When I came across the Wee See DVD’s and learned what they were about, I was instantly intrigued.  I let my son watch TV; he watches DVD’s meant for babies, and sees adult shows while I watch TV.  When he was younger, and going through an extremely fussy stage, I gave in and put a Baby Einstein DVD in.  It wasn’t to make him smarter, (who did they think they were kidding with that?) it was to entertain him so that I could take a breather.  He loved it, and calmed down for a few minutes.

If I had known about the Wee See DVD’s back then, I would have snapped them up!  The concept behind Wee See isn’t to “teach” your baby how to solve equations or speak Mandarin.  Wee See has a different approach.

Part art installation, part pacifier, Wee See is a collection of black-and-white animations built from basic shapes to delight both child and parent. As vision develops slowly over the first months of life, Wee See provides surfaces of bold, well-defined artwork to engage your baby’s curious mind and bring the screen to vibrant life.

With great sensitivity to the delicate nature of the audience, Wee See’s animations move methodically slow and maintain an extraordinary simplicity yet remain endlessly inventive.

With both DVDs containing an original score by Tim DeLaughter, each moment has extra meaning. The same level of playfulness and care at the heart of the imagery also shines through in the music.

wee see – collection one from Rolyn Barthelman on Vimeo.

As soon as the DVD’s arrived I popped them in. I had a friend over, and her baby is one month older than my son. I was worried that they would both be too old for the DVD’s.  They aren’t frantic or loud or exciting at all.  The images are relaxing and eye popping in black and white.  The babies watched for a time, my son was more captivated than his friend.  She toddled off and he kept his eyes on the screen for a few minutes.  After he left to explore and play, I kept the DVD on.  I enjoyed the gentle music and found myself watching the clever images.  In fact, the images remind me very much of the artwork for Zwan’s one and only album, Mary Star of the Sea.  The album was in color but the modern and clean lines were gorgeous!  VH1 also used similar artwork for their show Best Week Ever.

Fletcher has since watched the DVD a few times.  It won’t keep him rapt for a long time, but he does follow the screen and watch the different motions.  He is 13 months, and the imagery is designed for younger babies.  I do know I can’t wait to try this on a younger baby.  I believe it will hold their attention for longer.  I think back to the early days with my son, and how many times I couldn’t take a shower or use the restroom for fear of him crying.  Wee See, I needed you.

You can order the DVD’s from Wee See’s website.  Both DVD’s in the collection will run you 35.00, or 20.00 for Collection 1 or Collection 2.  I say, well worth the investment.  I would rather hear the beautiful music from Wee See than Blue’s Clues.  These DVD’s would make a unique and useful Baby Shower gift as well!

If you want to finally get a shower or make a sandwich in peace, you are in luck!

Wee See is giving away a Wee See DVD to one of DDL’s fabulous readers!

To Enter, first go to Wee See and browse the website.  Tell me your favorite thing about the site, or the DVD’s.  (The site is in itself a fun adventure!  Trust me!)  This entry is mandatory.

Follow my twitter and tweet this giveaway. Please tweet, “Wee See DVD,  gentle visual imagery for babies, giveaway from @KimRosas.  http://da58a.th8.us Ends Jan 20” Leave a comment with a link to your status.

You can tweet once a day for the duration of the contest.  Leave a comment with your status for each tweet.

Subscribe to my blog via email through feedburner. Leave a comment.

Follow me through Google Friend Connect or via a reader. Leave a comment.

Grab my button and post it on your blog. Leave a comment.

Blog about this giveaway. Post a link in the comment.

Get Creative. Post this contest to a message board, or other sites. Let me know where and leave a link to your post.

Giveaway ends on January 18.. Winner will be chosen using random.org. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be drawn.

***Open to US and Canadian Residents!***

I was not compensated for this review, however the product sent was kept free of charge.  All opinions expressed are my own.

My son's new favorite place while nursing.

Other favorite place

More at wordlesswednesday.com.

I have been away from home for over 2 weeks.  We have been staying with family in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  Let me tell you, it has been terrible.  I didn’t realize how much different it is to have a mobile baby.  We were here last time when my son was just sitting up.  Now, he is crawling and cruising and getting into everything.  We are staying in a non babyproofed home and I am running around pulling him away from crystal, vases, electronics, lamps, cabinets, and plants.  Every second I have to have an eye on him.  If I don’t, he will be dead or severely injured.  Just 2 minutes ago my son almost ate a dead lady bug, then immediately went and stuck his hand in a coffee cup.  His hand was a hair away from getting in the coffee.  I am exhausted.

Then, there is the fact that we cosleep.  The family we are staying with has been vocally against this.  Frankly, I would rather not at this stage but my son has regressed to not even going to bed in the crib for the first 2-3 hours like he used to.  This means we have to lay him in our bed and make sure he doesn’t wake up and fall off.  Luckily he has never done that but this room is upstairs, unlike home.  I am glued to the monitor waiting for the slightest sound.  He wakes up a few times a night, and I am there for all of those times except maybe the first time around 11-12 at night.  It is paranoia to think of your baby upstairs on a bed without you.  I imagine how much trouble he can get into if he wakes up and crawls off the bed.  It might sound crazy that we do this but he literally won’t sleep in the pack and play here.  He could be dead asleep and be laid in the pack and play and wake right up. My son has sleeping issues.

I actually don’t have an issue cloth diapering while traveling.  At least not when I stay with family.  I packed plenty of diapers and have washed 3 times so far. No repelling this time either.  I think using cloth diaper specific detergent makes all the difference!

I am so ready to get back to my home.  But, as soon as we get home we are actually moving down the street so I dread the packing.  Then we get a nice new place to live that I can look forward to.  Wish us luck with the next month which is going to be busy busy!

Could someone please give me a full nights sleep for Christmas?  That would be the best gift of all!

Today we are celebrating the birth of my son one year ago. It has gone by incredibly fast and when I realize it has been a full year since giving birth I’m not sure I believe it. On one hand it feels like ages ago since I was a milk machine 24/7 and had this tiny crying thing in my arms. On the other hand, it can’t possibly have been a year! It all went by so quickly. He knows so many things. He has an engineer’s mind like his father and wants to know how everything works. He isn’t fooled if you take the batteries out of the remote. He knows how to eject DVD’s and plug in an outlet (with outlet covers on, but he continues to try!) He examines our cell phones and learned yesterday how to cover the speaker to change it from loud to soft and did that for a few minutes. He is super serious and it takes a lot of work to get a laugh but it is worth it! He is starting to learn how to point things out in books and on people.

I’m really lucky to have such a great son. He might not sleep through the night yet but when he smiles at me at 2:30 in the morning and wants some milkies I still love him!

Happy Birthday Fletcher! Thanks for making me a mommy!

More at wordlesswednesday.com

Or, Simmer Down Now for those not down with the Cheri Oteri. 

You may have noticed I am slowing it down a bit.  I extended the “All About Babywearing” Month into November to give myself more time to write the reviews.  I still have quite a few carriers to review, and they are exciting!  Between my son getting 8, EIGHT! teeth all at once, him not sleeping a wink at night unless he is being held or in our bed, and planning his first birthday party, things have just gotten too busy to be blogging all day.  So, I am gonna Simma Down Na and post when I can.  I don’t want to pressure myself to have a post up RIGHT AT 9 AM SHARP like I used to.  If it isn’t written by then, it isn’t, and it will make it up when I feel like it.  Because why?  Because it is my blog, that’s why!  LOL.

So, fewer giveaways (sorry, they take a whole lot of work as many of you with blogs know), I might skip a day or two of posting, and the post might not publish until 10 PM. 

Thanks for being patient while my son’s teeth emerge from the gums, excruciatingly slowly.  In the meantime, if any of you lovely mamas have been cloth diapering for 5 years or more, please email me.  I have some questions for you!

MUAH!

More at Wordlesswednesday.com

My son is a very serious baby.  He smiles, and he laughs, but generally he is an observer of the world.  Anyone who has met him comments on how “alert” he is or how serious he looks.  Sometimes people don’t even believe he smiles or laughs!  Of course he does.  I remember the first time I heard his “laugh.”  I was shocked.  It wasn’t a baby’s giggle, it was a man’s grunt.  And to top it off, he always covered his face when he laughed.  It was impossible to get a video of him because as soon as he saw the camera come out he was more interested in the camera than whatever I was doing to make him laugh.  

He is ticklish so that works.  But my husband can really get the giggles out of him.  It makes my heart melt to hear this deep, growly laugh.  I don’t even know how to put it into words.  Here is the most adorable baby laugh you will ever hear (of course I am going to say that, he is my son!)  

I was thinking today about how little TV i have watched in the past few weeks. Last night I watched a total of one hour’s worth of TV. I will cop to having the TV on 80-10 hours a day before having a baby. Even after having him I would have it on, whether I was watching it or not. Why? I don’t know!!! It would be on while I was doing crafts, on the laptop, playing with the baby, and even sometimes while I was in the shower!