October 2016 – Graceful Mommy

Giveaway, My Reviews

Kidloland App Review + Giveaway

Posted on October 20, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

20
Oct

Gracie is almost 16 months, now! Her personality is totally starting to emerge and her likes and dislikes are becoming more clear! It’s so neat to me how she gravitates towards certain things. She’s starting to love stuffed animals, kitty cat toys, books, and music. She loves music. She also loves when I let her play on my phone. Sometimes mama just needs a minute to pick up before guests come over, or go to the bathroom, or answer the front door. I don’t give Gracie a lot of screen time at home, but she LOVES when I do. Gracie can watch one of those YouTube surprise egg videos for an hour if I’d let her. But the problem with those is that they are NOT educational at all.

Before Gracie, I was a kindergarten teacher! I know the importance of education and starting young. That’s why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Kidloland app. When mama needs a minute break, I have the perfect tool that keeps Gracie occupied but also learning. And I mean really learning. This app is amazing. It’s CHOCK full of amazing content, from colors, nursery rhymes, first words, shapes, lullabies, and even games. There’s even an ABC section and a numbers section.

Gracie loves every part of Kidloland. But her favorite section is the nursery rhyme section. This app has so many nursery rhymes. I used to sing a few of them to Gracie when she was little, so she knows the tunes and even tries to sing along now. I actually feel a bit silly because Gracie actually showed me something that the app does that I didn’t even REALIZE. (She’s already more tech savvy than me!) Each one of the songs is INTERACTIVE. Yes, you can interact with the screen during the song. Now that is something you will NEVER find on YouTube. So while the Itsy, Bitsy, Spider song is playing, Gracie can actually touch the spider and watch it go up the spout. It’s really awesome. There are tons of areas to touch on the screen and the song comes to life. She loves the Old McDonald song now, and it’s really helped Gracie with her animal sounds.

There is even a whole section for stories. Being a kindergarten teacher makes me sooooo thankful for this feature on the app! You have two options on the story section. You can have the app read the story or you can chose to read the story yourself. This is actually something Gracie loves. We sit down and instead of reading a book, I read a book from Kidloland. I like doing this because the story is interactive and Gracie digs it. But, I also feel like we’re not missing out on mama/daughter bonding. I also use the feature where the app reads to Gracie too. As a former teacher, I know the importance of early literacy. Kids first learn how to read by hearing the rhythm of a book. This is exactly what Gracie is learning when the app reads to her. It’s just perfect.

Did you know there is even a section for HOLIDAY SONGS on the app?! UM yes. This is going to be playing the whole month of December.

Want to hear the best part???? I’ve teamed up with Kidloland to giveaway a three month subscription to THREE WINNERS! The giveaway will end November 4th, and it IS open worldwide!

Enter here:

KidloLand Giveaway

Download the app now:

Iphone App

Google Play App

Amazon App

Random

Pumpkin Patch 2016

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

18
Oct

I love Fall traditions! I’m trying to get everything checked off of our FALL BUCKET LIST, and the pumpkin patch was definitely one of them! We went to Bedner’s Farm to pick out our pumpkin, and Gracie loved it. We went at 9AM and didn’t realize that they opened at 10AM. They let us in anyways, and it was awesome to have the whole place to ourselves! We definitely had fun. Gracie loved running through the rows of pumpkins. She even picked out her very own one! Happy Fall, Ya’ll!

P.S. Here are Gracie’s adorable outfit details!

Romper: Creek Baby Co.

Shoes: Olivia Kate Designs

Bow: Pippi and Scout

Travel

Universal Studios with A Baby

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

17
Oct

We are die-hard Disney fans. We have annual passes and have taken Gracie 4 or 5 times already (oh my, I actually lost count). We love Disney and everything about the parks. However, we’ve been dying to take her to Universal Studios! It sort of felt like we were cheating on our first love, Disney. But we had so much fun! A lot of things are different in Universal than Disney World. So, I wanted to share 10 tips for taking a toddler to Universal (for Disney Fans).

1// EXPRESS PASS – The express pass is SO necessary. Disney fans know that you get three free fast passes for any ride. However, at universal you have to buy an express pass if you want to skip the long lines. This was SO worth it. We got the unlimited express pass, which means you can ride any ride (except a few Harry Potter rides) any amount of time. I don’t think you necessarily have to get the unlimited pass- but definitely purchase the extra express pass! You won’t regret it.

2// DON’T GET THE MEAL PLAN –We LOVE the Disney meal plan. We always get it when we go. So, naturally we wanted to get the Universal Studios meal plan too. Bad idea. The meal plan works so differently than disney. We got the plan where you can get 2 quick service meals, 2 snacks, and 4 drinks. First of all, this was way too much food. But second of all, you can’t use your “snack” at a lot of places. For example, a “snack” on the Disney meal plan can get you ANY DRINK and any size at starbucks. On the Universal Dining plan, you can only get black coffee with your “snack”. Um, no. It’s really not worth the value. I would just pay for each meal and snack.

3// THE RIDES- At Disney, there are SO many rides that you can go on with babies and toddlers. It’s actually easier to tell you the rides baby CAN’T ride at Disney. However, at Universal, it seems like they have a more strict height policy for their rides. Most rides require riders to be at least 36″ tall, although most were 40″ tall. The rides that you can take baby on are the Harry Potter Train, Despicable Me (only the stationary seating), Shrek, Caro-Suess-El, Dr. Seuss One Fish Two Fish, Twirl and Hurl. There are also a few shows that your baby or toddler would love. Gracie loved the Barney Show.

4// PLAY AREAS –One thing we fell in love with at Universal was all the baby play areas around the park! Disney doesn’t really have spots for kids to just RUN AROUND. We ran into several play areas that Gracie loved. She just started walking a few months ago, so for her to get out of the stroller to play and run was huge. These play areas were some of her favorite moments on our trip! Our favorite play area was in the Dr. Seuss land! We had a blast.

5//CHILD SWAP –In Disney this service is called Rider Switch. Basically if you have a baby or toddler that can’t ride a ride because of a height requirement, your whole group goes up to the line and tells the cast member you need to use Rider Switch. The Cast Member gives the waiting portion a pass (sort or like a FastPass) and the riding portion of the group waits in line. When that group is done, the other half (waiting with baby) doesn’t have to wait in line. Universal has a similar system, although instead of the waiting group waiting wherever they want, you have to wait in the Child Swap room. It’s actually kind of nice because then your party can be inside, in the cold air waiting.

6//SWIM SUIT NEEDED – As we walked around Universal, we kept stumbling upon water play areas for kids. I mentioned all the play areas for kids to run around in earlier. Well, lots of those play areas have water and splash pads. This is so awesome for HOT, sunny, South Florida. Just make sure you bring a swim suit or a change of clothes for baby. We definitely forgot, and totally regretted it. The Curious George town is like full of water everywhere.

7//BUG SPRAY- While we were at Universal, they provided bug spray! There were several stations throughout the park with complimentary bug spray. Now this was most likely due to the Zika outbreak, but anyways- it was awesome! Definitely bring sunscreen though.

8//NURSING ROOM? – I’ve written before about Disney’s amazing baby care centers. They really are amazing. Universal does not have luxury rooms like Disney, but they DO have a room for nursing moms near the entrance! There are a few chairs and a changing table 🙂

9//FOOD – We loved the food at Universal and were pleased at how many healthy options they had! Our favorite restaurants were Mythos (nice sit-down meal) and Monster Cafe (quick-serve style). DELISH! The taco food truck in the Simpsons land was also great!

10//CUSTOMER SERVICE – We are used to Disney World, which means we are used to Disney’s level of customer service. We did notice that there were some not-so-friendly staff members, however for the most part everyone was nice! We ARE used to everyone saying “have a magical day” though. Hehe.