Turns out, I was pleasantly surprised that absolutely no sales pitch given to us.  None.  We were asked, but not required, to leave a comment on Leapfrog’s community forum.  We were not even asked to blog about our experience.

OK, now I’m listening…

In lieu of a sales pitch, Leapfrog enlisted the help of Dr. Cunningham, a Leapfrog advisory board member and director of the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education at UC Berkeley.  Dr. Cunningham engaged us in an hour long discussion regarding the importance of frequently speaking and reading to your children ages zero to five.

Recently I had the opportunity to listen to a podcast from NPR’s This American Life in which they did a segment narrated by “Whatever It Takes” author Paul Tough entitled Baby College.  He findings show that the typical middle class family speaks to their infants and toddlers dramatically more often and more positively than the typical lower income family does.  Fascinating!  His work focuses on breaking the cycle of generational poverty by focusing on the children.  If you have 30 minutes to listen about his ongoing work in New York, it’s truly worth your time.

Dr. Cunningham suggests that we should expose our children to rich language through our words, books, and technology, and in turn our children will have a better chance of reading fluently and comprehending difficult vocabulary at an early age.

What a powerful connection, and a fabulous discussion.

I left the event with a gift bag full of the latest Leapfrog products.  My children will be getting some pretty sweet Christmas gifts this year, thanks to our new favorite toy company, Leapfrog.

OH, did I say toy company?  I should clarify.  Leapfrog first identifies the skill that needs to be taught, then creates a system in which to teach that skill.  Kinda like a really smart teacher, huh?  So I should say that thanks to our new favorite teacher, Leapfrog, my children will have hours of fun learning through play!

*****Leapfrog also provided us with a coupon to save $10 off any order of $50 or more when you shop at leapfrog.com which is good through November 15th, 2008.  So shop away!  I know I will be.

Coupon Code: HY8BHPR

Thanks Leapfrog!!  I’m a new convert.  I’ll promote you.  I’ll consult for you.  I’ll work with you.  Heck, I’d even help birth some of your cute little froggy guppies if I could!  I appreciate how nicely you treated us mom bloggers!!

Leapfrog, an educator’s perspective.

Last night’s melt down only took 35 minutes, not an hour and a half.  Thank God.

Anyway, I decided to write a post on a lighter note… my new iPhone!!  Squee!!

Actually, it’s not new, it’s my husband’s hand me down.  Heck I don’t care.  Anything’s better than the P.O.S. I use to own.

Today at Silicon Valley Mom’s Blog, I write about my love for the new iPhone.  Let’s just say that this little device is good, oh so good, for my personal life!    Now go read, and leave me a comment!

On a lighter note…

My friend Jamie sent me an email, God bless her, with the best suggestion I’ve heard in a long time on how to curtail BC’s increasingly defiant outbursts.

She said I should make him the Man of the House.

You see Hubby recently went back to work after a 7 1/2 month break due to a torn shoulder. This transition seemingly has really effected BC.  Jamie’s suggestion was to give BC the responsibility of being a helper, with a title, while Hubs was away at work.

Now if you’ve ever met my son, you know that he’s all about stepping up to the plate.  In an emergency, he’s the best person to have helping you, aside from my Husband.  So this whole idea of being the Man of the House completely appealed to BC.

Each night this week BC’s furrowed his brow and said, “Now Mommy, I’m the Man of the House, is there anything else you need?” and goes one to say, ” If I hear you say, “Ouch,” I’ll come out of my bedroom to help you.”

And each morning when BC encounters Hubby, BC reports, “Daddy, I was the Man of the House, and I did a great job last night!”

It’s beautiful.  And simple.  And OH SO appreciated.

With this new found responsibility, BC’s like a new boy.  And me? I’m feeling so much better about our nightly routine.  I no longer dread putting my darlings down to bed.

So thank you Jamie!  You may begin charging me for you mothering services at anytime now.  I’ll be happy to pay top dollar!

The Man of the House

Truly. Amazing.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

–Marianne Williamson, 1992

A quote that brought tears to my eyes.

BC and I took a plane ride yesterday and had a great flight. It’s pretty fun keeping a three and a half year old entertained on a plane. Way easier than flying with two kids are under the age of two!

Thank goodness for my Mac! Here’s a few of the highlights.

Hubby constantly talks about my LARGE teeth. This one’s for him:

Superstar!

Mom and Son

Hot.

Beetle Juice

Finally!  A reason to call BC a butt-head.

I like to call the following two pictures, “I’ve got my eye on you!“


And that, my friends is how you entertain a thirty-one three year old on an airplane!

Fun on an Airplane

Years later when BC, my son, took his first steps, the same thing happened. These were profound moments in my life.

Jumping back to my high school days, my father was, at the time a middle school vice principal. And he was escorting his eighth grade class on their end of the year class trip to Disneyland. He took me with him.

Growing up in San Diego, I had the pleasure of going Disneyland a number of times throughout my life. So it surprised me as my father and I sat down to watch the Electrical Parade make its way down Main Street and my breath caught in my throat and tears stung my eyes.

Memories.

At that moment as I sat on Main Street, I remembered portions of many of the trips my family and I made throughout the years to Disneyland.

And I was overwhelmed.

I remembered that my parents took my brothers and me to Disneyland on each of our fourth birthdays. I distinctly remember being able to drive the car all by myself in Autopia. A four year old driver! Imagine that.

Disneyland has provided me with many wonderful memories throughout my life.

On Sunday I was, again, stopped in my tracks as I walked into The University Club in Palo Alto. I had to take a breath.

Disneyland Resorts and Silicon Valley Moms Blog put on a reception for the SVMBloggers, that’s me!, and their families.

Disney treated us like VIPs! We entered the room and were provided with gift bags filled with goodies for the family, from light up Mickey ears to autograph books.

Disney also brought many people with them up to the Silicon Valley to help make this day special for the kids. There was a woman doing face painting.

A man sketching pictures of our favorite Disney characters, then giving our us the sketches! (We were given Daisy and Donald Duck.)

There were Mr. Potato heads to create, Disney tattoos for the taking, video games, cookie decorating, and more! It was amazing.

Mickey, Minnie, Buzz Lightyear and Cinderella also made an appearance. Oh what fun!

I think that BC’s crush on Cinderella officially started Sunday. He LOVED her!!

It was an amazing day and the start of many Disney memories for my children.

The Disney Effect.

What a feeling.

For more pictures of the even go to SVMB’s Disney Flickr page. For more pictures of my family go to my photos page.

The Disney Effect

I am not.

No, really. I’m not.

But I’ve become mildly obsessed about getting a shed-less dog when our sweet Kayla croaks.

She’s 4.

And she’ll most likely be with us for another 10 years.

But that’s neither here nor there.

I’m obsessed.

Mildly.

Just for research purposes only.

Seriously.

I have decided, much to my husband’s strong opposition, that our next dog will be a poodle mix.

They don’t shed.

I’m sold.

I’ve researched the Poogle.

The Cockapoo.

The Goldendoodle.

The Saint Berdoodle.

Even the Yorkipoo.

Obsessed. Mildly obsessed.

But I love my lab. So I keep coming back to the Labrador Mix.

The Labradoodle.

The mini-Labradoodle.

The Toy Labradoodle.

Then I found this site.

Not the best site to navigate. I especially hate the words that follow you around.

But look here.

I found the dog.

The Dog.

That.

I.

Must.

Have.

I neeeed her.

She’s a Tiny Toy Labradoodle Puppy.

Seriously. Can you see why I must have her?

My heart aches when I see this picture.

Those eyes.…

So I showed her to Hubby.

And he melted.

He said I could have her.

And I smiled.

Then I told him the price.

And he laughed.

Sigh. It was a good pipe dream.

Now, if I could just come up with $2200…

Got any idea?

Anyone?

Ya, me neither.

Sigh.

But those eyes…

eClaire got a refurbished trike. (Basket, tassels, and bell added for the ‘girly effect’)

Santa brought eClaire a dolly this year for Christmas.

BC got a bike. It was SO much fun!

You just can’t beat a nice 72º Christmas in San Diego!

Hubby and I really enjoy playing Santa!

The perks are great!!

Merry Christmas

For Mother’s Day all I wanted was a chance to redeem both hour long massage gift certificates that’ve been sitting on my desk for well over a year.

And, if it wasn’t too expensive, I wanted to tack on an extra 1/2 hour.

Today was day one of two massages this summer.  And boy did I need it.

Throughout the years I’ve had many different massage gifts given to me.  So I’ve experienced experienced a wide variety of massage styles.  My least favorite is the catch all Swedish Massage.  I’m of the opinion that when I pay you a large sum of money for a service, I want to actually feel the massage.  And often a Swedish massage ends up being nothing more than a soft rub of the body.

So I always encourage the masseuse to massage as hard as she wishes.

And this lady stepped up to my challenge.

Apparently I have a ton of knots in my back, specifically  on my right shoulder.  Can you guess why?  That’s right, I carry the ever growing baby eighteen month old around on my right hip.

So today was a fantastic hour and a half break from the kids and house.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it was relaxing, but it sure was nice being able to have time dedicated just to me.  Without anyone talking.  No screaming, crying or phone ringing.  Silence.

And it was nice.

Tomorrow we leave for camping.  We’ll be back late Monday afternoon.  In the meantime my father will post a letter to BC that I wrote on Saturday.  And on Monday I’m participating in July’s Blog Exchange.   He’ll post that for me as well.

And it hurt so good

I got it.

And tried it.

No, that’s not me.

And you know what? I think I love it.

If you’ve been living in a hole, or in Guantanamo Bay or have too much to do rather than watch Oprah, then you might not know that this new phenomenon is sweeping the nation.

The Neti Pot.

Cleans out your sinus’ and helps with allergies–sans medicine.

I have a head cold today, and used the neti pot for the first time.

My headache instantly cleared up and I feel so much better. Frankly I’m amazed that there was instant relief for me.

Who knew that something this disgusting could be so good!

Oh no she di-n’t