There are many new TV shows and movies coming up that are age-appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. I wanted to share a few that are showing this week you may want to check out.

This Friday, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog opens nationwide. In case you didn’t know, Princess Tiana is Disney’s first African-American heroine.

My baby girl has been anxiously waiting for the movie to open and has been seeing the commercials and trailers for months now. The only way we could help her understand how long she had to wait was to tell her it wouldn’t be out until her birthday. So, now that she knows her birthday is around the corner, when she sees Princess Tiana on TV, in the stores, or wherever, she asks, “That movie comes on my birthday, right?” Guess where we’ll probably be on Friday?

This past Sunday, a new Dora special, Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure, premiered on Nickelodeon. In this episode, Swiper tries to swipe the Christmas star from Dora’s Nochebuena party and winds up on Santa’s naughty list. I love that it’s a Nochebuena party (Christmas Eve), since that is when a majority of Latinos have the family get-together and dinner, not on Christmas day. If you missed it, you can catch it again this Sunday, December 13, at 7 p.m. (ET) on Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. will premiere Signing Time, a music series dedicated to teaching sign language to preschoolers, today, Wednesday, December 9. Signing Time teaches American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary-building signs that are useful in daily life. This is one of those in-between shows that play throughout the day and I’m told the first one is scheduled for after the 1 pm ET show. I plan to catch a few of these to help baby girl learn some more signs. Ok, really, it’s to help me learn some since she already learns many at school and is often teaching them to me.

Enjoy the shows this week and let me know what you and your kids think after watching them!

Recently, my family and I attended the latest Disney on Ice show, Celebrations! This opportunity was provided to us by Jennifer Bisbee of Bisbee and Company. You may remember there was a contest.

We invited my husband’s coworker to come along with her daughter so that our daughter could have a playmate around her age instead of just mom and dad. Even though we are the most fun parents in the world. Right as we walked into the arena, I nearly ran into the big table full of souvenirs. Nothing better than a huge Tinkerbell flashy light-up thingy staring my daughter right in the face.

Somehow we made it past the flash, twirl, and sparkles and into our seats. Our view was really nice. Thanks Jennifer!

The show’s theme was celebrations which meant all types of parties and holidays were, well, celebrated. Some of those featured were:

• Halloween with the Disney Villains
• Valentine’s Day Royal Ball with the Disney Princesses
• Brazilian Carnivale parade
• Hawaiian luau party
• and a Japanese Cherry Blossom festival

My husband and I really liked the Halloween segment which featured Jack Skellington. There was also the Fantasia-inspired brooms’ dance in which the brooms were neon – an awesome visual effect in the dark. And both equally as hard to get shots of! Man, Jack Skellington was fast!

Baby girl loved all parts of the show. While the princesses were extra special for her and our 4 year old guest, they really had a great time all throughout. They enjoyed the music and songs, twirling ice skaters, and of course the many Disney characters. Even Cruella De Vil got some love from my daughter’s friend, who apparently has a special thing for the villain.

Two things I didn’t like about the show, but that definitely don’t make or break it:

1. During the Disney Princesses ball, the fairy godmother said, “You can’t be a princess without a prince!” Which fit the context since they were looking for Mickey at the time, but still sends the wrong message to impressionable 3 year olds. Because you can in fact be a princess with no prince around. At least I think so.
2. Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, from the not-yet-released The Princess and the Frog were to be the big highlight of the show. It was one of the most stressed points in the press release. And yet, when Princess Tiana came out on the ice, there was no introduction. She came out just like any other princess and you could tell the whole arena was like “Who is that?” She barely got a clap. For her being a new princess and the movie currently being promoted, I think a simple “Introducing Princess Tiana!” would have been good.

Regardless, the show was really fun. And the girls had a great time, which is what truly matters. The husband even enjoyed himself – and not the fake “I’m being a good daddy!” excitement, but the “I actually had a good time” type.

Have you had a chance to catch a Disney on Ice show? What was your favorite part?