Dad Street

Well that was an interesting weekend!

It started off with me heading to the Apple Store thinking I’d actually land the purchase of an iPad 2. Yeah, that went about as I expected but hey I had to try. I’m hoping this week I’ll get lucky finding one. The wife didn’t understand my obsession with getting it and especially getting it right when it came out but I guess I’m just blessed cursed with the gene.

Saturday was our last day of Swim Class for both O and Jake. We’ve taken O there before when she was about one but this is the first time we had both of them in the class at the same time. We’re hoping to get them in another session but we’re wait listed at the moment. This has been really fun for us because note only are both of the kids doing a fun and educational activity but we’re able to physically share in it with them! Of course as they get older there will be less activities we’ll be able to physically partake-in, which is why it makes this all that more special! If you have two little ones or plan to some day I highly encourage you to try and do something like this. We’ve been going to the Monterey Sports Center. Check and see if you have a local Community Center in your town! You’ll not only be supporting your local community but will usually save a lot of money off of private facilities.

If you have two kids that are close in age like O and Jake (16 months apart) then you’re really going to be able to relate to our Sunday. If you don’t have more than one child but are considering it, this is a little heads up to what it’s like!

We went to the Mall!

Okay, those of you with two or more kids close in age just got a little anxious at that last statement, didn’t you? Yeah, that’s pretty much what I thought. Well we’re planning for our big trip to the Holy Land in a few weeks (travel series posts to come) and we needed to get some clothes for the kids. Of the two, O is certainly easier to watch after and listens a lot better than her little brother. Jake at 18 months is still at that age where he has to put everything in his mouth and “Come here Jakey” doesn’t mean too much. Overall, they both did really well at the mall but you have to watch them every second of the day! I’m not even kidding! Besides the fact that all it takes is a second for someone to snatch your child it doesn’t take much for Jake to pull a rack of clothes over!

Fire Engine Mall Carts

Wow! If you’re a parent and you’ve ever been to the mall you’ll probably remember seeing those Mall Rental Carts. The ones at this mall were Fire Trucks and we made a mistake of accidentally seeing them. From the moment Jake caught eye of them he couldn’t stop pointing and grunting. This is where the, “Come on Jake” didn’t work too well. I actually had to pick him up to get him to move on. Even after we moved out of site from the carts he was still pointing! He had the saddest look on his face and you would’ve thought we just told him that toys were now considered illegal. I think he was just tired. This might also explain why, for the first time, he thought it was appropriate to throw everything in front of him during lunch. Spoons, bread, napkins all went flying at us! I can’t tell you how many times the kids act up (which really is not that often) where the wife and I turn and just bust out laughing! Of course we don’t want them to see us but I just can’t help but to bust out laughing at half of the crazy things they do! We wound up getting a good amount of shopping done but boy was I wiped when we left!

Dads Welcome?? Geez, thanks! Nice to know we can tag along! Sheesh!

Apparently, the weekend wasn’t over with excitement because on our way home we got pulled over. Yeah, as in pulled over by a cop! Ughh….Apparently, I wasn’t paying attention cause I got a speeding ticket! I was so bugged! First, I felt so embarrassed that a cop was pulling us over with the kids in the car. Both of them were asleep but there was a weird feeling about being cited by a cop in front of your kids. Criminal. I was also kind of ticked because he was so loud! When he walked over I told him, “Shhh..while pointing to the back of the car.” He either didn’t see/hear me or didn’t really care but I’m like, “Dude, I have kids sleeping in the back!” I mean you don’t need to wake up sleeping children over a stupid speeding ticket, right? Sheesh! Apparently, Officer Friendly didn’t have children.

All in all it was a great weekend! After all, any weekend spent with the family is a good one. Hope you all had a great weekend too whether it was in a mall, doing some kind of fun activity with your little one’s or realizing you’re not Jeff Gordon on the Highway.

O was 16 months when she first learned how to slide the virtual slide lock on the iPhone, open and scroll to her page of apps. Jake started doing that around the same age. This only happened cause I’m a tech gadget geek and happen to have owned an iPhone for the last two years. As soon as O was born I began shopping on the app store for kid friendly apps. I’ve downloaded thousands of apps (all kinds) and had a good grasp for what apps were ones worthy of downloading and which ones weren’t.

The greatest thing about reviewing kid-friendly apps is having the best testers right in house. O has her own page dedicated to apps that are for her which makes it easy when I hand her my phone. She’s got a few “game” apps that are geared towards the two year old age group but most of them are educational in part or in whole. Whether it’s spelling, drawing, or apps that identify animal sounds she’s played with it.

Recently I was presented with an opportunity to review a cool new app called, Hooray My Name Objects. One key factor in any app, especially one desigend for toddlers, is how well the graphics and sounds are. They don’t have to be extremely complex but they have to be clear and vibrant as children identify well with those. This app is no expection to that rule as the animation is clean, crisp, and very bright. There are good music effects and sounds, which you can turn off. What makes this app so unique is it’s ability to customize the sounds to your childs name. There are over 1,300 names to choose from in the app so you shouldn’t have a problem finding your child’s name. Once you’ve picked your child’s name (which you can later change for siblings) you’re taken to a screen where you can choose between two scene modes; the Park or the Beach. Kids love both places so they should be fun places for kids to experience the app with.

The app takes kids through either the park or the beach where they can identify objects. What’s cool is they can scroll around the screen to see the whole picture. Tapping almost anywhere on the screen lands you on an object which the app visually displays the name for as well as audibly identifies. The objects are common things you’d find in either of those settings and then also some fun not so common objects (like a dinosaur skeleton). Throughout the app the little character, Jack, (who is static on the lower right side of the screen) asks your child (by name) to find an object. They’re free to search the screen and tap any object they like as well as try and follow instruction to identify one. The music is cheerful and cute and not annoying, which can be for some kids apps. One thing I also really like about the app is you can actually display it in both landscape and portrait mode. So the child can hold the phone however, they like and still play.

Overall, I think this is a fun and educational app for kids in the 1 to 3 year old range. By nature the app isn’t very complex as once all the objects are identified there’s not much else to do. However, at this age children tend to do a lot of repetitive tasks and actually that’s a good thing from a learning perspective. Hopefully, the developer will put more scenes in the app other than just the two that are there. Short of some of these things which can easily be addressed in future upgrades I think it’s a fun, educational, and really unique app that your child will like.

You can find Hooray My Name Objects in the iTunes store for download. For the price of a grande coffee at Starbucks or $1.99, the app will run on either your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. As far as educational and interactive apps for your 1 to 3 year old I’d recommend this one for your little future iPhoner.

I’m giving away a FREE promo code to 3 lucky winners over at my other site www.LateNightParents.com. The contest will run this week and the winners will be announced on our show next Monday, March 7th as well as on our blog. Good luck to all of you and even if you don’t win you can quickly pick up the app through the app store!

Disclosure: I was provided with a promo code to download the app for this review. I was not compensated in any way to review this app. With that said, my opinions expressed in this review are my own and can’t be bought for any money let alone $1.99.

NoPad, Graduation, Death By Shopping, and a Speeding Ticket

Daddy App Review: Hooray My Name