Who Knew Bob The Builder Could Be So Fascinating?

My three year old is obsessed with construction and all things construction related. Every morning we drive by a construction site near our house and Hollis comments on the progress. Heaven help them if the workers aren't there (even on a Sunday). Hell hath no fury like a three year old who can't get his crane fix.

"Where are the guys, Mommy? WHERE ARE THE GUYS!?"

I can't even tell you the raptures Hollis went into when T rented a backhoe for a weekend to work on a drainage issue in our yard more than a year ago. To this day he still tells us that we need to go to the tractor store and get him another tractor.

Do I even need to tell you that Hollis loves Bob the Builder?

So when PBN offered me the chance to review the new Bob the Builder DVD, On-Site - Roads and Bridges, I snapped it up. Man, am I glad I did.

This DVD isn't just a collection of Bob the Builder cartoons. This is Bob and his friends actually explaining how roads and bridges are built. The cartoon portions are interspersed with film footage from real construction sites explaining every step of construction.

The show also includes real children using kid friendly materials like blocks and sand demonstrating the construction process in the sandbox or playroom. This is stuff any kid can reproduce at home. But when your kids are building their road in the sandbox, they can make sure they don't use shoddy construction practices! Bob even gets into simple engineering problems and makes it understandable for toddlers.

My. kids. were. fascinated.

Hell, even my husband enjoyed the DVD. It goes without saying that I did. In fact, I kind of suspected that I would. I secretly watch all those mega construction shows on the History Channel and TLC. Something I don't mention often on my blog is that I'm a constr*ction att*rney. (Letters removed to protect me from The Google.) I visit job sites on a regular basis. I have my own steel toe boots and hardhat. So I was thrilled to see this DVD that breaks down construction in understandable language. If only more att*rneys and expert witnesses could do that.... But I digress.

Would I recommend this video? Hell, yes. In fact, I might suggest that my firm make it required viewing for any first year associate in my firm without an engineering or architectural background who thinks they might be interested in constr*ction litig*tion. Heck, I might even show it to a jury sometime!

Here's Hollis watching the video and simultaneously setting up his own construction site:


He's now the only toddler in his preschool class who could manage a project site. I couldn't be more excited if he'd mastered multiplication!

The Ultimate Tea Diet

I'm a tea drinker. I always have been. I cheat on my tea with Starbucks lattes on a regular basis, but give me a choice between plain old coffee and tea and I'll choose tea every time. So, when PBN gave me the chance to review The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra, I said, "What the heck. Why not?"

I have to admit that I came into this review skeptical. The only thing that has ever worked for me is Weight Watchers and some life style changes. Fad diets may help me lose a few pounds, but they always come right back. So, having no idea what to expect from the Tea Diet, I assumed I would be panning an unhealthy diet.

Boy was I surprised. The Ultimate Tea Diet (let's call it TUTD for short) is not a fad diet. It's part of a lifestyle change, much to my relief. And here's the thing, it actually works.

The book is split into several parts. The first explains the tea and weight loss connection or how it is exactly that drinking tea can help you lose weight. Dr. Tea goes on to explain how the chemical properties of tea, along with the caffeine, help suppress your appetite and rev up your metabolism. And no, coffee doesn't do the same thing. You need a true tea - caffeine and all - to get the benefits. Dr. Tea also goes through some of tea's other various health benefits.

In the second part, Dr. Tea goes into to the details of TUTD. It's not complicated. Really. There are no hard and fast rules other than drink tea every day. This section of the book is really about lifestyle changes and positive thinking, not just the switch to tea. There's even a section in the chapter called "The Tao of Tea: You Can If You Think You Can" that gives you space to write down all the areas in your life and health that you want to work on. Then, this section goes into finding the tea you love, the meal plan, exercise, and kicking the coffee habit. (Tip: If you must drink a cup of coffee in the morning, have some tea right after it.)

Part three of the book is about tea. Dr. Tea lists some yummy sounding recipes that all incorporate tea. They range from simple, like boiling corn on the cob or shrimp in tea instead of plain water, to more complex. I'm dying to try the Artichoke Tea Chicken. Finally, the book wraps up with a history of tea. Frankly, this was my favorite part of the book. Yes, I'm a nerd. Want to know where the phrase "tea for two" comes from? How about who it was that had the brilliant idea to put those leaves in boiling water? Then you'll love this section too.

Overall, I was impressed with TUTD. It's not just a fad diet. It's not a proposal that you ingest nothing but tea for 30 days or that you grind it up and insert it into strange orifices. It's a great book advocating lifestyle changes that incorporate the psychological and physical benefits of tea drinking. We all know that a big part of losing weight is psychological - believing that you can be a better, healthier you and then doing it. Dr. Tea clearly understands this and that's where his book really shines.

Now you want to know what TUTD did for me, right? Well, I've mentioned on some of my previous blog posts that I lost about 30 pounds earlier this year. Since the great big gorilla has taken up residence in my living room, I've gained about half of that back. In the 2 weeks I've been incorporating tea into my diet, I've lost 4 pounds. Of course, that could be related to the violent stomach flu I had last week, but I'm going to keep at it. When I start Weight Watchers again, I'll definitely keep the tea and incorporate some of Dr. Tea's yummy recipes.

I'll keep all of you updated on how the psychic benefits of tea are working on me. Drinking tea is a great excuse to have some "me" time, whether getting out for a walk, or curling up with a book that doesn't involve primary colors. If the tea helps the Effexor, I'm all for it.

Day Runner Failed to Keep Me Organized (Or Maybe It's Just Mommy Brain)

The brain death began when I was pregnant. I was flying to Boston for the day to meet with an expert testifying in an important case. It wasn't my first trip. I had been working with another partner on this case for more than a year and had made several trips a month to Boston over the course of that year. Um, then I got pregnant and, after a year of traveling to Boston from Dulles Airport outside of D.C., I had my husband drop me off at National one morning to catch a flight.

Yeah, I was at the wrong airport. With no car and no taxis in sight at 6:30am. It only got worse after Hollis was born.

If you're anything like me, you've been completely scatterbrained since having children. When people ask me my age now, I honestly have to stop and think about it. It's a good thing my name is on my driver's license or I might forget that too. So when PBN offered me the opportunity to review the new Day Runner Family Matters planning system, I jumped at the chance. Organize me? Bring it on, baby!

The box I received contained a 2008 soft bound weekly/monthly Family Planner in a tasteful light teal, a ginormous erasable Wall Planner with color coded columns for 5 family members, erasable door reminders, activity folders (again, color coded), and storage cases. (Yep, you guessed it. Color coded.) The one thing I did not receive, was the Monthly Wall Info Center that seems to pull it all together. The Info Center has a place for the calendar, with storage behind the calendar and color coding for each family member. Plus, it's erasable. Brilliant.

I really wish Day Planner had waited to do this campaign until those Info Centers were ready to go. Why? It probably would have been the most useful to me. It would put a calendar, storage, and note capabilities all in one place for me with the color coded system to keep all 4 of us straight. That's a hell of a lot better than the erase board calendar with small bulletin board we have up now.

The over sized erasable Wall Planner I received from Day Planner certainly is nice, but I don't have anywhere to put it. I don't have a bulletin board in my kitchen large enough and, I'm sorry, but I wasn't going to nail or tape the thing to my wall. I just really sure what to do with it. The calendar I received was, again, nice. But without an Info Center to bring it all together, it was just a color coded calendar.

"What did I like?" you're asking yourself. I absolutely loved the erasable door reminders. They hang on the door and have a spot for the erasable marker. I need this. I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten to leave a check out for our cleaners or to bring in more diapers to daycare for the baby. Again, that mommy brain thing is really hampering me.

The door hangers work great on the lever door knobs we have on all our garage and front doors. If, however, you have a door with a round knob or one that opens into a room instead of out into a room (like a bathroom or bedroom), the door hanger will prevent the door from closing unless you move it around. But for doors leading out of your house? Brilliant! It might also have been nice if they'd included a marker for each door hanger (they only included one), but I have this secret addiction to office supplies and I have a bazillion anyway. If you are not similarly addicted, you might want to pick up a few extra dry erase markers.

I also liked the folders and organizers. Of course, this is something you can pick up in any office supply store on your own and put together, but it wouldn't be nicely color coordinated to all of the other Day Runner Family Planner materials.

I also really likes the Weekly/Monthly Family Planner. It's basically a large soft bound calendar, but it's got color coded note spaces for each family member. The best part is the weekly portion of the calendar. Every day has a column in every family member's color for the entire week on a full open page. You can easily see exactly who needs to be where and when for the entire week in one glance. Love it. I'm a wired in Lawyer Geek. I have a Treo. I've had Palms in the past but I am still drawn to being able to see every detail of the week in one glance. I've never had another organizational system that allowed me to do that.

So, Day Runner people, if you're listening? I'd really, really, really like one of those Info Center things. Are they out yet and where can I buy them? My local Office Max didn't have one when I was in there, um..., I'm embarrassed to tell you all how often I buy office supplies, um..., so it was last week, OK?

I also can't forget to explain the title of this post. How did Day Runner fail to keep me organized? I missed my due date for this review. It was supposed to be up 2 days ago. I forgot to put it on my calendar. Doh! We'll chalk this one up to Mommy Brain, OK?

I Gave Birth To A Goat

My Little H will eat anything.

Unless it's supposed to be eaten and is served to him on a plate.

Rocks? Eaten them.

Sand? His digestive tract is well exfoliated.

Grass? Dirt? Small twigs? Money?

Check, check, check, and $0.37.

When my parents were watching the kids he ate the TIVO button off of our remote:

Then, he devoured part of a flashing super ball:


My parents were horrified. See, no one really believes me when I say Holden is a goat until they experience it for themselves.

At our local farmers market, he got a free stress ball shaped like a stalk of broccoli.

Ate it:

See that white part down at the bottom of the stalk? (Click to enlarge.)

As for actual edible things, if it doesn't involve french fries or come from Starbucks, he's not touching it.

Don't judge me too harshly. Please?

So let's summarize: If it's real food, Holden won't eat it. If it's fake food or anything inorganic, he will. Real broccoli? No. Fake broccoli? Yes, please.

Lovely.

Enter Deceptively Delicious. It's a new cook book written by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld and I had the opportunity to review it for the Parent Bloggers Network. The whole premise is tricking your kids into eating healthy foods. It's based on pureeing vegetables and hiding them in kid friendly foods.

I tried the mini pizzas first. They're made on small pita rounds and layered with spinach puree, tomato sauce, and low fat mozzarella. My husband and I loved them. The kids refused to eat them. They wouldn't even try them. Because the pizza didn't look enough like Papa John's.

That's OK, I'll try it again until the little scamps actually put some in their mouths because I know they'll like it.

Next, I tried the lasagna. It involved pureeing cauliflower and hiding it in low fat sour cream to make a ricotta like filling. Both kids loved it. Holden even ate, like, 2 bites. That's a feast for him. Hollis ate his entire serving. I didn't think it was quite as yummy as my regular lasagna recipe, but my lasagna is far more fattening and not nearly as healthy. Plus, I couldn't taste the cauliflower. I loathe cooked cauliflower. I'll eat it raw, but cook that stuff and put it under my nose and I may throw up on you. It's the only vegetable I won't eat. But DD got me (and the boys) to eat cauliflower, so that's saying something.

I tried a few other things: macaroni and cheese laced with cauliflower, grilled cheese mixed with something that escapes me right now) with varying degrees of success.

Next, the desserts.

I tried brownies first. The recipe calls for pureed spinach and pureed carrot. I didn't have any carrots in the house, so I used pureed pumpkin (something used in some of the other recipes.) I'm a diabetic and am consequently a freak about not using much sugar in our food, so I substituted the brown sugar in the recipe for the Splenda brown sugar baking mix, used bittersweet chocolate, which is also low in sugar, and I used whole wheat flour.

The brownies made according to the recipe have 133 calories and 3 grams of fiber per serving. The way I made them, it comes out even lower and I calculated each brownie to be 1.5 Weight Watcher's points. T and I both thought they were pretty good, but they don't really taste like brownies. They were more like chocolaty pumpkin bread (maybe I should have followed the recipe), but the boys ate them. Even my goat eats them. And for the record, I couldn't taste the spinach.

I also made some blueberry cream cheese muffins. The muffins have pureed blueberry and spinach and the cream cheese filling has squash. Again, I used Splenda and low fat everything. They're pretty tasty. Even so, the boys would only eat a few bites. But hey, the goat had 2 bites of muffin. That's monumental seeing as how the muffin didn't come from S-T-A-R-B-U-C-K-S.

The Deceptively Delicious recipes do take a bit more time, but not terribly more. The biggest time investment is making pureed veggies. I cheated. I bought frozen, cooked them in the microwave, and pureed a whole bag at a time. Because the recipes call for purees in 1/2 cup measurements, I froze leftover purees in freezer bags in 1/2 cups. I have lots of pureed squash, spinach, cauliflower, pumpkin, and blueberry waiting for nights when we're in a rush.

I don't intend to stop serving my kids vegetables in the usual way. I think that's important to help them develop healthy eating habits. I also doubt that we'll be cooking out of the book every night. But I've liked the healthy versions of enough of the DD kid friendly recipes that I'll definitely be incorporating a few into our usual meals. And maybe I'll feel slightly less guilty about Holden eating only a brownie in 24 hours if that brownie contains two servings of vegetables.

Would I recommend it? Hell, yes! Anything that gets Holden to eat something that's healthy (and actually edible) is worth it.

My little goat.

Phonics 4 Babies

I recently had the opportunity to preview the new DVD Phonics 4 Babies for the Parent Bloggers Network. The DVD I received was Baby's First Words.

I had high hopes for this DVD. The DVD features colorful puppets and Mallory Lewis, daughter of Shari Lewis of Lamb Chop fame. The DVDs indicates that it is geared towards helping babies and toddlers learn things such as vowel and consonant formation, combining vowels and consonants, and the first 200 words. I couldn't wait to try it out on Holden, my 20 month old.

I was a bit disappointed. Ms. Lewis was engaging; the puppets were endearing; and I think the DVD is well done if a bit annoying. (But then, don't we adults usually find shows that our children adore to be annoying?) Words and sounds are clearly articulated and repeated. There is no doubt in my mind that if Holden were a bit younger, he would have gotten something out of the video.

The problem? Holden was bored.

Holden, like most second children, is much more verbally advanced at 20 months than his older brother was. His vocabulary is already well beyond 200 words and he forms complex sentences. Frankly, sometimes I'm floored by what comes out of his mouth. I'm not trying to be a bragging mama here, but Holden is just, well... Holden. While he enjoyed the music and singing in the video and liked watching the puppets, he just wasn't engaged by the word games and word sounds.

So would I recommend it? Yes. I just wish we'd had a copy of this video when Holden was just turning one or had one of the other videos in the series covering letter and number recognition. I think even Hollis, at 3, might have learned something from that. So, if you have a somewhat verbally advanced little one, you might want to start this series a little earlier.

The Barney Effect

I have a theory. The annoyance level a parent will experience from a kids' show is directly proportional to the amount a child will love it. A perfect example is Barney. Frankly, Barney annoys the crap out of me. If the purple devil comes on TV, I will immediately switch the channel to anything other than Barney. I'd find soft core porn to be more acceptable viewing material for my children. Why? Because they love that annoying purple blob and I don't want them to get too attached. Listening to "I love you, you love me" in that annoying sing song voice makes me want to punch something.

I recently had the opportunity to review the new DVD series Baby Loves Spanish for PBN. I love the premise. We should be teaching our children foreign languages as early as possible. My kids are little sponges and I couldn't wait to try the DVDs out on them. There are seven videos, each with a different theme. One DVD covers basic words, one family, one colors and shapes, one basic words.... You get the idea. The sisters who created the series are both lifelong Spanish speakers and they're both moms. I had high hopes.

Unfortunately, the series is a bit amateurish. My husband, viewing the videos with us, remarked that he thought he could do a better job in our backyard with the camcorder and Windows Movie Maker. At the beginning and end of every DVD, the sisters sing the Kids Love Spanish song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star) and do a very awkward dance. It actually hurt to watch it. I ended up just fast forwarding through the dance and music number as much as possible.

What I did like? The repetition. Each video shows clips of many different children and adults saying the Spanish word or phrase, interspersed with video illustrating the concept. For example, the word "perro" was repeated over and over by many children, interspersed with videos and pictures of dogs. I really liked that my children were hearing the many variations of accents and pronunciation. I think it made both of them less hesitant to try the words out for themselves. While my youngest, at 20 months, immediately started parroting the words along with the video, it took Hollis (my shy guy) a bit longer. But Hollis, my 3 year old, did begin speaking along with the video. That's unusual for him.

It was also very cute to watch Holden saying "hola" to everyone in the Mexican restaurant we went to last weekend. He seemed to instinctively pick up that the wait staff spoke Spanish and, because he had limited exposure to Spanish prior to watching the Baby Loves Spanish videos, I can only assume that the video helped him make this connection.

As I mentioned earlier, the Law of Barney dictates that, because I found the videos to be amateurish and a bit annoying, my kids loved it. They keep asking to watch BLS and enjoy rotating among the various videos. More importantly, they do seem to be picking up a few Spanish words. I'm making an effort to try and use the Spanish words from the video in our daily life as well.

Would I recommend the video? Yes, if you'd like an effective way to help your toddler learn some basic Spanish words. Oh, and if you're impervious to The Barney Effect and tone deaf.

Do You Have Style?

I did a major purge of my wardrobe this weekend. You see, I've finally gotten off of my butt and decided to do something about those extra "baby" pounds I've been carrying around. (Although I must admit that I think most of those pounds are related more to my love of cheese and all things carbohydrate than any babies.) I've lost 25 pounds since May and I'm determined to get down to a healthy weight for me.

For some insane reason, I've been hanging on to all of those suits and nice clothes that no longer fit me on the off chance that I might gain weight again. (Who me? Gain weight? Never!) Suits are expensive, but c'mon, Lawyer Mama! Let go of the baggage already!

Anyway, this clothing purge was inspired by Nina Garcia's The Little Black Book of Style that I read for PBN. Nina Garcia. From Project Runway? And fashion director for Elle magazine? Yes, that Nina Garcia! Of course, I am borderline obsessed with Project Runway, so I jumped at the chance to read the book.

The book itself is a cute little black hardback with stylish silver and hot pink accents. Tres chic, of course. There are colored illustrations throughout the book by Ruben Toledo, an artist married to fashion designer Isabel Toledo. The illustrations, and the fashion ideals they depict, are fantastic, aside from the fact that all of the women illustrated are stick thin. But because I believe the drawings are intended to depict fleshed out fashion sketches, it makes sense and really adds something to the book.

Now let's talk about content. The book is a quick read; there are only six chapters. My favorites were the first three chapters, titled "Be Your Own Muse," "The Basics," and, "Inspirations." The first several chapters emphasize how a woman can be stand out with fashion instead of being a slave to the latest trends, how to build the bones of a great wardrobe, and depict the relationship between fashion, style, and art. But Ms. Garcia emphasizes that the first, and most important, accessory for every woman is confidence.

Now, I love clothes. I can't always can never afford to buy designer clothes, but I do frequently occasionally indulge in my first love - the purchase of shoes. I'm no Imelda Marcos, but I've found that wearing an absolutely adorable pair of red pumps can invigorate a somewhat boring black suit. Ms. Garcia seemed to reinforce the idea that I'm on the right track, so I loved the book even more. I mean who doesn't like to have their completely uninformed decisions approved by a style maven?

Now this book certainly doesn't have all the answers. What I didn't like were the interviews with those in the fashion industry. They all seemed to parrot vague, amorphous answers in response to thoughtful questions, questions many women would love to have answered. At one point Ms. Garcia asks Roberto Cavalli the key to wearing animal prints. His answer? "Look for your natural inner animal magnetism. Be confident and have fun with fashion." Nope, not a real answer. I'm not really sure how to channel a leopard, but if anyone knows, please clue me in.

The Little Black Book of Style did give me some ideas about how to add some absolutely fabulous pieces to my wardrobe to make it uniquely me. Every now and then we all run across a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes that are amazing. You know the piece. People are always asking you where you got that great skirt/pair of earrings/beaded bag. When you wear it you walk taller and straighter, your hips sway a bit and you feel amazing. Ms. Garcia gives us permission to make that confidence and those amazing pieces the center of our wardrobes. After all, confidence never goes out of style.

My favorite pair of heels.
Fabulous.

How to Sunscreen a Toddler

1. Lure toddler into living room with the promise of M&M's.
2. Reach for toddler, miss, and chase him around the house for 20 minutes.
3. Find toddler hiding in the pantry behind the cat food.
4. Grab toddler and drag him kicking and screaming out of the pantry.
5. Put toddler in time out for biting finger off.
6. Chase toddler again, corner him, and wrestle to the ground.
7. Coat half an arm with sunscreen.
8. Lose grip on greasy toddler.
9. Chase toddler again.
10. Continue steps 1 through 9 until toddler is fully coated.
11. Sneak a shot of vodka.
12. Repeat every two hours.

Sound familiar?

I recently had the opportunity to review KINeSYS sunscreen for PBN. I received a full size 4 ounce spray, a 1 oz cream for kids, a sunscreen stick, and a 1 oz spray for kids, all with 30 spf. It works great.

I used the full size spray on myself. It coated quickly with no rubbing and dried in under a minute. Good, but I'm much easier than two squirmy toddlers. The true test for KINeSYS was H&H.

At the zoo this weekend, I tried out the small kids' spray on H&H. What I loved? The spray is nice and wide and covered a toddler leg with a couple of quick squirts. It was almost as easy as using an aerosol sunscreen, which is important to me. Have you ever tried to cover a 3 year old with cream sunscreen quickly? Yeah, it's not possible. (See list above.) I'd have to physically restrain Hollis in order to use a cream on him. We've been using spray sunscreen since he was an infant, but they're still slow and it seems like the nozzle gets clogged if you turn the bottle the wrong way. If a bottle of sunscreen clogs, it gives H&H precious seconds to escape. (See list above again.)

In contrast to the brand we were using before, the KINeSYS covered both kidlets in a matter of seconds.

The sunscreen also held up to several hours in the sun combined with several trips through the zoo fountains. No burns.

I wasn't able to try out the stick sunscreen. I like the idea of a stick sunscreen in theory and thought that it would be nice for the kids' faces. Do you think they sat still long enough for me to apply it? (See list above. Again.) I ended up squirting the spray into my hands and applying it to their faces. I didn't even bother to apply the cream to the kids. I knew it wasn't going to happen. (See list above for the final time.)

Overall, I really liked this sunscreen. If I can find it in stores, I'll use it again in the spray form. If it helps me avoid the sunscreen battle, it's priceless!

"Sunscreen? We don't need no stinking sunscreen!"

Now I hope y'all aren't expecting me to include poop in every review. I try my best, but I just couldn't figure out how to work it into a sunscreen review. Sorry.

Can Your Child Poop His A,B,C's?

When I received my review copy of PBS Kids' new animated series Word World, I glanced at the box, thought, "yeah, it looks interesting," and tossed it aside, but I wasn't really expecting much. Then I picked up another copy at BlogHer, figuring I could give it to my sitter if the kids liked it. I finally remembered I had to review it about a week ago and busted it out for the kids shortly before nap time one weekend.

I wish we had watched it sooner. The kids love it. They were mesmerized for 15 minutes of each of the 3 episodes, which means that I love it.

The video I received through the Parent Bloggers Network, features 2 episodes, "Runaway O" and "The Birds." The press review copy I received at BlogHer has 2 episodes, "Runaway O" and "Happy Birthday Dog," as well as a cute little intermission where the characters - animals made from the letters that make up their names - play instruments. Every instrument is spelled out - D R U M - and then the letters pop together to form a drum. Cute and entertaining.

Each episode covers skills like letter knowledge and phonics, but the show doesn't whack kids over the head with "learning." The skills are deftly woven into a colorful world of words where many nouns are cleverly constructed of letters. The ant is made from the letters a, n, & t. The pig, P, I, and G. Each episode is short enough to keep the kids engaged, but long enough for me to throw some laundry in the wash.

Every episode has at least one moment where all the letter animals "Build a Word" while grooving to some New Order-esque music. My 19 month old love this part and will get up and dance. The kids both spell along with the animals and this is a big thing. Hollis, my oldest, at nearly 3, is not a participatory perform-on-demand-for-Dora type of toddler. It takes a lot for a cartoon to engross Hollis, but he asks to watch "Happy Birthday, Dog" every. single. day.

The only thing that annoys me about the show (aside from watching it 5,003,456 times) is that Duck sounds just like Beverlie Leslie on Will and Grace to me. I keep expecting Karen to show up declaring, "Duck is a homosexual," but that slight annoyance doesn't outweigh the bonus benefit: potty training!

After my kids burned through 45 minutes of Word World on the first day, Hollis had to go "poopy on the potty," where he proceeded to poop an "L." He was so excited he had to tell me all about it and have me admire it. Now to spare y'all, I didn't take photos so you can stop averting your eyes now. Over the next few days he proceeded to poop a C, a T, and an X. I think he was most excited about the X.

We're very proud.

At this point I am pretty much ready to offer my body to the creators of this show in return for new episodes. Because anything that gets my son excited about both letters and going to the potty is worthy of adulation. And cake. Lots of cake.

More importantly, both kids seem to actually be learning how to spell simple words. This is something I did not expect. My 19 month old goes around saying, "B-O-X, BOX!" and "C-A-K-E, CAKE!" Here's a clip of Holden during the "Build a Word" groove-out, wherein the animals spell Box in "Runaway O."




You can watch a preview of the show at World Word's website. I love the preview because Sheep sings about how bad she is and then says "And by bad, you know that I mean good." She's a sheep after my own heart.

World Word starts September 3rd on PBS Kids and it won't be a moment too soon for me. I think I've seen "Runaway O" at least 500 times. I will be TIVO'ing every new episode with glee.

Who knows? Maybe Hollis will start pooping out full sentences.

It could happen.

What Quality Time?

Warning, warning! Rampant, unchecked sarcasm ahead!

This morning I had to wait in line to use the ATM near my office. There was a guy there servicing it, he swore he'd be done in 30 seconds (he lied), and it was too damn hot to walk a block to the next ATM. I'm lazy. Anyway, an older couple (maybe mid-sixties, clearly tourists) was in line behind me. As I was fishing my debit card out of my purse, I dropped a boat load of my narcissistic Lawyer Mama magnets all over the sidewalk. As you know, they have an adorable picture of newborn Hollis on them. The apparently nice couple helped me pick up my crap and the female of the couple asked about Hollis.

While the technician in front of us took as long as humanly possible to refix the ATM face plate, the woman proceeded to tell me about her daughter and her three grandsons. She was perfectly nice and then for some apparent reason she kept rambling on and told me that her daughter was staying home with them instead of working and that her children would thank her one day.

Okey dokey then. You have a nice day too then.

In the past, I've faced criticism for being a working mom. I don't mean "working" in the sense of prostitution, but I do work outside of the home full time. Comments I've heard include:

One day you'll realize the time that you've wasted.

Your children will look back and wonder why you didn't love them enough to stay
home.

And my personal favorite:

Being a mom and staying home with your children is every woman's biological
destiny. Why would you deny God's plan for you?

So, in honor of the thoughtless grandmother I encountered this morning, and because I always take these comments very seriously, I've decided to share what our family does with all of the quality family time that we do have:

We sit around and watch TV.

We park the kids in front of the TV and do our own thing so that we can pretend we never had them.

(And yes, I'm fulfilling my destiny as a bad mother.)

This post is brought to you in conjunction with Parent Bloggers Network & EA’s Wii-Boogie, a family gaming experience. Shake it. Sing it. Create it. I'm sure this post wasn't quite what they had in mind, but I'm feeling bitchy today.

And please don't take this post seriously. I may be a snarky bitch, but I'm not a bad mother. I am 75% certain that both my kids will graduate from high school some day and still be speaking to me when they reach adulthood.