[Source: Online PhD]

So there’s this great contest going on at Best Kids Apps, a blog about iPhone apps for kids. They’re giving away a free iPad! And yes, despite all the Steve Jobs and Apple jokes I’ve thrown down to my fan boy coworkers, deep down I secretly want an iPad realllly bad.

And, considering Best Kids Apps is a site after my own heart – I mean, I do have a two-iPhone and two-kid household – this seemed as good a chance as any for me to go after the iPad.

And while I’m here, and perhaps talking to others that hit the site for advice, I wanted to call out the apps we already have on our phones that get the most love from our 6 and 5 yo.

Educational

ABC Tracer Words: Alphabet flashcard tracing, phonics and drawing.

Kids Math (Lite): Grade school adding and subtracting games.

Word Magic: A fun app for preschoolers learning to spell words and sound out words.

The “Entertaining” Bucket

Fairies (Lite): A game where you take on the role of Tinkerbell and her fairy pals and fy with the fairies and discover a world of changing seasons in the heart of Never Land, in a place called Pixie Hollow.

Vans Sk8 Pool Service (Lite): The drained swimming pool turns into skateboarding fun in this game for any age.

Touch Ski 3D: Touch Ski 3D, presented by The Ski Channel, features a 3D environment for slalom, freestyle and racing.

Waterslide: A game that positions you (male or female) on a waterslide and the object of the game is to collect as many items as you can as you go down the waterslide. Steering is done by tilting the iPhone and there are also obstacles that slow you down. (description from Geek.com)

Lightsaber: Uhhh, duh. It’s a lightsaber app. My son loves that he can customize one of the jedis with his own picture and saber customization.

Batter Up (Lite): Hone your batting skills in a real-time rendered, retro-style ballpark.

Enjoy, and wish me luck!

Just in time for this year’s Mother’s Day my kids and I finished up Beverly Cleary’s Ramona and her Father and have started in on Ramona and Her Mother. We’ve only finished chapter one of Ramona and Her Mother but we can’t wait to hear all of Ramona’s newest escapades.

Our house loves the Ramona series and there are so many lessons for both by five year old and six year old to take away and apply to their own lives, even though the eight-book series was written over a 44 year period from 1955 to 1999. There are stories of first crushes, parents out of work, big and little sister rivalry and camaraderie, and insights into the nature of fragile, yet devoted, family dynamics. And, of course Cleary’s stories bring me straight back to being a kid myself as she presents the pure point of view of Ramona as she struggles to feel heard and wants to believe others deem what she has to say is important, no matter whether its Miss Binney her Kindergarten teacher taking her seriously in the classroom or with her dad as Ramona tries to convince him to quit smoking.

And really, what’s changed about kids wanting to feel heard and that their opinions and contributions matter?

Okay, okay. Here’s how to make one:

1 oz vodka
1 oz peach schnapps
8 oz can Red Bull® energy drink
cranberry juice

Thanks, Drinks Mixer!

image courtesy of skiing magazine

This week Skiing Mag put out a list of gear to look out for in the 2010/2011 season. The list included the Arc’Teryx Alpha SV gloves. While not very “pretty” (in fact they’re downright unattractive to me) this is a case where function may win out over fashion.

According to the publication’s write up, “These high-tech Gore-Tex Pro Shell three-layers gloves are so dexterous, you can lift up a sewing needle with them. Not that you’ll ever need to do that while skiing, but still. The fingers are molded and articulated using a patented technology that feels almost skin-like.”

So, my question is — will I be able to keep my digits warm while using my iPhone next year?

Maybe a product review is in order for next year…stay tuned!

But PajamaJeans? Really!?There isn’t anything that seems appealing about this new Snuggie-ish product.

And, based on the “Style Dare” review of the PajamaJeans (complete with photos), from the author of the  She’s Still Got It blog, it seems my initial gut reaction to the pants was warranted! Thanks for the laugh though, PajamaJean people, I needed it!

We’ve just started letting my daughter watch Hannah Montana and the likes of iCarly. Her first three episodes were spent alongside mom (me) providing the “moral compass commentary” along with the show. For example, the sister is routinely making fun of the brother (I’ve even noticed this on Olivia and it bugs me!) and the brother is sadly dumbed down (what a shame to teach to young boys watching with their sisters). We have a brother and sister combo in our house too and there’s no way we’d let our daughter treat our son that way and we made sure she knew it.

In order to curb behavioral influences on the kids by these shows, what I found incredibly helpful to do at a young age, even during the Dora years, was to educate a lot — even slightly “over their heads” around TV, because it tuns out it’s very much *not* over their heads. An example? Calling out commercials so they understood the difference between their shows and commercials and what certain wording means, like “as much as” or “simulated flying action” so that the kids understood that not everything is exactly as TV shows it to be.

Fast forward two years or so and it’s moved to the point where the kids understand that these are just characters on a show with a script and that there are real people with real names and real families playing these roles. They seem to get that it’s “make believe” actions that way and so far it’s been working to curb real-life influence. This proved invaluable in the Star Wars series, when Darth Vader can seem very scary if you didn’t know that’s simply James Earl Jones talking, the same nice fella from The Sandlot movie. And aside from making things not so scary for them, it also teaches them that the behavior is not “real life” behavior either. When we’re watching together, I like to ask “Do you think it’s ever okay to yell at your parents like that?” So far we’ve gotten the answers we’re looking for. I’ll let you know if that changes once we hit the  teen years - ha.

However, on the reality side, my son idolizes certain individuals that are the real deal - like Shaun White and Tony Hawk. And to be honest, I don’t know what I’ll do if they ever slip up in the public eye in front of our son. Despite mom and dad teaching our son that everyone makes mistakes and that’s how we learn, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that White and Hawk can keep it clean so we don’t have to test that out on his idols!

Ingredients: 2 sticks of margarine, half cup shortening, three cups sugar, five eggs, three cups plain flour, two tsp vanilla flavoring, 12 oz Red Bull

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Then, cream the butter, shortening and sugar well; add the egg and flour gradually. Add the vanilla and lemon flavorings and slowly add the Red Bull. Bake in tube pan for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer:  RBM does not recommend this for kid birthday parties!!)

As any five year old boy, our son is full of energy. He goes full speed from the moment he wakes up to the moment his eyes defiantly close (defiant to his will, not ours!). We do the best we can to physically tire our guy out. On any average day of the week he’s out of school in the early afternoon and either swimming, skiing, riding his bike, skateboarding or “light sabering” and yet he still tells us in words, and actions, that he is not tired at the end of the evening. And I hear these years are full of boundary checks. Ahhh, awesome. Just what we were looking forward to: even less “us time” and more “button pushing”.

So, my son had his first day of Soo Bahk Do today. In addition to getting him into an organized group activity, which we believe cultivates social skills and self confidence, we’re hoping it may help sculpt him in the behavior department too.

Although I know there are plenty of girls that participate in martial arts, I was not one of those girls growing up so I have no idea what to expect for our son. Hopefully, though, it will bring him focus and self discipline that encourages his exploration of boundaries to at least be “in bounds” for mom and dad. And I also hope I never get a karate kick to the face. Wish us luck!

]]> http://redbullmom.com/jumping-yelling-and-energy-that-could-fuel-a-million-homes-that%e2%80%99s-what-little-boys-are-made-of/feed/ http://redbullmom.com/the-perfect-storm/ http://redbullmom.com/the-perfect-storm/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:11:27 +0000 RBM http://redbullmom.com/?p=315 I’m not talking about the book or movie — although I’ve read and seen both (ohhh Marky Mark). I’m just talking about my life.
This Summer has been a perfect storm of massive force, coming at us from all angles; family and our personal lives, our friends’ personal lives, work and even the upheval and challenges of our small little playcation town amidst “this challenging economic climate”.
We’re tired - maybe more tired than I’ve ever been - but interestingly enough, I’m also more grateful than I’ve ever been. I appreciate the fact my days are filled with people that are not only wicked smart and funny, but that I can call friends. I’m grateful to be surrounded by friends with pure hearts and a healthy sense of fun and commotion in my personal life. I’m thankful for my family and how amazing each of them are in their own quirky ways (let’s face it, who’s family is totally normal??). I’m thankful for the combined pieces of my heart; my hubs and kids, who bring me more joy than I knew possible each day (along w barf, pink eye and a variety of other viruses).
Who knows, maybe these rainbows and unicorns in my brain are some sort of sleep deprivation side effect. But then again, aren’t there often rainbows after a storm?