When I first bought Baby Signing Time, the idea was to teach Gavin how to sign so he could communicate with me instead of feeling frustrated whenever I couldn’t understand what he wanted.  I was so impressed with the CDs and DVDs that I bought a few more DVDs from the Signing Time collection.  It wasn’t long before I went and bought the whole set. 

By the time I bought the rest of the DVDs, Gavin was already learning to speak in leaps and bounds (which I think is also partly due to his exposure to Baby Signing Time from the age of 5 months) that it seemed almost pointless to teach him more signs.  Since I already had the new DVDs, I played them for him anyway.  I was glad to see that Gavin loved watching the new Signing Time DVDs.

He has learned a lot from the Signing Time DVDs, for instance, he learned to say the name and correctly identify the following animals in different contexts (from watching Signing Time Series 1 Volume 9: The Zoo Train): rhinoceros, bat, seal, panda, hippopotamus, zebra, tiger, lion, star fish, shrimp, lobster, crab, octopus, monkey, kangaroo, camel, gorilla, elephant, penguin, and giraffe.

The last time we took Gavin to the zoo was when he was 18 months.  At that time, he wasn’t particularly interested in much except for the fish.  Now, he can tell us when he sees zoo animals in books or on Animal Planet.  The only animals he still gets confused with are the sharks, dolphins and whales, which all look pretty similar to him. 

Honestly, if it weren’t for Signing Time, I doubt Gavin would have learned the animals because he wasn’t at all interested in learning about them at all.  Yes, I tried.  I tried to teach him the names of different animals using flash cards but all he wanted to see were his Thomas and Friends trains and any toy or book related to Thomas or a train.  It was only after he started watching The Zoo Train that he started repeating the names of animals he had seen on the DVD.  In fact, it was only after watching Signing Time that he started learning about subjects other than trains and Thomas.

It was also because of watching Signing Time that he can now correctly identify the colours: blue, red, green, yellow, black, pink, purple, and orange (from Series 1 Volume 6: My Favourite Things and Series 2 Volume 12: A Box of Crayons).  Previously, we taught him blue, red and green because they are the most common colours of the engines on Thomas and Friends.  Back then, he only knew the colours by association.  For instance, green would be “Percy” because Percy was the green engine, and blue would be “Thomas” because Thomas was blue.  Now I can pick up a crayon and ask him the colour and he gets it right.

Here’s a snip from A Box of Crayons - one of Gavin’s favourite songs:

I was with Gavin in the bookshop recently and another mother of three older boys was observing Gavin.  Gavin was busy picking Thomas books off the shelf and sitting on a little step.  He would then open the book and start identifying the different trains in the book.  The mother asked me how old Gavin was and really impressed with how much he could say after I told her he was nearly 2.

The Signing Time DVDs have also been great for getting Gavin’s cooperation in the carseat because he loves to listen to the songs - which are available on a separate audio CD.  Being already familiar with the songs from watching the DVDs, he keeps asking to listen to them in the car.  I’ve also heard him attempt to sing “Colours of the Rainbow” and “ABC”.  (HL, I tried to record it on video but he became all shy when he spotted the camera.  It is so adorable you’ve got to see it!  Don’t worry, I will catch him at it eventually).

I’ve also noticed something about the way Gavin learns.  He’ll be really interested in only a few DVDs and want to watch those DVDs over and over again.  After a while, he’ll get bored of them and he’ll move on to a new DVD and watch only that one.  Once he’s bored of that one, he moves on again.  No wonder children learn so quickly - they have better focus and they concentrate on mastering one skill before they move on.

I know they say that watching TV isn’t very interactive for children and they don’t learn much but I honestly feel that Gavin has learned a lot from watching Signing Time.  I really feel it is one of the best educational series I’ve bought for Gavin to date.

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Since he was young, Gavin has had a keen interest in music of all sorts and would often get up to dance to all the tunes that pique his fancy.  With his growing interest in anything related to the Thomas and Friends franchise, I’ve also noticed that his favourite songs are the theme song from the show and the songs from the movie length feature “Calling All Engines“.  Whenever the music comes on, he’ll get up to dance.

I’ve been keen to get Gavin a Thomas music CD to play in the car for some time now, especially since getting his cooperation in the car seat has been rather unpredictable but have yet to find one around here.  Recently, while out to lunch with my MIL, I came across a “Sing Along” Thomas VCD with fourteen music tracks from various Thomas and Friends episodes.  I was disappointed to discover it was a VCD and not a music CD but I bought it anyway.  Turns out it was a really great buy because Gavin’s completely mad about it - especially the track “Boo Boo Choo-Choo”.

My SIL2 then suggested that I download Thomas and Friends MP3 files online.  Having downloaded the Thomas Theme Song previously, I realised that some online recordings were rather poor quality so I was quite happy to pay for my downloads. I found a site called Rhapsody selling two Thomas and Friends music albums and the individual songs which could be purchase at $1 each. For reasons unknown they were only selling to customers within US so I couldn’t place an order.

Eventually I found another site offering free Thomas and Friends music downloads from Tripod called Cheeky Engine.  There were some thirty songs (including the Theme songs - old and new) available for download, except two weren’t working and a few were rather old and poor quality.  I managed to create my own Thomas and Friends music CD for the car but I’ve yet to test it out on Gavin.  I’m not sure how well he’ll take to it since he isn’t really familiar with a lot of the songs.  Without the visual effect of the trains steaming around on the TV screen, I’m not sure if he’ll enjoy the music as much.

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My son is a huge fan of Thomas and Friends.  As any parent would know - what your child is interested in, you will also be interested in by default.  So when I discovered there was a new Thomas and Friends feature length movie out called “The Great Discovery”, I was very keen to get it.  It turned out that it is not available in Malaysia yet. 

As luck would have it, Playhouse Disney Channel was screening it on their Saturday 6pm “Movie Time” slot.  Ordinarily, we’re usually out to dinner on Saturday nights, but last Saturday, we were celebrating the hubby’s birthday at home so Gavin got to watch The Great Discovery.  Although I didn’t get to watch the whole movie, what little I did see of it did not really impress me.

I had read online that The Great Discovery was narrated by Pierce Brosnan.  Having always been partial towards Pierce Brosnan as an actor, I was looking forward to listening to him read the story of The Great Discovery.  Perhaps it was because I had become so accustomed to listening to Michael Angelis as the voice of Sodor that it seemed strange to hear another voice in his place, but I didn’t think Pierce Brosnan was as good as Michael Angelis.

Some of our friends were surprised when I told them Pierce Brosnan was the narrator.  Someone even commented, “What?  Pierce Brosnan having trouble landing a proper role so he had to downgrade to this?”  To be fair, I do recall that Pierce Brosnan has always been rather child-friendly.  In one Bond interview, he elected not to smoke in the scene because he knew a lot of children would be watching.

Narrator aside, I didn’t really like the music either.  The song towards the closing credits was some funky, rap music which I felt was a rather weak attempt to make Thomas “cool”.  I mean, we’re talking about kids here, not teenagers!  I much preferred the music from “Calling All Engines”.  Gavin, on the other hand, didn’t mind the music.  He still got up to dance and he seemed to enjoy watching the movie because he ignored everyone else for much of the time the movie was screening.

Was there anything good about The Great Discovery?  Well the effects were visibly improved over the series we had been watching.  I can’t say too much about the story since I didn’t really watch the entire movie.

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In an effort to reduce the non-interactive effect of TV on Gavin, I started turning off the volume and reading the subtitles out to Gavin.  I’ve only been doing this with his Thomas and Friends VCDs because they come with subtitles and each episode reads like a story from a book. 

Since I started to do this, I’ve discovered that:

• Gavin enjoys hearing my voice over the narrator’s voice and keeps asking me to “read” to him even during the times when the volume is on.  I think this says a lot since I reckon Michael Angelis (the narrator) sounds much better than me.
• Gavin now wants me to read his Thomas books for him (which has inspired me to get him the original series of books by Rev W V Awdry).  Previously, he would be easily distracted and would keep flipping from page to page before I could finish reading the words on the page.  Now, he keeps asking me to read and re-read the book even though I’ve just read the entire book for him.

Looks like there are benefits to watching “silent” TV after all…

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Before I became pregnant, my plan was not to allow Gavin to watch TV until he was at least two years old because of the recommendations that TV is not interactive and delay the development of a child due to the lack of interactivity.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to stick to my ideal and have had to come to a compromise with TV viewing.

I try to keep Gavin’s viewing time down to a minimum, but I’ve realised that crossing the line makes it hard to stay close to it.  One of the dangers of TV is the tendency to use it as a baby sitter which then significantly increases the viewing time of a child.  Although I’ve come to accept Gavin watching the TV, what disturbs me is the manner in which he watches it.  When his favourite TV program is on, it is as if he can’t hear anyone talking to him.  You can be right next to him and he will completely ignore you.  When you stand in front of him, he’ll move until he can see the TV again.

The hubby once joked, “Look at the way your son watches the idiot box like an idiot.”

Humour aside, there was a lot of truth to the statement because Gavin was completely mesmerised by the TV.  And since I can’t eliminate the TV altogether (too many people in the household will be required to quit watching TV in order to achieve this), I’ve decided to take measures to reduce the “idiot” effect of the TV by doing the following:

1. Take Gavin out of the house whenever possible so he can have a more interactive environment rather than the TV.
2. Avoid turning on the TV for as long as possible because when Gavin isn’t watching, sometimes he’ll find other things more amusing.
3. Bring out lots of toys for him to play when the TV is on because he’ll divide his attention between the toys and the TV - which I think is effectively less time with the TV.
4. Watch TV with Gavin and create interaction myself by answering the questions that Mickey or Darby ask. (Mickey Mouse Club House and My Friends Tigger and Pooh try to make their programs more interactive by asking questions at strategic points of the program for children to answer, e.g. How many ducks can you see?)
5. Sometimes when we watch his favourite show “Thomas and Friends“, I’ll turn the volume off (Gavin doesn’t seem to mind if the volume is off) and read the subtitles to him so it becomes a little like reading an interactive story book.  (One of the great things about “Thomas and Friends” is that it plays with a narrator’s voice over so the subtitles read like a story book.)  I’ve noticed that when I “read” Thomas to him, he directs part of his attention to me.
6. Watch programs with music, signing and dancing (like Signing Time) so we can sing, sign and dance along to it.

Read more on the subject of TV viewing for infants and toddlers.

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I recently started showing Gavin “Finding Nemo” because I needed to distract him and all his DVDs were downstairs.  Knowing that Gavin loves fish, I figured he would enjoy “Finding Nemo”, so I put it on for him.  True to my expectations, Gavin loved “Finding Nemo“, so much so that he would now sign “fish” every time he wanted to watch it.

All was going well until I discovered that he had picked up something “bad” from watching the movie…

This was something my SIL2 related to me when Gavin was playing in the kitchen one day.  He opened one of the drawers and started rumaging through it even though we have told him on numerous occasions that the drawers are off limits.  Usually a stern warning is enough to get him to close the drawer and retreat.  On this day, when my SIL2 told him to stop playing and close the drawer, he eyed her fiercely and continued swinging his hands through the drawer, all the while maintaining his defiant gaze in her direction.

If you have ever seen “Finding Nemo”, you will recall that early on the movie there is a scene when Nemo swims out to the boat after his father forbids him to go near it.  Marlin then starts threatening Nemo, saying something along the lines of, “Don’t you dare touch that boat!”  To which, Nemo stares back defiantly and smacks the boat with his fin.

Hmmm… sounds a little too coincidental, don’t you think?

Now I know the real reason why kids shouldn’t watch TV and why you should screen through everything your child watches if you insist on letting them watch it…

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As part of my initiative to put more effort into signing with Gavin, I went out on a limb and bought another three Signing Time DVDs…

From the first series, I bought Family, Fun and Feelings (Volume 4), just because I figured these signs would be most relevant to Gavin.

And ABC Signs (Volume 5), so I could sign the first letter to words that I don’t know so that Gavin will have some way of communicating his important wants with us even if he doesn’t have a proper word for it.  For instance, I bought him a new cereal by Kelloggs called “Coco Balls” and I sign “C-C-ball” whenever I ask him if he wants some.

I also bought Move and Groove (Volume 3) from Series 2.  Well, it should be obvious why…  Gavin loves music and dancing so it seemed appropriate to teach him the proper signs to fit the actions.

I bought three DVDs because they had this special 10% off coupon if you buy three DVDs.

I expected Gavin to take to the new DVDs like a fish to water.  I’m sad to say I was sorely disappointed by his immediate reaction when I played “ABC Signs”.  He immediately put up his hand in his typical gesture of “no” and started squealing.  I was completely taken aback by the reaction.  At the most, I thought that he might not be as keen on it, but I never expected him to make a protest!

He didn’t seem very fond of the main song for “ABC Signs”.  I was relieved to find that he was more willing to sit through “Family, Fun and Feelings” and “Move and Groove”.  He wasn’t crazy over them (like he is with Baby Signing Time - where his attention would be totally riveted towards the TV), but at least he didn’t squeal in protest when I played them.

Personally, I quite enjoyed the music from “ABC Signs” and “Family, Fun and Feelings”.  I wasn’t crazy about “Move and Groove” but it wasn’t that bad either.  When I watched the three new DVDs, I felt they were somewhat “flat” compared to the Baby Signing Time DVDs.  Of course, these three DVDs are intended for an older audience, being designed for older toddlers, but I still found the Baby Signing Time DVDs much more engaging.  The songs were nicer, the layout was better, the mood was livelier, and even Hopkins (the frog) looks cuter.  The overall package of Baby Signing Time was just well put together.

Criticisms aside, I did walk away humming the new tunes in my head so I guess the music did rub off on me quite well.  I could also remember most of the signs by the second run through of the DVDs, so I guess they were pretty effective.  Unfortunately, not quite as effective with Gavin since it doesn’t catch his attention the way Baby Signing Time does, and well, you can only learn so much if your eyes aren’t even look at the TV…

Oh well… perhaps he’ll enjoy them more when he’s a bit older?

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A few weeks back, after mentioning in a post that Gavin likes watching Johnny and the Sprites, I received an email from ThinkTank, an advertising company working with Disney to promote their new Soundtrack for Johnny and the Sprites.  They asked if I would like to review the soundtrack and write a post about it on my blog.

I received the CD in the mail a couple of days ago.  Here’s what it looks like:

About Johnny and the Sprites

This is the gist of the story from what I gathered from the episodes I’ve watched with Gavin: Johnny (played by John Tartaglia who was formerly from Broadway) is a musician who moves into a house in the woods.  There he meets the Sprites, magical creatures who inhabit the woods near the house.  The four main Sprites that interact with Johnny are Lily, Ginger, Basil and Root (going in a clockwise direction in the picture above, starting with the blue sprite).

The story follows the lives of Johnny and the Sprites as they learn about each other’s way of life.  Each episode has a central theme, which is usually a lesson about life.  For instance, when Ginger was embarassed by her curly antennae and thought they made her look awful, or when Johnny was so absorbed playing a computer game that he forgets to go outside to play.  In typical Disney fashion, the characters burst into song throughout the story and it is these songs that were recorded and made into the new Soundtrack you see above.

What I think of the Music

Lively and catchy, I find the music from Johnny and the Sprites very entertaining.  I think my bias also stems from the fact that I enjoy the TV series and I’ve already seen the episodes that these songs were from so I can relate to them when I hear them.

As a parent, I approve of the music from Johnny and the Sprites because it’s children’s music.  What I mean is that the music sounds like it was created for children as opposed to some music I’ve heard where, in an attempt to sound more “hip” and “cool”, they’ve ended up adulterating age old nursery rhymes into some kind of weird rock music.

What Gavin thinks of the Music

Since the music is really intended for Gavin to listen to, it is really his opinion that counts the most.  Although Gavin displays an affinity for music (he signs “more” and “dances” by swaying from side to side in his requests for more music), I have discovered in recent weeks that he is very particular about what he likes to listen to and what he does not like. 

When Gavin disapproves of the music that we play, he will shake his hand and start squealing in protest to tell us to turn it off or change tracks.  He’s also very persistent so there’s no forcing him to listen to something he doesn’t like.  If he likes the music, he’ll smile, sway some more or start jiggling to the tune, and when the song ends, he’ll sign for “more”.  You can also tell when he likes a particular song because he’ll come running from another room when he hears the music in the hall.

So what did my little critic think of the new Johnny and the Sprites music CD?  He gave it the thumbs up.  His favourite tracks are the Johnny and the Sprites Theme song (which was to be expected since he hears it every time we watch the program), and another song called “Heads Up!” (which is also played quite frequently on the show). 

On a scale among all his favourite music CDs, however, I’m afraid Johnny and the Sprites still comes second after “Pop! Goes My Heart” from the soundtrack “Music & Lyrics”.  Don’t ask me about that one, I can’t figure it out either.

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When I was doing my round in pediatric dentistry, my lecturer insisted that we learn about the shows and toys that kids were interested in so that we could actively engage them when we met a child patient.  I thought the biggest irony was that while she was busy telling us to do our homework on favourite children’s toys and games, she didn’t even know what a gameboy was!

But I digress…  When I was a kid, Sesame Street was the biggest thing since sliced bread.  What I discovered when I met my child patients was that the world of children’s programs had gone through a complete overhaul since I was last there.  They now had favourites like Teletubbies and Hi-5.  Whenever I met a kid who told me they loved Sesame Street, we’d get along like a house on fire.  When my patient told me they liked Teletubbies or Hi-5, that would be where our conversation ended. 

Although I didn’t know anything about Hi-5, I knew even back then that they were huge.  Kids were as mad over them as our parents were over the Beatles.

Fast forward 10 years…

When I discovered that Gavin loved music and that he would dance whenever he heard it, I was more inclined to let him watch programs which focussed on music.  Since the Fun Song Factory was one of the few programs that was largely about music, I was quite happy to let Gavin watch Page, Melody, OJ, Cal and Cookie as they sang and danced their way through twenty minutes of showtime.  The only hitch was that out of all the programs the Play House Disney Channel had to screen only once a day, it had to be the Fun Song Factory, and the time they chose to run it happened to coincide quite often with the time that Gavin usually napped.

Then, as I was browsing through Times Bookshop in Pavillion for books for Gavin, I discovered that they sold Fun Song Factory VCDs for RM10 each!  What a steal!  I picked up three for Gavin on topics I thought he would enjoy the most. 

My SIL saw the VCDs and remarked that Fun Song Factory looked like the UK version of Hi-5, except that she felt Hi-5 were infinitely better.  Since Hi-5 doesn’t screen in Malaysia, I was quite keen to buy a copy of one of their DVDs when I saw it on sale in MPH bookstore in Bangsar Village 2.  Retailing at RM24.90, the DVDs contain five episodes all based around a central theme. 

Hi-5 versus Fun Song Factory

The similarities

They are both a group of five people who sing and dance to music around a theme intended to educate children about the world around them.  Both groups happen to consist of two guys and three girls.

The differences

The Music: most of the music from Fun Song Factory are well-known children’s nursery rhymes.  Hi-5 come up with their own music and songs. 

The Activities: Fun Song Factory is mostly singing and dancing.  Hi-5 incorporates more dialogue intended to be educational.

The Costumes: the Fun Song Factory crew wear contemporary clothes (although, personally, I think some of the clothes that the girls wear could be a little more modest - yeah, well, I’m a parent now, aren’t I?).  Hi-5 costumes and hair styles are more bright, colourful and fun.  They also dress up as animals and other characters which I am sure children find more entertaining.

The Test

Although I enjoyed the Fun Song Factory because I could relate to the songs they sang, I decided that the person who should decide which he thought was better ought to be the person the programs were intended for - Gavin.  I put both shows to the test and discovered that Hi-5 won hands down.  For some inexplicable reason, Gavin went mad over Hi-5.  He’s even started copying their dance movements as you can see in the video below.

Needless to say, I went out and bought him another two Hi-5 DVDs covering topics he likes.

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Recently, Gavin has developed certain fears relating to things he’s been watching on TV.  The strange thing is, he’s never been afraid of them until now.

For instance, a few days back, we noticed he doesn’t like one of the programs - the name of which escapes me because it’s one of the shows that’s only on for about ten minutes.  It’s the one where there’s a father and son who are yellow figures that look similar to the yellow man in the Digi ads, and when they speak it’s not in English.  If you watch Playhouse Disney, then you ought to know which show I’m talking about.  Whenever that program came on, Gavin would scream and start moving away from the TV.

Then yesterday, I discovered that Gavin was also afraid of Grover from Sesame Street.  I’m pretty sure it’s just Grover and not puppets in general because he doesn’t seem to mind the Sprites on Johnny and the Sprites, and he has no issues with Ooh and Aah.

I also suspect that he’s had a change of heart with his used-to-be-favourite Elmo because he didn’t seem so happy to see him when Elmo’s World came on.  Gavin crawled to me and sat in my lap the entire time Elmo’s World was on.  This is strange because Elmo used to be one of Gavin’s favourite toys since my mother bought him the Fisher Price Elmo’s Musical Peekaboo Gym.  Then again, Elmo does bear a strong resemblance to Grover except for the fact that he’s red and Grover’s blue.

I can’t imagine why he would be afraid of these characters but I supposed it’s just one of those things that toddlers fear.  I recall the hubby’s goddaughter was also afraid of a cartoon character that was featured on her mother’s bedroom slippers.  She was so afraid that every time she saw the bedroom slippers, she would crawl hurriedly to her mother with a fearful look upon her face.  Now that she’s older, I wonder if she’s still afraid of him?

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