Need a minute or five?

If you have littles in your house, you know the value of distraction. Even better is the value of all out absorption in something (anything!) for just five little minutes so you can finishcookingsettingthetableextracttrashfrombaby'smouthblockjuniorfromdrawingonwallgetdinneronthetable or maybe just wind them down a bit before bedtime. For this, I highly recommend the free Sesame Street podcast on iTunes. These are short little video podcasts--a new one each week--centered on one topic, usually a vocabulary word (some greats include habitat, metamorphosis, incognito, octagon, fragile and engineer). They typically feature American television celebrities introducing the word, giving the definition and demonstrating it with one of the Sesame Street characters as well as lots of little skits with some old school characters and kids on the street. We have been watching these podcasts consistently for oh, four years now. My girls love them. Secretly, Hubby and I do too. They are short, sweet and free.

You'll thank me later.