The Mom Crowd

“Mo-om, can I play on the computer?” How many of you hear that everyday?

How old are your kids and do you let them play on the computer?  My 4 and 5 year old enjoy games and activities on the computer.  Isaac, my 4 year old, would play everyday if I let him–which isn’t a bad thing per say.  He would also watch tv all day if I let him.  I probably would too if I weren’t responsible for taking care of the house and 3 kids–if you ever come over sometime you would probably wonder when I take care of the house (based on the tornado design of it all) but that is a whole other topic! I digress. Anyway, I don’t like to have the kids watch an hour of tv and also get sucked into playing on the computer for another hour.  I’m curious about what other parents allow their kids to play on the computer and how much time you give for computer time. When do you let your kids play on the computer?

My two favorite websites for kids are PBSKids and Starfall.  PBS Kids has a TON of games (educational and plain fun) based on all the kids shows that air on PBS.  My boys love playing Martha Speaks, Word World (one of my own favorite cartoons), and Super Why.  Curious George also has some fun videos they enjoy watching.  I like how it is good, clean fun and they are learning about words, matching, science, and how to pay attention to details.

StarFall is a new discovery that I learned about from another mom friend of mine.  StarFall is a website that helps kids learn how to read, learn letters, sounds etc.  It is AMAZING!  Isaac started on the reading games and has worked his way through several of the games one by one. In just a few weeks of playing around on the website he is reading a lot more than he was before.  He has a knack for reading though–and the website has been a way to nurture his love for learning how to read.  My 5 year old enjoys the games too but he usually doesn’t ask to play the “reading website”.  He also hasn’t had as much time to poke around on it.

Another website I let them play on (one time) was Hasbro.  Hasbro has some really fun things on it–like G.I. Joe and Spiderman cartoons. They have some matching games and puzzles too but I knew that once they discovered cartoons were just a click away it would all go downhill from there.  The cartoons are so cool–but honestly, I’d rather them play educational games.  What can I say, I’m one of those “let your kids be nerdy” moms.  Hasbro also has a Connect Four game.  I didn’t show the kids that one–I bookmarked it and play on the rare occasion when I have nothing else to do. Which is never.  I can usually be found poking around on Facebook for my computer time.  And there is always something else I should be doing.  Again, a whole other topic- (Coming soon-What Do You Do To Escape From Your Kids?).

So, what do you think about kids and the computer?  How much is too much?  Should you avoid it as long as possible? What fun sites do you let your kids play on? Share with the rest of us!

I will hopefully have my second baby anytime in the next 4 weeks. As most of you moms know, having a baby takes time away from your normal daily activities. So I may not be able to post as much as I normally would. I am incredibly thankful for my friends McKenna, Dawn, and Amelia who will be posting as usual and stepping up their posts to cover a few extra days for me. We would also love to hear from you! Are you interested in guest posting on The Mom Crowd?

If you are a regular reader of our blog you know that our posts are helpful, encouraging, informative, and inspiring. In the very least we try to be entertaining. We don’t cuss here or bad mouth other folks. We write a lot about pregnancy, being green, labor and delivery, moms in pop culture, and anything related to current state of our children.  Almost anything parenting related is on the table to be discussed.

If you are interested in guest posting you can email me (Amanda) what topic you would like to write about or the full text of your post at Amanda [at] themomcrowd.com. To keep the integrity of our site we will have to approve your post before it can be published. We are looking to fill in a few days in March. Please let me know by Feb. 28th and we will get back with you about guest posting.

Like all guest posts we will write a little intro about you and your blog (if you have one.) You can include a head shot or logo if you would like.

I can’t wait to hear what kind of topics are on your minds and hear from your perspective. I think getting my blog in order is part of my “nesting” in getting ready for the baby. I need to go wash some onesies now. 

It seems like we go in seasons of which of our two children is better behaved and easier to deal with.  It is now the season of the two year old!  We are watching as our two year old, Connor tries to exert more and more independence.  While he is ultra snugly and enjoyable 20-22 hours each day, there are blocks of each day that are exhausting, wearing, and just plain ole’ not fun.  The hardest block of time each day is when he first wakes up.  He wakes up crying and calling for me, so, I walk into my bundle of sunshine’s room with a “good morning, sweetie” and a smile on my face, only to be greeted affectionately with a “No, Mommy. I want Daddy.”  As the parent of a 4 year old who has speech delays, I can’t help but note to myself that my smarty pants son just said a five word utterance, complete with negation, a pronoun, two proper nouns, and was also spontaneous, unsolicited and meaningful.  I am snapped out of my daydream by a door shutting in my face.  I typically leave him in his room and let him know that he can come downstairs to have his breakfast and his sopping wet diaper changed when he’s ready.

While preparing breakfast for my four year old daughter, my son will make his presence known by standing at the end of the hallway leading into our kitchen/dining area and scowls at us waiting to see who is going to tick him off first.  I know better than to make eye contact with him, because I know that once eye contact is made I will turn to stone, he will throw a temper tantrum from high heaven.  However, after a few moments of avoiding eye contact and avoiding acknowledgment of his presence, I will inevitably breathe wrong or give his sister the bowl he wanted with his cereal or Darah will sneeze and our peaceful morning has once again been interrupted.  I typically ignore the tantrum once it ensues and try to reward him only when he is asking nicely for his cereal and milk, which eventually will happen some days.  However, when it doesn’t happen in a timely manner, I usually take him back up to his room and state that that he can join his sister and I when he’s ready to calm down.  By this time, my happy four year old is in a bad mood because she’s listened to her baby brother’s tantrum.  After about thirty-forty five minutes of two year old mood-swings, all is well and I have a happy two year old until nap time approaches.  Then, the cycle repeats itself.  Although, the nap time mood-swings are quicker and less painful because the root of these tantrums is tiredness, so he goes to bed without much fight.  Some days, he wakes up happy from his nap and we have a nice afternoon and other days, he wakes up from his nap like he wakes up each morning: ready to fight!

I struggle with knowing how to respond to his tantrums.  I am afraid of rewarding the behavior with attention, even if it’s negative attention.  I also don’t expect him to be happy all the time and am somewhat ok with him being mad or frustrated with me or whatever is making him upset.  It is very important to me that my children feel safe with being upset or mad, however what they do in that anger is what is punishable  I have justified his behavior to myself that his behavior is normal due to the communication frustration he and every other 2 year old encounters.  However, this behavior is becoming more and more frequent and I want to nip it in the bud and re-establish my role as parent.  I have watched myself begin to avoid discipline with my son and avoid situations that are sure to set him off.  Most offenses requiring discipline are black-and-white for me and are easy for me to correct and train him.  For example, when I remind him not to throw his food and he disobeys, I am not hesitant to follow through with the consequence he was warned about {yes, I’m ending my sentence with a preposition.}  It’s the unexplainable tantrums for no reason that are a little more abstract for me.  I think it’s because I don’t know what exactly I’m punishing.  I just want to help him get through these emotions with better, more tolerable, coping skills and end these tantrums.

Do your kids wake up mean and grouchy?  How did you handle the two year old tantrums?  Do you feel like you are walking on egg shells around your toddler, afraid of what is going to set them off next?

I have mentioned before that I am currently in the process of picking baby names for my second little one coming in 4 weeks. We didn’t find out the gender so we have to pick out a boy and a girl name. It is one of the most exciting and difficult parts of having children. That is a lot of a pressure on a parent! Luckily I have a stack of baby name books to help me in the process. I like going to my library and checking out almost every baby name book they have. Here is a review of the stack currently sitting on my desk.

• “Cool Names for Babies” by Pamela Redmond Satran & Linda Rosenkrantz

‘Cool Names’ is a book of lists broken down into four different categories: Mainstream Names, Famous Names, Old Names, and Creative Names.  There is a February 2008 edition with a turquoise cover and an August 2003 edition with a red cover. Both are great sources if you are trying to find a name that is a little off the grid. Some of the lists are titled, “Old Lady Cool,” “Neo-Yuppie Cool Names,” and “Foreign Word Names.” Some of the names are completely off the wall, but it is a fun short book to look through.

• “50,000+ Baby Names! The Baby Name Bible” by Pamela Redmond Satran & Linda Rosenkrantz

’50,000+ Baby Names!’ is a great companion book to the authors’ other book ‘Cool Names’ because you can find a name in ‘Cool Names’ and then look up the definition of the name in the this book. It is also a good baby name book just to read through. I like that it puts a gray box and star next to up-and-coming names. It also has an arrow facing up or down next to names to indicate the trend in popularity. In addition to the definition of the name it also gives an opinion about the name and how it is interpreted in our current culture.

• “A World of Baby Names” by Teresa Norman

We found our first child’s name, Annabelle, in this book. It was sitting in our doctor’s office and my husband was reading through the Spanish section during a visit and found ‘Anabel.’ We decided to go with the most traditional spelling, but I like how this book is broken down into the origin of the name and gives a whole definition of a name. ‘A World of Baby Names’ is comprehensive and has a lot of names from foreign countries.

• “Puffy, Xena, Quentin, Uma : And 10,000 Other Names for Your New Millennium Baby” by Joal Ryan

I picked this one up from the library, because it looked interesting. It is not very comprehensive at all. Each chapter titled by a letter begins with advice in a section called ‘Crib Notes’ which contains comments on famous names, ‘Pocket Ts,’ ‘Trendy Suspenders,’ and ‘Think long, think hard.’ Unfortunately this advice is out of date ten years after being published. It also doesn’t seem to give full definitions of the names. Overall this book is okay, but I wouldn’t use it as my sole source of baby name information.

• “20,001 Names for Baby” by Carol Mcd. Wallace

I found this book in my coat closet left by the previous owners of my house. They knew that we were buying a 4 bedroom to fill it up with kids. They themselves had four children and moved out because the house became too small for them. It seems that I live in a fertile house! ’20,001’ was published in 1999 and is a no-fuss, easy to read baby name book. It has all the mainstream and common names and is great for a quick resource to look up a definition rather quickly.

It seems that I am obsessed with baby name books. I also like looking through them at Barnes and Nobles. I brought them all with me to the hospital when I gave birth to my first one, so we could pick a middle name. I am determined to have a first and middle name chosen before we go into labor this time!

Do you live in San Antonio and want some fabulous photos of your kids? You should check out Boerne’s premiere children’s portrait artist, Amy at Shutter Happy Photography. She is hosting free photography sessions between now and March 31st for a National Model Search. You can check out the details here. You can also find out more information about booking for Easter photographs and bluebonnet photos at her blog!