After I became a mom, I felt like I needed to have a mom hobby.  Scrapbooking, knitting, and stamping were all given a go, but I couldn't stick with them and frankly, my creations were less than stellar.  My husband is an avid mountain biker and I have to admit that I was always a little jealous that I didn't have something of my own that I was passionate about.

I told my husband as much and he looked at me and said:

"Are you kidding?  You're a gadget freak!  That's your hobby."

Umm, gee, where had I been?  I guess I thought I needed something more crafty and domestic to be my hobby.  He's so right though.  I swoon over gadgets.  They're an obsession.  The only obstacle that keeps me from buying every single one is my bank account balance.  But instead of spending the money to "try" at hobbies that don't grab me, I save up to buy the gadgets that I covet so much.   My favorites?  The Kindle and T-Mobile's G1.

As my son gets older, he's only three now, I'm starting to realize that he shares my love of gadgets too.  While I try to keep his screen time down, I've been pretty impressed with some of the products out there.  Not just because of the tremendous amount of fun my son has, but the educational value they add, too.

He's always wanted to play around with my Apple iPod Touch and now I can let him since discovering MobiStories.  Basically, MobiStories does for children's picture books what the Kindle does for novels and non-fiction.  If you want to give a MobiStories book a whirl for free to check it out, download "Salsa for Puppies & Kittens" to check it out.  I love this concept, especially since their library contains so many of our favorites from the local library.  So rather than replacing real books it reinforces my son's love of reading.

My three year old also loves playing on my husband's and my laptops.  You can imagine that when we do let him, it makes us a little nervous.  Leapfrog sent us the ClickStart to try and my son LOVES that he has a "real" computer keyboard and mouse.  I love that it's so easy to hook up to the TV.  It took a longer time getting the ClickStart out of the packaging than it did to get it set up and my son having fun.

Another Leapfrog product we both like is the new LeapFrog® Tag Reading System.  My son is only three so I think he'll grow with it for quite a few years to come.  We bought the Tag Dr. Seuss gift pack and it comes with the Tag, two books, including "The Cat and the Hat" and a carrying case.  While it was a little steep in price, I'm hoping that he'll use it for years to come and make it worth the price tag.

For those that like the idea of the Tag but are shying away from the price, you should try the Poingo Reading System.  Poingo sent our family one to try and my son really enjoyed reading the books that came with it.  You can get the Poingo "pen" and two books for half the price of the LeapFrog gift pack.  Honestly, I didn't think that one was better than the other, but they do have different licensing for books so you might want to look into their libraries of books available before making a final decision.  I know my kidlet loved the Finding Nemo and Cars books that came with the Poingo.

Finally, I have to give props to the LeapFrog® Leapster® .  My son has grown up with LeapFrog products, his favorites when he was younger being the LeapFrog Fridge Farm and Fridge Phonics.  His older cousins have had Leapters for the past couple years and this year, when he received one for his birthday, we weren't sure if he was ready for it or not.  Some games have been frustrating for him because he is so young.  But one game that LeapFrog sent us has been a total hit - Scholastic Outwit.  This game has several "tents" the child chooses from to play different logic games.  He loves the matching and patterns games the best.  All of the Outwit games challenge him without frustrating him.  This means a lot to me since his self-confidence in learning is so important.  Other Leapster games we look forward to trying are the Pet Pals, Scholastic Get Puzzled, and Scholastic ISPY: Treasure Hunt.

I enjoy sharing my love of gadgets with my son and do wonder if it's hereditary or just merely because he sees my gadgets all the time.  Either way, I'm glad that there are so many options.

What's your favorite gadget?  What are your kids' favorite gadgets?

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