Cutest Kid Ever - A Mommy Blog
My giveaway of That Baby DVD and CD ended last night, and I used Random.org to determine the winner. Random.org chose commenter #5 who is…
Congratulations, Danielle! Please DM me your mailing address via Twitter! Thanks for subscribing to my blog. Your subscription was the winning comment!
Tags: giveaway{ 1 comment }
I applied to review FRUBI Shades when I saw the opportunity available on Viral Conversations. To my delight, I was accepted into the review program, and FRUBI sent me an awesome pair of sunglasses for TJ to wear. This was a great opportunity for us. Like me, TJ’s eyes are very sensitive to light. He’s a very active little boy, so it was important to find a pair of children’s sunglasses that wouldn’t just fall off while he’s in the middle of playing - the way his Batman sunglasses do.
What’s really cool about the FRUBI Shades is that they provide maximum sun protection for children’s eyes. The lenses block UV and blue light, and they reduce infrared exposure. The frames are soft and padded, with no hard parts to come off or hurt little faces. FRUBI sunglasses protect little eyes from sunburn - and sunburned eyes are not something I ever would have considered before we tried out these really cool shades.
TJ got the Pirate Black Kids Sunglasses. They’re still a little bit big on him, but he’ll grow into them soon enough. The Velcro strap is adjustable, and I think we had it a little looser than it should have been for the pics and video, but the size I’m referring to is for the glasses on his face. By next summer, I think they’ll be perfect.
He had a lot of fun playing around in his cool new sunglasses. He was having so much fun that I couldn’t get him to put down the stick in order to take pictures of him for the product review! The sunglasses didn’t bother him at all for a while… until, of course, I tried to interview him on video.
So, in his own words, the FRUBI Shades are “good,” and they look very orange, which is cool. But toward the end of our brief interview, he’d tugged them down so low that the Velcro band was bothering him, and he wanted to take them off. (Oh look, a leaf!) My advice is to make sure the strap is tight enough so that this doesn’t happen. Then you’ll be fine!
TJ has gone through various phases where he’ll wear the sunglasses - then he doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. I think that’s pretty normal when it comes to kids and sunglasses. Or at least it’s normal when it comes to TJ and sunglasses! In any case, I’m a big fan of these FRUBI Shades. Much better than the $5 sunglasses I’ve picked up for him in the past. Because these have Velcro to keep them on, you don’t have to worry about losing them, so it’s okay to spend a little more money on them. And they’re not even that much more expensive… only $9.99 plus shipping.
What do you think? How do your kids’ sunglasses measure up in comfort and sun protection?
Tags: preschoolers, product recommendations, review, sun protection{ 0 comments }
Dear TJ,
Daddy and I have been getting tired of how early you get up every morning. Literally very tired. So I wanted to try something with you.
I printed out a reward chart from FreePrintableBehaviorCharts.com and we got you some new stickers. We decided that you would get a sticker for every morning that you let Mommy and Daddy sleep until 7:30. If you get five stickers in a week, we’ll take you to the store to pick out a special toy. ($5 or less.)
You seemed very excited about the idea of getting stickers, but the first few days didn’t go so well. As a matter of fact, you got me out of bed at 2:00 and 3:00 Monday morning before getting up for the day at 7:00. Ugh.
And then you got it. You got a sticker Thursday morning and Friday morning. Last night, I told you that I’d give you two stickers if you let me sleep until 8:30. And you know what? YOU LET ME SLEEP! You got two stickers today! If you let Daddy sleep until 8:30 tomorrow morning, you’ll get two more stickers, and we’ll take you to get a special toy! Daddy and I agreed that giving us an extra hour of sleep on the weekend would definitely be worth letting you make up for the stickers you didn’t get earlier in the week.
We’re so proud of you, TJ. This is about more than just sleeping in. This is helping you gain a little more independence, since you’re still very dependent on Mommy and Daddy… every second of the day. Now you know that you can play for an hour by yourself, and it’s not the end of the world. I’d like it better if you slept longer, but maybe that will come, with time. For now, I’m so happy that you are learning that it’s okay to be by yourself sometimes.
Love,
Mommy
Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:
1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.
2. Leave a comment below with your name and the link to your Dear Kid post - the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.
3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.
Tags: Dear Kid Saturday, preschoolers, rewards, sleeping, stickers{ 0 comments }
Have you ever wanted to start your own handmade jewelry store on Etsy or Silkfair, but didn’t know where to start? Maybe you already enjoy scrapbooking and knitting and thought beading might be worth a try, but weren’t sure about the investment.
Now you can win a bracelet making kit plus $75 in product - a $100 value - by entering the “Bejeweled Giveaway” contest. Ten readers across the Momfluence network blogs will be chosen to win!
But there’s more! Those ten winners will be able to submit a picture of their completed bracelet to the House of Gems, and one will be chosen to receive a $250 gift certificate, enough product to really jump start your business.
Option 1 - Subscribe to one or more of the House of Gems feeds found at http://www.houseofgems.com/feeds.aspx - each feed subscription counts as a new entry! Once you’ve subscribed fill out this entry form: http://cli.gs/ND4NMe
Option 2 - Blog about the “Bejeweled Giveaway” contest on your own site then fill out this entry from: http://cli.gs/ND4NMe
Join us on Twitter Saturday, June 27th at 9:00 p.m. eastern for a #houseofgems SiteWarming party where the 10 winners will be announced!
One person on Twitter will also win an iPhone 3GS! Anyone on Twitter who tweets with the hashtag #HouseofGems between Noon eastern Monday, June 22nd and noon eastern Saturday, June 27th will be entered to win an iPhone 3GS! U.S. residents 18 years and older are eligible. The winner will be announced during the #houseofgems SiteWarming party Saturday, June 27th at 9 p.m. eastern.
House of Gems, Inc. (www.houseofgems.com) was established to provide quality beads, pearls, findings, pendants, chains and other jewelry making accessories at wholesale prices, directly to the consumer. The people behind Houseofgems.com have been in this business since 1992 and have an extensive network of designers, manufacturers and other direct suppliers to draw upon.
Since they have their own factories,craft shops and import directly, they have the best prices on quality products. Now, with the power of e-commerce they have eliminated the “middle men,” bringing their quality products at low wholesale jewelry prices, directly to your doorstep.
Disclaimer: By posting this giveaway, I am also getting a contest entry!
No tag for this post.{ 0 comments }
Dear TJ,
You had the hiccups the other night. You’d just finished up your bath with Daddy, and I heard him say something about needing Mommy to come upstairs to scare you. I wanted to help. So I put a blanket over my head, jumped into your room, and said, “Rawr!”
And you burst into tears.
I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be too scary. And I’m sorry for laughing about it, because it seemed funny once we got you to calm down and stop crying. Next time, I’ll dial down the scare level!
Love,
Mommy
Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:
1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.
2. Leave a comment below with your name and the link to your Dear Kid post - the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.
3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.
Tags: afraid, Dear Kid Saturday, hiccups, preschoolers{ 2 comments }
I’ve known for a long time that my precious little boy was different than other kids his age. His preschool teachers had us set up an evaluation last December. He had a separate OT/PT evaluation that resulted in recommendations for both occupational and physical therapy. And we made that recommended appointment with his pediatrician for a more thorough evaluation. We’re lucky that our pediatrician’s office also houses a Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics office with two of the same doctors. TJ saw one of them in May.
Tonight was the parents meeting to discuss the doctor’s findings. He confirmed the need for TJ’s physical therapy, which we already knew. He also confirmed what I’ve suspected for months now, that TJ has Asperger Syndrome.
Nothing has really changed. TJ is still my sweet little boy - very bright and in love with life. But now we have a diagnosis to back up my concerns for some aspects of his social behavior that didn’t seem quite right. The doctor pointed out some of the positive aspects of Asperger’s so that we could remember that it’s not just about the limitations and challenges.
Now I just have questions about how to help TJ cope with the world. I need to find some other parents of “Aspies” to find out some of the things that worked for them when trying to deal with specific behaviors.
I have more questions, of course, but those are at the top of my mind right now.
Tags: appointment, Asperger Syndrome, behavior, developmental, preschoolers, therapy{ 11 comments }
The Easter Bunny brought TJ a hopscotch set. (Fitting?) Good practice with numbers and jumping! Photo taken on April 19, 2009.
Tags: Cutest Kid Photos, games, jumping, preschoolers, Wordless Wednesday{ 2 comments }
In the Best Mom Award T-Shirt Giveaway, the t-shirt was only being awarded if I reached 3,000 Twitter followers or 500 RSS subscribers by the deadline. That didn’t happen, so I am awarding the second prize, a Best Mom Award bumper sticker!
There were 40 comments by the original deadline, so I used Random.org to choose a number between 1 and 40…
The winner was lucky #1 - Andrea Martell
Congratulations, Andrea!
And because I don’t want to not give out the t-shirt, too, I’ve extended the deadline for the t-shirt giveaway to 11:59 pm EST on July 31, 2009! Spread the word, because if I don’t have 3,000 followers or 500 subscribers by then, I don’t know what will happen! You can tweet every day for new entries, which will hopefully inspire more entrants and more followers/subscribers to reach my goal!
No tag for this post.{ 2 comments }
A while back, I talked to Rob Wolf of That Baby DVD about his unique baby gift idea. He sent me a review copy of That Baby DVD and That Baby CD to check out. When I first received the CD and DVD, TJ was still in his “I don’t like anything new phase.” I couldn’t even convince him to watch a single DVD other than Cars. But as time went on, he got more open-minded, and now he loves to have “his” music playing.
I was a little afraid, at first, that That Baby DVD and CD was going to be like Kidz Bop, which I really don’t care for. I was pleasantly surprised! When we first popped in That Baby DVD, TJ wanted nothing to do with it - because he hadn’t seen it before. This happens with every DVD we watch, including some of his new favorites. By the time the DVD was over, he was happily dancing along with the music.
I really liked the vocalist, Stephanie Schneiderman, who recorded most of the music along with Lisa Schneiderman and Kim Palumbis. Their voices were beautiful. I wouldn’t mind hearing them live in concert!
The music included songs I was already familiar with like “Happiness Runs,” “Get Together,” and “These Are Days.” If I had to describe the experience in one sentence, it would be this: That Baby DVD is packed with family-friendly music that will encourage the adults to sing along instead of looking for ear plugs.
The music videos reminded me of the way the Baby Einstein videos were filmed. Totally not the same thing at all, but it was just a feeling. I love that That Baby DVD was created by a small family-run business, as Baby Einstein was originally before Disney stepped in. It’s fun to see the happy kids playing and dancing along with the music.
As for That Baby CD, we waited to play that until TJ was comfortable with the DVD. Then he “knew” the songs and was more likely to want to listen to them. There are a few extra tracks on the CD that aren’t available on the DVD, so it’s a nice bonus! When we’re in the car, if I have anything to say about it, I’ll choose That Baby CD over TJ’s free Kidz Bop CDs from McDonald’s every time!
Would you like to win your very own copy of That Baby DVD and CD for your kids or as a baby shower gift? Here’s your chance!
To enter, you must join the That Baby DVD/CD Fan Page on Facebook. Then come back here and leave me a comment to let me know you’ve joined, including a link to your Facebook profile so that I can verify that you became a fan. (Easy peasy, and you might get some new FB friends this way!)
Want extra entries? After completing the mandatory first entry as described above, you may do any or all of the following:
Contest will end at 11:59 pm EST on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. You must be at least 18 years old to enter with a mailing address in the U.S. or Canada. Void where prohibited. I will use Random.org to select the winner from all valid comments; winning comment will be validated to ensure the winner properly became a fan on the That Baby DVD/CD Fan Page.
Tags: Family-Friendly Music, giveaway, music, preschoolers, review{ 12 comments }
Dear TJ,
Neither one of us are having a good day today. You got me out of bed at 1:00 and 5:30… and then you never let me get back to sleep. I’m cranky. You’re cranky. I’m extra cranky because I needed to sleep… Daddy and I are going to a concert tonight to see the Dave Matthews Band.
When you did bold things this morning, and I told you NO, you decided to shout NO back… Then you ran into the bathroom and announced, “I’m having a bad day!”
You and me both, buddy. You and me both.
Love,
Mommy
Wanna play? Here’s how to participate in Dear Kid Saturday:
1. Write your own Dear Kid letter on your blog.
2. Leave a comment below with your name and the link to your Dear Kid post - the specific post URL, not the homepage of your blog.
3. Grab a Dear Kid Saturday button for your post and/or your sidebar.
Tags: bold, Dear Kid Saturday, sleeping{ 2 comments }
