High Maintenance Mom

I watched the season 40 show highlights at http://www.pbs.org/parents/sesame/about_ss_season40video.html and laughed the entire time. It's really worth a look. Celebrities continue to make special guests appearance with relevant topics that kids of all ages can relate to. Sesame Street and I were both babies when I started my love affair with Aloysius Snuffleupagus or snuffy as most of us call him. Now I have 2 small children of my own and they love Elmo and Abby! I also came across Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street in my online readings and thought it looked like a great book for Sesame Street fans. Mostly, I just like that I can trust the show to be educational and funny. It (along with PBS as a whole) is a sure thing and nowadays...that's a big deal.

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has persuaded the Walt Disney Company to offer a full refund to anyone who purchased a Baby Einstein DVD in the last five years. "As a result of our 2006 Federal Trade Commission complaint, Disney stopped claiming that Baby Einstein videos were educational for infants...Recent research shows that screen time is not educational for babies. Now parents who purchased Baby Einstein DVDs, mistakenly believing the videos would make their babies smarter, can recoup their money." The refund is only available for a limited time. Click here to learn more about the refund. Below is more information about CCFC...

My family is already a big fan of They Might Be Giants and we were not disappointed by Here Comes Science. It's one we can listen to / watch hundreds of times. First of all, it comes as a DVD/CD set so the kids can watch at home and listen in the car without my husband writing code to grab the sound from the DVD. And most importantly, They Might Be Giants, once again has found a fun way to interest kids in a variety of more technical concepts (chemical elements, paleontology, the circulatory system, evolution, astronomy, and more). B loves the bloodmobile and spent a full night drawing it over and over with the white blood cells dressed in their army hats.

S's favorite song is Electric Car. N also likes the bloodmobile song. We also like Here Come the ABCs [CD/DVD Combo] and Here Come The 123s [CD/DVD Combo] - also now available as DVD / CD combos.

I grew up with a computer (well, not email and the internet but we did have a computer) but now it seems that email and kids web sites are the norm and I had better jump on board before my kids have to start teaching me and I lose control of what they are viewing. I do allow my kids a small amount of monitored TV each day but haven't really started the whole internet thing yet....

We just found a great new show on PBS called Sid The Science Kid. It's smart with some very catchy songs in it. Sid is a want to know it all preschooler with very hip parents (like me!). He goes to school each day wondering about a new thing (science related). His parents, friends and teacher help him find answers to his questions.

Have you or your children learned any Spanish words from Dora or Diego? Do you want your children to hear Chinese words too? Ni Hao, Kai-lan is a new show from Nick Jr. that combines Chinese language and culture. "Ni Hao" means "Hi" in Chinese, so we've already learned one word. The show is aimed at preschool children and the characters include six year-old Kai-lan Chow, her grandfather, a koala, a monkey, and a tiger. See below for more information on the values the show aims to teach including mind-body connection, perspective-taking, being a good member of a group, and social & emotional goals. Ni Hao, Kai-lan premieres on Nick Jr. Thursday, February 7 at 11 a.m.

I was at Target the other day and noticed a section of WordWorld games and toys. If you haven't seen WordWorld, it's a show where "letters come to life". The animals are made of the letters in their name and when they need something, they "build a word." It's quite cute with bright colorful graphics and a catchy soundtrack. My kids love it. The web site is nice too. Check out the activities section and the games. You can also purchase WorldWord games and toys from Amazon or Target.

Aaron Spelling, the master behind many of the shows I grew up watching, died on Friday. See his biography on the IMDb and a list of his shows on tv.com. My condolences to the Spelling family and thank you Aaron for all those years of entertaining television...

We've been wondering when the next Backyardigans episode is scheduled to air and just found out that four new (to those of us without Noggin) episodes will be shown next week. Tuesday's episode is "Eureka", the dinosaur one I've been waiting for ever since I read the episode guide. The Backyardigans CD includes "Those Bones" from "Eureka" and it sounds like the dinosaur they are putting together is a Bactrosaurus (one of the earliest known duck-billed hadrosaurs - more on dinosaurs after the episode airs). The CD also includes the song "Castaways", from Monday's episode, "Castaways". Wednesday's episode is "Polka Palace Party" and Thursday's episode is "Cave Party"...

We watched Super Size Me the other night and I highly recommend it. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, you get to watch Morgan's health deteriorate as he eats only McDonalds for 30 days...