Product Review: Sparkabilities

When Timothy was a toddler, we learned about some classes called Play Wisely. I believe someone on one of our "smart baby" forums posted a link to a video of the class and we immediately fell in love. The activities were so consistent with Doman's system of increasing neuron connection--they were developed to "fire up and wire up" emerging brain cells to make learning easier, all around, for a child....plus they looked like fun!

We ended up signing up for an introductory class. The only problem was that the class was about an hour and a half from our rural home. We never made it to the introductory class, but we liked the idea of the classes so much that, several times, we talked about ways we could drive the 90 minutes each way to make it there.

Fast forward two years. A few months ago, I learned that there are now DVDs for toddlers and babies based on the PlayWisely system. I couldn't wait to review them!

Sparkabilities DVDs are designed based on specific developmental stages and activities. They are not traditional "teaching" DVDs like the ones I've reviewed before...there is no specific content that they're trying to convey (except in limited segments). Rather, the purpose of the DVDs is to enhance neural pathways and make learning easier in the future. These DVDs are designed to help your baby learn for life. I should add, too, that flashing the Doman cards is for the same reason. Remember--you're not trying to teach your baby the Presidents with encyclopedic knowledge cards. Instead, you're enhancing neural networks and teaching the brain to learn.

Samuel watched the Babies 1 DVD and was completely mesmerized. It's a high-quality DVD...no toys being pulled by strings like on other DVDs! One of the skills he's supposed to be working on is tracking objects and the video specifically has a segment on that. A cute little smiley face moves across the screen, into a picture, behind some objects and back out. Samuel giggled and giggled!!

I highly recommend these DVDs for infants or toddlers, as they're intended. Except for the special-needs child, they have very little to offer preschoolers or older children. However, for the age they're designed for, these DVDs are awesome!

Timothy's Hospital Stay

Last week, Timothy was in the hospital Saturday-Tuesday. He's fine now, but we had some very scary times in there.

Here's what happened:

Timothy spent the week with my mom and dad attending music camp. David had to work all weekend so I drove in to pick him up and visit with my parents. On Friday night, Timothy vomited a few times. We figured he had a stomach bug or something. On Saturday morning, he was acting really dehydrated so we took him to the hospital.

They put him on IV fluids and I figured that's all he needed. A few hours later, he started having stomach pain and they started thinking it was his appendixs so they sent him in for an X-ray. About this time, he became nonresponsive...he wouldn't wake up for anything. I called David late Saturday and he drove him. The hospital ended up sending him home, but we took him back the next day and they kept him in for two more nights.

It was frigtening! The hospital was sooo good with kids, but it's never fun when your child is sick. His bloodwork looked bad, he was dehydrated, and he was just so tired. Then, on Monday, he started looking a lot better and they let us go on Tuesday.

All in all, Timothy had 13 X-rays, several labs, and David missed the equivalent of 3 days of work. It wasn't a fun experience!

In the end, they thought it was just a virus. What a terrible virus!! He's fine now playing outside driving his firetruck. So that's where we've been part of this month :-(

Scramblin' Samuel

Samuel is all over the place now!! In the two days since he started creeping on hands and knees, he's found true mobility. He's taking off after objects that interest him and just generally being a handful. Now that he's creeping, it becomes easier for us--we know we can just leave him on the floor to creep, creep, creep and develop that brain (and respiration, and vision, and endurance...).

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Isn't it amazing how a few weeks changes things?

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(PS - He's also found much peace since he learned that he has two middle fingers he can suck on. He's constantly giving me the "I Love You" sign while he sucks on those fingers. His little mouth spends much less time screaming and much more time smiling now!)

Brief Update

I have so much to tell you guys...about Timothy's 4-day stay in the hospital, about Samuel suddenly becoming happy, about us changing our entire life situation. I have product reviews to do. I have solved mysteries to share. However, as I sit in a hotel right now, I only have time to let you know one thing.

SAMUEL'S CREEPING ON HANDS AND KNEES!!!

At 4.5 months, exactly when Timothy started, too!

He spent allll day long in the car. We came to the hotel, set him on the bed, and he took off like a racecar, desperate to fall to his death. He's been creeping the length of the Queen bed, back adn forth, since we got here. That's exciting news!!

More to come soon--I promise. For now, though, just know that we're all doing okay :-)

What a MESS!

Samuel's screaming has caused us all to question our sanity at one time or another. Most recently, however, it has caused Timothy to turn into a mess himself. Sorry I haven't been posting lately, folks, but I've been a little bit busy with THIS.