This year, on my son's birthday, I thought about how fun it would be to be able to celebrate a birthday over the two days. Why not milk that birthday for all it was worth. I asked my husband what he thought of starting a new family tradition, where we set aside one gift from the pile and saved it for the next day, the Canadian birthday. I want to remind my kids where their mama comes from. He loved the idea. So when Charlie woke up the other day, on his Canadian birthday, assuming all the festivities were done, we wished him happy birthday - again. He was surprised when we placed a gift beside his bowl of cereal. His eyes lit up and he looked at us in confusion; his little four year old brain already understanding that birthdays usually only last from sun-up to sun-down.
One of the very silly photos we took on his watch. The cute little giraffe frame is one of the features. |
The Kidizoom Smart Watch DX (by Vtech), besides telling time on a 3D analogue or digital display, takes photos, video, and has eight games for him to play using the touchscreen. It also comes with a motion sensor so my son can explore the three action challenges. I've already set him the challenge of getting the mail for me. I've never seen him get that little task done so quickly. He wanted to see how many steps it would be to the mail box, there and back; one hundred and thirty one, to be precise.
I've been so frustrated by him sitting in front of a screen while I've been taking care of his newborn sister so I was over the moon the other day when he was racing up and down the hallway and through the lounge room to see if he could beat his personal best racing time. Each time he does a new time a "quicker" animal" comes up on his screen to tell him he beat the last one. He whoops with joy! "I beat the chicken mum, I beat the chicken."
I've worried about him wearing his fancy new watch and washing his hands after he's been to the loo, but thankfully this watch is sweat and splash proof.
One of the photo frames you can choose from on the Smart Watch |
Our budding wrist photographer |
As I've mentioned, this does have a touchscreen and games so I have found that I do need to monitor my son's activity on his watch at times to make sure he isn't getting an over abundance of screen time, but as he goes about his day he often forgets he's wearing a watch, just like we do.
And more games are available to download from the Learning Lodge.
Vtech also sent me A little singing puppy for my new daughter. She is just coming up on 4 months old so she is learning to grab and is becoming quite playful. She loves the lights and sounds of her new puppy. The different textures and colours encourage her to touch and cuddle, and the lights teach her the sound of numbers and objects. The strap at the top means I can hang it from the car seat or pram for her. This cute little puppy is available in July from Big W and other good independent Toy stores.
This is a video we made of little sister playing with her new Singing Puppy, using the smart watch.