Toddler Activity - Learn About Days and Weather

Here's a daily bonding activity between you and your toddler. It will only take a few minutes at most and will help him or her learn about the days of the week and the weather.

[1] You will need two magnets.

[2] Print out the image and stick to your fridge.

[3] Every morning, guide your toddler in placing a magnet in the appropriate day slot.

[4] Then, have your toddler look out the window and observe the weather. Guide him or her in placing a magnet on top of the appropriate weather symbol.

[5] Repeat everyday until your toddler familiarizes himself/herself with the days of the week and the weather. You can also have him/her spell out the letters of each day to practice identifying uppercase and lowercase letters.

CAUTION: Do not use small magnets that can be swallowed. Always keep an eye on toddlers when handling magnetic objects.

Useful Articles on Toddlers and Babies

I signed up for Babyzone Newsletter shortly after giving birth and have become so accustomed to receiving updates and newsletters that it never occurred to me to blog about it until now. To be honest, I feel like it's part of my regular routine to see the telltale email in my inbox. The site provides news, information, and updates that are extremely helpful to a new mother. The best part is that it follows your baby's age. During my tot's first year, I would receive  newsletters highlighting the milestone for the week, things to expect, and how to deal with changes in my baby. After the first year, I thought it would stop (and was quite disappointed at the thought). To my surprise, I still get emails from Babyzone and this time with articles fit for my toddler! The most memorable and useful articles would be on first aid (particularly what to do when baby starts choking), toys that have been recalled, teaching a toddler manners, and how to keep a toddler occupied. My husband was particularly grateful for the article on how to keep a toddler entertained. He was having problems dealing with our baby and the article taught him several ways to play with our tot to keep her entertained while mommy is busy.

The newsletter is free so you have nothing to lose and so much information to gain by registering :)

Kindle for the Book Lovin' Mommy

I bought a Kindle about a year ago and though I thought I'd miss the feel of paper and ink, I haven't found much need to buy a book (for myself, that is) from the bookstore since. Here are the highs and lows of Kindle as an e-book reader for mommies:

1 - Great battery life. It takes weeks before I need to recharge it and I read morning, noon, and night.

2 - Lightweight and thin. Perfect for tossing in my purse when I'm on the go. Especially great for keeping me company while in the waiting area of my tot's school.

3 - Surprisingly sturdy despite the light frame. I've dropped it so many times and it's still functional (knock wood).

4 - No glare! The screen and text are easy on the eyes. Note that no glare and reads just like a book should be taken literally. It's not an LCD screen; it's meant to emulate paper and ink. If you want to read at night you have to have the lights on, just like an actual printed book.

5 -  The page up and down buttons are available on both the left and right hand sides. This is a plus for mommies as you never know which arm/hand is available at any given time and which one your child has decided to use as a pillow or monkey bar.

6 - If you like to go back or jump to a specific page in a book, it's a bit unwieldy due to the lack of a numeric keypad (you'd think this would be an obvious inclusion for an ebook reader :P). You have to open a Symbol menu to get the numbers out. The search functionality for keywords is a bit faulty also. If you read books from start to finish then it's not a problem. The Kindle remembers where you last viewed the book and will start from there when you open it, even if you're reading multiple books at the same time.

7 - There are extra costs if you choose to buy books online or through the Amazon site. First you have to pay for the book, and then there's an additional fee for downloading. One of my friends also said there are books that can't be downloaded if you're overseas.

8 - Although the Kindle supports HTML, DOC, PDF, etc, you'll find that these formats don't fit the screen well (i.e., text too big and you have to scroll to the right instead of just going up and down). There are converters available to change these formats to PRC (Kindle native), though it's a bit of a chore. Also, you might want to check the availability of your fave authors and titles first.

9 - Adding files (once you have the right format) is as simple as a USB cable and drag drop. There's a delete functionality on the Kindle menu itself for removing files.

10 - While I enjoy the random pictures being displayed while the Kindle is off, I must admit the haunting picture of Emily Dickenson has scared me more than once. It has an odd habit of popping up late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.

There's ABC and then there's abc

If you're starting to teach your toddler lowercase letters, you might want to consider using Kumon's ABC's Write and Wipe Lowercase Letters. This pack of flash cards represents each of the letters of the alphabet in lowercase format. Each card has the letter on one side and a sample word and picture on the other side. What differentiates it from other flash cards is that the letter side follows a tracing format using broken / dashes lines, which toddlers can attempt to follow using a pen (included in the pack). Once done, you can use the eraser (attached to the pen) to erase and have your toddler try again! The letters are quite big, perfect for first time writing attempts and the reusability factor is a must when dealing with kids this young. My only gripe is that the pictures are not colored, so it's difficult to identify some of them. Also while most cards feature a word that starts with the given letter, X is the exception - it shows the word "OX", which confused my child at first given the consistent pattern of the other cards. They could have used xylophone, at least.

Still, I'm satisfied with using the cards to practice lowercase letter recognition, writing, and spelling/reading. This pack of cards and other Kumon products are available locally, at Fully Booked.

Playhouse Disney Magazine - Still A Fan!

First day of school and my toddler had her biggest battle yet - against a bottle of glue :P It was her first time to handle glue and she didn't count on how sticky it was; particularly on her little fingers! She refused to finish the activity on account of wanting desperately to wash her hands. I dropped by National Bookstore to buy her her own glue to practice at home. I was also hoping to buy the Kumon workbook for pasting. Unfortunately, it was all sold out. Only the Pasting book for 3-4 years old remained. I bought the glue nonetheless and rummaged through old magazines when I got home, intent on cutting out pictures she could paste on a blank sheet of paper. I came upon her back issues of Playhouse Disney and realized that each issue has a cut and paste exercise! I buy these magazines for the tracing, counting, and coloring exercies (and the read aloud stories), so this is a bonus treat for me. My daughter had a blast pasting in pictures of Mickey Mouse, Pooh Bear, and Handy Manny. Each activity differs from the rest so it never gets boring. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next issue of Playhouse Disney...soon to be Disney Junior!

Numbers - Exploring Counting and Maths

My toddler was more interested in colors, shapes, and letters at first - counting and numbers held little appeal for her (this was, of course, before she discovered Mickey Mouse Clubhouse). One of the books that helped build her interest in numbers is the My World Numbers - Exploring Counting and Maths. This is a rather large book featuring colorful pictures of everyday objects that are appealing to toddlers such as cakes, candies, buttons, fruits, and toys. My daughter enjoyed counting the objects - she even uses the book to pretend that she has a bakery and store (i.e., pretends to pull items out of the book). The book covers the numbers 1 to 20. More than that, it also provides a first look at colors, shapes, patterns, and matching. Truly worth its cost of P200.

The book is available locally, at National Bookstore.

Tormont Nursery Songs and Sing Alongs

One of my toddler's most used and well-loved books is Tormont's Nursery Songs and Sing Alongs. This colorful board book comes with its own electronic keyboard with color coded keys. The book features popular nursery songs. Each page contains a song complete with picture, lyrics, and colored notes for easy matching with the keyboard keys. This is a great way for parents to bond with their babies and teach them their first songs. Eventually, the children will be able to sing and play the tunes on their own. My toddler is now able to sing the pieces, though her piano playing is still limited to banging the keys at random. I'm sure she'll eventually manage to match the keys and notes (in due time) - I can certainly imagine her using this book throughout her preschool years.

Songs included in the book are Hush Little Baby, Pat-a-Cake, The Alphabet Song, Ten in the Bed,  The Wheels on the Bus, If You're Happy and You Know It, Oh! Susanna, The Bear Went over the Mountain, Eensy Weensy Spider, and The Ants Go Marching.

A Healthy Update to Wendy's Fries

Wendy's has recently introduced a new kind of french fries - made from russet potatoes, fried in 0 trans fat oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. Finally, a french fry I can give to my toddler - without the heavy guilt trip of feeding her junk food! The serving is quite small, but the fries themselves are tasty. They leave the skin on to prove that it's actually made from potatoes. ;)

First Ferris Wheel

After seeing Dora take a trip to the carnival (Dora's Big Pinata), my daughter has been bugging us to take her to an actual ferris wheel and merry go round. I've been searching for one that's just right - i.e., small, colorful, and doesn't go very high - and I finally found one in SM Southmall (newly renovated, by the way, very nice place now - clean and spacious with tons of shops and play areas). It's a bit pricey at P50 per head (no discounts for babies and toddlers!), but it was perfect for my daughter. Upon seeing it, she was immediately fearful and stated that "the ferris wheel is scary", but after some gentle insistence, she hopped on board. Soon she was going "whee!!!" and begging to ride it again. The attraction is very small and slow, but again, it's just the thing to introduce babies/toddlers to the concept of a ferris wheel.

Next up is the merry go round - I have it on good authority that there's one at SM Hypermart in Las Pinas City. Looks like another trip south is in order!