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Author: suburbandaddy
New Take On An Old Game
Remember Highlights Magazines when you were a kid?? I remember reading the old beat up copies at the pediatrician’s office.? One of the features was a puzzle where pictures were hidden in a page and you had to find them.? There were always kids who would color in the pictures as they found them, ruining it for everyone else who came after them.
Now there is a modern take on the old classic…Highlights Hidden Pictures on the iPhone!? Highlights My First Hidden Pictures is a full-color version of the award-winning Highlights Hidden Pictures game for the iPhone and iPod Touch.? It’s designed with younger children in mind. Have fun solving the eight Hidden Pictures puzzles included with purchase plus the additional puzzle packs available.
I let Thing 1 and Thing 2 check it out.? Both were very interested at first.? I had to briefly explain the object of the game.? Thing 2 liked the sound effects and vibration when he correctly found an object.? But the game was actually kind of difficult for them.? The screen on the iPhone is much smaller than it would be in the magazine.? So the objects are either really small, or you need to zoom in and can’t see the entire puzzle at the same time.? They each got partway through one of the puzzles and then gave up.? I think kids a few years older would have more attention span and enjoy it.? Then again, I still think the old version in the magazine that I used to play is better.? As long as some other kid doesn’t color them all in first.
Lessons From Our First Football Game
Yesterday was our long anticipated first trip to a pro football game. We’ve been to baseball and basketball games this year, but there is something about your very first football game that you never forget. Being there yesterday brought back my first Giants game with my dad. Also, having not been to a football game myself in many years, it brought back all the not so great memories that makes football probably the worst live viewing experience of any sport – the traffic, crowds, bad weather, poor views, and outrageous prices.
But it was all worth it to see Thing 1 and Thing 2 experience it for the first time. I hope they have vivid memories because it may be a while before we go to another one.
Lesson #1: “Possible Obstructed View” means you have a big pillar right in front of you which kids can’t possibly see around. This was the view from our original seats.
Leave it to greedy NFL owners to have the nerve to build a stadium with seats like this and charge good money for them.
Since it was preseason we were able to move to empty seats in the upper level where we could see the entire field even if it looked like a bunch of ants playing.
That is, until it started to rain and they wanted to go back to our original seats because the seats were covered.
Lesson #2: When you have young kids with you, splurge for the parking lot closest to the stadium. I pre-paid $35 to be in a grass lot that was ideal for tailgating. We threw the footballs around and had a fun time eating sandwiches, snacks, and peeing in the portable potties (Thing 2: “How do I flush?”, Thing 1: “Where does it go?”). They were very intrigued by the games of beer pong going on all around us and Thing 1 wanted to know the rules.
But then we had to march from the parking lot about a half mile through the other parking lots to get to the game. Which was fine, except I didn’t realize how hard it would be to do after the game in reverse, in the dark, with Thing 1 and Thing 2, exhausted and 2 hours past their bedtime. I may have been completely slightly at fault for taking us in the wrong direction after the game but it doesn’t help to hear “is that the car?” and “maybe they know” and “are we lost” and “I’m tired of walking” every 10 seconds. It took us nearly an hour of walking to find the car. Which didn’t matter, in the end, because we still sat in a ton of traffic.
Just A Little Bit Excited
Tomorrow I’m taking Thing 1 and Thing 2 to their first NFL game. It doesn’t matter that it is a preseason game. Or who is playing. Or that we’ll be sitting in the cheap seats. They have been looking forward to this since the winter.
The game isn’t until 7pm TOMORROW night but Thing 2 insists on sleeping in his uniform tonight, which he’ll also wear all day tomorrow. He’ll add the helmet tomorrow at the game for full effect.
It’s fun to watch his excitement. Even if it is directed at the Redskins.
Totally Unprecedented
It is 6:02am and all 4 kids are STILL SLEEPING! If this happened every day, I could be amazingly productive and write lots of blog posts every morning. I could get used to this. But I probably shouldn’t.
Oh well, looks like I just jinxed myself. I hear footsteps coming downstairs and Thing 4 is awake and needs a bottle fast. It was nice while it lasted.
Playground Personalities
Our three boys are similar in many ways. All very active, in constant motion, and competitive with each other. But they also have developed very unique personalities and it’s fun observe. A recent trip to the playground is the perfect observation booth.
To Thing 1 everything is a game. He wanted to throw the ball or frisbee to count how many times we could catch it without dropping (he may have learned that one from me). When Thing 2 wouldn’t play his games anymore, it was how many times could he throw the ball through a spot on the jungle gym.
Thing 2 likes to socialize. After getting frustrated about losing to his older brother a few times, Thing 2 went over to where some others boys were playing. He introduced himself by climbing on a rock and declaring he is King of the Rocks! He is Mr. Imagination. Give Thing 2 a stick, a pair of swim goggles, and a rock and he is off in his play world for an hour.
At first, Thing 3 wants to do whatever his brothers are doing. “Throw it to me! Throw it to me!” A byproduct of being the youngest. But after that wears off, his own personality settles in. He discovers someone walking their dog and sets off in pursuit. He pets, pokes, hugs, and generally provokes the dog. He doesn’t want to leave the dog until he is suddenly distracted by a squirrel. “Look at that!” He chases the squirrel up a tree. Then he wanders after birds and butterflies and I watch him fill his hat with mulch. Thing 3 has a bright future as a park ranger.
Powermat Eliminates Wires (Sort of)
If you are like us, you have several mobile and electronic devices in your house which need to be charged. They all require different plugs and the result is a spaghetti mess of tangled wires.
In our house, we have two iPhones and one Blackberry. ?Each one has it’s own charger with a separate power cord. ? We keep them all on top of the microwave and it’s kind of a mess. ?Maybe you have something that looks like this.
I decided to give Powermat a try. ?Disclosure: I was offered the product to review. ?Powermat’s tag line is Lose The Cords and promises to end constant plugging and unplugging and the mess of cords. ?Sounds good to me. ?Sign me up. Continue reading Powermat Eliminates Wires (Sort of)
Day of Reckoning Update
Sometimes it’s best to rip the band aid off quickly. ?There is a very brief amount of pain but then it’s over. ?That has been the case with getting Thing 3 to do major new things. ? It’s how we got him to move from his crib to a bed. ?No slow transition, just cold turkey.
That was going to be our approach to potty training him last week. ?We had the marathon training session on Sunday, then sent him to daycare in underwear on Monday. ?He had some accidents but generally sat on the potty willingly.
Then came Tuesday. ?He went into meltdown mode when the teachers tried to get him to go potty. ?He screamed. ?He fought. ?There were reports of poop on the floor, and something about him pooping on a teacher’s hand (not something for which I wanted to ask for clarification). ?So on the teacher’s recommendation, we pulled the plug on potty training for a while.
Yeah, ripping the band aid off quickly works sometimes. ?But other times, the bandage is stuck to the wound, and pulling it off opens it back up and it starts bleeding. ?Metaphorically speaking, that’s what we got this week.
Anyone have any great potty training ideas for Thing 3? ?Maybe ask one of the potty training experts. ?Oh, wait, that’s supposed to be me.