Books on Manners

If you are looking for a book that would introduce your toddler to sharing, try the I Can Share: A Lift-the-Flap Book. With the simple, repetitive text and adorable toddlers, this playful little book is the perfect way to introduce the concept of sharing. However this book is not about sharing items directly but is instead of sharing experiences such as playing or working peacefully along side a friend without conflict.This book honors your child's feeling instead of indirectly sending the message to her that anyone can just take away her toys away when they ask for it. For toddlers, sharing can be a hard concept to grasp, but with the help of this book, they’ll learn that sharing can also be fun!

If you want a book that promotes social skills and right attitude, try the book Be Polite and Kind (Learning To Get Along). This book introduces the topic of manners, shows examples of manners in actions, as well as the benefits of being gracious with expressive drawings of children and adults from many ethnic groups. The concepts are simply stated and are dealt with in a variety of ways. It encourages kids to think through things themselves. Also, the author shows what happens when we do not use good manners and how we can make amends. The book is about considering options when things don't work out as expected and emphasizing the importance of talking and listening with respect as well as playing fair.

Adjustable Gym

The more you stimulate your baby, the more brain synapses he would develop. The more synapses he would develop, the more intelligent he would be. It is also rewarding to watch your child learn something.  The Little Tikes 5-in-1 Adjustable Gym would help him learn more motor skills from birth to 3 years. Watch him as he learns how to kick the parts of this adjustable gym as a baby and hear his delight as it makes the sound, either the music or the notes. Guide him how to turn the spinning toys as he gained more fine motor skills. This adjustable gym will surely engage your child's senses with lights, music, and things to touch and play with. The gym transforms into five different play centers as your little darling grow: traditional play gym, seated activity center, stand-up center, play table, and easel. It has three caregiver-selected play modes: "motion activated," "songs," or "piano", as well as sleep mode to extend battery life.

 

Jewish Books for Young Children

It is important to read books to your children books that contains his cultural heritage. For young Jewish children, Before You Were Born, a beautiful retelling of a story from Jewish folk tradition, is a good start. Your child's imagination would surely be captivated by the wonderful story of a soul's journey from the Treasury of Souls in highest heaven to its earthly body in its mother's womb,

Another book that is worth considering is Rabbi Joe Black's Afikomen Mambo (Passover) which will enliven the afikomen hunt at your seder. It comes with lively pictures and a sing-along CD.

Visiting Queens County Farm

Queens County Farm has a lot to offer young children, from hay ride to pony rides to pumpkin patch or corn maze, my toddler enjoy herself. If your child is too young for pony rides then maybe he or she can just watch the horses in their corral. I don't understand why they have to have electric fences though considering there are many children walking around.

                             

 

Visiting Central Park Zoo

Going into Manhattan and finding a parking spot not too park from the zoo can be daunting. However  Central Park Zoo offers a lot of attractions for kids that it is worth the hazzle.

The walrus statue is impressive. I took a picture of my baby sitting on top of it, with my husband holding her of course.

Watching the white bear swimming back and forth in the water is entertaining.

 

Watching the penguins antics is sort of funny!

Visiting Children's Museum in NY

As a parent we are suppose to continually expose our children to new experiences to enrich their vocabulary, and build connections between their brain synapses which is very important in raising intelligent children.

The NY Hall of Science in 47-01 111th Street, Queens, NY is a great children's museum in New York.  It has a lot to offer to young inquisitive minds.

Visiting the Long Island Children' s Museum in Garden City is worth the trip!

There is a colorful mural of a collage of children's drawn faces on the wall outside the museum .

There are a lot of hands on interactive galleries but my toddler's favorite is the Tot Spot. We can hardly take her away from the toy crane truck. She likes getting in and out of it, sitting on the seat  and pretending she is on a ride. It's very popular though so we have to pry her away from it any time someone wants to try it. She also tried riding the motorcycle in the gas station in the corner. It is really cute that you can pretend pumping gas into the motorcycle! There is also an enclosed area that make children feel that they are inside a bus there are even a costume of bus driver's uniform for those who wants to try it.

There is also bubble fun in another gallery (although it can be slippery so use extreme caution when everything is covered with soap and bubbles).

We enjoyed seeing ourselves on TV in the Communication  Station.

Recording our voice and hearing the output in the radio room is certainly fun!

 Spinning the big wheel requires a little effort for our little darling but she get the hang of it.

There is a wall of numbers in English, Spanish and sign language.

Visiting NY Aquarium

Visiting NY Aquarium is fun! There are a lot to see! Jelly fish, lego penguins, sea lions, turtles, etc. Being greeted by the lego penguins is such a neat idea! Watching the sea lions perform is such a treat! Looking at the antics of the turtles as they move back is fascinating. My toddler was enthralled!

 

Blood Test

Watching my baby have a blood test is hard! Why do they have to take 8 vials of drop? In this day and age you would think just a drop should be enough to learn everything they have to know! don't we watch it in TV where they only prick adults and get results? Why can't they do this to babies? To make the matter worst the technician made a mistake and said that one of the vials is not filling up right so he had to threw it out and get another vial of blood! Ah! So unnecessarily cruel!!!