I'm a full-time mummy

My 3 year old boy is not at the school going age yet, I don't think he will understand or knows the feelings of going to school and being late! Nevertheless, I reviewed this app because I want my boy to know there is no need to be fearful of going to school (even if we are late!) and that teachers are friends, not someone to be feared of. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Henry! You're Late AGAIN!
* Price: $0.99
* Category: Books
* Updated: Apr 14, 2012
* Version: 1.4
* Size: 36 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: ZebraMinds, Inc.
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Description from the product page:

"Do you have a big bad wolf waiting in your school if you arrive late? Henry does! Find out who it is and just what makes him late every single day. Humor and quirky pictures will keep you grinning all day. Look for hidden animations and sound recordings on each page. How many can you find?

 Creates learning opportunities, keeps kids engaged and entertained while the beautiful illustrations fuel their imagination. The story is interspersed with multimedia and includes two narration voices: Mary (the author) or Henry (himself!). Easy page turning with swipe, arrows or automatically advancing feature."

What's good?

* I like that there are 2 options for the narrator's voice: Mary (the author) or Henry (himself!) and I prefer Henry's voice as I think it appeals to my 3 year old boy more to listen to someone around his age group.

* I like the storyline where it tells how Henry was terrified of being late to school because of something... which in the end, turns out to be nothing scary as he thought to be.

* There are cute illustrations and entertaining animations here and there, I like the part where we can twirl Henry on the swivel chair - because that's what we did with Ben not too long ago! Hahaha!

Room for Improvement?

* Nothing I can think of though I'd appreciate if there are hints (like blinking on the objects) for animations on each page!

You can purchase the " Henry! You're Late AGAIN!" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

Early August 2012, I discovered my blog logo being used by another page on Facebook while I was verifying one of my giveaway results (need to check through whether the selected winner did 'liked' my Facebook page, etc etc). It just so happened that I saw my blog logo under the 'Company' field of the winner's page and I was telling myself, hey, I would like to put that under my 'Company' field too! And then I clicked on and realised that is not my page at all!

Somebody created a page called 'Full-Time Mummy' and happily used my blog logo as theirs on Facebook. I have been mulling and feeling depressed at it but I kept it to myself because I thought 'Hey, it's just an image, how can I prove it's mine? Plus it's all out in the world wide web, how can I control someone out there from using my images when it was not watermarked?!'

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my beloved blog logo! Look at the 'I'm a full-time mummy' text surrounding the 2 cute kiddos in the centerpieces. Those 2 kiddos are my Benjamin and Alyson. You see images of these 2 kiddos EVERYWHERE on my blog, social icons on my sidebar, my blog header, my images watermark, etc.

And I purposely requested my designer to design a stamp-like logo as I love the uniqueness of it (unlike the common blog logo which is square) and I love pink, so yeah, what you see above is weeks of hardwork in discussing and giving feedback to and fro with my designer to finally settling on this version that I love. So of course it is heartbreaking to see it being copied and misused without my permission!!!

In the end, on 10th August 2012 I reached out to my blog fans on my Facebook page. Just after I posted that, my hubby asked me what happened and I told him what happened of course. He told me to immediately report that page to Facebook and to indicate that my image has been misused. I went to that copycat page and reported it to Facebook, choosing the appropriate actions and submitted my report.

I took some screenshots of the page that copied my blog logo for evidence just in case. Some differences you can clearly see is that page title is 'Full-time mummy' and yet the logo used (mine!) says 'I'm a full-time mummy'. Then you can see the number of fans on the page (less than 300) is far less than mine (almost 7500!) and I created my Facebook page almost 2 years ago while the copycat page was created on 23 May 2011. So, in my humble opinion, I think it is easy to see who is copycat-ing who right? (in the event of a dispute)

Then I saw some responses from my blog fans (thank you all!) telling me to report the page and some even offered to help me report the page hahaha... Few hours after that I noticed the page has removed my blog logo and used another image as replacement. Phewwwwww.... I can breathe a sigh of relief!

So yeah, lesson learned,

always fight for what is yours!

I am so excited I get to review this app! Early this year, we have tried to gently introduce our 3 years old boy to the idea of visiting a dentist while I went for my long overdue check-up. The visit does not work very well for my boy as he was afraid and not feeling happy with the new environment and strangers asking him to lie on the chair and open his mouth.

We did try again when my SIL brought her kids to their annual dental check-ups and asked us to bring our boy along so he can see how other children behave and enjoys having their teeth checked and cleaned by a dentist. This round, our boy is more at ease, probably because his cousins are so happy and excited and showed no signs of fear but my boy is still keeping his guard up but still, it is a step closer. So I hope this app will help to build up his confidence! Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: Luca Lashes and His First Trip to the Dentist
* Price: $1.99
* Category: Books
* Released: Mar 24, 2012
* Version: 1.0
* Size: 76.6 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Luca Lashes LLC Apps
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later

Description from the product page:

"Prepare your child for their first trip to the dentist with Luca Lashes! Read and interact with this story about one of the many “first” experiences children have. This is an interactive, educational and multilingual, audio app series available in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

 This app continues the Luca Lashes series, and helps your child experience their first dentist visit through the eyes of Luca Lashes, the Brown-Eyed Boy with Magic Eyelashes. Children can experience the sights and sounds of a dentist office through interactivity (touch, sight, and sound), and parents are given a list of supportive information to assist with this interesting first experience all children go through. The Luca Lashes series is intended for children in the 0-4 year range. "

What's good?

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also touch the page on the screen and the page sways according to your direction you sways it!

* I like the storyline where it tells how Luca experienced his first dentist visit and discover what was it like to be in a dentist office. I also informed my boy as we go through this book that mummy and daddy will be with him, that he does not need to worry at all and I also informed him what to expect in the dentist visit.

* The illustration is beautiful and I like that the pages shows how an ordinary dentist office looks like and the cool gadgets (the goggles and bibs!) and what the dentist did after the check up.

Other Things to Note

* I understand it is the character's 'power' to gain confidence and be brave by blinking his eyelashes twice but for me, I decided not to stress on this to my boy (compared to other pages, I will normally repeat and explain again to my boy) as I don't want him to be blinking at things. Maybe it's just my weird preferance but other than this, I think this book is a great start if you want to introduce the idea of having their hair cut in a salon to your little ones.

* Another thing I noted is the Suggestions for Parents page at the end point number 6 which mentioned "If your infant/toddler drinks bottled water or well water, pediatric dentists suggest that water should have fluoride in it for optimal dental health." I read in an article that "parents should avoid giving babies fluoridated water as babies exposed to fluoride are at high risk of developing dental fluorosis - a permanent tooth defect caused by fluoride damaging the cells which form the teeth." so I am a little concerned here at both statements.

You can purchase the "Luca Lashes and His First Trip to the Dentist  " app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"