Ten Little Puppies - A Book Review

I've been asked, "What age should I start reading to my child?" My answer is always, "When they are babies." They may not appear to be listening, but they love the sound of your voice.

Babycenter is a great source to go to for early baby stages. They mentioned that you can start reading to your child even when they are in the womb. Babies that are read to begin to understand words more so than babies that are not read to. That doesn't mean they'll talk earlier. It just means that they will understand what you are saying better. With books they see the connection between words and pictures.

When shopping for early readers look for fabric books, plastic bath time books and board books. You want books that can take a beating.

I was lucky enough to review a board book called Ten Little Puppies (Eyeball Animation) By Jim Harris and Marian Harris.

My son couldn't of been more happy to get his own mail! We were both sick with strep throat last week; our moods were not very chipper. When he opened his book, a smile went all the way across his face.

As soon as my son Isaak was well enough to go back to preschool Ten Little Puppies went in his backpack for Show and Tell. The moving eyeballs were the talk of the classroom.

The illustrator did a wonderful job filling the pages with a lot of visuals, yet still maintaining that one focal point.

Cost: $16.99.
ISBN: 9780740784811

This book is filled with fun puppies, lots of bright colors and fun eyeballs throughout!

Check out my review of Stick To It Pets - A Magnetic Book here.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Andrews McMeel Publishing  provided to me a free product to help with this review.

Music Helps Children Develop

I am really excited to share with you a children's CD called Bubble Ride by Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys.

I'm giving Bubble Ride away on my site called Planet of the Apels. Please go and enter here!

How does music help children develop?

Much of my information I'm getting off of MedicineNet.

Music stimulates the emotions, brain, and the body all together. Communication is developed in auditory impulses. Music holds many ingredients to advance speech, movement, and expression.

If parents, healthcare providers, and early childhood educators on these great benefits of music, we'd have very happy children!

Some ways I've encouraged my kids to listen and enjoy music:

1. We listen to music in the car. This makes road trips less of a drag. Happy music makes our children chipper. If our children just woke up from a nap, we play classical music. They are not in the mood for beat when they've just woken up.
2. We listen to music when it's time to clean up. I hear negative responses when it's clean up time. As soon as the music goes on, the negativity seems to disappear. They dance, sing and clean. We have races to see who can clean up the most before songs get done.
3. We jam to music. Daddy grabs a mop to be a fake guitar, Isaak grabs a kitchen bowl for a drum, Mica grabs pencils to drum on the leather couch cushions, and I grab a brush to be a fake microphone. We laugh at our silliness. 
4. We act out songs. There is a song called Tickle Monster on Bubble Ride. We end up tickling each other during the song.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I received a CD of Bubble Ride to help with this review/giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

I'm Sorry

To me it's very important to apologize to my children when I'm in the wrong. I think a lot of parents out there are too stubborn to admit that they too make mistakes. It's also hard to calm yourself down in the heat of a moment. We are focused on our anger more then how to be better person.

Kids learn from their parents. Many behavior traits that you have, they mimic.

Here are a few things to consider: 

1. Think about how you could have handled a situation in a different way.
2. Replay what happened in your mind.
3. Think about it from your child's perspective.
4. Imagine how your child feels. Ex: Are they scared of you? Did you hurt them? 
5. This is when it's time to communicate steps 1-4 to your child. Follow through. You will in the long run have an understanding of your child and yourself.
6. Now that you both are on talking terms, this is the time to tell your child, "I'm sorry." If they did something wrong, explain that they need to apologize to you as well.

Now that you know how your child feels and they know how you feel, you both can grow into being better people. They will be better about apologizing. They will look up to you for apologizing to them.

In the end you need to forgive yourself. Mistakes happen. We're all human. Know that you are not a horrible mother; just a better one for admitting that you were in the wrong.

Personal Example: My Three year old was really testing me. He was not getting in the car. The boy dawdles a lot. It seems to be common place for him to move slow and insist that he gets himself in his car seat. Instead of understanding that time means very little to him, I was irritated with him. I picked him up and harshly put him in his car seat. When I did that, I bumped his head. Did I mean to bump his head? No! Did I feel bad? Yes and no. At the moment I was thinking, "That's what you get for moving so slow!" I didn't say that by the way! I felt that way until I started thinking about his perspective and replayed the situation in my head. Once he calmed down we had a talk. I apologized. Then he apologized.

It doesn't matter what age your child is. Apologizing is a lot like learning the words, "Thank you" and "Please." You have to start somewhere.