing I love about the DVD: It has two modes. One mode is just the music with the video and the other mode has the names of instruments and animals spoken and written on the screen. We showed the girls the DVD in the car on the first mode and it was as enjoyable for us up front as just listening to the CD. I appreciated that!

This was a fun way for us to introduce music from various cultures with our girls. The DVD and CD are also available on Amazon.com.

Review: It's Hip Hop, Baby!

"Hip Hop Simon says, 'Jump! Jump!'" I've said it before and it remains true: Sammi loves to jump! After watching It's Hip Hop Baby!: All Your Child's Favorites, Sammi reenacted the Hip Hop Simon song over and over again. Every time she watched it again, she added another component of the video to her reenactment.

This is the first video she has seen that she has asked to watch again and again. It's the first time I've been able to put a video in for her while I take a shower and have the bathroom all to myself for the entire length of my shower! Thanks, It's Hip Hop, Baby!

Even our 7 month old was enthralled with the video. She clapped along with "If You're Happy and You Know It." She even kicked her feet when they did "stomp your feet!" It was cute to see the two girls sit side by side and enjoy the same thing at the same time.

From a child development standpoint, I loved the amount of repetition in the video. They did the Hip Hop Simon song a few times and each time it engaged the girls and captivated their attention. My favorite song on the video is about animal sounds. I have sung it to Elli as I put her in her car seat or change her diaper and she is all grins and squeals every time.

It's Hip Hop, Baby introduces numbers, letters, colors, animal sounds and directions in a fun and engaging way. The songs and actions live on long after the video is over. I recommend this video as a way to engage children in their interests in a developmentally appropriate way.

You can check out the It's Hip Hop, Baby! website and blog for additional videos and great ideas for encouraging your child's development through music. It's Hip Hop Baby!: All Your Child's Favorites is now available on Amazon.com.

Going Pink for Saint Patrick's Day

After two girls, my new favorite color is pink! I'm as drawn to it as my two and a half year old. So, when I decided it was time to look for some new makeup, I'm not surprised that I was drawn to the many shades of pink.

Why would I need new makeup, you ask? Well, it's not because the last time I bought makeup we were still in the 20th century, although that is true. No, it's because one day I was careless with my makeup bag and came upon the following scene: Sammi sitting in a circle of my makeup supplies. There was powder, red blush dusting the carpet, the mascara wand was in the lipstick tube and she was just pulling the lipstick wand out of the mascara tube. Every bit of makeup I owned was open and I could see the results of little curious fingers moving from one item to the next. Lipstick was smeared in the eye shadow, the sponge from the compact had joined forces with blush (hence the not-so-light dusting of blush on the carpet.) It was a sight to behold. And all I could do was kick myself for leaving all of my makeup in one place and that place being within Sammi's reach. Grrr.

Okay, I admit it, this actually happened last November! So why now? Why did I need new makeup this weekend? I went to a Mom It Forward luncheon last Thursday. In my mind I had remembered that I had salvaged something of my makeup. But Thursday morning when I was getting ready for my social outing, I realized I had saved eye shadow that was smeared with lipstick. It was too late to get anything so I went to this luncheon without any makeup. Obviously this is completely new to me! I rarely wear makeup, but I had wanted to make a good impression on the amazing women I was about to meet. And there were some amazing women there. And they all looked so beautiful and I felt so plain. That was a new feeling for me and I decided it was time to take action.

Friday morning I headed to the Clinique counter at Macy's ready to be beautified. A friendly lady named Valerie helped me choose a shade of pink that brought color to my face. Just to be sure, we tried a neutral/brown combination on the other eye. I was shocked at the difference. The brown I made that side of my face drab and uninteresting while the eye with the pink combination brought my skin to life. I was immediately sold.

I was going to opt for a pink shade in a two-color compact, but Valerie stepped up her non-aggressive sales approach and told me about the gift-with-purchase deal coming up. All you have to spend is $21.50 (or more) and you receive the most generous gift: a cosmetics bag and a companion bag, moisturizer with SPF 15, moisturizing lotion, lipstick, mascara, and a blushwear cream stick. Now, the gift doesn't start until March 31, so you haven't missed your chance. I prepurchased my four-shade eyeshadow set (to meet the minimum purchase amount) and now I am anxiously waiting for March 31 to go pick up my eyeshadow and gift! Thanks, Valerie!

Tuesday Review: Band in a Box

This is, by far, my favorite set of musical instruments for young children. We were given this band in a box as a gift. I have loved every minute of owning this set!

Melissa & Doug produce top-notch quality products. The Band in a Box is made of wood and painted in bright colors. There are 6 different instruments each the perfect size and shape for toddler hands to hold and manipulate. The set includes a tambourine, a clacker, a triangle, mini-cymbals, maracas, and tone blocks.

Sammi loves the clacker, the cymbals and the maracas. She wants to love the triangle, but has a hard time getting a good ring out of it. Probably the least used instrument is the tone block. It's not as intuitive or loud as the others. We turn on some upbeat, catchy music, choose an instrument and march around the room. It's a great way to burn some energy and learn about rhythm.

I had been looking for quite some time for a set of instruments. I am so pleased with our Melissa & Doug Band in a Box.

Tuesday Review: Baby Games for You to Play

Angela England, a pregnancy and neonatal expert, has compiled a wonderful assortment of games to play with baby from birth through the first year. The book is divided into age categories that follow general stages in development over the first year: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months. Each stage has game ideas in 7 areas! That's a lot of ideas to keep you busy during the months your baby is in each stage.

Angela explains how to play the games in an easy-to-follow manner that inspires action. I was so sad I read this book after by baby was sleeping for the night. It was tempting to wake her up and engage her in some fun games!

In addition to describing games you can play, Angela incorporates general information about babies' development throughout the first year. I especially enjoyed the BONUS section where she describes the benefits of music for infants. She reminds us that "[b]abies show a marked
preference for a song sung by their own mother or father than a song sung on tape or
CD." No matter what we think of our musical abilities, our babies are our #1 fans!

Angela will be showcasing, in video, one of her song ideas in a future post on Because Babies Grow Up! We're looking forward to her guest post. Baby Games for You to Play is available as an ebook for just $1.99. I highly recommend this ebook for new moms looking for ways to interact with little ones and encourage their development.

Tuesday Review: Car Seat ID Card

I love a "good mail" day! Just the other day I opened my mailbox to find an extra intriguing treat. From My Precious Kid I received a Car Seat ID Card. I first learned of My Precious Kid through Twitter and was curious about the car set ID card.

The ID card was accompanied by an explanation card highlighting the features of a car seat ID card. I had never before considered the need for a medical release in case of an accident where I am left unable to verbally give permission for my children to receive medical treatment. The card also includes space for medical history, allergy information and emergency contact names and numbers. I am amazed that so much information fits so compactly in a business-card-sized ID card. I am even more impressed that it is easy to read and, while bursting with information, is not cluttered.

While browsing the My Precious Kid website, I found a few other safety accessories that I really like, especially as the mom of a toddler! First is a child locator: child holds the locator receiver and the parent holds the transmitter. With the push of a button the parent's transmitter causes the receiver to chirp and reveal the location of an out-of-sight child. The other item that caught my attention is a disposable ID bracelet. You write family contact information on the bracelet worn by child, baby or adult during an outing and then it can be cut off and thrown away. There are so many ways to keep your kids safe through identification; there's bound to be something for every preference!

On a personal note, I am really enjoying My Precious Kid's Kay Green's article on Potty Training 101. I've already done pretty much everything on the "before you start" list. I've been afraid of diving in full force, but I think I'm ready to take the plunge. Thanks for such great advice!