Aug 30th,  2008 - Labor Day Weekend begins today and my parents decided to go to the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. We had seen it before but never went there. The day started off on a bad note as my Dad's slippers broke just as we reached the mall. Luckily he was able to get a nice pair of slippers at the Macy's store there. After that we spent the rest of the morning in the mall. I had some Dippin Dots ice-cream. My dad took me to the Disney Store and he got me a Mickey Mouse and Friends T-Shirt (which I did not want to take out once I reached home).  We walked around the mall, did some shopping, ran up and down the escalaors. I really enjoy that.

We found that there was a skating rink as well and there were lots of kids learning to skate. Someday I hope to learn how to skate. At one end of the mall we also found a children's play area. I played there for a while and then my parents decided that it as time to go home. This was like any other mall and I had a good idea, especially in the play area. I hope to come back here soon someday.

Aug 24th,  2008 - My parents both have an iPhone and they both download games for me and I have a lot of fun with those games. The iPhone is a great phone as I can play games with just my fingers and I do not have to learn to press any keys. In case you are wondering how my parents allow me to play with the phone, they make sure its in the airplane mode and they are always with me. While these games are not really toddler games, they do keep me entertained.

iDoodle2Lite - One of my favorite things to do is play with my doodle and my parents found a Doodle for me on the iPhone. The best part is that I can draw with my finger and I can draw in color. I like this one. 

BubleWrap -  This is a stupid game but can bring a smile to my face once in a while. The game is like a real bubble wrap and all I do is pop the bubbles with my finger. 

Jirbo Match -  This game is rather difficult for me but with my parent's help, I am able to play it. In this games, there are many cards that have pictures of animals on them. The cards are placed upside down and I can open two at a time. The cards remain open when I pick two of the same. I should be able to play this well in a few months. 

Expando -  This is a game for adults but kids may like it. Once you press your finger on the screen, a big smiling bubble begins to form. Its really cute. 

Most of us dream about having a newborn baby, and then when we do have one, we can’t dream due to not getting to sleep because of the constant crying of our infant.

Most likely, if your baby is crying constantly, he or she is suffering from colic.  This is very common in newborn babies from the age of two weeks up to the age of four months.  So, what can you possibly do to get a good night’s sleep some time within those four months, if your baby has colic?  Good question!

One way to help you and your baby get some much needed relief is by using the rocking and motion technique to alleviate the colic.  This has been proven to be a very effective way to help with colic. It’s best to hold the baby on his or her side when rocking him or her as this technique can really help in keeping your baby calm.  However, be certain to always support your baby’s head and neck when rocking him or her.

Listed below are some different techniques for using the rocking and motion technique:

1.      Method #1 – This consists of the traditional rocking motion that most people use to put their babies to sleep. It’s just a gentle swaying back and forth.  It does work for some, but not for all.

2.      Method #2 – This is the same as the first method, but with much faster and smaller motions.  You should aim to go back and forth about twice a second, or even a little faster.

3.      Method #3 – This method is more like vibrating than rocking, and involves holding the baby and shaking it as if were shivering.  This can get tiresome, so many parents may choose to hold the baby on their lap and vibrate one of their legs up and down.  It’s mainly the upper body of the baby that you want to vibrate, but be certain you support his or her head and neck while doing this.

4.       Method #4 - This method is a little more complicated.  Begin by holding your left hand out, palm up, elbow bent, and then place your baby on your hand so your hand is under his or her chest and your left forearm or wrist is under his or her crotch. Finally, bring your baby close to your chest and use your other arm to support his or her head and neck while wrapping your right hand around to hold his or her side and bottom. This should allow your baby to be draped over your left hand with his or her arms and legs dangling toward the floor. You can then support the head and neck with your right arm.

Hopefully one of these methods will help your baby.  There are many more techniques (These are just a few from the e-book), but this should give you a start.  Best of luck to you.

“This information was taken from the free e-book, “The Parent’s Guide to Calming a Crying Baby.” 

Aug 3rd,  2008 - We are heading back to Dallas from Oklahoma City and since we were a little free this morning, we decided to go see this store called Pops which was on the historic Route 66 in Oklahoma. We drove north-east to the city and found this nice little store there. Since it was Sunday morning, there was already a crowd early in the morning. A few people had come there for breakfast and the rest were there for .....you guessed it SODA-POP. This store is full of various kinds of sodas.   I am not sure how many flavors they had but the entire store was lined up with various soda bottles of different colors, red, blue, purple, oranage, yellow.....It was really nice. Outside the store there is a big soda bottle and it lights up in the night and probably looks very nice.

We bought a few souveniers, filled up some gas (its cheaper here compared to home) and we headed back home. 

Click the read more button to see the photos. 

Aug 2nd,  2008 - After we reached Oklahoma City and rested at the hotel we decided to go to the nearby Bricktown area. The Bricktown area in a reconstructed part of downtown Oklahoma City where they converted the old downtown into a place where they could attract tourists and locals to come and have some fun. We walked a couple of blocks to the Bricktown area and it was terribly hot (over 100 degrees)

The Bricktown area has a water canal and we decided to take a ride on the water taxi. The taxi was full of people from other parts of the country like California, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma. There was a nice lady sitting next to me and I probably bored her with my jibber-jabber but she did not seem to mind. On the water taxi ride, we saw some nice restaurants, paintings, waterfalls, sculptures etc. The ride must have been about 30 minutes. We got off the taxi and took a walk around Bricktown before heading back to the hotel. It was just too hot to do anything. 

By the end of the walk, I was red like a tomato.

Aug 2nd,  2008 - Its been a long time since we left Dallas on a trip and my parents decided to go and visit Oklahoma City which is about 3 hours away from Dallas. We started off early and headed north to Oklahoma  City. It was a nice long drive and we listened to my favorite songs from Jab We Met, Om Shanti Om, Welcome and Taare Zameen Par. I think my parents must have got bored but I can listen to those songs over and over again. On the way, we stopped at a town called Norman and had some lunch there at a Greek Cafe.

We reached the hotel at around 2 in the afternoon. My father had booked us at the Skirvin Hilton which was a historic hotel in the downtown area. The hotel was very nice and we got a room on the 5th floor. It had a lot of things and my parents had to move every thing to higher levels. I spent a lot of time with the phones, paper, magazines and the television. Soon we will go to the Bricktown area.