I went back and forth with what to get Devin for his birthday. I really wanted to get him a hand held game system, but I wanted to make sure it was educational and not just video games. After a lot of research and asking around I chose Leapfrog simply because Nintendo DS systems are not educational. DS games are video games (some have minimal educational aspects) but that was not what I wanted. I wanted mainly educational with some gaming. I love our Tag and Tag Jr Readers and what they can do. I knew that Leapfrog is a great company so I felt confident in choosing them for a gaming system.
I went with the Explorer simply because it was the newest edition and had the best memory etc. The age range also went up an extra year over their other system called the Leapfrog Leapster 2. I highly doubt that Devin will be playing this to the age of 9, but with hopes it will last until at least 6 yrs old or so then we can hand it down to Riley. (Poor kid will always get hand me downs.) We also bought Dora's game and the new Cars 2 game along with the carrying case. He LOVES it. I LOVE it. It is a total success. Not only does he stay interested with problem solving and listening to directions, but he is being tracked with progress. After his is done I plug it in to the computer and it tracks what he gets correct, incorrect, how long he is on each game and what learning aspects he practiced today with the percentage of success! I mean come on, how awesome is that. It also breaks it down to Spelling, Mathematics, Social studies, World Cultures, Literacy etc. Each category then shows what books (on Tag reader) or games (on Explorer) he used and their breakdown too for duration on the individual item and what he did.
At school they have Spotlight time in lieu of a birthday party. I had to fill out a questionnaire about his favorite activities, animals, when his actual birthday is, what are his best attributes etc. He sat in front of his class and answered all the questions that the teacher asked. He then showed the class a baby picture and family picture (as requested by school to bring in.) It was adorable, he walked around all holding the pictures one by one to show all his classmates. They then sang two versions of Happy Birthday and then got to play Freeze Dance. I love this age. I videoed the whole thing and hopefully one of these days I will figure out how to covert the mini DVDs to a file that will be able to upload to the Internet. If anyone knows how I have a Sony Handy cam....please help! :)
We went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes for his birthday by his choice. He could have chosen anywhere or had me make anything and he chose a salad bar restaurant. He loves the foccacia bread pizza they have there and the fact he gets to get Oreo crumbles for dessert. Since he cannot have the soft serve ice cream they offer, he is allowed to eat the Oreo cookie crumbles in a bowl. Great nutritional dinner, but it was his birthday and I was told not to make him eat fruit and veggies if he did not want them last night. I guess one night a year is ok if he eats crap. We did not have cake and ice cream last night since he is allergic and it is really not worth it to make special cakes for him since he never eats them when I do. I am going to make some vegan brownies over the weekend for him so we will see how he takes to those since they seem pretty easy to make.
It is amazing to me who showed Devin love yesterday and who did not. He got birthday wishes from some of our friends and some family. Some really good friends, and some friends who I talk to less frequently. It warms my heart to see people take the time to say Happy Birthday to my little boy and saddens me when people who should take the time actually do nothing. No happy birthday call, no card, no gift. Gifts are not even needed since he is only 4, but a card or call would be nice. I guess some people really just do not care about him like they should. So thank you to all of you who read this and wished him a happy birthday. He loved hearing who was texting, FB-ing, calling and of course loves getting mail.
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