Mommin' It Up!

November 28, 2011November 27, 2011

Preview to a Meltdown

Calm Before the Storm — Photo by jpeepz on flickr

Saturday was my hubby’s birthday and to celebrate we took the big kids to see The Muppets. Bobby and I were really excited about it because we looove the Muppets. We have some of the episodes on DVD and the kids have seen a few, but it had been awhile since we’d watched any. They were a little nervous about it, Joshua because he’s always a little nervous about ev.er.y.thing. and Sophie because she was being a total booger and had just decided she was going to be difficult that day (Happy Birthday, Daddy!).

But, by the time we got into the theatre and began plying them with candy, everyone was in a pretty good mood. Until the opening little ads for whatever-the-hell company that invented surround sound and digital picture and all that started – you know – the ones where they play theater-filling musical, vibratory tones as LOUDLY as possible so that all your seats shake and your eardrums beg for mercy? Yeah, we were doing great until those. My kids didn’t enjoy thinking that there was an earthquake happening in the theater.

And then.

The previews.

Preview after preview after preview after preview.

I remember when the previews were the best part of the movie. Well, those days are gone. Because back then, there were three previews max, and now, there are 487 and they are all so loud you want to crawl under your seats. Both of my kids had their hands covering their ears during many of the previews. It was ridiculous. And then, there are of course the commercials that run before the previews, the friendly message about turning off your cell phone, and the short cartoon that precedes the main event. By the time we got to the Toy Story cartoon, which was admittedly cute, I was so pissed, and so tired of the kids fussing about the previews and asking if NOW the movie was going to come on, I wanted to break Buzz Lightyear’s neck just to get the story overwith.

When the movie finally started, Bobby held up his cell phone so I could see the time. It was 1:19. The movie start time was supposed to have been 12:55.

Twenty-four minutes of previews. Twenty-four minutes of a fidgety five-year-old’s attention span GONE. Twenty-four minutes of stress for the two parents who were just trying to show their children a good time. Twenty-four minutes of torture that we paid for.

UGH. I am pretty unhappy. The MPAA should be ASHAMED of themselves.

Thank God the movie was great, or I probably would have gone all MacGyver, made something spark-y out of the contents of my purse, and torched the place on our way out!

PREVIEW MY RAGE, people!!

November 25, 2011November 25, 2011

Get these games for your kids!

Happy Black Friday! If you are crazy enough to go out shopping, I have a few gift suggestions for you. I have posted a few times about how much I love the I can do that! games by the Wonder Forge; they are truly awesome. In general, they are: something new and different, easy to play, don’t take a lot of time to play, and age-appropriate for preschoolers to be able to be confident in their play. They also have a lot of applications toward speech therapy purposes, at least for home (some might be a little too involved for a speech language pathologist to use in a 30-minute session.) But anyways, these games are also great for your typically-developing child, and they are just fun to play. They WON’T make you want to stab yourself in the eye just to stop the game (*cough*ChutesandLadders*cough*).

Recently because the Wonder Forge is awe-some, I’ve gotten to review some of their newest games! And you should totally buy them all! Well, maybe not this first one if you have all boys…but here are my top picks for new games for Christmas presents, birthday presents, or JUST BECAUSE!

Angelina Ballerina Dance with Me game:

A great choice for your little girly girl. The Wonder Forge up and sent Sophie this for her birthday, total surprise! And she loo-oo-ooves it!

This game is totally cute, and builds up to a dance sequence so your little one not only learns some dance vocabulary, but gets up and moves around! And, it’s great for teaching memory and multi-step directions. Even though I am NOT a ballerina and look a *little* silly playing it, I love playing this with Sophie!

Richard Scarry’s Busytown Busy, Busy Airport game:

I think this might be my favorite of the games I am reviewing today. I LOVE it, Big ol’ puffy heart it! This game requires you to fly your plane and passengers to 4 different destinations (which you place in different locations around the room) to pick up souvenirs. The game board is also the box and is super-cleverly designed. Once again, this game gets you up and moving! The game involves making choices, counting, and a chance for kids to learn an early form of strategy. And it’s really fun, and moves fast. Love it! Both Joshua, Sophie and myself had a great time playing this together (at least 4 times the first day we got it!)

sophieairport — She had to play it first thing in the morning!

Last up, and also super-fun (the kids actually played this one the most times in one day, 6 I think!) is Chuggington Let’s Ride the Rails game:

This game is fun because each player gets to be all three characters, and you win by guessing that also involves a process of elimination skill. Colors, numbers, counting, animals – this game has it all! And it stars your fave Chuggers Wilson, Koko, and Brewster. This game goes pretty fast which is one reason you won’t mind playing it over & over again with your kiddos.

SO there ya go – three of the latest and greatest I can do that! games from the Wonder Forge. Go buy them! OR tell Grandma to! You won’t regret it!

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The Wonder Forge sent me all these awesome games to review. All opinions are my own, and I would like to make the point that I have purchased several of their games with my very own money because they are worth every penny! The links in these posts are NOT affiliate links.

November 24, 2011

App Happy: Toca Boca

Let me tell how you much I am LOVING all the apps I am finding for kids these days. Today I am going to tell you about a few from Toca Boca, which aren’t necessarily intended for speech therapy but can definitely be used for that purpose. I bought a couple, loved them, and then asked Toca Boca to let me review a couple more. Sophie and Joshua love playing with these apps and they are just FUN, a great way to play and learn! First up is the Birthday Party app pictured above.

Parentings’ Birthday Party by Toca Boca is a cute little way for your child to have a virtual birthday party. You can play alone or with mom, dad, or siblings and friends. This app lets you choose from 3 types of cake and themed plates so you can set what kind of party you are having. Then, it’s time to pour the juice, serve the cake, blow out the candles, eat it, pop the party poppers, and open the present!

Then after you eat all the cake and drink all the juice (with a touch of your finger), do the dishes and you’re done – so you can start the fun all over again! This app is great for speech: ask your child either what they are doing, what they just did, or have them walk you through the sequence of events verbally. They will have so much fun, they won’t even know they are working on speech!

Next up is probably my favorite of all these I’m reviewing today: Toca Store. This app is fabulously fun! And it’s great for speech, not only for sequencing but for following multi-step directions. Your child can choose from a catalog which items will be sold in their store, then which items they want to buy, and how much each item costs. Then, of course, they need to pay! My kiddos have a great time with this one – there are so many combinations of what to sell and buy, and everything is completely child-controlled! But if you want to work with your child on speech using this app, you can direct the play to encourage following directions, story-telling, and sequencing.

Next up: Toca Hair Salon

Toca Hair Salon is another fun app that both my big kids really enjoy, and once again, has great applications for speech therapy – or is just plain fun to play for any kid. In this app, you choose from six different characters, then you can cut, comb, and style their hair in a variety of ways with a variety of tools! This is another great one to work on sequencing and multi-step directions.

Finally, we have Toca Robot Lab. I love this app! Here your kiddos can build their own robot from a variety of parts – there are tons of possible combinations! Then after the Robot is built, you can take him on a little mission and see how well he works. This is another great app for following directions and sequencing, working on naming body parts, etc. And it’s a little more “boyish” if your speech-delayed boy isn’t all that into the other apps. (But Sophie loves it just as much as Joshua does!)

All the Toca Boca apps are very reasonably priced, I think the most expensive one is $2.99. They are SO worth the money, so if you’ve got an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, definitely check them out! You can get them at the App store, and check out Toca Boca on Facebook or at their website.

I’m linking this up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries. Go check it out!