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!

My daughter is 3. THREE!!! She does not need to know about Hannah Montana.

So, why does everyone and their mom think that it’s prime time my daughter be introduced to her?

Is this not a TV show for tween/teenage girls? I’ve seen it a couple of times and it’s definitely geared for girls 10 and up in my opinion. Lots of boy talk and jokes that are obviously meant for teenagers (and parents in some cases). And is there kissing? Not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

So why oh why does my three year old need to even know that name?

She doesn’t.

Stop trying to give my three year old a Hannah Montana sticker. Or underwear. Or toy.

And stop asking me if she watches the show! You’ll get a quick, short, and loud NO! In fact, I might even turn it around on you and ask YOU why YOUR preschooler watches the show.

WHY INDEED???

I can’t imagine why little girls are introduced to make-up, nail polish, or such TV shows at such a young age, and then folks wonder why they want to act, dress, and look the same way when they are just a few years older. Then it becomes a problem?

I know I cannot keep my daughter away from Hannah Montana forever, or whomever it might be in a few years. It’s all over the place and it will be impossible to shield her. Nor do I want to “shield” her necessarily. I’d rather teach her than hide it from her.

But, for now…when she’s only three and I CAN control what she watches, what she wears, and who she listens to…believe me, I’m shielding her.

Hannah Montana will not be in our house. Or any of her similarly-acting sisters. Not for the next few years.

And, I’m about to throw away that stupid sticker she got from the urgent clinic.

We’ve found this great new show called Pocoyo.

It’s really cute and my daughter absolutely loves it!

Pocoyo is this little boy (about 3 or 4) who has some animal friends he plays with.

The animation of the show is very simple with just a white background and the objects/characters being animated. The simplicity adds to the greatness of the show.

Not only does my daughter love it, but my husband and I have gotten really into it – I mean it’s a preschool show, but I’m pretty sure we’d watch it even if my daughter wasn’t around.

It’s that good! And funny!

Oh and the name? Well it roughly means “little me” in Spanish. The story of how he was named is…also cute!

From the Pocoyo site:

…came from the two year old daughter of…the creator of Pocoyo. She used to say a prayer every night…[while] still learning to talk. One night instead of saying “como yo”  (meaning “like me”) the words came out “poco yo”…So, Pocoyo was born, thanks to the funny way in which all children often mix up their words when first learning to talk!

Pocoyo can be found:

• on his blog (though it doesn’t seem like it was recently updated)
• official site
• and on YouTube

Let me know if you check it out and what you think. But, I think you’ll love it!

*Image via http://www.citv.co.uk/page.asp?partid=68

Is it just me or does Lost seem kinda eh this season? After waiting for the 3rd season to come back from its break, I’m a little disappointed. It’s just not holding up my interest like it used to. Plus, they changed the time! I gotta fight to keep myself up until 10 and then it’s not that exciting? I know I know. You have to fight to stay up until 10, you say? Yea, well you’d be falling out at 9 also with a lil monkey who wakes up at 5 am almost every morning.

Anyway, what do you make of Lost this season?

technorati: lost, lack of sleep

Maybe you’ve seen the latest Ciara video. The one where she looks like a mix between Aaliyah, Janet Jackson in her Control days, and short-haired Toni Braxton.

My husband has now fallen in love with Ciara. I mean he liked her before, thought she danced good and such, which I agree, but now he’s in love. I like the song too, but the video is clearly meant for men such as my husband, so they can salivate all over themselves. What’s bad is that my husband loves to share. He loves to share so much that EVERY.TIME the damn song or video comes on, I MUST hear ALL about it. It’s down right sickening. :eyeroll:

If you haven’t seen the video, just take a look and see what I mean.

***WARNING: Do not watch in front of your husband for he may drool all over you.***

Now tell me, how am I supposed to compete with THAT? :sigh:

Don’t forget to vote for me on TopMomma!

technorati: ciara, promise, aaliyah, toni braxton, janet jackson, husbands, men, music videos

TA.KEN O.VER THE WO.ORLD!

It’s official.

The other day I saw a tv commercial for Chili’s, you know, the restaurant. Well at the end of the commercial instead of plugging in their corporate website, they showed the link to their MySpace page. I couldn’t believe my eyes! They were forsaking their own website to promote their MySpace site. WOW!

Now, I’m not complaining about MySpace, I just simply couldn’t believe that it was being used as the main connection to Chili’s on the web.

How many of you have joined the MySpace craze?

technorati: tv, chili’s, myspace

In response to Plain Jane Mom’s post, The Zero Boss suggested she watch the following video. Baby girl doesn’t talk just yet – well she says a few words here and there – so I guess this is what I have to look forward to in another year or so. You’re gonna love it!

technorati: family guy, stewie, hey mom

I’ve posted some cartoons in the past relating to pregnancy and motherhood which I think are cute and make me smile. They are done by Everyday People Cartoons. There are cartoons on plenty of other subjects too. Here’s another one I like – well this one is also on mommyhood, but if you check out the website, I promise there are other subjects as well!

Now, I especially like this one because I do this all the time. :gasp: Oh no! How horrible of me – babies shouldn’t watch TV until at least age 2, right?! Whatever. Baby girl loves her Baby Einstein and other Disney shows. I’ve watched them all and since they all teach something in the process, I doubt I’m rotting her brain too much. Besides, she doesn’t get that much time in front of the TV, only for times like these where you just need a moment to get dinner going, or need to run to the bathroom, or need to make a call, or – hmmmm, they seem to be adding up. Anyway, you get my drift. I’m really not that bad. I do read to her, play with her, and such, all non-TV activities. I’m not such a horrible mother, then, right?

technorati: pregnancy, motherhood, everyday people cartoons, baby einstein, disney, rotting brains, no tv for babies

Lost is taking a break from season 3! I have to wait until FEBRUARY before a new episode will be shown. How can they make me wait that long?

In other news – we picked out all our options for the house. You can sure spend a lot of money in upgrades at that design studio! But, I did get my stainless steel kitchen! Here’s what my fridge will look like – well, minus the nice array of fruits/vegetables and wine bottles.

Now that the house situation is pretty much set up, I have to start planning the lil monkey’s 1st birthday party. I only have a month left and I haven’t even bought invitations or written up a guest list! I guess that gives me a to-do list for the weekend…

Have a great 3-day weekend everyone!

technorati: 1st birthday party, 3-day weekend, stainless steel kitchen, to-do list, lost