Category Archives: montser

The human body is “so TOOL!”

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Thank you to LeapFrog for sponsoring this review. For more information about the LeapFrog Tag Human Body Discovery Pack, please visit their website #LeapFrogTag #spon

{Where tool = cool}

That was Rylee’s reaction after spending some time with LeapFrog’s Tag Human Body Discovery Pack.

The Human Body Discovery pack was sent along with the “Getting Ready for Kindergarten” book. And like that one, Rylee loves it!

This one is a little bit different format…a fold out board as opposed to a book…and each panel teaches concepts about the human body like the digestive system, respiratory & circulatory systems, the nervous system and more, then uses a game to reinforce each concept.

While I think this particular set is still a little bit too advanced for Rylee right now, we were able to use the time to play/learn together. For example, for the skeletal system game, when it asked her to point out where on the body certain bones were, I gave her hints on her own body and she then pointed to the correct bone on the board.

She was obsessed with the “poop noises” the digestive system panel played when she used the Tag Reader to point to an organ. {No, it doesn’t actually make poop noises, Rylee just thinks poop is hilarious and uses any excuse to actually say poop. FUN.}

LeapFrog Human Body Discovery Pack

The set even comes with a growth chart and interactive stickers, like organs and glow in the dark bones. The growth chart also has fun songs about hand washing, teeth brushing and staying active.

Her favorite part of the whole set is the “Making Healthy Choices” game…where you go through your day and along the way you are asked questions about staying healthy, {questions about healthy eating, teeth brushing and exercise}. If you answer the questions correctly, you get to go again. The first person to make it to the end of their day wins!

LeapFrog Human Body Discovery Pack_Making Healthy Choices Game

{For the record, I totally won the first time we played!}

For more info, you can check out this video:

I was selected for this opportunity as a compensated member of Clever Girls Collective and received free product from LeapFrog to review. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #LeapFrogTag #spon

Getting Ry Ready for Kindergarten with LeapFrog

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Thank you to LeapFrog for sponsoring this review.  For more information about LeapFrog Tag Get Ready for Kindergarten, please visit their website #LeapFrogTag #spon

I swear everywhere I turn lately I’m hearing about “Kindergarten Readiness”…on the news…in Andy’s teacher magazines…Ry’s preschool’s newsletter. So, when I learned about the opportunity to try LeapFrog’s Get Ready for Kindergarten book, I jumped at the opportunity.

At 4 years old, Rylee has got a good grasp on numbers, what sounds different letters make and she’s been writing her name since she was 3 and a half. Andy worked a little bit with her on reading this summer…she’s still got a ways to go with that, but is starting to put letter sounds together and every once in a while she’ll surprise us by reading a word.

She loves all things technology lately and she loves to play school and pretty much all things learning related so I knew she’d love the Tag Reader system and the “Get Ready for Kindergarten” book.

When it arrived, she was napping and I’m not even kidding within 2 minutes of waking up she was excited to try it out! She played with it until it was time for dinner.

The entire system was really intuitive for her and every page there was something new to discover!

LeapFrog Tag Reader Get Ready for Kindergarten

I love how sturdy the pages are…not easily torn.

LeapFrog Get Ready for Kindergarten

 Her favorites pages were…

“Monster Math” where she worked on basic addition & which monster had more candy.

The “ABC Snacktime” where she worked on her letters and letter sounds.

And “My Community” where she identified what kinds of activities/who works at different places in the community such as a library, zoo and hospital.

LeapFrog Tag Get Ready for Kindergarten

A few of the other pages were still a bit above her head, but that just gave us opportunities to work on the skills together.

Long story short, the girl loves it. She loves it so much she’ll ask to turn off cartoons so she can “play her special book”. She even packed it up to take to Grammy’s house the other day just so she could show her how “TOOL” {aka: cool} it was.

I was selected for this opportunity as a compensated member of Clever Girls Collective and received free product from LeapFrog to review. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #LeapFrogTag #spon

Trying to keep things fun for the Monster

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Since Reese has been born, I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to spent one-on-one time with Rylee.

Sometimes it works out, other times? Not so much.

The other day Andy was busy running errands or something. It was just the girls & I pretty much all day. Things started out okay, but then took a turn for the worse when I was feeding Reese and Ry needed or wanted something and/or wasn’t happy with the answer I was giving her. I was determined to make sure the rest of the day didn’t keep that momentum so I thought fast and decided that as soon as I was done feeding Reese, we’d head outside and do a photo scavenger hunt with Ry and her camera.

I quickly thought of some clues, scratched them them out on a piece of paper and explained the rules to Rylee. I would tell her the clue. She had 60 seconds to find the item/take a picture of it. Each photo was worth 10 points. If she got 100 points she’d get a “special prize”.

She LOVED the idea. So much so, that she wanted to do a practice run while I was still feeding her sister. Her attitude did a complete 180. I found some extra stores of patience. She ran out some major energy. Reese napped in the Ergo the entire time. And the day turned out awesome.

She came up with these all on her own! And for the record, she won the special prize of some Hello Kitty nail polish.

Somethings taller than you…{a tree}

Something Red…{the Buick}

Something Pink…{her sunglasses…I took this pic, so she only got half points. ;) }

Something Hot…{the sun} {Apparently Ry’s toddler tough camera is not a fan of the sun}

Something Yellow…{on my shoes}

Something you can eat…{pears from our pear tree}

Something you can climb on…{her play structure}

Something that smells good…{a flower} {this is totally a weed but I gave it to her anyway. haha}

Something Stinky…{her feet…she giggle uncontrollably while taking this photo!}

Something Blue…{the farm truck}

Something smaller than you…{SISTER!!}

Something you can drive…{the tractor}

Something that crawls…{this fly}

Something Brown…{the chair}

Something Round…{the brick}

Conclusion: Best spur of the moment made up game ever!

 

Then I got slapped upside the head with boob talk.

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So the other night, Andy randomly said to me, “You know you’re the one talking to the kid about breastfeeding, right?”

Of course, I nonchalantly replied, “of course…”

When in actuality, in my head I was thinking, “Oh SHIT, you’re right! How did I not think about this before!?”

Rylee is at that stage where she gets things, but doesn’t quite get them. Where she says things but maybe shouldn’t.

She currently thinks “penis” is a bad word and whispers it when saying something like “daddy goes pee from his penis” {insert nervous 4 year old giggles here}. I always respond in a “kid, it’s really no big deal, every guy has a penis and that’s just how they pee” type answer, but yea…I think you get where I’m going with this…

Breastfeeding…

I nursed Rylee for nearly her whole first year. That’s my plan this time around too. It’s obviously going to come up. It sort of already has…Ry talked about getting to feed baby sister in the hospital. I started laying the groundwork by letting her know that for a while only mommy will be feeding baby sister, but she will get to soon. Too vague? Perhaps.

She’s a naturally curious kid. She’s never been around breastfeeding. It’s obviously a natural thing and nothing to be ashamed of, but I’m pretty modest when it comes to things like breastfeeding. With Ry I nursed almost exclusively in her bedroom. If we were anywhere not home, I always had my Hooter-Hider ready to go and I always found an out of traffic area to feed her. And let’s be honest, to a 4 year old who has never been exposed to it, it’s not necessarily the norm. The last thing I want to do is make a big deal about it. But I also don’t want to make such a “no big deal” thing about it that she’s telling everyone she sees, strangers and all, “My mommy feeds my sister with her boobs.” Because I can totally see her doing that. You know what I mean?

Should I be talking to her more about it before sister is born? What do I say? Have you been in this situation? How did you deal with it? Were there books you read to your kiddo? Clips on youtube? Am I making this into a way bigger deal than it should be?

HALP!

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