Giveaways

In my world, free stuff = great. Free stuff that I already think is awesome or has rave reviews from a trustworthy source = uh, where can I sign up. . .now?

I'm getting into couponing, and in my searching around the internet for good deals, I happened to find The Bragging Mommy, a reviews, features, and giveaways site. The head bragging mommy, Heidi, and her team talk about lots of great kids/moms stuff, and they're very thorough in their personal reviews. I aspire to be like them someday; in my own personal vein of things, of course.

Now for the cool free thing: their Strider Running Bike Review also has a giveaway of a Strider Running Bike. Heidi writes a detailed description of how her toddler son has used and loved his Strider Running Bike, gives you a bullet point list of brag-worthy features, and has a giveaway where your entries make you learn more about the bike and of course, her blog. A little time and effort for a chance to win? Yes. But, if you're wanting to research a great product and get the info on other helpful stuff, it's worth it.

The Strider bike itself is something I wish they'd had when I was little. It's just like a small bike, but with no pedals. The hardest thing about learning to ride a 'real' bike is learning how to balance, and the Strider gives a child the opportunity to learn that skill in a fun, safe and confidence-building way. With training wheels, a regular bike just acts like a tricycle, so balance doesn't develop until the child is actually riding on their own....lots of opportunity for falls. Check out the video to see more.



Hope you think this giveaway and the Strider bike are worth looking into. Wait a minute... do I want more competition for winning the bike? ;)

It's Baby Signing Time!

I have a song stuck in my head. You know how it goes; you either hear a song or are reminded of it, and it replays in your thoughts until something else (sometimes another song) finally kicks it out. I've had some pretty useless songs caught in my head, but I'm glad to have the one up there now. It's the theme song to the Baby Signing Time Vol. 1 DVD where all the songs help you and your baby learn signs in American Sign Language (ASL) that a young child would be most likely to use.

I'd wanted to teach my daughter Samantha how to sign because I'd heard how much it helped child/parent communication and lessened frustration on both sides, but I felt intimidated by how to actually learn ASL myself and how to help a baby learn it too. Plus I wondered if it really did work.

Enter the Baby Signing Time DVDs. My library had them, and once Sam and I started watching, I was hooked. Watching the teacher, Rachel, we saw how to do the signs for words like eat, drink, milk, water, cracker, mommy, daddy, dog, cat, diaper and more demonstrated in easy and memorable ways. Each song that taught the signs showed several toddlers signing each word and showed kids doing something having to do with the sign, and adorable cartoon intros to each song made my daughter giggle. Sam's not a girl to get into videos, but she liked these.

Here's an example of how the sign for 'bird' is taught:

Baby Signing Time Vol. 1: It's Baby Signing Time - Preview from Signing Time on Vimeo.

Baby Signing Time made the signs so easy for me to remember, I was pleased at how quickly I could integrate them in how I talked with Samantha. When it was mealtime, I would tell her that it was time to eat and sign 'eat' at the same time, or ask her verbally 'would you like to eat?' while doing the 'eat' sign. As I'd give her bites of food, I'd say things like 'you're eating!' and sign 'eat', and 'yes, we eat cereal' (of course signing 'eat'). At first, this was a very deliberate action on my part to help reinforce my memory too, but after awhile I started signing 'eat' more naturally as I talked with my daughter. After awhile, she caught on, and she started signing 'eat' when she was hungry or in response to my questions of if she'd like to eat.

When she learns each sign, Samantha smiles and seems very happy with herself for learning how to do it, and that mommy and daddy understand her. Of course, sometimes she's happy because the sign gets her food or a toy more quickly, but who can blame her? ;)

Want to learn more about signing? I created a website about teaching your baby/toddler to sign that also includes more info about the Baby Signing Time and Signing Time series and other helpful resources.

Just have to show how my little cutie pie signs. Here she is signing 'more' to ask her grandpa to keep bouncing her in the water: