singing her phone number and saving money

Hard to believe, but NHV is heading to Kindergarten in the Fall.  Like in less than seven months from now!  Don't ask me how that's possible.  So I've been somewhat interested in {slightly obsessed with} all things kindergarten.  Most recently, I've been trolling readiness checklists ... great idea, btw.  I love a list ... crossing off things she knows and highlighting skills we can work on.  Makes me feel productive and efficient, and it allows me to focus my energy on something other than crying about the fact that my baby will be going to "real" school.

One of the items on aforementioned checklists is knowing your phone number.  We don't have a home phone, and I never really thought about teaching Natalie our cell phone numbers.  But I can certainly see the benefit of her knowing that information should the need arise {major and unexpected foreshadowing here}.

I taught my four year old to sing my cell phone number to the tune of Frère Jacques.  Using the regular breaks in a phone number, sing each part twice ... like this:

425

425

123

123

4567

4567

That's my phone number.

That's my phone number.

Fast forward to about a week later.  Grammy is here for a visit, and when she's here she insists on cooking {more food than we will ever be able to consume} and buying groceries.  Natalie went with Grammy to our neighborhood market, and it was a good thing she did.  Our market has an "advantage" card, which gets you discounts on "items throughout the store."  And the card is tied to my phone number.  You see where this is going, right?  They got to the check out, and my mom realized she didn't have my card or her cell to look up my phone number.  

Natalie sang the number, which consequently saved my mom almost $13!  Way to go, NHV!

Cheap Entertainment

It's been said - I don't know who said it, but I am sure I heard it somewhere - that there's nothing like a cheap thrill.  Well, how about some cheap entertainment for your littlest one?!

Brought home a St. Patty's Day helium balloon for NHV.  She gave it about two minutes of her attention.  Yeah, it's green.  Yeah, it floats. Oh, the smiley face is cute.  Okay, done.

What I quickly noticed was that CJV couldn't take her eyes off of it.  She would strain her neck to watch it float by.  Her eyes would focus on it, and the rest of the world seemed to just fade away.  And then, from the far reaches of my MommyBrain, I remembered this idea mentioned during the Newborn and You class I attended with Natalie.  

Prop your baby on her boppy pillow and tie the ribbon of a helium balloon around her ankle*.

At the time, when I was sleep deprived and worried about every little thing, this seemed like such a unimportant tidbit, so I filed it away.  To be honest, I was much more focused on keeping my baby alive and less concerned about her having a good time.  Well, the second time around is different, folks.  Entertainment and distraction and occupation (keeping the little ones occupied) has become the name of the game.

Charlotte loves this little game.  With the ribbon secured around her ankle, every little movement of her foot causes the balloon to dance around.  She looks up at that balloon and kicks and amuses herself.

From a developmental standpoint, this exercise provides the chance to build visual focus and tracking as well as experience with cause-and-effect.  It could easily fall under the category of an Eebee Adventure for the youngest learners :)

Big Fat - Common Sense - Safety Disclaimer (CMA):  The ribbon should be tied loosely - don't want to cut off the circulation to her foot!  Your baby should always be closely supervised, especially with ribbon/string nearby.

The Ways Daddy Plays

When NHV was born, Chad was not exactly thrilled with our little warm lump.  Don't get me wrong, he loved and adored her plenty, but he was definitely counting down the days until she could actually interactive with him.  Don't all men love to play?

These past few weeks since CJV was born and my time has been completely consumed by carrying for our second "warm lump" ... daddy has come to the rescue - big time, especially when it comes to entertaining our toddler.  Clearly a two year old provides all the interaction he could ask for ... and more!  And I cannot tell you how impressed I am with the ways he plays.  His inventive, outside-the-box ideas give a whole new spin to how Natalie spends her time.  He teaches her about big concepts and has infinite patient with her.  Watching the two of them play - while I sitting around nursing and cuddling the newbie - really got me thinking about the evolution of daddy play ...

It all started with a little game called "What's on Daddy's Head?"  As Natalie mastered the fine art of crawling and started to pull up on furniture, Chad came up with an incentive to practice.  He'd sit on the floor, grab the nearest toy, and put it on his head.  Then he'd ask, "What's that on daddy's head?  That doesn't belong there; that's just silly."  Natalie would take off crawling toward him, pull up and grab the toy with great enthusiasm.  It was so much fun to watch.

Of course, his play repertorie has grown to include such favorites as ...

• Making breakfast food items out of Play-Doh
• Hide-and-seeking (with some pretty silly hiding spots)
• Running laps around the bottom level of our house while singing "She'll be Coming Around the Mountain"
• Building playgrounds and schools and airports out of foam and wooden blocks
• Making blanket forts and having pretend camp-outs
• Burying Natalie with every stuffed animal in the house
• Hanging her upside down (by her ankles) and using her as a "crane" to pick up toys off the ground

And then there are the more sophisticated - way over a two year old's head - science experiments that only an engineer could dream up ... like the most recent balloon bouyancy experiment.  Chad attached a yogurt cup to the string of my birthday balloon.  Together, Natalie and daddy tested how much weight could be loaded in the "basket"  ... what would make it sink, what would cause it to float all the way to the ceiling, ... and finally Chad's rate of liquid evaporation vs. deflation rate ... yeah, that one is even over my head!

Oh, and here's my super talented husband retrieving the stranded balloon from the two-story stairwell by ... get this ... tossing a tiny bouncy ball into the yogurt cup attached to the string ... and yes, he was successful!