Badger's New Craze: Purble Place

This game comes free with Windows Vista. Badger really loves it. There are three games in Purble Place:

• Comfy Cakes - Badger liked assembling cakes based on a picture order. It helps him follow instructions. He's great at it. And he even cheers for himself when he gets a cake delivered.
  
• Purble Pairs - is a simple memory game. Badger does trial and error here but I'm really amazed at how he remembers where the right pictures are. 
• Purble Shop - this is a game of logic and recognition. Badger's goal is to guess the right features of the character hiding behind the curtain based on previous choices. By using logic, he can guess what other features are missing. According to Vier, Badger was able to guess correctly with just a few tries the first time he played it. 

Aside from Starfall, Badger likes this playing this computer-based game. It's still fresh for him and it's pretty challenging. After a while he might get bored, though, because it's PC installed and not a game that keeps adapting (unlike the Starfall website). It's a great teaching aid because it's so much fun.

I just make sure to be with him while he plays so that he can share the game with me and it becomes more interactive as I cheer him on or when he asks for my help. 

(Oct. 20, 2009)

Our Favorite Counting Activity: Kisses!

By Justine C. Tajonera

I discovered a wonderful way to practice counting with Badger. We count kisses. When he asks me for something like a toy or "mamam" (nursing), I ask him to say "please" first and I ask for x number of kisses.

We do a countdown until the last kiss. I hold up my fingers and he says the number. It's a great way for us to bond and a lovely way to watch him practice his counting skills.

It's amazing how much progress he's made over the months. I really treasure every moment I get a sloppy kiss from Badger. He's growing up so fast.

(Oct. 13, 2009)

Badger's Top 15 Favorite Things

I've never taken the time before to actually do this. So, before the opportunity passes by, I'm recording Badger's top 15 favorite things at 2 years old and 10 months. This is not in any order:

1. Race cars (he has six Shell Ferrari toy cars from his dad. He's very creative with them... like he creates traffic jams and improvises gasoline stations)
2. Swimming (no matter the weather)
3. Jollibee
4. McDo
5. Potchi (gummy candies, he can also dance to the TV ad jingle)
6. Pizza
7. Pancakes
8. Hot dog
9. Baby Einstein videos
10. Finding Nemo (he can watch this over and over and over again)
11. Barney
12. Chupachups Lollipops
13. Mamam (nursing from mommy)
14. Mommy's cellphone (for the camera and the Snakes game)
15. Puppy (Taco Bell stuffed toy puppy given by Tita Aling)

This list will keep changing as he grows. But I'm glad we took notice of all these things. One day, we'll look back and laugh at how obsessed he was over these favorites. In the meantime, I enjoy every day that I'm with this amazing little boy. He never ceases to teach me new things.