His obsession with Sprout TV

This post was once again inspired by Mama Kat's writing prompts. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to head on over to her site and get with it. Just kidding,not really, but you need to, its awesome. You sign up at her site and every Tuesday she will send you different prompts to blog about.  Once you get the prompt you want, you need to link to her site the following Thursday  and check out other awesome blogs, like this one and leave comments and as we all know the more love you give the more you will get in return,but I digress.

This week, one of the prompts was to  write a letter to  your  child's latest obsession and the reasons why you love or hate it.  So here it is a letter to my son's obsession: The Sprout channel.

Dear Sprout TV,

 I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the wonderful things you have taught Ralphy. He has learned to sing,dance and has even learned he's ABC's thanks to you. So I thank you.  I obviously love that your programming is geared to children, especially  to children he's age, so again I thank you.  There is really only one concern I have about this obsession and that is, when does it end? When do they move on? Please don't take this the wrong way,but if I hear the theme song to firemen Sam one more time, I think I will scream.

I must clarify that when I mean obsessed, I mean he is crazy-over the top -excited when he hears the theme songs for the wiggles or firemen Sam or Nina and star, Calliou, Angelina the ballerina ( or whatever her name is). As you can tell, he loves every show, at every minute of the day. In the mornings, he watches the Sunny side up show and  before bed time he watches Nina and Star. When does it stop? The other day I was at work and I had the  theme song to firemen Sam in my head! Seriously, I love you,but this needs to end. Thank God he goes to preschool because if not, I think I would have a real problem.

Oh and did  I mention, he can only watch it on the big TV of the house because that's where  we have the cable box, so hubby and I are stuck watching the smaller TV and no  we can't switch the box to the other TV, how dumb do I look? Don't answer that.

Sincerely,

Alex

Go ahead and tell me, what's your child's obsession?

Too young for good manners?

source

If you are a mom of a toddler, like myself, you know that your child transforms when they turn 3, what do I mean? Well, Ralphy for example, loved to be held, loved for me to giving hugs and kisses. Now, I ask for a kiss and he replies with  " wait mommy, I'm watching this."  I know this may sound funny, but I am as serious as a heart attack. Its like, they get brave and they think they're all grown up and don't even get me started on the talking back, but I digress.

Ralphy is a normal kid, I really can't complain. Now that he is starting to have a social life, like birthday parties and play dates, we are trying to teach him to be nice and to say please and thank you and he is usually pretty good with that. Side story- the other day, we saw one of our neighbors and we were about to get in  the elevator and the neighbor said " hello Ralphy" and  Ralphy said " hi" and shook his hand . The neighbor was so impressed and couldn't believe that he knew how to shake hands " like a man", at such a young age.  I had a very  proud mommy moment to say the least, but I do have to give daddy credit for that one.

That incident got me thinking that I really want Ralphy to be a well behaved kid. What mom doesn't right? Don't get me wrong, I know that kids will be kids, but I want him to be able to be polite. Consequently, I checked my email the other day and I received an article from Baby Center  and what do you think the it was about?  yup, Manners.  It basically talks about how its  important to  teach them the basics,without overdoing it and to have patience.

I don't want to be one of those moms that expect their kids to be still and not move a muscle, but there are a few things  that I would love for Ralphy to learn, like for example, to use please, thank you and excuse me when necessary  and the way we do that is by practicing  it at home. Practice makes perfect after all and like  my mom always said to me " if  he doesn't do it at home, he will not do it in public."

For more interesting articles and useful advice visit Baby Center and register to get the newsletters in your inbox regularly.

I would love to hear what you guys have to say.  When do you think its a good age to start teaching  good manners? I happen to think that the earlier  you start, the better.

 So, here is to our wonderful and well behaved little munchkins, well sometimes. :)

Kisses and Hugs,


*** NOTE*** Please keep in mind this is a source that I personally use  find very useful. I'm sure there are tons out there, please feel free to share.



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Missing my baby

At the end of this month my little man will be turning 3.  Where does the time go?  Is it me or does the time go by faster when you're a parent?   I've come to the conclusion that it does.    I remember the day he was born like if it was yesterday. OMG I sound  like my mother.

I know I sound selfish when I say this, but I will say it anyways, I miss my baby! I know, I know he will always be my baby, no matter what  and this is true, but I miss my baby.  I miss his fat little hands and feet, I miss him falling asleep on my chest, I miss  that baby laugh and giggles. I miss feeding him baby food and  the mess he used to make. I miss this face:

Its so important to enjoy them to the fullest when they are babies because they  don't stay babies long.

Do you think  time does go by faster now that you are a parent? How do you cope with the whole growing up thing? Or I'm I the only one having a hard time with the fact that his a big  boy now?

Sprout

 I recently got this channel in my  cable package and all I have to say is Where have you been all my life? We all know, not too many things keep a toddler's  attention for more than 5 minutes or  for 5 seconds for that matter, until now.

I absolutely love this channel for 3 main reasons:  Its educational,  Ralphy finds it very entertaining and lastly, the programming is varied , which translates to Ralphy sitting still for more than 5 minutes at a time and if that's  not reason enough to love this channel than I don't know what is.

In the mornings, before school, Ralphy starts his day by watching The wiggles.   He loves them.  He loves to sing and dance to all of their silly songs.  At bed time, he loves watching The good night show, this is my particular favorite because in this part of the show, Nina shows  them the Spanish word of the day and a word in sign language.

 He also loves watching, Caillou and thank God that they have him on demand because they only show him in the middle of the day and right before bed time. I never thought I would say this, but I think his over the Disney channel, shocking I know. There is life after Disney, sorry Mickey Mouse Club house, it was good while it lasted.

Do your kids watch this channel? Do they love it as much as  Ralphy does? Do you love it as much as I do? I feel like I have been living under a rock because I just discovered it, but better late than never  right?

* Disclaimer- this post is based only on my opinion and experience. I am in no way being  compensated*