Happy Thursday evening, everyone!
My kids are on summer break, and I might regret saying this in a couple of months, but I'm loving this whole 3-months-off-school thing! Woo hoo! No more rushing in the morning trying to get them ready, no more rushing in the afternoon trying to get to after school activities, no more rushing in the evening to eat dinner and do homework before bed. Most importantly, NO school stuff that I have to deal with! Ahhh...
But since they're home, I have been busy trying to make lunch daily and finding activities for them to do. But here I am, writing another post. I've been wanting to blog about products I've tried and have practically fallen in love with. I am a very practical person. Everything I buy must have a purpose. Every room in my house serves a purpose. We have a formal living room and a family room, so when my kids were old enough to play the piano, we put a piano in the living room. Now it's a piano room! My formal dining room wasn't being used, so I started having the kids do their homework there. Now it serves as their homework room!
So without further ado, here are the products I've been finding really useful.
1) The Pikibu Rearview Mirror
How many times have you had to turn your head around while driving, just so you can see if little Johnny really is being punched by his older brother, as he claimed he was? Or if little Susie stopped picking her nose like you asked her to? Our rearview mirrors are so small that we can't see anything below the hairline of our small children. So we have to crank our necks and turn around, risking the lives of everyone in the car! You KNOW you've done it! In comes the Pikibu. This thing is so wide, so long, that it has saved my neck muscles from cramping! I can see everything my kids are doing. They try to tell me that they've finished their breakfasts; then I check to see there's still half of a waffle left. Ha! Caught ya! Or if they're secretly reading in the backseat when I've specifically told them not to (esp. at dusk, when they can barely see). Caught ya again! It's super useful. it might take a little while to get used to, but trust me, it's worth every effort and every penny, especially if you're a mom of small children! You can find it on Amazon here.
2) Glare Visor
If you're tall, then this might not appeal to you. But to the rest of us average American women, I'm sure you can relate. The sun shade on your car is just not long enough to shield that afternoon sun. It's beaming into your car through your window, trying to darken your sunspots, making them appear even more obvious. As if I need another reason to look older! For someone that's nearing her 40's, no thank you, I don't need more sun spots on my left cheek. A friend of mine recently showed me her glare visor, I was curious if it really worked, so I bought one on Amazon too. Lo and behold, I'm no longer dodging the sun! It works! I can notice a difference too! The sun spots on my left cheek isn't popping up as enthusiastically anymore! Sun: 0, Mom: 1! You can find it on Amazon here.
3) Sing In Chinese Bilingual Audio Books
As you must know, Chinese is a very difficult language to learn. If it wasn't because I was schooled up to 2nd grade in Taiwan, if I hadn't kept up reading Chinese books because I'm just a nerd like that, and if my parents hand't insisted that we speak Chinese to them, I wouldn't be as fluent in Chinese as I still am. As difficult as it is to learn, Chinese has become such an important language. Trying to get my kids to learn Chinese has been a struggle ever since they started school. My husband doesn't speak Chinese, so we're an English-speaking family School, media, friends, etc, my kids live in the United States; they're exposed to English all day long. Yeah, we do Chinese school, but that's only once a week. Recently, I've come across this product that actually makes learning Chinese fun! Each book includes a CD, the song lyrics, and beautiful, fun pictures. The songs are upbeat, adorable, and sang in both Chinese and English. The theory behind this product is that we learn faster through music. And remember songs like The Itsy Bitsy Spider? We still remember all the words. You're singing it right now, aren't you? Because that's stored in our long term memory. Same idea here with these books. There are even apps that go with the books. Check them out here. If you want your little wants to learn Chinese in a fun way, you can't go wrong with these books.
Although it's only 3 products, I think I've written enough words for you to need a break from me for a while. :) So, when I spend more money and when my hubby feels like he's been robbed again, I'll update my products' post. ;)
xoxo,
Lin
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