Until lately, anyway...
I've been working on trying to teach some sign language to Noah and Lily. (Twins can be somewhat delayed in language acquisition, so I'm hoping the signing helps make up for some of that.) So far, it has been completely unrewarding. A typical example: Noah will sit in his high chair, yelling and banging his tray loudly with both hands. Instead of running for the cereal and fruit as I would typically do, I go to Noah and touch my hand to my mouth several times, saying, "Eat? Eat?" He briefly stops yelling, shoots me a look that clearly says, "Are you NUTS, lady? Can't you hear me?" and then resumes his noise with vigor.
Anyway, as part of our sign language education, I thought I'd see if the babies would enjoy the Baby Einstien DVD of signs. They do. VERY much. Noah doesn't quite have the attention span to sit and watch the whole thing (it's half an hour long) without needing to wiggle and play, but he still liked it. Lily, on the other hand, sat COMPLETELY enraptured the entire time. Especially during the segments with puppets, such as this guy:
Me, I think he's kinda creepy looking. Lily thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. (And since she's never actually had sliced bread... probably the best thing, period.) Every time they had a puppet segment, her cute little jaw would drop open, she would stare, and SQUEAL and flap her arms! I've never seen her act like that before. Possibly I will see that behavior again when she is in middle school around boys. I'm going to hope she doesn't develop feelings for furry blue otters.
Anyway, following that glowing review, I have sanctioned the occasional use of baby-appropriate TV for educational purposes, and in extreme circumstances. Such as when it's too late for a nap and too early for bed, and Mommy still hasn't grown that third arm for holding cranky babies. I have begun looking for other Baby Einstein DVDs, because I think I'm going to get tired of this one fairly quickly.
I just hope they all have blue otters...
2 comments:
Lexa would suggest Baby Faith and Miss Pattycake. Both of those drive me bananas, but her children seem to like them. Jenna prefers things with a little more plot and has never cared much for the Baby Einstein things (to which those are similar in lunacy). Maybe it's the lack of lively music or something. Her current crush is Super Why, although I'm heartily embarrassed to admit that she has preferences at her young age. She did, however, learn the alphabet and all the letter sounds with Leap Frog... (Forgive me! I had a two-hour class twice a week, and there are only so many naps a child can take.)
My kids have all loved the Baby Einstein puppets. I will admit that I do let them watch a little to much TV sometimes but a Mama needs a break every now and then. Emma's new favorite is Dora! She has learned several new words from Dora and I am really impressed!
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