We got there early, picked up our tickets and, before taking our seats, got each of the boys a souvenir.

That’s a shaky egg – a small wooden egg that makes noise when you shake it like a maracca.

As we took our seats, I marveled at how close we were to the stage.

We also marveled at what a great looking venue Proctors is.  We really should go to more shows there!

NHL, being a drum player, liked the drum set on the stage.

JSL, meanwhile was prepared for one of the later songs with his monkey.

Before long, out came Bob (who plays the drums), Suzie (keyboard), Adam (bass guitar), and, of course, Laurie.  The boys went crazy as she sang song after song.  Meanwhile, I alternated between taking a ton of photos, taking videos, and rocking out with my kids.

Here are some selected photos from the concert.

Remember JSL’s monkey from before?  Well, at one point, he had to put it on his head.  After all, Laurie had a pig on her head…

In addition to having a pig on her head, her toolbox was invaded by a mouse intent on building a home for itself.

For fans of Jack’s Big Music Show, where her band is often featured, Laurie broke out into a medley of songs.

Finally, what concert would be complete without a groupie crashing the stage.  Of course, Laurie Berkner groupies are a bit shorter than some other band’s have.

We just love how the band worked her into the show.  They showed that not only do they play great music for children, but they know how to play WITH children too.  (At the time, I wondered if I’d be able to tell the mother of the little girl about this video.  It turned out that she posted on Facebook and B got in touch with her.)

All too soon, the concert was over.  It was time to take bows and head home.

Thanks to the Laurie Berkner Band for such a magical concert!

Disclaimer: We received complementary tickets to the “Animal Party” concert thanks to The Laurie Berkner Band. The opinions expressed above, however, are my own and this post was done because we had a great time, not in return for the tickets.

One of the premises of Rugrats is that the babies can talk.  The adults can’t understand them, but they do talk amongst themselves in nearly perfect English.  (Some words get replaced with similar sounding ones to humorous effect.)  The only one who can communicate with the babies and the adults is Angelica (and Susie later on).  Instead of becoming "The Baby Whisperer", Angelica uses this communication advantage to impose her will on the babies every chance she gets.

Getting back to our kids, JSL has developed a problem speaking.  He’ll drop syllables and seem to expect that we’ll understand him just fine.  If, for example, he wants fruit chews for a snack, he might ask for "uitews."  If he wants his feet covered, he might ask for "ahk."  Needless to say, this can get frustrating.  He thinks he’s being perfectly clear in what he wants and we can’t figure out what he’s saying.

We had one of those moments yesterday.  JSL didn’t want to eat dinner.  Instead, he wanted to play.  But he didn’t want any of the toys we had out so we asked him which toy he wanted.  "Idoam."  We looked at each other, had no clue and, on a whim, asked NHL if he knew what his brother wanted.  Calmly, NHL said "He wants his video game."

Apparently, NHL speaks fluent JSL the same way Angelica spoke fluent baby.  Let’s just hope that NHL uses his gift for good and not evil.  And by using it for good, I mean he is now the Official JSL Translator.

Yes, that’s the complete Sid The Science Kid Vaccine episode able to be viewed online. And no, it’s not a pirated version, but a fully approved version. Don’t think it could get better than that? Well, if you go to Flu.gov, you can download this Sid episode for free.

As you may know, I’m a big fan of online video. I stream Netflix movies regularly on my Roku (especially another Henson production, Farscape). I’ve also considered cutting the cable cord more than once. (If we did, I’d be glad that PBS Kids, and thus Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train would be available via over-the-air television.) Being able to watch a Sid episode on my computer via the Internet is great. (Note to PBS Kids: Please consider making a Roku channel to stream full episodes to people’s Roku boxes on demand. My kids would love this!)

JSL took to him instantly.  NHL is the one who watches the show, I think JSL’s still a bit too young to really appreciate it, but JSL still loved pushing Sid’s belly to hear him talk.  Thankfully, making Sid talk is very easy.  Too many talking toys have hard to find sweet spots that seem more designed for adult sized hands than tiny kid hands.  JSL was able to get Sid talking over and over again though.  He didn’t want to give Sid up.

NHL was amazed by Sid and started playing with him from the start.  He even asked to add Sid to the collection of plush animals on his bed, but we said no.  We were too worried that he might roll over and wake himself or JSL up with "SCIENCE KID IN THE HOOOOOOUSE!"  NHL also liked that Sid’s head would bob a bit.  The neck is strong enough to hold Sid’s head up but will flex to let the child make Sid look up or down.  Science Kids need to keep observing all around, right?  NHL called Sid a "bobblehead" (a term he learned from my BuddytV/Heroes prize), but Sid’s neck isn’t *that* flexible.

Now, I promised that NHL and JSL would also review Talkin’ Sid so I’ll end with their takes on Sid.  First, NHL:

And now JSL:

Let’s go through these one at a time, shall we? First off are the Heroes Season 1 and Season 2 DVD sets.

Also in there was a Matt Parkman action figure (as well as Molly Walker). Parkman is, of course, played by the fantastic Greg Grunberg.

Next up is a Hiro bobblehead. In Season 1, there were two “Hiro” characters. One, from the present, was a geeky sort of guy who wore glasses. The other, from the future, wore no glasses, had a goatee, and had a more kick-butt attitude. The bobblehead captures both Hiros nicely.

Finally, there was a necklace. But not just any necklace. Heroes fans will recognize this as the necklace worn by the mostly-silent, memory erasing friend/co-worker of Mr. Bennett (aka Noah, aka HRG): The Haitian.

All in all a great prize package. Thanks again, BuddyTV!

Obviously, I’d like them to learn better eating habits than chicken nuggets, pizza and macaroni and cheese, but getting them to eat other things can be an uphill battle – even when the food is something they like.  Recently, I made a recipe from Sneaky Chef’s new cookbook The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: Mexican Muffins.  Basically, the recipe is eggs and cheese baked in tortillas pressed into a muffin tin.  Unbeknownst to NHL and JSL, however, I had added a cauliflower/zucchini puree to the mix.  You can’t taste it, but it adds some additional nutrients.

The first batch went well until they discovered peppers from the salsa the recipe called for.  The next batch, which I just made Thursday night, omitted the salsa but wound up being rejected "just because."  JSL picked as his meal and eventually, with my help, ate some of his eggs.  NHL, however, decided that he didn’t want eggs and hooted and hollered for an alternative. We refused (knowing that he likes eggs) and he continued to scream.  We do provide alternatives when we know dinner is something he doesn’t like, but he doesn’t get alternatives if dinner is something we know he likes.

Sending him to his room to calm down didn’t help.  The screams coming from the other room included some choice quotes like "you need to go to jail" and "Mommy and Daddy should be arrested" (presumably for not catering to his every whim).  This tantrum was partially fueled by his allergy medicines and partially by him being tired, but dinnertime temper tantrums (or at least refusals to eat) seem to be getting more common.

My Aloha Friday question is:  Is your child a picky eater?  What do you do when your child demands something different from what you’ve prepared?  How do you defuse an all-out temper tantrum?

By the way, a full Cooking With TechyDad on the Mexican Muffins and a Sneaky Chef book review are in the works.  For now, I’ll tease you with this photo:

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #12

Nowadays, it is my children who watch Sesame Street.  My parents, continuing a tradition, even purchased a stuffed Grover for NHL a few years back.  And while NHL might be growing too old to be interested in Sesame Street, JSL is just entering his prime Street years.  He already loves all of the characters, especially Cookie Monster.  He loves getting a cookie, saying "COOKIE" (with quite a good Cookie Monster imitation) and chowing down like Cookie Monster does.  Of course, this is all despite my repeated pleas to slow down his eating.  After all, Cookie Monster isn’t exactly a paragon of table manners.

Here’s wishing Sesame Street many more years decades of sunny days, sweeping the clouds away.  Here’s a small (and by no means complete) selection of my favorite Sesame Street moments.

Grover Serves Mr. Johnson:

Put Down The Duckie:

The Alligator King:

And, a more recent one, NPR Interviews Cookie Monster.  What are your favorite Sesame Street moments?

Hey Sid, What do you say! What do you want to learn today? I want to know what things happen and how, and I wanna know everything now. How does this thing work? Why does that stuff change? How’d it do what it just did. What’s up with the sky do you think i can fly The world is big and I wanna know why Got a lot of questions and big ideas, I’m Sid the Science Kid.

Those words begin one of NHL’s favorite shows: Sid the Science Kid. Sid constantly tries to figure out the big questions in life like: Why does a banana turn mushy? Or why does it need to rain when you have an outdoors activity planned? Those might not seem like big questions to adults, but to kids questions like these are huge. And for good reason too. Children are just figuring out how the world works and questions like these are key.

In each episode, Sid is assisted in his quest for answers by his parents, his friends Gabriela, Gerald and May and Teacher Susie. By the end of the episode, Sid (as well as the child watching) understands not only the answer to the question, but – more importantly – the why behind the answer. Sid doesn’t just feed kids answers, it encourages them to experiment and use their brains to figure out the world around them as well.

For example, in Sid’s Rainy Playdate, Sid wants to have a playdate with his friend Gabriela outside in his treehouse. Unfortunately, the weather for the day calls for rain. Sid is convinced that the rain was arriving because it knew that he wanted to go outside to play. Sid’s mother and father do some research on the computer to find out what the weather is going to be and tell him how important rain is for plants. When Sid learns that the rain doesn’t ruin his plans on purpose, his curiosity turns to clouds.

At school, Sid’s teacher teaches him how to identify different kinds of clouds by how they look. She also teaches Sid and his classmates about precipitation and what it does to the ground. Of course, she doesn’t just tell them what it does, she has the kids collect rain in buckets and observe what happens outside during a rainstorm. Encouraging children to observe the world around them is very important for developing an interest in science. In fact, the motto for their "Super Fab Lab" contains three principles that are very important in any scientific endeavor: Investigate, Explore, Discover.

As parents interested in science, it is important to B and I that we instill that same love of science in NHL and JSL. We definitely feel that watching Sid the Science Kid is a good way to do this. And, best of all, NHL is highly entertained by the show. He loves everything about it and will watched DVRed episodes again and again. In addition, I was recently informed that a line of Sid The Science Kid toys will be released soon. These are sure to score a top spot on NHL’s wish list. In the meantime, he’ll enjoy every Sid the Science Kid episode that airs. Don’t take my word for it, though. Here’s NHL with his own Sid review:

Disclaimer: I was sent a reviewer’s copy of the 5 Sid The Science Kid weather shows on DVD to watch. However, before the DVD was able to arrive, the episodes aired. Being loyal Sid viewers, we caught it on PBS Kids. The opinions expressed above are my own (and NHL’s) and were not influenced in any way.

NHL, of course, loved it.  His favorite dinosaur kept shifting depending on which dino was on stage last.  We took JSL along, hoping he wouldn’t be scared by the loud noises.  Towards the end, he was a little jittery, but not completely freaked out.  A little reassurance that daddy was there and he was fine.  We figured the long-term affects of the show would be more evident with NHL than with JSL.  (We signed him up for an archeology summer program at the local community college.)  However, tonight JSL showed that he too liked the dinosaur show.  At least, he liked the roaring and charging parts of it.  Don’t just take my word for it, though, see for yourself.

My little JSL-a-saurus!