Category Archives: Parenting

Every day during her first months of life, I would tell my daughter, “Where is daddy’s nose?  [dramatic pause…]  There it is!”  It wasn’t surprising that her first word was “nose.”  Her sister, who is just starting to speak now didn’t get the same nose game.  Her first word was a more traditional “daddy,” whichContinue reading “Most Common First Baby Words”

According to Parents magazine, “most babies learn that their names refer to themselves” between 5 and 7 months.  Babies hear their name often, and it quickly becomes one of the most important words in their vocabulary.  Name recognition by sight on paper is a different story; however, it’s one that you can expedite with aContinue reading “12 Proven Ways to Improve Baby Name Recognition”

Sorry, it’s a bit of a clickbait title.  What I actually mean is, don’t always read to your kids, but sometimes let them read to you. Clearly, it is very important to read to your children.  As a new parent, a friend advised me to make reading part of a routine – any routine.  SoContinue reading “Don’t Read to Your Kids”

Our youngest daughter’s great-grandma recently bought her GUND’s Animated Elephant.  Flappy!  ‘Awesome… another f’n stuffed animal.’  But then we pressed the Sing button, and holy crap but is this thing adorable.  I’ll let Flappy speak for itself here. Over and over we played, “Do your ears hang low…” until it was burned in our heads.Continue reading “Flappy the Awesome Animated Elephant”

Inevitably, your newborn’s teeth will start to cut the day after you feel settled in a routine.  Often this is somewhere around 4-6 months, but it can also happen much later, around the 10-12 month mark even.  When it happens, your kid will be miserable, drooling, leaking nose goop, putting everything into his/her mouth, andContinue reading “The 9 Best Baby Teethers”

When I was 5, my parents asked a piano teacher to start giving me lessons. The piano teacher scoffed – I was too young, wouldn’t have the attention span, and wouldn’t have the dexterity. Toddler piano lessons were a waste of time. He agreed to a single session to test me out. After 15 minutes,Continue reading “How to Teach Your Toddler Piano Lessons”

If you haven’t yet met the Fingerlings, you soon will.  They’re already getting hyped up as the toy of the 2017 holiday season (a la Hatchimals).  Given I’ve two girls that will probably want the hell out of these things, I figured it’s worth a dig. At first glance, these things appear to be the next evolutionContinue reading “WowWee Fingerlings, a Wearable Smart Toy”

Toddler puzzles are a great educational and entertaining activity, and you can start early.  At around 10 months, babies start to do their own version of puzzles: putting stuff – especially their pacifiers – into containers, and taking it all out again.  This exercise helps children develop basic motor skills and problem solving.  As theyContinue reading “Things to Consider When Buying Toddler Puzzles”

It’s raining out, you can’t bear to watch another episode of Dora or Diego, and you’ve got hours to pass before nap time or the next meal.  And your toddler is just getting started!  There are plenty of activities you can use to fill the time – building and then breaking stuff, maybe a boardContinue reading “5 Fun Toddler Construction Paper Crafts”

This article on preparing toddlers for the Ivy League was originally posted on the Scouted blog. ** A few weeks ago during Scouted team lunch, I joked that I’d write a blog post about how to prep your toddlers for the Ivy League. So, true to my word, here are my initial thoughts on collegeContinue reading “From Diapers to Dartmouth”