Gift ideas

Over the holidays, my children were spoiled with all sorts of gifts from family. My daughter especially made out well, since her first birthday was just a few days before Christmas. Everything they got was great, but here are some of my personal favorites that the kids got.

My mom got my 3 year old the Disney Me Reader. My son picked up on how to use it really

easily. The child just pushes the button of which book they want to read. Then each page has a shape at the top, so there will be a little *ding* to indicate it's time to turn the page, and push the button that matches the top of the next page. He loves that he can "read" the book on his own, and loves getting to push the matching buttons.

It totally reminds me of elementary school back in the day, and having those massive headphones and the tape player, and you'd listen along with the book and it would make that little *ding* when it was time to turn the page.

For my daughters first birthday, my sisters got her the "My Pal Violet" (They also have My Pal Scout for the fellas). She is still a little too young to appreciate it, but let me tell you, I appreciate

it!! It's seriously the coolest thing.

You hook up the "pal" to your computer, go to their website and program it specifically for your child. It says the child's name (and my child's name isn't at all common, and they still had it on their list). You also pick your child's favorite food, pet, songs, etc so that the "pal" talks about those things. It also plays up to 15 minutes of bedtime music. It's the cutest thing!

My son also got a VTech MobiGo Touch Learning System. I was very hesitant to get this for him because I am so paranoid about him getting addicted to this kind of stuff. (Seeing as how he knows how to use my husbands smart phone waaaay more efficiently than I do because of how much he plays with it) But it's been great. There aren't many games on the actual game system, but he had a lot of fun with them. We also got him the Cars game, which has helped him a lot with learning letters. You can also download games off of their website. He's really enjoyed having it, and we've really enjoyed having something to keep him busy during desperate times.

So if you are looking for gifts for some of the children in your lives, I highly recommend all of those!

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Take a look, it's in a book

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Reading to our children is one of the most important things we can do for our kids. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), twenty-six percent of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently. They also report that children who are read to frequently are more likely to:

--count to 20, or higher than those who were not

-- write their own names

--read or pretend to read

Plus,

• The more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students are in reading proficiency, according to the Educational Testing Service.
  
  
• The Educational Testing Services reported that students who do more reading at home are better readers and have higher math scores.

If that doesn't make you want to read to your child, I don't know what will. But I will be honest, reading to my son wasn't easy. He was busy, and wasn't all that interested in sitting still long enough for me to read a book. Even short ones. But we made sure all sorts of children's books were available for him to play with and look at, and he finally came around...with one book in particular.

He would have me read "Moo, Baa, La La La" by Sandra Boynton over, and over, and over....and over. For months upon months it was his favorite book. I continued to buy books by Sandra Boynton, and they have continued to be his favorite.

After "Moo, Baa, La La La" he was all about "Blue Hat, Green Hat", and then he moved on to "But Not the Hippopotamus". After that he was all about "What's Wrong, Little Pookie?" and his current favorite is "Fifteen Animals."

The books are fun, help him learn, and keep me entertained as well. So if you are in the market for some new books for your new addition, definitely give these a try. They have also made perfect gifts for friends and family having babies

What are some books that your child just can't live without?

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