Advanced Chore Charting: iAllowance App Review

iAllowance by JumpGap Software

I have been using this app for a couple of years now and I really love where it is headed. This parenting tool is incredibly versatile with amazing attention to detail. The developer truly cares. The most recent update really looks great with iOS 7. I really appreciate how the developer keeps on making improvements and he's also really receptive to feedback! Those are important qualities to me when deciding where to invest mine and my family's time and attention to an app such as this.

First, let me get my nit-picky criticisms out of the way:
• Customizable sounds would make this a 10-★ app!

• I wish I could make the sad face sound ☹ a little louder and the cha-ching sound a tad softer and have different sounds for stars, checks, coins or time. I just think it would help. (Think Pavlov.) It's the sounds that I find the most cumbersome yet. For example, I know I could just turn the sounds off or mute the loud sounds in the app's settings, but it doesn't seem to respond yet. (bug?) I like the audible feedback, I just wish it wasn't so loud. Sometimes I forget to turn the volume back up after using this app and then my alarm goes off and I barely hear it. I'm sure this could be tweaked in another update sometime or maybe I just need to use it differently; or maybe the Dev has something up his sleeve? It's quite possible!

Now, the accolades:
• This app is universal and looks great on all iOS devices. It is still supported on an iPhone 3GS running iOS 6 which is what my littlest learner is using.

• Try before you buy: there is a lite version and a full version along with incremental in-app purchases so you can really make it fit the needs of your family. An app that grows with you — imagine that!

• I use most all of the banking features and my Second Grader has a pretty clear picture of his total net worth right now — which is more than I can say for many college grads! (self included) He enjoys looking at the pie chart and we also show him his savings account where his Birthday and Christmas checks get deposited along with Gift Certificate balances. I use my iPhone and iPad for all of our banking, which includes snapping photos to deposit checks, so both my boys can see the entire banking process.

• Right now we're only using stars for my 4-yr old along with tracking his savings account. We began using iRewardChart with both boys when they were younger so the 4-yr old is especially fond of earning "good stars" and knows that "bad stars" (his term) mean a deduction. iRewardChart has great sounds which really got their attention. (I still recommend that app for a great introduction to using chore charts!)

• I recently started filling out the description section of individual "chores" in addition to using pictures. This is great because the 4-year old can "read" each item by looking at its picture icon (which you can choose your own or select from an in-app picture bank) and the 7-year old can practice his literacy skills by reading the descriptions I enter. This cuts down on the "but wah, you didn't tell me I had to do xyz."

• Pro-Tip: view this app on your Apple TV via AirPlay and it's a great way for the whole family to become involved with household contributions. Sometimes we ask our 7-year old to review his iAllowance on the big TV and then we discuss money, transactions and things he wants added to his rewards list together.

• The best part of this app is the syncing. (Unfortunately, there is no legacy support on older devices running iOS 4, but that's an Apple  issue, not the Dev.) The ability to sync with DropBox was a long-awaited triumph and well worth the wait. Now that our little ones have their own hand-me down iDevices, this app is that much better because now they are (mostly) in charge of checking off their own Contributions and good behaviors (or negative behaviors). I love how I can lock out each child on the other's device. Our 4-year old is oh so fond of giving his big brother time outs and wanting to x-off contributions his big brother did not fulfill! We gently remind him that only parents can decide on that, but I'm glad he understands the message about being accountable for contributions to the family! (I changed the "Chore" bank to "Contributions" as it just fits us better. Yes, you can call it whatever you like. Thumbs up for tweakability!)

• Reliable syncing is absolutely crucial if you're an iFamily. It works best when children are made accountable for their own input and then parents have the ability to approve that input with feedback despite which device it's queued up on. Parents who work different shifts or even a babysitter will see the value in this feature alone!

• Bottom line, you get out of this app what you put into it. It can be overwhelming in the beginning, but investing the time to populate and customize it is worth it. If you're consistent and diligent, you'll definitely see results by using this fantastic tool!

Download it or gift it today!

If you liked this review and you haven't yet signed up for DropBox, do me a huge favor and click this affiliate link which gives us bonus cloud space! https://db.tt/9vTsqNJu

Disclaimer: I was gifted the full version of this app by the developer for the purposes of a review but no other compensation has influenced any personal bias in favor of reviewing this software.

My Toddler Loves Photo Booth on iPad

And here I was wondering why the iPad was running out of space! Attack of TheKeaganator!

App Review: Max's Pirate Planet - A Board Game Adventure

This is our family review of the universal iOS app "Max's Pirate Planet - A Board Game Adventure." Whether playing together as a family of 4 or 1 on 1 or as a single player, this game has been fantastic fun for the whole family!

When we have visitors or play dates, this is the game the kids ask me to set up on the Apple TV to play and share with their friends.

We'd like to thank Slant Six Games for the loot, err, um, for gifting this app for a review!

Click here to get this game for your family, available on multiple platforms:

iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch devices, click here:


Android devices, click here:

Kindle Fire devices, click here:

Here is a home movie (10 minute sample) of one of our first game sessions together. As you can see, there was much delight. Even Keagan, our 3-year-old likes to play with assistance. It's nice to play a multi-player game where he doesn't feel left out for a change.

The graphics are beautifully drawn with careful attentions to detail. I love how the characters sail in their ships when crossing water, but get out and walk on dry land. The voice artists are top-notch. Game play is very smooth and not too predictable.

Form Factors
We have played this game on both an iPhone 4S and a 4th-generation iPad on the local screen as well as streamed to our Apple TV. Both form factors worked great. Playing it on the iPad is nice for when there are 2 players whether it's a parent and child or 2 siblings because of what I like to call the "Hand-Held Device Cuddle Factor." Personally, as much as I love to see my boys play physically with each other like little puppies, I also love to watch them cuddle up on the couch with each other to play a game on our iPad. Max's Pirate Planet encourages taking turns and cheering each other on with a healthy dose of friendly competition. This is something my 6- and 3-year-olds really need right now during these formative years.

Playing this game on the iPhone is more comfortable for 4 players passing the device around while viewing it together on the Apple TV. It's kind of like hot potato. When it came time to do a duel on the iPhone I was initially concerned with two fingers swiping on that smaller scree, but it worked surprisingly well I'm sure it had nothing to do with my ability to kick my husband's butt in the sword fighting challenge

Come On, Girls!
If I had one criticism it would only be to add more girl pirate characters from which to choose. As a mom in a house full of boys, I'm the only girl pirate here, Yarr!

Piratey Pirates
Normally, as a parent, I'm a bit squeamish about the idea of "encouraging" pirate culture, but I have to say, this app has done it tastefully in a fun way that doesn't encourage or promote violence. It allows the player to role play pirate-esque adventures in a creative, challenging and safe way. Even Skully the Skeleton manages to skip creeping me out. He's my oldest son's favorite character and he rushes to choose him each time we play. My younger son is in to all things red, so he loves Rusty the fox.

Go Ahead, Duel Me In.
My favorite part is dueling! I especially like sword fighting. I'd like to see other types of duels beyond just the two currently available: sword fighting and cannons. The family and I discussed what types of duels we'd like to see and we were immediately faced with the challenge of trying to avoid something that might promote violent behavior if not carefully planned out. Lucian, our 6 -year-old, suggested a pistol gun fight duel. We as parents couldn't think of a way game developers could avoid becoming mired in the whole gun violence issue we're currently facing as a nation here in the U.S. so we decided that wasn't something we could get behind suggesting as a feature request.

More Monsters, Please!
We all agreed that we'd like to see new monsters to challenge in future app updates. The current monsters are great — so great that we think the app developers will have fun coming up with more monster characters to eat us — uh — I mean — for us to beat for a chance to win treasure!

I really hope you consider either getting this app for your family or gifting it to a friend. It's a real...treasure!

Check out more from Slant Six Games Inc.

Adorable Little App: Check out Endless Alphabet

This is a new favorite of ours here at TheMacMommy headquarters,

(a.k.a, home and sick in bed recovering from the flu). This is a really fun app to entertain
the kiddos up on the Apple TV when beamed from your iPad or iPhone.
Let me know if you too giggle at the letter 'D' and how it says "duh duh duh duh."

Endless Alphabet Callaway Digital Arts Inc. Education 1123 Ratings

First Tooth

Sent from my iPad

Created using Pic Collage. http://pic-collage.com

Touch

Enlightened 2

Guest on TeacherCast Podcast #19 “Your Friendly Tech Department'

Listen to my guest spot on this podcast with Jeffrey Bradbury of TeacherCast
source link: http://podcast.teachercast.net/teachercast-podcast-19-your-friendly-tech-department/

Topics Covered:

• What is a school technician and why are they important to our school?
• What is the function of the school IT department?
• How many hats does an IT have to wear during the day?
• How is being an IT in the upper grades different than in the lower grades?
• What are some of the duties an IT does during the day?
• Grant Writing for Technology
• Who does the IT really work for?
• How can the IT department influence education?
• How should we support our IT department?
• Should schools be using Mac or PC?
• How can we go paperless in our schools?
• Why is it so difficult for teachers to work with technology when it is always breaking down?
• What are some general things that teachers can do to help out their local IT guy? (or gal!)

Check out Jeff's site: Teachercast.net for valuable education resources!

Guest Co-Host on Tech Moms Talk

I was a guest co-host for tonight's episode of Tech Moms Talk over on BlogTalk Radio. It was a lot of fun filling in for Lucretia Pruitt @GeekMommy and chatting with Monica Brady @MommyBrain about kids, technology, education, online safety, and our roles as geek parents. You can hear the audio using the embedded player on this post. Here is the link to tonight's Tech Moms Talk Show where you can listen, download or subscribe in iTunes. Tune in to Tech Moms Talk live every Tuesday Evening at 6:30PM PT / 9:30PM ET

TheMacMommy's Learning Links – where you can find links we mentioned in the show plus a whole lot more!

TumbleBooks

Starfall

AlphaBaby

Sesame Workshop

Zoopz

Guacamole Bowlee

I normally don't post about food or recipes. That's my husband's area of expertise, but I was too proud of this and had to share it. My friend Emily is going to be so proud of me! I can't wait till she sees this.

Ever since I moved out west, I have fallen in love with avocados. I had never even eaten one when I lived out east. I think I may have tried guacamole at a ChiChis restaurant maybe once, but it didn't leave an impression on me. I'm sure it's probably because the price of avocados are extremely high as compared to the sale prices out here in AZ.

I first got hooked when my sister-in-law made guacamole for us. Then I learned how to make it and now I am pretty much the designated Guacamole Queen in this family. I wear my crown very proudly. I have my own way of making it, which is different from the standard, but everyone loves my version of it and it never lasts long at a family gathering. The only thing I don't like about mine is that it's not as bright green like the kind you're used to seeing at the store. The reason is because I add red Hatch chili to mine so it gets a darker coloring to it.

Here is a picture that shows some of the ingredients I used in this batch. We had burrito night last week so this is the full spread of our dinner making items. If you live in the east, the tin of Old Bay seasoning might catch your eye. Yep, I even use a little bit of that in my guacamole just to make it all my own. That Old Bay is sent to me by my mother since it isn't as easy to find out here in AZ where they no nothing about a good clam chow-dah.

I called this post "Guacamole Bowlee" because that is what I've decided to name my new little kid's treat that I just made up for Lucian. When I was making guacamole last week, he was getting impatient for his share of the goods, so I just quickly grabbed one of the avocado skins I had scraped out and just put a scoop, chip and spoon into it. It made the perfect little bowl for him. Just his size and fits in the palm of his hand. He is now old enough to eat chips without choking but he is still getting the hang of using a spoon. He loved it so much, he had seconds and thirds!

You see, the boy just loves avocados. He would turn into one if we let him. It was the very second baby food he ever ate right after rice cereal. (Again, thanks to Emily and the fabulous book called Super Baby Food she gave us that taught us how to make our own baby food.) It turns out that avocados are one of the most perfect, natural baby foods you can give your child at any age starting as early as four months old. We started at six months old as seen in this photo of him.

Wow, this brings back memories. Poor little guy had such bad eczema back then. We had to really be careful which foods we introduced to him when.

While he was still in public day care, his eczema was so horrible to the point of almost bleeding. Once I started staying home with him, it cleared up because I kept on top of it. I also think that constantly having avocado smeared all over his skin helped too! There is also what looks to be oatmeal in this photo mixed in there too. And to think we women pay the big bucks for skin masks that have the same ingredients!!)

We made all of our own baby food and rarely bought store-brand. We only ever bought store-brand when we were going to travel and even that didn't really matter once we collected enough of the glass jars and lids to reuse with our own home-made variety. We loved making our own baby food for him. Nate took much pride in using his handy-dandy food processor. It was probably one of the better investments we've made when it comes to kitchen gadgets. I'm sure it has paid for itself well over by now.

One trick I enjoy sharing with new parents about to start feeding solids is avocado cubes as I like to refer to them. When baby is old enough for finger food and just beginning to master the pincer grasp, avocado cubes are perfect for this. Just take one avocado, slice in half and remove the pit. Instead of just scooping out the "meaty part" with a spoon or fork, instead, run your knife down vertically to create 4 cuts long-wise. Next, turn the avocado sideways and now run your knife down and make another few cuts to intersect so you have square-shaped cuts. Lastly, turn the avocado over so the skin side is facing you. Pinch near the center and squeeze gently to pop the cubes out onto a plate. There you have it! The perfect baby food that grows with your baby's needs for feeding!

Apple of My Eye

I've been wanting to post this video clip for some time now. It's one of my favorite memories from our cross-country road trip this past summer. It's a little home movie of us and our visit to the Boylston Street Apple Store in Boston, MA. I hope you enjoy it.


Apple Store Visit from TheMacMommy on Vimeo.

One of the many highlights of our cross-country road trip this summer (July 2008) was a visit to the Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston, MA. Lucian was just learning how to navigate steps so the glass spiral staircase was a real treat! It was lots of fun watching him play with an iPod Touch. Someday, maybe we'll have one of our own.

P.S.
I swear I did not coach him to say "Apple" but I'm hoping Steve Jobs will find it cute anyhow.



Toddler Tech

Hand-Made Mac Tip No. 6
Toddler-Proofing Your Mac with AlphaBaby

I want to tell you about one of my most favorite Mac applications for kids. It's called AlphaBaby and it's a FREE download. It really came in handy before, during and after our recent cross-country road trip. This application is loaded on all three of the computers in our home. We have a G4 in the office, an iMac in Lucian's room and the MacBook Pro - everywhere. The laptop and the iMac each have a separate user account created just for Lucian with almost identical preferences set. Daddy's G4 has the AlphaBaby icon readily accessible in the Dock.


Ready
You may remember in a previous post how I detailed setting up a separate user account for your child on your Mac. (I plan on revising that tutorial for OS X 10.5 Leopard once I finally decide on which screencasting application I want to use.)

Set
I can not tell you how many times this app has come in handy. You can customize the application for different age groups so when Lucian was an infant, he loved just looking intently at the colors and shapes on the screen. As he got older, I changed the preferences to show letters, colors and lines. Between using this application and a few other online resources, he has learned the entire alphabet before the age of two.

Go
This past summer, we went on a cross-country road trip and we drove from AZ to PA and a couple of other states along the east coast. During the trip, Nate drove and I sat in the back seat next to Lucian and entertained him. Having the laptop along for the ride came in handy many times. All I had to do was click onto Lucian's user icon in the menubar and as soon as the cube began to rotate, his face would light up. I could launch AlphaBaby and entertain him for just a while longer until we were ready to make the next stop.

During this long, 2-month trip, Lucian got to see and meet many different friends and family members. The last time we flew out to PA, he was only starting to speak a few words and associate faces of people. A year later and he can now comprehend who people are and he is beginning to learn which family members are related to him and how. Now that we're back home, I want him to be able to retain the connections he's made over the summer. AlphaBaby is a wonderful tool for this because you can set the preferences to allow photos to pop up whenever certain keys are pressed. I didn't, but you can even map certain keys to specific photos.

A Familiar Face
In Lucian's user account in his iPhoto album, I loaded 170 photos of friends and family members. I used photos of people he knows locally as well as far away since we have family and friends all over the world now. I even used a mixture of recent as well as older photos of some of the children as well as side views of people to see if he recognizes facial changes and he does! It's amazing how well he recognizes peoples' pictures and can say their names more and more clearly every time he interacts with this application. Before we came home, he couldn't say the name of his new Aunt Joanna, who likes to be called Aunt JoJo. Now, with practice, Lucian can instantly recognize a picture of Joanna as "An YoYo." We're still working on saying Great Grandmom.

It would take some time and effort, but you can, if you want, go into iPhoto and change the title of each picture to the name of the person and then in AlphaBaby, tell it to speak the name of the photo. This works ok, but for harder names, you can imagine the speech to text is not perfect. I prefer us interacting with him while using this application in a flashcard type of way.

Allow Me to Demonstrate
AlphaBaby will no doubt come in handy for the future as we get new pictures of people that I can add to his iPhoto library. We just got a new baby cousin a week ago and now another cousin is on the way so as soon as I get those baby pictures, I'll add them to his library and AlphaBaby will add them in at random.

Here is a bad, sorry video I made of Poltergeist AlphaBaby in action starring Lucian teaching his Daddy about colors, shapes and people. (Sorry about the video quality, but I snuck up on them playing and it was night time. I don't know where the knocking sound comes from. The video is from our little point&shoot Nikon. Someday I'll get a better camera when we can afford it.)


Learning with AlphaBaby from TheMacMommy on Vimeo.

The Specs, Ma'am, Just the Specs
The computer in Lucian's room is an old slot-load 400MHz PowerPC G3 Tangerine iMac with 512MB of RAM and a 10GB HD running Tiger 10.4x. Someone was getting rid of it and Lucian's uncle snagged it for us and replaced the ailing DVD ROM drive and swapped the HD with one from another iMac we scrapped for parts. It's amazing what treasures people throw away! Check your local Craigslist or Freecycle and give an old iMac a good home. These machines make great kids' computers because, with a little TLC, you can upgrade them just enough to run Tiger and a few simple applications. For little ones, this is plenty. This particular model is even capable of utilizing wifi with a built in airport! I don't currently have it connected to the internet because the airport card in it is a little too old to be compatible with WPA2 encryption. One day, I'll get an old wireless router and hook it up just for this purpose. For now, I have an almost identical user account set up for Lucian in my MacBook Pro with almost the same preferences.

General
Under the General Tab, I have it set to just flash one letter or number per key press on the screen and in rainbow colors. Only letters or numbers will show which are mapped directly to the characters on the keyboard. This helps him actually learn keyboarding skills. He is getting better and better about actually pressing the right keys when I ask him to. Right now he's mastering letters and we're slowly incorporating numbers as well. He can almost count to ten.

Images
Under the Images Tab, I have the source of the photos loaded from the main iPhoto Library. You can, however, have photos load from a specific photo album or even a folder somewhere else if you're not a fan of iPhoto. I also have it set to randomly load a combination of shapes along with photos since we're still learning colors and shapes. You can see though, I pushed the slider more towards the images since I really do favor photos of people right now since he's learning about family right now too.

I love how this operates in a flash card mode. The pictures pop up at random and repeat at various stages. You never know what you're going to get when you press different keys on the keyboard. He could keep pressing the space bar or any other modifier key and it will show a different photo or shape each time. It really helps him with keyboarding skills because he quickly learns that letter keys result in a letter, number keys a number and any other key results in a photo or shape. He is old enough to make deliberate decisions about what to press. He knows that he will get only photos if he presses keys other than letters or numbers and it's fascinating to watch him make those choices!

Sound
Under the Sound Tab, I have it set to speak the letters using the Victoria voice. It's not perfect, but it's pretty acurate. (The text to speech has greatly improved in Leopard 10.5, but for this demo, I'm using the Tiger 10.4 version of the app.) This is the place where I mentioned previously that you can tell it to speak the images. It will convert text to speech by reading the file name of each photo. So, if you leave your photos named DCSN1045, that's what Victoria will say instead of Pop Pop.

Drawing
Under the Drawing Tab, there are many items from which to choose. When Lucian was really little, I used the stars, ducks or trucks because objects were interesting to him. When kids are really little, you'll want to uncheck the box for drawing requires mouse down. This way, all they have to do is push the mouse or move their finger across the trackpad and it will instantly draw a line on the screen. Little ones don't yet have the hand-eye coordination needed to associate with a pointing device. This tool really helps them grasp that concept much sooner because it draws their eye to a simple line draw which allows them to make the connection between cause and effect of the pointing device. This works well whether it be a single or two-button mouse or a trackpad on a laptop. You can also vary the line thickness. As babies begin to develop peripheral vision, the thickness of the line that appears on screen can make a difference in what they see. If you make the line too thin, they probably will not notice it much. If you make the line really thick, they will take notice of it better and realize the cause and effect relationship between the mouse and screen while their head is pointed down and their eyes focused on the keyboard or mouse.

This concludes my review of AlphaBaby, the application that allows you to toddler-proof your Mac while making learning fun. I hope you've enjoyed my review and that you'll visit the creator's site and donate a few bucks for their hard work.

Hey! Quit It!
Oh and, by the way, make sure the FIRST thing you learn is how to quit the application! You have to press the control-option-command-Q keys all at once, so you might want to practice that maneuver before launching it. Make sure you press those keys only or else you'll find yourself logged out instead. After you've mastered that, then practice launching the preferences by pressing (all at once) the control-option-command-P keys. (Hint: it's the same combination, only the 'Q' changes to 'P.')

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em ?

My son is only 18 months old. In a few days he'll be 19 months old. Yep, I just checked the calendar. It's true. As much as I try to cherish every moment, each day, he gets more and more independent and I feel like the time I have with him is just slipping away like sand through an hour glass.

I am loving being a SAHM, but I like a break from him once in a while, I'm only human. Like now, while I'm blogging. I am truly enjoying MY time just to myself to surf the web and research topics that interest me, read other blogs, comment on others' ideas, gather my own ideas and document things that are of interest to me.

Even as I type this though, I'm wondering how much of this time is really for me and how much of this time is for him. I won't lie, I really do lose sleep over it at times. I can become so immersed in it all that I feel overwhelmed. I spend so much time researching how technology affects kids and families and how I want it to affect our family. I just came across something that has validated these concerns.

Reality Check
I was just surfing some blogs and websites when I came across a PBS presentation site where you can watch a video documentary called "Growing Up Online." The date on it is January 22, 2008, so it's very timely, just a couple of days ago. I've now watched 2 segments. I had to stop after the 2nd and start blogging about my reaction to it before I forget the thoughts I have at the moment. I feel a little sick to my stomach. I feel scared. I feel really overwhelmed. But I also feel justified that now I have more reason to keep doing what it is that I do in technology education and consulting. Already I feel so immersed and overwhelmed with all that is out there, but I feel even more pressed to forge on. I wish I could put my finger on it all, but it's impossible to keep up. At least I can say I'm trying and doing the best I can.

After viewing this documentary so far, my parenting philosophy is 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.' Lucian is going to use technology and there is no way around it. Not in this house. Not with a science teacher for a Dad and Mom who does IT consulting and technology education for a living even part time. He's not even 2 years old and I've already set up an iMac for him in his bedroom. His crib isn't even in there yet, but the computer is. He already plays with it. He has known how to use a keyboard and mouse since he was six months old.

So, am I feeding him straight into the Lion's mouth by showing him how to use a computer at this age? Am I pushing him into something undesirable? Am I growing a hacker? Is that bad?

I have just accepted the fact that this is the reality and I've reaffirmed my commitment to do the best I can to prepare myself, my husband and family to join him and become a part of this process. It's the evolution of technology and we're all caught up in it. It's a part of our lives.

Does Technology Make the World a Smaller Place?
Socialization for me used to mean I would talk to my friends or family on the phone or hang out at a favorite place or in a home. We would share ideas on the fly. Unscripted. Real time. It used to be that my friends and family were within driving distance. It used to be that my friends and family were a phone call away.

Then I met my husband online. He lived on the other side of the country. Even though he was willing to make the move to my side of the world, I decided to spread my wings and try a new place to live and have since grown to like it. It's very different being long distance from my family and friends, but this is life and now I have to find a way to cope with these changes. I still wonder though, how in the future am I going to explain to Lucian how his Dad and I met. That's a whole other topic!

One saving grace has been the webcam. So far though, my Mom and Dad are the only ones I ever talk to on it. Even trying to get them to go online to use the webcam sometimes is like pulling teeth though. They're too busy or I'm too busy. Plus the technology is only so great. Sometimes there is a lot of time lag in the conversation so we end up talking over each other. But, it's way better than nothing. Seriously, I wouldn't be able to live on the other side of the country if I didn't have technology.

Having a baby has made it more difficult to find the time to communicate. Once in a while, I get on the horn and talk but that can only happen when Lucian is either napping, sleeping, or really really occupied. With a 2 and 3 hour time difference back 'home' it can be pretty close to impossible to find and make time to blab on the phone and give someone my full attention. So, if I really want to be able to express myself, I have to do it late at night when everyone is sleeping. It can be kind of lonely at times despite all that is available on the WWW.

Does the Internet Open Up to the Edge of the Universe?
This laptop is my portal to the world right now. Sometimes I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it. Is it an addiction? Is it a crutch? Is it a replacement for the real thing? I've asked myself these questions a million times over. I still don't have a definitive answer. All I know is, if I want to reach out to another human being, I open the lid and send an email or post a blog. Communication all happens with the keyboard and trackpad. I can edit, delete, save, copy and paste. I can be confident because I can polish my experience and make it feel the way I want it to.

It's really amazing how much is out there though when you journey into the realm of social networking. It can be downright scary. Just when I get to thinking that technology can bridge the gaps between space and time, I realize how many off ramps are on this new bridge. It's not just a straight line.

Will I Still Feel the Same Later?
Another reason, a very important reason, for why I blog is self preservation. I love to help others by posting reviews or tips or references, but most of the time, I do it because I'm hoping one day I can reflect back on this. I'm not yet sure why that is important to me now. Maybe because like I mentioned in the beginning, I feel like life is slipping me by, quickly and I want to hold on to it just a little while longer. It's my way of savoring it. Preserving it. Keeping time.

One of the things I want to look back on in the future is how I feel right now about raising Lucian to be a responsible human being. I have a lot of opinions about how I would like for him to turn out. I'm really nervous about what kind of teenager he'll be. Will he still respect me when he becomes a teenager?

Even at the toddler stage, he's already starting to push me away. It's scary. This is only the beginning and already I'm a basket case thinking about it. I'm just hoping that by being active and trying to learn whatever I can about new technology, it will keep me in touch with him. I'm looking for a way to accept the distance that will come between us. What will be enough to live with? How will my life adjust to his as we both grow up?

I'm going to go and watch the rest of the video documentary now. It is definitely a reality check so far. I hope you'll watch it and share your thoughts with me.

Review of the Touch Free Diaper Pail by Graco

We have the Diaper Champ from Baby Trend and the Touch Free Diaper Pail by Graco. The Diaper Champ was a baby shower gift and of course, as shown below, I won the Touch Free from DadLabs.

Thanks, DadLabs! You rock!

Here is my honest opinion. Overall, these are both very good diaper pails. If I were going to purchase one of them myself, knowing what I know now and even being the geek that I am, I would spend my money on the Diaper Champ. The Diaper Champ contains the smell better, holds a little more diapers in it at full capacity, is slightly easier to change bags, and doesn't use any consumables like specially-made bags. You buy it, you use it, end of story.

Or, as in our house, you get it as a gift, you use it, you train your toddler to use it and hope they will continue to use it if a sibling comes along. Remember, teach your tots that throwing away dirty diapers is cool! Car keys — NOT COOL!

The Scoop (rhymes with poop)
There is about a $20.00 difference between the two depending on where you shop. The charcoal filters for the Touch Free are hard to find for a good price. Last time I checked, you could only get them through Graco directly or Sears. I have a hack for this though. Keep reading.

The Touch Free on the other hand, looks cooler, functions cooler and our curious toddler has a lot of fun making the lid pop open with the remote sensor. Sometimes we have to trick him by switching the remote sensor off and putting it into manual mode. Then we lay a guilt trip on him and tell him that be broke it.

Just like guilt trips my parents used on me, it didn't work on him either. He still messes with it.

There were some comments and suggestions made that perhaps a remote control could be used to operate the Touch Free. I am a dork so I honestly tried to use the remote that came with my Mac just to rule out for you all that it in fact DOES NOT operate the diaper pail. Besides, the remote sensor is flat on the top of the surface so unless you rig a mirror or something, I'm not sure that a remote would ever work at this angle, but I'd still like to see someone try.

I really like how clean the Touch Free stays. It looks nicer in our son's room and it's a neutral beige that blends in. (They also make it in a pretty lilac color as well. Look at me, I'm a pretty diaper pail. I make poop look pretty.) The Diaper Champ is white with blue trim and sometimes it has a tendency to get a little bit of poop on it if you don't wrap up the diaper tightly enough into a swan shaped origami figure before plopping it in. (ok, trying to chuck it in from a few feet away) (Sorry Dad, I didn't inherit your basketball grace.)

As for the smell, let's face it, sometimes I think our son harbors WOMD in his diaper. (Weapons of Mass Destruction, shhh! Don't tell anyone.) So, even Fort Knox couldn't keep that smell locked in. Although, perhaps a proton pack might do the trick? I think the Diaper Champ holds the smell in best but it's hard to tell because I think it might be that you have to change the Touch Free a little more frequently so maybe not as much stink accumulates.

Diaper Pail Hack
They both use standard kitchen trash bags so you don't have to waste money on those special sausage casing-type bags. The Touch Free does cost you extra in that you have to replace the batteries for the remote sensor AND you have to replace a charcoal filter once a month. That's the price you pay for coolness though. Unless you're cheap like me. When these batteries run out, we'll probably replace them with rechargeables to save a little on that cost. I skip the $3.49 charcoal filters and instead use a .99¢ 'stickup' air freshener in the lid. I just remove the little clippy thing-a-ma-do that holds the charcoal filter and adhere one of those stickups there instead. When the lid opens, the 'aroma' is that of Spring Fresh Poopy Diaper instead of just Fresh Poopy Diaper.

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View the full demo from DadLabs here. There isn't anything these Dads won't do to bring you the "the scoop" — pun intended. For more great comparisons on diaper pales, check out this from their site.

Check out www.dadlabs.com and have a laugh. Drink some beer. Watch parents drink beer. Watch parents drink beer and give really good parenting advice.
Seriously!

How many times did I use the word poop?

There are only 2 times in your life when you get to use the word poop a lot without taking a lot of crap for it: When your ARE a preschooler and when you HAVE a preschooler.

kreative kid stuff

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I am bursting at the seams to blog about some kid and craft related topics but it's already getting so late so I'm just going to put up a quick post to remind me later about all the stuff I want to blog about.

First off, I am excited about Lucian's new interest in crayons and paints. He is only 17 months old, but already he is showing signs of being ready to get into crafts and I couldn't be more excited.

We went out grocery shopping this evening and I had to stop off in the office supplies section and look for crayons and finger paints. I bought a box of crayons because they were under a buck and truth be told, I bought them for MYSELF! I Looooooove the smell of Crayola crayons. It is one of the best smells on Earth to me. I'm going to tuck these crayons away for the time being because I think they are too small for him yet. I got an 8-pack of the big fat crayons for him instead.

I also go him one of these toddler type scribble markers. I'll go look at the package later and add in the details. I plan on editing this post to include links and other resources. Anyhow, it's called "Bob the Barking Bulldog" and it barks when you put the cap back on! So cool.

Ok, so here is a topic that is burning on my brain right now. Kid software. I have heard TuxPaint mentioned now several times on the Jumping Monkeys and TWIT podcasts and it makes me giddy listening to them talk about it. If only they knew the intimate experiences I've had with this software! Oh, I so badly want to share and talk about how much I love this little application and how it's better than KidPix and possibly better than Beautiful Dorina.

I just read the history of KidPix and I was thoroughly impressed. I'm still a bit confused as to why the OS X version of KidPix was not as well adopted. I wonder if it's because Broderbund took it over?

I also want to elaborate more on a cute story about a time when I was upgrading the school from OS 9 to OS X and how I had to practically pry KidPix away from a lot of really addicted kids.

Have you ever sat in one of those tiny little kid sized chairs? Your knees end up close to your chest. Ok, now try doing that while 8 months pregnant.

Yeah, those were fun times.

Have you ever had a face off in software with a determined first grader? I have. I once went to toe to toe with a first grader who was trying to convince me to keep KidPix in the lab while I was trying to convince him that TuxPaint was just as cool if not cooler.

Bill, if you ever read this...all you need to do is add in sound recording capability and it will be golden!

What I really want to do is write in to Jumping Monkeys and give them a full review of TuxPaint and what it's like to manage it in a lab with 30 computers and kids from ages 5 to 10 using it - ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I want to talk about all the details of what teachers need to know in order to be prepared to use this successfully in a class environment.

Last year, I helped a kindergarten teacher use TuxPaint in a morning and afternoon class where they used it to make self portraits. We then printed out the pictures on the color printer and I made a huge mural with them that covered the walls in the bland computer lab. Let me just say that trying to organize 20 five year olds is no easy task and I think the teacher may have bit off more than she could chew when embarking on this journey. I have seen so many frustrated teachers over the past several years and it's really sad because they just don't have the tools, resources and training needed to be able to teach kids how to use technology. Even if they did, where would they have the time?

I would love to be the equivalent of the art teacher or the music teacher or the gym teacher – a specialist – except I would want to be the technology teacher. It's such a shame that technology is not a specialized area given the same amount of weight as the other subjects. Instead, teachers are forced to take on the role and it adds so much more frustration to their already full plates.

Anyhow, I can't wait to start discussing more in depth on the software I like to use with little ones. My focus in the next coming blogs will be on: TuxPaint, AlphaBaby, Beautiful Dorina and KidPix. I already know how to tweak and "hack" TuxPaint and AlphaBaby and configure them to be really educational for really little kids and I can't wait to share this information.

For example, now is the perfect time of year to show kids how to use TuxPaint to create a holiday card. This has worked well in a lab full of mixed faiths because the stamps in the stamp selection include Christmas icons as well as Jewish icons like the Menorah. One of the things kids LOVE to do is pick out cool fonts. Unfortunately, TuxPaint only comes with standard set of fonts. I found a really neat font called "Brrrrr" that looks like letters with snow on them. You can alter the package contents of the application and install additional fonts, but it's just a little tricky in that they have to be TTF files and you can't install too many or your system may crash.

Kids also LOVE cursive. This is true for girls AND boys which surprised me that boys like to type in cursive as well. 1st and 2nd graders absolutely love it when you show them a cursive font.

I also learned that kissing kangaroos are cool and cause squeals of delight when shown to kindergarteners. But, show this same exercise in stamping to 1st graders and you'll get booed and hear "ewww gross!" Fascinating how so much changes in the course of one school year.

Well, that's all for now. I need to gather my thoughts and go document some ideas with screen shots and then maybe I'll shoot off the email to Jumping Monkeys and see if they are interested in my review.