Thursday, September 13, 2012

iphone crack

So I got James potty trained..but now he's addicted to my iphone and the ipad at papa's house. We walk into their house and he says, "ipad?" before he even says hi. If I set my phone down he's picked it up and run off to his "hiding" spot to play a game. It's just amazing how it draws him in and keeps his attention! He is suppose to only use it when he's going potty and we set a timer so he knows when he has to be done. There are times, like Saturday mornings, when he sneaks in my room at 6:15am and I want to sleep longer so I let him climb in bed with me and I hand him the phone (just 5 more minutes, please!!) And at papa's house he gets on it for 10 minutes after we get there and then he's done for the night. So I have set limits on it..it's not like he's on it all day long (although he would be if I let him. And there are some days I'm tempted to!), but I just worry he's going to grow up glued to the screen!

It actually all started because he was looking through the pictures on my sister's phone. He loves pictures so it started out so innocent! Then she took a video of him and he wanted to watch it. So he really loves to look through the pictures and videos, but I got a little bored looking through those 100 times (because I hold the phone for him while he's on the toilet.) so I found some apps for him. And he enjoys these too, of course.

So..I thought I'd share with you his favorite apps! In case, you know, you want to potty train your kid! Or sleep 5 more minutes on Saturday morning! I haven't paid for any apps..I've only gotten the free version. You can pay $0.99 to get the full version and you get a lot more variety on them, but that's up to you!

1. Baby First puzzle Farm lite: James can drag that piece to the correct spot every time.

 
2. Baby Touch to Hear Lite: You click on an instrument and it says the name of the instrument and then plays music from that instrument. His favorite is the Balalaika! At least he's building his vocabulary! :)
 
3. Baby Touch to Hear Lite:  This one is like the instrument app. You click on an animal and it gives you the name of the animal and the sound it makes.
 

4. The Wheels on the Bus: All in one Educational Activity Center and Sing Along- There are 9 games on here. Memory cards, puzzles, spelling, coloring pages, math, racing game, piano,and recognition vocabulary,
 




















 

5. E Flash Spanish: These one has 11 categories of flash cards..including colors, body parts, foods, animals, abcs, transportation, numbers, clothing, and furniture. It shows a picture of the item, plays the corresponding sound, and then says the word in Spanish. 
-I've been trying to find a Spanish app that I like better. I wished it gave the English word first and then the Spanish word. It also lets you scroll to the next flashcard before it says the Spanish word so he doesn't always wait to hear it before he scrolls to the next one. But this one is free!
 
6. Phone 4 kids: This one also has a couple different games you can play on it. There is a painting button, seasons, abcs, compass, texting keyboard, and number keypad.
 

  
 
Good Luck!! And I'm warning you..they'll be hooked!! Let me know if you know of any fun apps!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

5 months

Aren't these pictures adorable?! It's like he's modeling! He is such a sweetheart and so cute! I was so happy with the pictures I got of him today! He is growing up so fast. I feel like he's been in baby stage a lot longer than James was (partly because James looked so old with his teeth at 3.5 months!) but also because Eli is just starting to roll over, and he's much more of a cuddlebug! I love that he will just let me hold him, but it is hard while chasing James around the house! He is still a mommy's boy too! He does better with someone else holding him if it's during the day, but still it's not for too long before he's screaming for me again!

 
Here's what else he's up to:
 
-I weighed him today and he was 16.2 lbs and measured at 28.5 inches. So long!
 
- Sleeping from about 9-3 or 3:30ish. So about the same. I was hoping this would improve, but it looks like it's not going to change until I get some baby cereal in him. I wasn't going to start that til 6 months though, so another month of waking up!
 
-He's taking 3-4 naps a day. He's a cat napper! He will take a 2-3 hour nap every once in awhile, but it's usually 30 minutes here and there! And he also likes me to put him to sleep before I lay him down..so he might be a little harder to train when we do the cry it out method (once I know he's eating enough baby food to keep him full through the night). such a cuddle baby!!
 
-Rolling over! 2 days before he turned 5 months he was rolling over all day! He's rolling from tummy to back so it's hard to keep him on his tummy for his neck exercises!
 
-Loves watching James play. Laughs and laughs at James. I have the best video of this, but it's not loading so I guess I'll just put it on facebook.
 
-His physical therapy appointment went well the other day. She thought the 15 degree limitation he had the first time we went in was almost completely gone. She wanted him to be able to hold it to the left a little longer than he was, but still doing a lot better. Now we are working on strengthening the muscle that was so stretched out. I can see a difference already, so I'm happy with how everything is going. The physical therapist also said she isn't worried about his head shape. She said it will round out now that his neck isn't stiff and now that he'll be off of it more during the day. So although I am still constantly thinking, "keep him off his head!" all day long I am relieved she thinks it will round out.
So thank you so much for your prayers!!
 
I can't believe it's September already. The summer is winding down, but we are staying busy! We have a lot of trips coming up so stay posted!! My prayer this summer was to enjoy the little moments and be able to sit still instead of feeling like I have to always be going (because there are plenty of times we have to be going going that I don't need to create more of them!) I feel like I have done a pretty good job of that this summer. There have been so many sweet moments between Eli and James that wouldn't have happened if we weren't just sitting in the basement playing together.