Are we there yet?

There are many things that parents do to entertain their children while driving from place to place. What do YOU do?

Sometimes I use one of her dolls or teddy-bears and pretend like it is driving the car. Charlotte gets a kick out of this.

(BTW - this is just a pic I found online...apparently I am not the only one who thought of this!)

When her toys or books are no longer of interest, we like to sing songs together. An especially fun song is "The wheels on the bus..." When we get to the part with the wipers going swish-swish-swish, I turn mine on and Charlotte will squeal in delight. She is developing an amazing vocabulary and can now sing several songs and nursery rhymes.

Here is a clip of her singing, "Old MacDonald."

Here is a clip of her reciting, "Hey Diddle, Diddle..."

I also point out things to her and label them for her. This has recently turned into a game of "I spy with my little eye ____!" With it being spring time there are so many different flowers and trees in bloom it makes this game especially fun ("foh-sith-ea" - forsythia, pansies, dog-wood, "redeh budeh" - red bud...). She can recognize cars, trucks, dump trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, and my personal favorite, "ex-ca-vay-tahs" (AKA - excavator).

She also has land marks all over town that she likes to point to and name, including:

• "watah-faaaall" for the waterfall in front of our neighborhood
• "figh-ya-en-chin" for the fire engine at the fire station
• "Daddy's hi-ee cool" for Daddy's high school
• "Miss Pat Cake" which is really Miss Patty Cake on a billboard as we go over the mountain

• "dah-oon in da valley, dah valley be-LOW" - down in the valley, the valley below
• "lye-berry, tory time, Miss Betty!" - Library, story time, Miss Betty

When all else fails, we find a Baby Einstein video on YouTube and play it on my iPhone propping it up in the head rest in front of her seat. This is for special occasions and usually reserved for night-time driving when there isn't much to look at outside. It will ALWAYS guarantee at least 7 minutes of captivated bliss.

***

In a related topic:

Each week, on our way to story time at the library, we always pass this pink house (well, not THIS one in the photo, but still...).

So, I do what I always do and say to Charlotte, "Look at that pink house! Do you see it?"

Charlotte responded enthusiastically, "Yeah! Pink house! LUHve it!"

Is being a parent great, or what?? :)