Stackable Trains

Mark loves trains. He also loves to put shapes together and build things. What toddler doesn't love to explore? So we were very thankful when our next door neighbor brought over a wooden stacking block train set that her son had outgrown and asked if Mark would be interested in it. Mark loves that thing. So much, that when I was shopping at the spring/summer Houston North JBF sale and found an identical one I quickly snatched it up.




We took one of the sets with us on our recent trip. Mark had a blast playing with it. He enjoyed matching colors and shapes and configuring the blocks to different patterns on the train. And of course it was a train so it was cool to just play with it too.



It kept him entertained for quite some time. It wasn't just a one time play toy either- he went back to play with it frequently throughout the trip. And when we got home it was the first toy he wanted to play with as we unpacked the car.

While I am unsure as to the manufacturer of the two we own, I do know that there are lots of available options out there to purchase. Just a quick search on "wooden stacking train" led to an eco friendly option at Tree Frog Toys, one Made in the USA from Toys of USA, a fantasy train by Educo at Oompa, and one made by Melissa & Doug available at Target. They are also available at a variety of other train and toy shops. The possibilities are endless.

In fact, Different Roads to Learning, offers it in it's early learning section. As they say, "It's great for working on motor skills, color sorting and is a perfect reinforcer."

It's a hit around here!

A Break From Mom

Kids need a break from Mom every now and then. Mark is super excited to be going to World of Wisdom today. He's excited that two of his friends, Aiden and Macie, will be there to play with. They always have a great time together.



World of Wisdom is a drop in hourly day care in the area. You don't have to make a reservation (though it's recommended) and it's mostly just play time. However it's great for times when you (or your child) need a break. Or you need to run some errands kid free, have a doctor's appointment, or even, a *gasp* date night with your significant other.

Mark enjoys WOW. He's only been a handful of times, but never wants to leave. The first time we went to go check it out he was so excited that he asked to stay and play. His first "official" stay there he didn't want to leave when I went to pick him up. I had to "bribe" him with a trip to his favorite consignment store Belles and Beaus.

Mark used to go to another one in the area (it's now closed) and absolutely loved it. He absolutely blossomed there, and I credit the owner and teachers there (they eventually added a Mother's Day Out program) with helping shape him into the eager to learn student he is today.

WOW does have "circle time" in the mornings and typically does a craft in the afternoons. You have the option of purchasing a meal (for $3) for your child if they will be there during meal time. Or if you prefer you can bring your child's lunch or dinner.

The rates are reasonable. It's $6 an hour if you don't buy a package (additional children have lower rates). Or they offer a 10 hour package for $50 ($5/hour), a 20 hour package for $85 ($4.25/hr) or a 40 hour package for $160 ($4/hr). Those are very reasonable rates. The hours are great too in that they are open early in the morning to late at night from Mon-Sat. And they do offer their services on Sunday by appointment.

Everyone needs a break every now and then. And this is a great way for the kids to have a break from parents in a fun, safe environment.

5-4-3-2-1! You've Got Mighty Math Powers!

Along the lines of Blue's Clues, Team Umizoomi is a combination animation/live action show. It is just in its first season, but I tell you, it's a hit around here.





Mark loves to be an "Umifriend" and help Milli, Geo and Bot solve problems. Helping Geo and naming shapes is one of Mark's most favorite parts of the show. As the team goes about their adventures they count, compare, measure and discover shapes and patterns. It's done easily as math is already in our daily lives. By involving the toddler/child watching (as an Umifriend problem solving skills and early math concepts are taught. Mark is learning math and doesn't even realize it. It is neat to see how he counts along, identifies the shapes, problem solves and interacts with the team.

Funny side note, if you recognize Bot's voice it's because he is played by Donovan Patton (Joe from Blue's Clues.)

And of course there is music. Mark loves the singing and dancing too. There are only about 20 episodes (and I don't even think all have aired yet) as it's only in its first season, but it's well worth adding to your DVR.

Water Fun

Mark is finally getting used to water. He's never really been a big fan, and even now washing his hair can be quite a chore. Forget those splash pads and other such places that are all around. He wants nothing to do with them. Funny thing, he loves boats, the boardwalk, looking at the Gulf and lakes. And the river, he loves rivers and watching them flow by. But it is all buy impossible to get him into the water.

This summer every Thursday is going to be Splash Day at our house. We have it on our playgroup calendar and invite everyone to drop in and play for a while. We start at 1030 and run until 330 or so- folks will come and go as they wish.

By having water toys and stuff I'm hoping that Mark gets over whatever it is that is keeping him from enjoying water sports.

We had some friends over today to play in the little pool and some sprinkler fun. Let me tell you, we found the BEST toy for Mark. It's the Sizzlin' Cool Aqua Blast Hopscotch. Mark had the best time playing with his friends in it.





They boys (three two year olds) had a wonderful time with it. Now of course they weren't necessarily playing hop scotch the correct way- but the point is that they had a great time getting wet. You can buy it at Toys R Us for $10, but we got ours at Target (not online) for half the price. It was $5 well spent.

It's very easy to set up- literally unroll it and attach it to a hose. It comes with hop scotch markers (we put them aside as we aren't using it to play the hopscotch game). I was wondering how Mark would do with the water when it came out, but he absolutely loved it. Typical two year olds, they were all investigating it to see how it worked and where the water came from. Eventually they moved on to the pool, the climber, even the soccer goal - but they always went back to the hopscotch. It was a hit. I look forward to watching Mark and his friends have fun with it all summer long.

A cool place to get Amber Necklaces

I mentioned the other day about the Baltic Amber necklaces, and some folks have asked me where to get them. Well, Frog Loves Monkey went live. Check it out: www.FrogLovesMonkey.com . She's got the necklaces available for sale on there as well as some other goodies. While I haven't ordered online from her yet (since the site just went live), I have bought from her in person several times. So I know you will get great service!

That's Not My...

Mark loves books. We discovered Usborne books at one of the fairs I worked at last year. We purchased a couple of toddler friendly books. One has proven to be a favorite with Mark.



That's Not My Airplane! by Fiona Watt is Mark's favorite of the "That's Not My" series of books. We have a couple others in the series, but this one is the one he requests the most. We typically end up reading it at least twice.

What is unique about the "That's Not My" series is that there are several ways to read the book. First of all, just read it as is. It goes through saying "that's not my (fill in the blank)" and stating the reason why. The last page states "that is my (fill in the blank)."

Second is that each page has a touch element to it in relation to the words. So the child can feel different textures on each page.

Third is the white mouse. There is a little white mouse on each page, sometimes it is harder to find than other times. It encourages the child to find the mouse on each page.


When we read it with Mark we typically go through it regularly reading the story and touching the different textures. Then we read it again with Mark finding the mouse on each page.

Mark likes to "read" it too and will make up the story as he goes along. We look forward to adding more books to our collection. Usborne books are usually bought from a consultant, though we have found one or two at a consignment store.

Ni Hao! and Hola!

Toddlers love to learn. Mark is no exception. We started him at an early-preschool last year and he really took to learning sign language and Spanish. Unfortunately that school closed earlier this year. We've discovered that his old school was unique in that it taught Spanish to toddlers. Apparently most schools wait until Kindergarten or so. We knew Mark was at that prime point to continue on, so we decided to explore other ways for him to learn languages.

That's where Mark's two "cartoon girlfriends" come in. Ni Hao, Kai-Lan and Dora the Explorer are mainstays on our DVR. They both are on at least once a day on Nick Jr. Mark loves Kai-Lan and Dora. And we love that he's learning languages in a fun way.



Both shows encourage kids to learn and explore. And a second language is easily woven in there throughout the story. It's pretty cool to watch your two year old count to ten in Spanish unprompted. Or to sing the Mandarin Chinese version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Mark can easily weave both Chinese and Spanish in with his typical English as he goes about his day. Without a doubt we highly believe that these two shows are actually helping Mark. In addition to languages we've found he's also relating to the stories. In fact, he's learned to be "calm" and take a deep breath when necessary. And that comes from Kai Lan. It was so cute the first time he told me "Mommy, I'm calm." And now when he works himself up and is about to throw a tantrum I ask "Are you calm?" and he stops mid-tantrum and takes a deep breath. Sometimes it takes a few breaths but eventually he tells me "I am calm Mommy".

It was really cool that early on Mark figured out that YeYe is Kai-Lan's Grandpa. Mark calls one of his grandfathers "Keepa" and the other "Peepo". Keepa and Grammy were visiting us one day and Kai Lan was on. Mark was watching the show, then all of a sudden looked up and went to Keepa. He then exclaimed "YeYe is Kai-Lan's Keepa!" We thought that was pretty cool that he was able to put that thought together.

Nick Jr itself has a pretty good website. We haven't really explored it much yet, but as Mark is older and able to do more fun activities and stuff we will for sure. I am looking forward to doing some of the activities from both shows this summer with Mark. There are printables, flashcards, crafts and other fun activities.