Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games

Perfect for making a long car ride pass quickly, this collection of 10 games is based on the Nickelodeon movie/TV series, which is full of wacky talking animals.

You can play either in story mode, where you move around a map to discover and unlock the games, or in "Quick Event" mode, letting you jump directly to one of the games, providing you've unlocked it already in the story mode. We tried three of the games, and found them to be well designed, taking full advantage of the DS touch screen. For example, Chicken Launch gives you a catapult and a set of moving targets, and Stickbike Stunts is a clever racing game inspired by the online game, LineRider. In the story mode, you try to win the Slop Bucket trophy. Or, if you like, you can roam freely around the Barnyard and chat with the other Barnyard buddies. Some reading is required. Borrow it or buy it. Created by Firemint for THQ, Inc.

Link to buy Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games

Boy and Cat

Backyard Baseball 2010

In terms of graphics and sounds, this 10th edition of Backyard Baseball isn't the bestlooking, but it does deliver an excellent two-player baseball experience. The 2010 edition features new fields and an updated player roster with kid versions of players from all 30 MLB teams. These include David "Big Papi" Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr., Vladimir Guerrero, and Albert Pujols. A new pitching camera perspective puts the camera behind the batter when hitting and behind the pitcher when pitching. In addition, the Wii version lets you swing the Wii Remote, both to pitch and hit.

Our tester (Daniel - age 9) has played most of the Backyard Baseball games, and this one tops them all. He liked that there are more fields and players in this version, and especially liked playing the Home Run Derby. By playing games in season mode, he was able to unlock Alex Rodriguez, one of his favorite MLB players. At $30 for a Wii game, this is a great value.

Link to buy Backyard Baseball 2010

Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess

Looking for a well-designed first game experience for a preschooler? This is an excellent choice.

In Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess, players join Dora, Boots and Pirate Piggy as they help the Snow Fairy save the Snow Princess and the Magical Snowy Forest while defeating the Mean Witch. The game features 12 minigames that can be unlocked; all are easy to play and master. In the console edition, adults can pick up the second controller to help, or just play along, creating an excellent social opportunity. In the Wii version, players hold the Wii Remote like a pair of handlebars, leaning left or right to move through the side-scrolling levels. Along the way, they climb, dig, build snowmen, paddle a canoe, steer a dogsled and ride a Pegasus using various motions. You can also ice skate, snowboard and ski while trying to find the magic crystal. In the DS version, you can shout into the microphone to make the sea snake go away, blow into it to help the Snow Fairy fly across the moat, tap with the stylus to steer Paj's dogsled, and use the stylus to drag ice blocks to light up the ice cave.

Both the Wii version and the PS2 version are well-designed, although the game play is very different. Testers found the DS version to be more limited in content, resulting in a slightly lower rating (4.5 stars), compared to the Wii and PS2 versions (4.6 stars).

Link to download Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess
Link to buy Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess

Diner Dash: Flo on the Go

Warning, this game is addicting, so consider yourself warned. Anyone who's ever waited tables knows that it requires juggling a variety of tasks at once. In this game, you assume the role of a fast-footed waitress named Flo. As customers line up at the front door, you must seat them, take their orders, turn them into the kitchen, deliver the food, take the bills, bus the tables and seat the next customers. The better you do, the bigger your tips. Customer satisfaction is measured by a set of hearts; if a customer waits too long, they will leave and your score goes down.

There's been a variety of Diner Dash games in the past (the original idea comes from GameLab). This edition combines casual gaming with a story where Flo is going on a vacation, but loses her suitcase. She has to use her waitress skills to get her vacation and wardrobe back on track. The game features 50 levels and includes blackout and turbulence modes that make waiting tables more difficult, as well as nine types of customers -- including tacky tourists and lovebirds. For $20, you can't go wrong with this fun game, and it definitely stretches your short-term memory. Created by PlayFirst for Bright Minds Media.

Link to download Diner Dash: Flo on the Go

Eco-Creatures Game

Confusing and hard to learn, this one-player DS game attempts to teach players about the effects that over-industrialization, deforestation, pollution, extinction and global warming have on the environment. While these are big topics, it is hard to figure out what they have to do with this game. Players use the Touch Screen to move a tribe of woodland creatures around an island. Each creature-type has different abilities (Ecolis grow trees, Ecoby build bridges and swim, and Ecomon move objects and fly, and so on). There are 40 missions, but we couldn't get through the first, and our testers all gave up as well. So this really could be a good game, but we'd never know. Other features include a two-tofour player game-sharing mode, and a make your own island feature. Developed by Lightweight Co. Ltd., and Headlock Corporation for Majesco.

Link to buy Eco-Creatures

SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis Game Review

Full of slapstick Spongebob humor, this scavenger hunt adventure game lets you explore the lost city of Atlantis in search of new outfits and accessories. As you explore, you switch between SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Plankton to take advantage of each character's unique abilities. Each level features unlockable objectives including: Invading Atlantis in the mighty Super-Scooper Tank; getting cultured by creating high art with Squidward; and singing on the magic bus to Atlantis. Additional content includes unlockable bonus features including multiplayer mini-games in the Amoeba Arcade, and customization of SpongeBob with outfits and accessories. Features and prices vary by platform, from $20 for the GBA to $50 for the Wii.

Link to buy SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis

XO Laptop

"Strange, hard to open, but full of surprises" -- was my [WB's] initial reaction to the famous XO $100 Laptop from MIT that actually costs about $430 for two. So I guess it is really a $215 laptop. I had a chance to test a beta version briefly during last month's (Nov 07) Dust or Magic Institute. Important to note up front: the XO computer will not be available in the US or Canada; the only way to get one is through the buy-one, send-one to a poor child initiative.

The small, green clamshell case houses a 433 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM and wireless Internet, that we could not get to work. There's also a 7.5 inch color screen, a non-standard rubbery membrane keyboard that is almost toy-like, but can be easily imprinted with different languages (currently available in Thai, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, English, West African, Urdu, Mongolian, Cyrillic, Amharic; with others planned). The screen flips around, in Tablet PC fashion, making it into a book reader, minus the touch abilities. There is no hard drive or fan, and there are three USB ports as well as an SD card slot.

After struggling for about five minutes to get the case open, I tried the drawing program, that you access by moving the cursor down to the corner of screen, which causes a listing of the available applications to appear from the sides, somewhat comparable to Mac OSX. There's a strangely large touch pad with multiple parts, one for touch and the other for writing. We found the drawing experience to be refreshingly non-gimmicky although obviously difficult using the touch pad. There's just clean, pixel-by-pixel drawing, with the ability to easily import digital photos from the onboard camera. It is easy to see that this device is powerful and holds a lot of potential for expanding Internet access to remote areas of the world, which might include parts of your own hometown. In addition, the open-source aspect of the operating language is extremely promising, and based on the traffic show at the development wiki (http://dev.laptop.org/) it is clear that programmers around the world are working on the operating system, called "Sugar."

Unfortunately, we weren't able to explore, and that's about all we could get out of this computer before the batteries died. On paper, the specs are interesting -- because each computer has a wireless router, this makes it possible for each computer to create its own mesh network, right out of the box. So a child can send notes or sketches to another child in the same room; and if one of the computers is online, everyone can get online. Clearly there's some powerful thinking behind this computer, although we were not able to get any of these features working to personally test. Keep in mind that there's no disk drive, and you won't be able to install Windows or Mac-based software on this computer. Instead, this computer uses the Internet as it's hard drive; not a bad idea.

Entry date: 11/29/2007

The Children's Circuit

In the last five years, I've attended my share of children's performances. Daddio has attended his share, too, but still fewer than me. We've braved Blues Clues, Sesame Street Live, Dragon Tales, the Big Apple Circus, the Wiggles and Disney On Ice. I imagine that subconsciously I've forgotten various other performances, but that shows how meaningful those experiences actually were.

I don't recall attending or even the availability of so many children's productions when I was a youngster. Perhaps I was sheltered in this respect, but more likely, kids created their own performances outside on the neighbor's lawn, in my day. Kids programming was limited, at best.

Yesterday evening, we attended The Wiggles Concert.



To say the least, The Wiggles Concert, live and in-person, is an experience. It would be virtually impossible to find yourself nodding off as Jeff, Anthony and Murray scurry through the audience and Greg jokingly plucks out a few notes of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven for the adults' benefit.

When I originally heard about these four Australian guys, prancing around onstage belting out children's tunes, I assumed they were gay. Who in their right mind would do this for a living? I assumed, they either must be out of their minds, or consumed large amounts of uppers, namely Prozac.

Then, two years ago, I heard a "cool" dad, dropping off his children at school, remark to the preschool teacher, "Hey, sorry the kids are late, today. We went to the Wiggles concert last night. Boy, they were amazing! They're like the Rolling Stones for kids."

Like the Rolling Stones, eh? I figured I better check it out. So, I set up our Tivo to record the show. My kids were immediately hooked. Within a few weeks, the kids demanded to dress in their ballet attire and dance to the Wiggles on television a few times a week. They could watch the same episode three times in a row, possibly more, if I'd allow it.

Last year, we attended our first Wiggles concert. I recall being stunned by the energy. The parents (particularly the mothers) seemed just as mesmerized by these four Aussie fellows as the kids. The mommies belted out every word of every tune as their children swayed their hips and clapped their hands. Not that I've been to a Rolling Stones concert, but it was like stuff I'd seen on MTV.

Now, over a year later, of Tivo-ing the show and listening to the Wiggles tunes, I, too, can belt out the words to nearly all the Wiggles tunes. I've become one of those mothers who is just as mesmerized by these Aussie fellows as are her children. Even Daddio, sang along to the songs he recognized.

However one feels about the four Aussie men, collectively known as the Wiggles, depriving a child of a Wiggles Concert is like depriving them of their childhood these days. If there is one thing that a parent could choose to do with a child, I strongly recommend attending a live Wiggles show. The energy present at both shows I've attended is as exuberant as Times Square in New York City.

I hope we attend the Wiggles concert again next year! At one point, Daddio asked if all the adults actually brought children to the concert. I wonder myself... maybe we will become the sort of parents that will continue to attend the annual concerts when our children are in high school and college.

Doubtful, but not beyond the realm of possibilities.... Why knows, by then, we may find the Cheetah Girls tolerable.

Turnaround

Today, being the last day of this set of swim lessons, Scooter had a 180 degree turnaround.

Here's the proof:



And some actions shots of Teacup:

Mommy Tips

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Basis of Need

Teacup has begun to compare notes with her schoolmates.

When she returned home from school earlier this week, she announced that her buddy, Alisha, received more gifts from the Easter Bunny than she did.

Quick on the draw, I responded that the Easter Bunny brings kids things based on their individual needs. Aside from too many jelly beans and too much chocolate, this year, Teacup and Scooter received new swimsuits, beach towels, flip-flops and a small toy in their Easter baskets. I assured her that she received the items she needed to start the summer.

Letting that sink into her noodle, she paused. Then, she asked, "Why does Alisha need more than one kite? I need a kite, too!"

I'm having trouble keeping up with the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny antics. What am I going to do when Santa comes around again in eight months?

Swim To Me

This week, the girls are taking swim lessons at a friend's pool. These pictures quite accurately sum up the current state of affairs.

Teacup takes on the persona of a mermaid in the water.



Clearly, she is pleased with her abilities.

Scooter shows a totally different side!



While this last photo will garner some yucks, I hope to post more flattering photos of Scooter by Friday.

Paralyzed by Technology

Last week, my life came to a screeching halt when my computer crashed.

In the working world begot with paychecks, when technology failed me, I called the IT help-line. The 5 digit extension was etched into my cerebrum. Even though the IT department was outsourced by the time I turned in my resignation letter, those guys were always just a call-a-way. I never cared if they thought I was some ridiculously ill-informed user. Nor did I mind if they mocked my technological ineptitude. All I cared about was their ability to fix my machine while I took a ten-minute walk around the building to relieve my frustration. Documents and emails never get lost, unless the company is under investigation by Eliot Spitzer.

The IT help-line was another advantage of the working world. There was always someone there to fix my stuff. Even when my home computer faltered, some tech guy could always keep me surfing the net at work.

It took five days of daddio's dedication to fix my home computer problems last week. I offered zero help. It's not that I didn't want to, I just couldn't. Honestly, the only form of assistance I could have offered would have been brownies or chocolate chip cookies. However, I mucked that up, too, given that I didn't consider it until now. Go figure.

During those long five days, I tried not to think too hard about the potential damage to my life. I had a few minor inconveniences. I would have lost some contact information that would have taken time to recover. Most importantly, I would have lost nine months of precious pictures.

I've never lost a limb. Perhaps it's not fair to compare. But, I sure felt dismembered!

Fortunately, Daddio saved the day. I'm back up and running with none of my photos, contacts or documents noticeably missing.

Thank you Daddio!

Anti-Antibiotics

Scooter awoke with a red puffy eye two days in a row, earlier this week. Her eye appeared crusty due to some sort of nasty discharge. By the afternoon of the second day, a pinkness encircled the puffiness of her eye. It deteriorated as her pupil peered at me through a diminishing slit.

Pinkeye was the first mom-diagnosis that entered my mind. I've never had pinkeye and I've never formally spotted pinkeye, but I assumed that's what she'd caught from some other germ-infested preschooler.

So, I dragged Scooter and Teacup to the doctor.

As the pediatrician examined Scooter, he seemed to struggle internally about what to do. Eventually, he confirmed that she had not caught pinkeye. Phew! However, she needed antibiotic eye-drops and an oral antibiotic for seven and ten days, respectively. In a rush to be dismissed, without question, I accepted the instructions and immediately filled the prescriptions.

The first day, Scooter liked the idea of the "treatment". With minor opposition, she drank the citrus-flavored oral antibiotic and allowed us to squirt a drop in her inflamed eye.

Her eye quickly returned to a nearly normal state. Then, she strongly refused the oral antibiotics. By her age, a few weeks shy of three years old, when she refuses to ingest something, I can no longer squeeze her cheeks and force it down the hatch. I knew any effort to force the issue would result in her spewing the medicine out of her mouth and me wearing it. I've been down that road with Teacup. No need to repeat that experience....

I focused on the eye-drops. By the time the next dose was to be dispensed, she started to put up a bit of a struggle. She fought to cover her eye. I eventually pinned her to the ground and forced a drop into her somewhat swollen eyeball. The next time, the minor struggle blossomed into a wrestling match with me holding her arms behind my knees and prying her eyelid open. Finally, Scooter added a head-thrashing motion to the full-fledged brawl. So, I gave up on the eye drops for fear that either my fingers or the eyedropper would do more harm than good.

Making excuses, I convinced myself that the pediatrician must have been overly cautious to prescribe both eye-drop antibiotics and oral antibiotics. I figured in the overly anitibotic-crazed society we live in, she doesn't need to OD on antibiotics.

When we returned to the pediatricians office for a follow-up visit, the doctor expressed pleasure regarding Scooter's recovery. However, he hesitated when he peered down her throat.

"How are those oral antibiotics going?" he asked.

"Well..... um..... Scooter doesn't seem to like them. So, I didn't force the issue." I ashamedly stammered.

"Oh. Well, just watch her pretty closely because Scarlet Fever is going around." And that was the end of the discussion.

Now you tell me!, I thought.

Since that visit, I've decided that we are an anti-antibiotic family despite being entirely ignorant of the real issues.

Does this make us pro-biotics?

Birthday List

This afternoon, Teacup and I sat down to jot down her birthday list. She's turning five years old. Here's what she enthusiastically asked for:

1. Jewelry Box
2. Princesses (which one? All princesses!)
3. Make-up
4. Polly Pockets
5. Princess Game
6. Princess Purse
7. Guitar

As we finished eating dinner, she said, "Oh yeah. One more thing. Mom can you get me HOMEWORK for my birthday?"

Phone Preview

With Daddio focused on the NCAA basketball tournament during dinner, the girls and I ate dinner together. Okay, they watched me eat my dinner and they talked about their respective days. After I finished my meal, theirs untouched, I took the opportunity to practice using the telephone. Teacup knows the important telephone numbers - the house phone and my cell phone number, including area codes.

To date, she's never let her fingers do the walking.

I gave her the house phone and held onto my cell. To start, she practiced calling my cell. Getting the hang of it, we switched and she called the house phone from my cell.

Making telephone calls is no longer intuitive. When you tell someone to "hang up" the phone, there's nothing to hang up. Telephones rarely hang from the wall anymore. Furthermore, it's rare to see a telephone receiver attached to a long, spiral cord (unless you live in California and deal with earthquakes).

One day, when I'm old, grey and wrinkled (more-so than my current state), the phrase "hang up the telephone" will become obsolete, if it hasn't already. (Teacup blankly stared at me as I instructed her to "hang up the phone" this evening.) At some point, I imagine a youngster asking me the origination of that silly, meaningless phrase. What will people say when they can no longer explain the derivation of the phrase? "Press the button" just doesn't have the same connotation. Given all the various buttons in our lives, which button do you press? Even "end the call", still doesn't seem to cut it. Maybe I'm just old-school.

I regress.

Teacup enjoyed the telephone exercise. Then, Scooter wanted to get involved. I handed over the telephones and walked away (yet still nearby).

I captured this moment:



and fear the teenage years.

Deluge of Incoming Information

Recently, I've been drowning in paperwork. There seems to be this increasing, insurmountable amount of mail, junk, semi-junk, and non-junk amassing in my kitchen. Among those three mail categories there are school flyers, notes and documents that must be sorted.

They must be sorted and there is only one person able to do the sorting. Me. I'm self-appointed. I schedule the calendar. I know what's worthy of keeping and what can be chucked. Why? Because I chose to serve as the family manager. Plus, in my past life (pre-children), I was incredibly organized. I was so organized I had my spice rack in alphabetical order.

So what happens if I don't sort it? What will I miss? A bill payment? A book fair? A birthday party? Camp registration? Another credit card offer? A birth announcement (seems to be a baby boom among our friends)? Introduction to Libby Lu's Pooch Parlor?

Having recently sorted one of the many paper piles on my kitchen counter, I noticed that we receive more credit cards offers than is prudent, or financially healthy, for any household. I don't know how many trees have been sacrificed to propose consolidated credit or an incredibly low APR. It never matters what we're offered because I submit these overtures immediately to the shredder, located ten feet from the amassing paper piles.

Then, a friend enlightened me to the small print found at the bottom of every credit card offer.

1-888-5-OPT-OUT

I could have saved so many trees by now. I should have done more.... but who reads this junk anyway?

Way To Go, Daddio!

Daddio ran the LA Marathon today.



When he hobbled into the house after the race, his three girls were lined up and thrilled to see him!

Teacup shouted out, "Daddy, daddy, did you win?"

Daddio, smiled, and responded, "No, honey. I didn't win. But, at least I finished the race!"

I interjected, "But in our eyes, Daddio, you won!"

Way to go, Daddio! You are our hero!

Life Is Short

And for some, life is even shorter.

I signed on to be a sorority advisor at CSUN last August. It's the same sorority I became involved with during my college years. As an active member many years ago, the sorority served it's purpose. I made some friends, I learned how to make small-talk at parties. I learned how to organize and conduct meetings. I wasn't the most enthusiastic member, but I wasn't entirely apathetic either. Eventually, I outgrew the group and closed that chapter of my life. But, I have loosely maintained a connection to the women's fraternity to find acquaintances when I move to a new locale.

Since the beginning of the current school year, I have advised these young women on matters of Academic Excellence, whether or not I'm qualified. More than anything, it's interesting to see how far I've come in the last thirteen years of my own life since leaving the college scene.

Early this morning, I received a telephone call from a fellow advisor. Surprised to hear a voice instead of reading an email, she informed me that the outgoing chapter president celebrated St. Patrick's Day in Hollywood last night. Apparently, a drunk driver hit her. She passed away early this morning.

The shock of the news is mind-numbing. While I had only met this young, twenty-one year old woman a handful of times, I am keenly aware of her charisma and presence. Overall, I'm paralyzed. I don't know what to say or do. I can only think about this tragedy from the viewpoint of her parents, whom I have never met. I empathize with them despite having never lost a child of my own. It's not supposed to happen this way....

We know that we raise our children to be independent, to make their own decisions. As parents, we teach, we guide, we support. Subconsciously we know that our protective shield is finite, but it's hard to accept this fact. We tell ourselves to trust that our children will be safe in the world without us. We tell ourselves this, but deep down, we know this is a self-comforting fabrication which allows us to go on with our own lives. When tragedy strikes, the truth comes crashing down around us.

Life is fragile.

So, in my fog, I bend down to hug my kids throughout the day, for no apparent reason, other than that I love them.

Life is short.

As Abraham Lincoln once wrote, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."