Calling all nerds...

I rarely get excited about a new toy or kid product that I get suckered into buying. Lana is the type of kid who doesn't really play with toys much. She needs people. She wants to do imaginative play, a board game, roll a ball down the hall or just talk my ear off. The only solitary, quiet thing she does is crafts and when she is in the zone, she is very creative and I am always amazed at how her brain works.

Because Lana is not great at playing by herself, she watches a lot more TV than I would like to admit. Luckily now that school is in session and she is in it all day, her TV time is limited, but we have a DVD in the car (something I never thought I would do) which helps keep her occupied during our 30 min commute twice a day to school. You are probably thinking--what a great opportunity to talk and interact! Turn off the TV! Let me tell you, for my own sanity and the safety of the other people on the road, it is best for her to be occupied. This way I am not turning around every 2 seconds for "mom, what's this, mom, look at what I am doing, mom, mom, mom, mom." She never asks good questions, just redundant ones like, "mom, do you love me? mom, why is the fruit stand still open?" Also, forget about it if you would like to have a conversation with another passenger in the car! Judge me if you will with the DVD in the car or you could just spend an hour in the car with Miss Talky Talk and you will see what I mean.

I have been getting sick of listening to the dialogue of the same Disney movies over and over. I could do Mulan, complete with the songs verbatim, start to finish in my sleep. Princess and the Frog too, Sleeping Beauty, Wubbzy videos, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and don't even get me started on Elmo in Grouchland--its been about 2 yrs since she has watched it, but I know the whole thing by heart. Since Lana has been so inquisitive lately, I bought this to mix it up a little:I am not pushing science on her, by any means, but this They Might Be Giants CD/DVD got great reviews and she plays doctor often and asks me about my former job, she loves her science kit and we do fun little kitchen experiments, so science is kind of a common topic in our house.

I LOVE THIS DVD!!! She has been watching it in the car and it is so creative. It covers many different science topics, from the solar system to paleontology, evolution, photosynthesis, velocity, computer science, environmental science. It sounds heavy, but its done SO well--fun, creative, extremely energetic. Lana asks so many questions, questions I don't mind answering like:

"Mom, why is Ceres not a planet, but still in the asteroid belt?"
"Mom, what is the temperature of a rainbow?"
"Mom, do we live inside the earth or on top? Then why can't we see the other planets?"

She sings along to the songs and she is really into it. It was the letter H week in her Pre-K classroom and she told the teacher her "H words" were "hybrogen (hydrogen) and helium". Not only does she totally dig this, but I love it too--I am such a nerd. But I do enjoy answering these questions more so than explaining why it is impossible to fall in love with a handsome prince after only meeting him once and dancing one dance together. Come on, Disney, give me a break!

The only downside? The songs are so damn catchy, I can't get them out of my head.