If you have toddlers that are thirsty for learning, we have found the best thing for them in the world. It is called Starfall, a website just for kids learning to read! It is so awesome, and free! Garrett and Gavin absolutely love it, and can't get enough of it. (See photo - Saturday, pre-breakfast!) It is an incredible tool. These kids literally spend a full hour at a time on Starfall, and its a great hour of learning - not pointless cartoons or something. Granted, most little kid tv shows these days are not pointless or without value, but Starfall is such a better way to keep their little light bulbs illuminated. Plus, the real bonus is that these boys aren't begging us for entertainment! They are totally engulfed in the word games and stories. It's a priceless hour for parents to do dishes, fold clothes, change oil, fix broken ____(fill in the blank) etc.

Garrett and Gavin both fell in love with the computer at about the same time. Once they realized that the mouse makes the little arrow go, it was on. I'd come home from work to find every application on my computer open, and every file on my desktop in complete disarray and renamed. Nice. They'd rename my projects stuff like "krgghjivbnre" or "1i6u4mk++=+". Sometimes stuff would vanish completely. Luckily its all still in the apple time machine. That thing has been a lifesaver since the boys have started meddling with our computers! I now use a password lock.

We realized that there has to be some software or a program to buy that would suit these guys' ages, so we started hunting for it, and voila! We found Starfall. Nothing to buy, its free! Its the best thing out there that we've tried, even compared to some of the pay sites "free trials".

I love the way the buttons on the site are really large, easy to click. There are matching games, spelling games, and click/drag games that teach coordination. These kids have gotten so good at using the mouse just in the last week or two, its amazing. I recommend using a wireless mouse, for sure. It eliminates a lot of wired frustration.

Gavin and Garrett take over our computers like a couple little thuggish computer jackers. They just love these games! I love the way Gavin is sounding out each letter of words now. He's actually learning to read the right way! He was reading by memorization before. He could memorize a book after I read it to him a few times, and he would recognize the words in other places. I don't know if that's a bad way to learn, it just doesn't seem conventional or practical. Starfall has some magic way to keep these kids engaged and progressing. Their brains are just flourishing. Its very exciting! We've got to get these dudes their own computer. Or two. Everything has to come in pairs nowadays. Maybe we can get some used e-macs on craigslist for cheap! That'll have to be after Christmas...

Our little toddler, Garrett, has been having nightmares lately. I'm not sure why. He doesn't see anything scary on TV - we almost never even watch TV! They say you need to have a good, calming routine before bed. Bedtime is almost always the same regimen - Bath, Brush teeth, Books, Bed. The books we read are good, funny bedtime books! Sandra Boynton, not Steven King. I don't know what's causing these scary dreams. I've read different articles about the subject, but haven't found any real solution to the problem. Since he is the middle child,  we've been keenly guarding his self esteem, we make sure he gets plenty of flattery, because a low self esteem seems to be the culprit in a lot of toddler issues. He is a real pistol - a typical 2, I guess.

It would be easier to figure out how to deal with the nightmare if he could tell me what its about. Usually he's semi-sleeping and crying when I ask him to tell me about his dream. One time he said "The twuck... the twuck!"
I can presume he's talking about my truck, but what am I supposed to say, "The truck won't get you"? I'd rather have him keep a healthy fear of cars and trucks. I've scolded him twice for going into the road on his trike. I always tell him "the cars will hurt you!" Thats probably the cause of that nightmare. If his fear was a monster or something, I would be able to tackle that problem for sure. Well, maybe.

Dealing with this makes me remember when I was little. I was scared of E.T. I had lots of nightmares about that little critter. The worst one I can still remember very vividly, it was so scary! In my dream, I was in my bed and E.T. was hiding between the bed and the wall - then he raised his head up with that weird, telescoping neck of his and looked at me! Zoiks! I woke up screaming, scrambling out of the bed to get away, when my foot got tangled in the sheet and I fell flat on my face. Talk about full panic! I had never crawled so fast in my life - straight across the hall to my parents' bedroom door, and it was locked! All the while, in my mind E.T. was right behind me, ready to get me with that terrible glowing finger. I just remember standing at the door, pounding with both fists until my dad rescued me - and brought me into their room for the night. I did not want to go back into my room, even after dad checked it all over for extra terrestrials.

I'm glad that I remember how it feels to be terrorized by a nightmare so young. It is a very real feeling. When you're that young, there isn't a difference between dreams and reality. I think its important for parents to remember that, and take your children's fears seriously. After my E.T. nightmare, I was convinced E.T. was still in my room, waiting for me. I refused to go back in there. I remember how awed I was at how my dad just fearlessly walked into my room and turned on the light. It was like he was an invincible superhero, exuding confidence as he spoke into my room, saying something like  "E.T. Don't ever touch my son! Never come into my house again!" It made me feel a whole lot better, and I think the next night I was okay to sleep alone again.

Dads need to be like superheroes for their kids. I didn't want to hear "It was just a dream, get over it, go back to bed." I wanted my dad to go in there and get rid of my nightmare - which he did. Every parent wields amazing superpowers. It is knowing how and when to use them that counts.

Signing Time came to Gavin's school! Rachel and her daughter Leah of the awesome PBS program Signing Time put on a show for all the kids last week. Their story is pretty amazing and inspiring. You should read about them on her website: SigningTime.com. Sara has been a fan of Rachel's blog since she started it. Now Rachel's made videos to teach babies how to sign. Some babies can start signing as  early as 5 months! Wouldn't it be great if your baby could actually tell you what he wants instead of just crying like every other baby on the planet? Crying is so outdated. It really is. By five months, if he's got adequate control over his hands, he ought to be communicating with them, right?

It was so funny to see Gavin just star struck, sitting in the front row, sheepishly showing off all the signs he's learned from Rachel and Leah. I think he didn't believe that they were really the same people we've been watching on TV for two and a half years. After the show, Gavin was too wonderstruck and bashful to get his picture taken with them. Signing Time has been a big part of his life. We started watching that show when he was about 18 months old and still not talking. He had been diagnosed at around 14 months with PDD/NOS, which is pretty much what they call autism until the kid gets that official diagnosis when he's 2. We found that we could get him to use his hands to signal three of his basic needs, like Drink, Eat and More. Signing Time was just such a great show through that time, and we all love the music. We always liked to watch it after bathtime, before bed. It's one of the rare kid shows that we actually look forward to watching because the songs are beautiful, not cartoony. Both Gavin and Garrett still love it and request it now more than ever, after seeing Rachel and Leah in person. We don't use as many signs anymore, but they both know a bunch when asked. Gavin started talking at about two and a half, and we've obviously been pushing the use of speech pretty hard.

Now that we have Bodie, it'll be fun to see if we can get him to communicate with us earlier in life through signing. We need to re-sharpen our own skills too. We've had all of the PBS episodes saved on the DVR, now we're going to get the baby series from her website and let the learning begin for Bodie. We already know the baby likes Rachel a lot. He was all smiles when she held him after the show. See him below with Rachel and Leah. (Bodie's in his Goo Goo Ga Ga outfit created by my wife, for one of the only modern design baby boutiques on the web: Snugfits, of course! The BabyLegs came from mom4life.com, another terrific momtrepreneur)