I’m not good with numbers or math or anything that doesn’t involve words. That may be a lie. I was okay at those algebra word problems because they were wordy and tricky. Like me! I fear how I will help (or hinder) my sons in the future when they come to me with math questions. Thankfully, we’ve already gotten some help on some simple numbers learning topics thanks to Munchkin Math.

We were sent the Munchkin Math DVD, Shapes!!, for review. The ages on the DVD are for kids 2-8 and I can tell you one thing, it’s a hit with my two year old. My four year old who already knows that triangles have three sides, octagons have eight sides and, yes, Mommy, the refrigerator is a rectangle, isn’t all that interested. But my younger son? Loves it.

I’m all for using different forms of educational material to teach children things. Yes, we have books on shapes. In fact, we have a series of books on learning topics like shapes, colors and the like that we all absolutely adore. We could page through them for hours. But I also know that my children respond to visual learning and interactivity. As such, my younger son is enjoying Munchkin Math Shapes! I can tell because he yells out shapes, counts along and generally has a good time watching the 22 minute DVD. Unlike some other learning DVDs, this one really captures his attention. (And it doesn’t annoy me. Parenting win!)

Quite honestly, I’d love to grab the Telling Time and Counting Money DVDs in hopes that BigBrother would glean some information from those as well. (Or LittleBrother, too!) Hopefully by the time these guys hit high school they will have released titles like, “Munchkin Math, Trig!,” and, “Munchkin Math, Physics!” Right?

Munchkin Math: Shapes! is available at Amazon for $15.49 (12/22).

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[I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Munchkin Math and received a sample DVD to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate. Links are through Amazon Associates.]

If you’re not a regular reader of our main blog, you might not know that I love Christmas. (I love Christmas!) I was contacted two weeks ago about reviewing The Original Christmas Classics , Limited Keepsake Edition. I wiggled and giggled and said, “HOORAY!” What’s on this 3 DVD set?

• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Cricket on the Hearth
• Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns
• Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town!, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, The Little Drummer Boy
• Plus a bonus CD with seven classic Christmas songs!

As a side note, I can make the high pitched noise that Rudolph’s nose makes. Just ask FireDad. He learned that on our very first Christmas together when I made the noise for him and he looked at me like I had two heads. And yet he still married me. That’s love.

Anyway, I’m thrilled to have this DVD set in our holiday library. Nothing beats the classics. Rudolph is one of my all time holiday favorites followed shortly behind by Frosty. While all of the new movies and shorts being released with well known characters are sure to engage our children, I love bonding with my boys over things that I once loved when I was their age… and still love. Dearly.

The best thing about this DVD set, other than bringing seven great Christmas shows to one place? No commercials! You can argue that, sure, these are on television every year and you can catch them on a nice snowy evening with your children. Except that, as an example, my children go to bed before primetime and can’t ever watch them when they’re on television. Furthermore, shows like these when presented on television are packed full of commercials that make kids go, “OH! I WANT THAT!” No thanks! Skip the commercials and the gimmes and watch it on your very on DVD player.

Want it? Good! We’re giving away one full DVD set. But not just for commenting. We want some audience participation! We’re having a coloring contest*! (Contest is a loosely used word here. It’s still a random giveaway but you can’t be entered to win if you don’t participate!)

Here’s how to enter:

1. Print out this picture of Frosty and have your child(ren) color it. You may allow each of your children to color the picture one time. (Three kids? Three different Frosty pages. One kid. One Frosty page.) If they want to add stickers and sequins and paint, well, you have to clean it up and I don’t so, sure, go at it! (Note: Selecting print preview and changing the orientation to landscape and the size to 125% makes it a full size picture but is not required.)

2. Take a picture of your child with his/her creation. If you do not wish for your child’s likeness to be used online, take a picture of the creation itself without your child’s beautiful, smiling face.

3. Email the picture with the following information: your name, your blog URL and name (if you have one), your child’s name (as you would like to have it used online), and your child’s age. My email is firemom [at] stopdropandblog [dot] com. Please put COLORING CONTEST (in caps) in the subject line so I can find your entry! Please send a separate email and picture for each of your children. (That makes it easy to enter into my spreadsheet! Help me out!)

3a. You may also post your entry on your own public blog with a link to this giveaway for an extra entry. Please send a separate email with a link to your URL so that I may enter that on my spreadsheet as well. Use COLORING CONTEST (in caps) as your subject again.

Entries will be accepted until Friday, November 27, 2009 (also known as BLACK FRIDAY) at noon. The winner will be pulled via random.org and contacted via email. DVD will be shipped straight from my contact, not from me. Winner will be posted with the winning photo on Stop, Drop & Blog with a link to your blog (if you are a blogger). On that post I will also share pictures of BigBrother and LittleBrother’s coloring pages (but they’re obviously not entered in the giveaway; that would be silly!). We will also do a collage of all entrants and include links to all who participated (and gave their blog URL)  on that post. It will be a big, happy holiday celebration!

That’s about it! Go ahead and download the picture, print it out and get to coloring.

And if you don’t win? Pick up The Original Christmas Classics . It’s currently $21.49 on Amazon. A great gift for your children or a stocking stuffer for an adult who grew up adoring these holiday classics.

Remember when I told you about the new Veggietales movie? We received a complimentary copy for review and I’ve had the chance to watch it (a few times). While I was already partial to VeggieTales in the first place, I’ve only fallen more in love with Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and the whole cast of (delicious and healthy) characters.

In the movie, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, young and old(er) viewers alike are treated to a beautiful story about the importance and meaning of Christmas. I found it to be particularly relevant to life for children right now as one character, Laura Carrot, is worried that her dad might lose his job. As such, she may end up with nothing for Christmas. Enter a Christmas story about a boy (named Nicholas, of course) and what he discovered long ago that “changed Christmas forever.”

It’s an obvious Christmas story, made all the more wonderful by the VeggieTales characters, the wonderful music (remember the Matthew West and Amy Grant video?) and the general humor that Larry brings to this particular story. (He annoys Bob by interrupting his story. A lot. In funny ways, of course. But a lot.) I think, out of all the Veggietales movies we own, this may rank as a unanimous favorite. I love it for the teaching aspect, for the subtle and not-so-subtle lessons it offers my children without being boring. The kids love it because, again, while serious, it’s a humorous little treat. I don’t even think they realize that they’re learning.

We love this movie. Which is why we’re giving one copy away to a lucky reader! Interested in helping your children learn about the real meaning of Christmas and inspiring them to give year round? Here’s how you enter:

1. Leave a comment about how you plan on teaching your children that Christmas is more about giving than receiving. You may do this once.

2. Blog about this giveaway on your public blog, linking back to this post. Leave a comment here letting me know that you’ve done so.

3. Tweet about the giveaway. Copy/paste the following and come back with the link to your tweet: Help inspire your kids to give this Christmas w/ Veggietales & @FireMom: http://bit.ly/4cKEDM GIVEAWAY!

4. Post this on your Facebook or submit it to another social networking engine like StumbleUpon or Digg. Let me know via a comment that you have done so.

Restriction: US only.

This giveaway will be open until Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at noon. I’ll grab a random number (random.org) and contact the winner by email. You have 24 hour to respond before I seek out another winner. If you don’t win, the movie is available on Amazon for $9.99 right now (October 7, 2009).

I encourage you, even if you don’t purchase the video this Christmas, to teach your children the importance of giving this year. Many families are finding themselves in difficult financial situations, some for the first time ever. If you have any ability, please reach out to those families in need this year. The lesson you teach your child will be priceless and you will, quite likely, make the entire season for those to whom you give.

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This is just another post in our Media Review & Giveaway Extravaganza. Tune in tomorrow for another review + giveaway combo post!

Guess what Disney just pulled out of the vault? “The one that started it all.” Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I remember watching it as a child and being transported to a world where magic happened… and apples were evil. I wanted a Snow White dress but, back in the day, there wasn’t a Disney store in every mall with an affordable costume. So I just imagined one as I danced around the living room and sang, “Someday my Prince will come, Someday I’ll find my love.” Imagination is grand. (And I did find my Prince!)

Disney has made the movie even sweeter by releasing the movie in their Diamond Edition Combo pack. What’s that mean? The movie comes on DVD and Blu-Ray in the same pack. I know, some of you just said, “But I don’t care about Blu-Ray.” Did you know that Blu-Ray players play Blu-Ray discs (obviously) and all of your current DVDs? I didn’t either. To boot, this particular Blu-Ray has a bunch of special features that we got to check out as FireDad’s super swanky computer plays Blu-Ray discs.

Disney Family Play

• What  Do You See? – Decipher the scambled image
• Mirror, Mirror on the Wall – Which princess are you most like?
• Jewel Jumble – test your matching skills
  

Backstage Disney

• Snow White Returns – Newly discovered storyboards. Was Walt planning a sequel?
• Hyperion Studios – Explore Walt’s original studio
• The One That Started It All – See how Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs forever changed the world of movies
  

Classic Bonus Features

• Dopey’s Wild Mine Ride Game
• “Heigh-Ho” Karaoke Sing-along
• Disney through the decades

Add in an all new music video and other things and the Blu-Ray disc is awesome. Here’s something else that I didn’t know about Blu-Ray until I was offered this review: they’re more scratch resistant and, as such, kid-proof. We do allow our children to put their own DVD’s in and out of our DVD player. They are to go straight into their “DVD book” but, over the years, we’ve had a ruined disc here or there due to scratches. I could go with kid-proof, couldn’t you?

The movie is being released today, October 6. If you’re not familiar with Snow White itself (under which rock did you live?), you can check out the trailer. For more information about the Diamond Edition release, hit up the Official Website. This timeless movie would be a great way to start your Blu-Ray collection of movies that will last through your children. (Anyone had to buy another copy of a movie? Yeah. We did as well.)

Interesting in building your collection? Already own Snow White on VHS or DVD? Click here to grab a $10 off coupon for the new Diamond Edition Combo Pack! The offer is only good until October 20, but starting this fall Disney will introduce their Blu-ray Upgrade program so you will be able to upgrade other Disney titles in your library too! (I love this idea and am thrilled that we’ll be able to upgrade our collection!)

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No giveaway today (did you see yesterday?) but this is just another great stop in our Media Review & Giveaway Extravaganza week. Tomorrow brings you another giveaway so be sure to tune in! And don’t forget to get that coupon before October 20th if you already own Snow White on VHS or DVD! Go!

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[Disclosure: I was offered a complimentary copy of the Diamond Edition combo pack by One2One Network for my honest review.]

Today is May 1st! (How’d that happen?) May brings flowers, warmer weather and… Mother’s Day. And I’ve got the perfect thing for my new and/or expectant mothers.

When Mom Central asked if I wanted to review the Evenflo Comfort Select Performance breast pump, I felt kind of nostalgic. LittleBrother officially weaned himself just awhile ago (which I have not written about yet) and, knowing that he is our last child, I’m somewhat emotional about the concept of never nursing another child. All the same, as many of you know, I’m a huge breastfeeding advocate and so a review (and giveaway) the helps mothers learn about breastfeeding is right up our alley.

Since my milk is now 100% gone, we didn’t actively open a box and review the pump. I did, however, take the box over to my good friend Mandy’s house. She’s a lactation consultant at the hospital where we delivered TheBrothers. In fact, she was my lactation consultant and helped me get through some of LittleBrother’s growth issues. She had some good things to say about the new Evenflo Comfort Select Performance.

She brought up the fact that in 2007, Evenflo acquired Ameda. She was hopeful that combining the two technologies together would result in even better breast pumps for mothers (and babies). She was pretty excited to see the results of that combination. She was also greatly pleased with the price of the breast pump, coming in at $69.99 on Amazon, it’s in much greater reach than some of the bigger pumps. Things like auto-cycling and being BPA free are also some great points that we both loved!

She did have one word of warning: this pump is not for premature babies or children with special needs. Mothers who are attempting to pump for those babies need a hospital grade pump as the situation is vastly different. Mothers who are also exclusively pumping for whatever the reason probably need a “bigger” pump as well. Quite honestly, I wish this pump would have existed when LittleBrother was born. Despite working from home, I had a conference to attend (without him… sigh) when he was three months old. As this pump didn’t exist, I had to get a much more expensive model. Mandy is pretty darn sure that this pump would have helped us get the milk stash that we needed in a three month period. Sadly, I’ll never get to find out.

But you can!

That’s right. We actually have two of these Evenflo Comfort Select Performance breast pumps to give away. One of them, however, is going to our local Pregnancy Center (cleared with thumbs up by Mom Central which only makes me love them more as they are obviously “pro” mothers by doing such a thing!). I’m also going to be offering some education to any current mothers utilizing the center as to how breastfeeding can save them time, money and is, in the end, easier for mom and baby. Oh, and you know, a million times better! So that leaves one breast pump and two boxes of Comfort Select nursing pads for our readers. How to win? A few ways.

1. If you’re an expectant mom, leave a comment letting me know about your excitement, fears or other emotions you have regarding your new baby and a breastfeeding relationship. Not only does that give you a chance to win but I’ll comment back or email you with some encouragement! You may do this once.

2. If you’re already a nursing mom, leave a letting me know why you think this pump would help you along in your breastfeeding relationship. If you’d like to encourage the expectant moms reading this post and entering the giveaway, feel free to share happy stories and beautiful nursing shots. (Be prepared for me to blubber at you.) You may do this once.

3. If you’re not a nursing mom (weep with me) but you know someone who is and want to attempt to win this for them (for Mother’s Day!), blog about this giveaway on your public blog with a link to this post and the Evenflo Comfort Select Performance. Tell me why you’re nominating someone to win (you don’t have to name them or link to them if you want it to be a surprise) and really let me know why that person deserves to win this breast pump. Come back and leave the link in case the pingback doesn’t work properly! You may write as many posts as you want to on your own blog about awesome nursing moms but make it one mom per post.

And, as a bonus entry:

4. Tweet about this giveaway by copy/pasting this into your twitter stream:

Win an #evenflocomfort breast pump for you or a nursing mom! Visit @FireMom: http://tinyurl.com/d7hs8u Until Sun, May 10 for Mother’s Day!

You can tweet about the giveaway as many times as you want throughout the contest. Do not leave a comment here with each tweet URL. I’ll catch them with the mentions and put them in my spreadsheet.

Giveaway ends at 12:00pm (noon) on Sunday, May 10, 2009. After I get LittleBrother down for a nap, I’ll finish adding any last minute entries to my spreadsheet and visit random.org to pull a winner. I’ll contact that winner by email and get things off to her on Monday. (Yes, I can do this on Mother’s Day because, as figures with the Fire Department, FireDad works on Mother’s Day. And Father’s Day. And he worked on my birthday this year. And his birthday! Fail. Anyway, gifting another mom or mom-to-be with a special present will make me feel less grumpy. So we go!)

If you want to improve your chances of winning, enter the giveaway at MomCentral. They have three Evenflo Comfort Select Performance pumps to give away! So go improve your chances!

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Congrats to our winner, Kristy, who is expecting baby number three! She successfully nursed her twins, now three, for a year so she’s excited to have a slightly easier go at it (hopefully) this time around! Thanks for all those that were tweeting this giveaway!

I don’t like pirates. Rather, I don’t like the recent pirate craze brought about by a movie series I refuse to see because I don’t particularly care for the lead actor. I do like dressing up like pirates with the boys and playing with our imaginations but, really, I feel the pirate craze is somewhat overrated. However, when MomCentral asked if I wanted to review Wow! Wow! Wubbzy Pirate’s Treasure, the new DVD, I giggled and said, “Yes!” Or, rather, I shouted, “WOW, WOW, EVERYBODY!”

As I’ve told you before, I adore Wubbzy. And this DVD was no exception. In fact, FireDad and I have been walking around singing the pirate song for… well, days! In fact, the boys really joined in on the fun and broke out our pirate eye patch when we watched it the first time. Their imaginations are always fun and interesting.

See?

So what’s on the DVD?

Pirate Treasure
Wubbzy in the Woods
Walden on the Beach
The Grass is Always Plaider
Goo Goo Grief
Everything’s Coming Up Wubbzy
Save the Wuzzly

Plus lots of songs (to get stuck in your head for days on end. As usual, you can also go to Wubbzy.com and play games, view some videos from the new DVD and generally Wubb yourself out. Like the show in general, it is one website we approve for BigBrother to spend some time on. To boot, Wubbzy is the Goodwill Ambassador for Autism Speaks. And I think that’s awesome, Wubbzy. I really do.

We’ll be taking this 82 minute DVD along with us on vacation. That’s 82 minutes that I won’t have to hear, “Are we there yet, Mommy?” Thank you, Wubbzy!

BigBrother would watch the snow on the television if you let him. I don’t think he has met a show that he doesn’t like (which is why we have a limit on television time each day). He has a long list of “favorites” while the ones that FireDad and I consider our favorites creates a much shorter list. In fact, a few make us twitch. Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is not a twitch enducing show for us. In fact, it ranks near the top of our favorites as well as BigBrother’s which is shocking in itself.

When MomCentral asked if we wanted to review the new A Little Help from My Friends DVD I said, “Yes! Please!” I have a selfish reason. Two years ago when we drove to the beach, we had to listen to a certain blue dog and the human owner of said dog for fourteen hours. One way. And so, I have been meaning to add some new, slightly more tolerable DVDs to our collection before hitting the road this coming summer with two children instead of just one. At 93 minutes in length, this DVD will likely have a few repetitious plays on our trip.

And I’m okay with that as it doesn’t make me twitch.

This particular DVD focuses on the concept of friends and friendship. If you’ve been forced to sit through hours of Noggin, you have likely seen some ore all of the episodes contained on the DVD. The episodes, eight of them, include the title episode, A Clean Sweep, Mr. Cool, Wubbzy in the Middle, Gidget the Super-Robot (BigBrother’s favorite on the DVD), Broken Record, Widget Gets the Blooey Blues, and Where’s My Wiggle Wrench (my favorite on the DVD). They each teach preschoolers (and surrounding ages) some tips on how to behave like a good friend. Couldn’t we all use a reminder like that from time to time?

While we’ve known of the awesomeness of Wubbzy for awhile, I didn’t know about the existence (and equal awesomeness) of the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! website! (Try saying that five times fast.) You can watch some videos, play some games, print out some coloring pages (one of our favorite things to do), find a link to the Wubblog (best name ever) and even join the Wubb Club (emails the parents special Wubbzy acitivites and offers). I love when shows (that I like) have nice sites for the kids. Wubbzy delivers that and doesn’t disappoint.

You can pick up a copy of the new DVD on Amazon or any other of your normal retailers. It’s currently listed at $11.49 on Amazon! WOO! Or, rather, Wow! Wow!

If you’re trying to pick which movie to put in your child’s stocking this Christmas (you are budgeting for Christmas already, aren’t you?), I’d go with WALL-E. I really would. And not just because as a child of the 80’s, I was totally in love with Short Circuit. (Number 5 is alive!) Or, maybe somewhat because of that reason. But it’s not the total reason.

One thing I love about this movie as a parent? Well, as an example, two of BigBrother’s favorite movies involves a lot of dialogue. Some of it includes a few words that aren’t necessarily naughty but are words that we don’t use. Examples include “shut up” and “moron.” This movie doesn’t rely on dialogue. Sound effects make up much of the movie. As such, there are not many language concerns and, to boot, your child won’t be randomly quoting the movie in front of your intellectual friends. Of course, on the flip side, he could start “talking robot” in front of your same intellectual friends and you’re still going to have to fess up that you let Little Mikey watch television and/or movies. Either that or tell them that it is some new language and your kid is a genius. They’ll be impressed and your secret will be safe. All the same, this is one Disney movie that you won’t want to wear earplugs for, whether you’re a Dad who hates musicals or a Mom who can’t stand silly jokes. It was so interesting to listen to this movie!

What was my favorite part? Well, as a Fire Family, I have to tell you that we got a kick out of the scene where WALL-E discovers the fire extinguisher and gets blown around by the pressure. (Fire safety tip: teach your children that fire extinguishers are not toys and should only be used in an emergency!) But, I admit, I laughed. So did FireDad. But don’t tell. We won’t admit it.

BigBrother is really falling in love with the whole robot idea. We play robots at home and any time he sees a robot he makes noises. The whole movie has spawned a lot of imagination play. Thankfully without any of the shooting or potentially violent scenes (the only negative of the movie, in my opinion). BigBrother, instead, is a very friendly robot with an inquisitive nature. I’m all for imagination play, even if it was spawned by television or movie!

And so, I’m serious. If you’re still trying to decide which movie is best for your family this holiday season, go with WALL-E. To boot, if you decide to go this route, there are many toys which you can toss into the stocking with the movie to make a “themed stocking.” (And yes, I’m that dorky. I do make themed stockings. Don’t laugh at me!) (And yes, as you can see above, they do make WALL-E themed underoos!) After the presents are unwrapped and the food is open and new toys have been tossed aside, you can all gather together and look at the future through the eyes of a robot on Christmas evening. Nothing wrong with a little family togetherness, now is there?

So, buy it now on DVD! Or Blu Ray! (Or buy me a Blu Ray while you’re at it.) OH! And HEY! Go see the sweepstakes over at BlogHer!

Full disclosure: this was a paid review from BlogHer and Disney. But it’s still an awesome family movie. Trust me!

Trains are big in our house. More specifically, Thomas the Train is HUGE in our house. So, I jumped at the chance when Parent Bloggers Network asked if we wanted to review a new Thomas DVD. Just like BigBrother jumped around the house when I opened the package to reveal the shiny trains on the outside of the DVD. (Note to readers: Don’t open packages just before naptime. Sigh.)

Anyway, we’re totally fans of  Thomas and Friends: Engines and Escapades.

Let me say though: this one doesn’t “feature” Thomas in all of the episodes. This one “stars” the Narrow Gauge Engines. Now, if your kiddo is new to the Thomas and Friends scene, you’re going to be scratching your head and saying, “Who?” Your kid is going to say, “Where is Thomas?” But for those fans among us, this DVD was a real treat. It’s not often we get to hear or see stories specifically about engines like Sir Handel and Skarloey, two of BigBrother’s favorite diecast trains. While Thomas does make some appearances, this DVD is more like to feature the two mentioned trains along with characters like Madge, Duncan, Rusty and Rheneas.

BigBrother? Loved it. Any time I turned it on for him, he would run and get the aforementioned trains and sit in front of the television while chanting, “CHOO-CHOO,” and “PEEP PEEP!” Again, as Sir Handel is one of his favorites, he was really excited to tell me over, and over… and over and over again that “HANDEL ON TV!!” Yes, Buddy, he is. Good catch.

Like the other Thomas and Friends DVDs, it ends with the Thomas song. If you don’t know the Thomas song, you’re sure to be humming it at random times after your child has fallen in love with the show. While some find the show boring, I really find that Thomas helps bring out my son’s imagination as he plays with trains day and night. This has transpired into a love of real trains as well which makes for an easy and cheap (FREE!) field trip down to the train tracks to explore.

If you’ve got a child, boy or girl, with an imagination and a love of things that go, this DVD is for you!

To see what others are saying, hit up the Parent Bloggers Network launch post!

I’m sure you all remember the hullabaloo about Baby Einstein making your kids dumb. I’m here to say, “Stupid is as stupid does.” (Thanks, Forrest Gump!) Truth is, if you use the television as a babysitter, sure, your kid isn’t going to learn as quickly as the mothers and fathers who are actively doing things with their children. That’s why I’m digging the new Baby Einstein initiative to get parents involved with their children.

I received Baby Einstein: Baby’s First Moves for review. We have the whole box set of the other Baby Einstein DVDs so I was excited to have a new one in house. I really can’t say enough about this particular DVD. While LittleBrother, only three months, merely sat on my lap and occasionally looked at the screen as I chattered along about what was going on, BigBrother surprised the heck out of me.

You see, two-plus-years is really out of the “Baby” Einstein demographic. But holy frijoles did BigBrother enjoy watching this video. The three of us sat on the floor in front of our television. I had told BigBrother that we were going to watch something “special” for LittleBrother. Well, that was enough to make him interested. Use of the word special always has that kid on board! From the moment that a baby came on the screen, BigBrother was delighted. As the narrator talked about what the babies were doing (walking, clapping, standing up), he joined in, looking to me for my approval and continued narration. He explained to me what the puppets were doing and laughed any time a puppet or a child played peek-a-boo.

Color me surprised. This kid is all about actions. Cars that go fast. Sirens that wail. So when he took such an interest in a “baby movie,” I was just simply shocked. But I used it to my benefit. We talked about each scene. We talked about the sounds that the animals made. We talked about hair and hands and eyes and noses. I did all of this with him when he was little and in the age demographic for the movies and plan on doing the same with LittleBrother as he becomes more interested. I suppose this is why BigBrother can’t watch anything on television without discussing what is going on with whomever is watching with him. Makes it hard to watch the news, I tell you.

The best feature of the new DVD is the “Baby Moves” section. A pilates instructor gives you a few easy exercises to do with your baby throughout your daily routine. Any Mama looking to lose a few pounds would benefit from the lunges and lifts and your baby will enjoy the time spent together. Of course, don’t feed your baby immediately before lifting him directly over your head. Yeah. Ick.

All in all, I’m pleased with this particular DVD. Quite frankly, if I hadn’t been sent to review it, I wouldn’t have known that BigBrother could still benefit from watching these with us as a family. We still won’t be watching them on a daily basis or throwing the baby in front of them on repeat (I never, ever choose repeat mode) but I think we’ll make it part of our weekly learning adventures.

Interested in picking up the new DVD? Get it on Amazon! (And PS? The new website is fabulous.)