Mommin' It Up!

October 14, 2010October 29, 2010

Things I Love: U-Play Mat (and a giveaway!!)

A few weeks ago I was searching Amazon for toys or games that would help me work on speech therapy with Sophie at home, and I stumbled across the U-Play Mat. And I knew instantly that I HAD to have it for her. I checked out the website for Play This Way, makers of the U-Play Mat, and discovered from there that they were on Twitter. AND that I was already following them! So, a few tweets later, and I had the opportunity to review the U-Play Mat Starter Set. I was totally stoked! And, I would like to say, my expectations were totally met and exceeded. This is a FABULOUS and fun tool. Sophie and I have been having a great time with it!

So what IS the U-Play Mat, anyway? Well, it’s too simple.

The mat’s U-shape makes a nice place for your kiddo to sit in the middle while you sit across from him or her and ask questions about the cards that come with the mat. The starter set comes with two decks of cards, and you can do 10 exercises with each deck. You can purchase additional decks or you can purchase the Professional Set, which comes with everything. I received the starter set to review, and loved it so much that I have already ordered Sophie all the additional card sets (ok, fine Grandma ordered them for her birthday, but I ASKED her to!), so I think the Professional Set is a good investment!

Sophie and I are really loving playing with the U-Play Mat together. Not only is she having fun, but we are working on goals that her speech therapist has set for her AND we are spending precious time together! She is always excited when I tell her it’s time to play with her U-Play cards!

The U-Play Mat can also be used with family photos, and I’m ordering up a bunch of our family snapshots to help Sophie work on her pronouns, and answering “who” questions. That way I can ask her questions (and get answers!) about what the people she loves are doing in the pictures. Sophie LOVES to look at family pictures so I think this will be a lot of fun as well.

If you are considering purchasing the U-Play Mat, you should watch the video of it’s inventor, Dr. Jen, a Pediatrician and mom of two sets of twins, demonstrating how to use it. It’s what sold me!

But first, you can enter to WIN a U-Play Mat starter set!! I am so excited to be able to give one of these away to our readers! Here’s how to enter. Please note you MUST do one of the first two methods to have a chance to win.

1) “Like” Play This Way on Facebook and leave them a comment saying “I want to win a U-Play Mat from Mommin’ It Up!”

2) Follow @PLAYTHISWAY on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a U-Play Mat from @PLAYTHISWAY & @jennyitup & @momminitup!”

optional additional entry:

3) Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win a U-Play Mat! (Remember you MUST enter by either method #1 or #2 for this extra entry to count!)

One winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 20th. GOOD LUCK! I am so excited already for whoever wins!

I’m linking this post up to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries. Go visit to see what things everyone else is lovin’!

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I solicited and received a U-Play Mat starter set from Play This Way to review. All the opinions on this post are my own!

September 7, 2010

The Preschool Party has Started!

Well, I just dropped my baby off at preschool! It was much less traumatic than I expected it to be. She was READY. She wanted to leave the house at 7:30. She loved her new dress and shoes. She even posed for a few pictures!

When we got to school, she was alllll excited, but that was because she remembered they had a big play room with a slide right when you enter the building. So I immediately had to extricate her from the slide and get her in her classroom, get her hands washed, hang up her bag, etc. THEN try to get her to STAY there! I did get to snap a quick pic of her with her buddy Evan, Cortney‘s little guy.

Then I gave her a kiss and hug and ran away, letting her teacher be the one to have to keep her in the classroom! Sophie didn’t mind me leaving, but she wasn’t happy about the staying-in-the-room part. When Cortney emerged from the building, she told me Sophie was in the room, ummmm, how shall we say, letting her feelings on the situation be known.

Well, that’s my girl! She’ll learn to fall in line. Good luck teachers! I, like you, am counting down the minutes til I can go pick her up!

September 2, 2010

Take Good Care of my Baby

Next Tuesday, I am sending my baby girl off to preschool. And although I have been really excited about it allll summmer (I mean really! TWO WHOLE MORNINGS A WEEK to myself…you know, until December.), I am now in the throes of a panic attack. I know Sophie’s two teachers have probably “seen it all” – one of them has been teaching thirty years. But like every parent, I think my child is “special”. And I will admit, Sophie is pretty different from most kids she hangs with. So, dear preschool teachers, here is what I need you to know about my girl.

She is shy. Too much attention embarrasses her and makes her cry. Please don’t make her the center of attention! We don’t even sing the “Happy Birthday” song to her on her own birthday, because she hates it.
She likes to watch for awhile before she joins in. She doesn’t usually just “jump in” to activities she’s never done before. So it might take her a couple weeks to warm up to preschool in general.
She has a speech delay. She says a lot of things really, really well, and I can understand her almost all of the time. But when she wants to converse with you, her speech is often unclear. She knows what she’s saying, but you might not have a clue. She’s getting speech therapy for this and has made lots of progress. Be patient.
She doesn’t like to answer questions about certain subjects. If you ask her her name, or how old she is, she won’t tell you – even though she knows. But if you ask her what a certain letter is, what sounds it makes, what colors something is, or what shape something is, she will talk your head off about that. Because those are things she loves! She picks and chooses what she wants to talk about, and what she doesn’t.
She’s tempestuous and stubborn. Has been since she was a baby. She’s either happy or sad, there’s not much in-between with Sophie.
She has the most beautiful smile.
She is sweet as sugar and loves with her whole heart.
She is passionate about letters, McDonald’s Happy Meals, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, and watching her brother play Mario Kart.
She loves to sing, but she doesn’t want YOU to sing to HER. She may not be on board with all the singing that goes on in preschool, but she’ll come around. She deals with it at church!
She loves books, and after she knows a story well, prefers to “read” it to you.
She’s mommy’s girl, and I’m going to worry every minute those first few days.

So, please, take good care of my baby girl!

Oh, and, she tries to get away with a lot more when she’s with me than she does with anyone else..so you’ll probably be fine. Me?? I’m not so sure that I will be!