iPhone Apps for Toddlers: Brilliant or Brutal?

When he was  6 months old, I made sure I never left the house without a bottle, pacifiers and diapers.
 
When he was 12 months old, I made sure I never left the house without a bottle, pacifiers, diapers AND cheerios.
 
When he was 18 months old, I made sure I never left the house without a bottle (or sippy cup), pacifiers (yes, he still uses them), diapers, cheerios AND a small sized truck or two to distract him.
 
When he turned 24 months old, I maaaaybe left the house with some (or none) of those things and opted for the one thing that really could get me AND him through both a toddler and nuclear disaster: MY iPHONE.
 
At first, I resisted the urge to show him all the fun and cool things my phone (my gateway to life) could do... Blow animal bubbles... Trace alphabet letters... Find the nearest Target with one click (that one was for me- not him). But alas, one afternoon I was stuck in traffic and he was going bezerk and my tune changed. (Speaking of which-- my iTunes playlist, like many of yours, is now a smorgasbord of Justin Timberlake, Michael Buble, and Raffi. BTW, Baby Beluga does happen to be a lovely song to wind down to after a workout....)
 
Recently our friends at Lil Sugar posted 10 iPhone Apps for Toddlers. For $1, your kid can hit a donkey and steal candy. Yep. "Lil' Pinata allows tots to "open" the pinata by touching it and then "grab" all of the candy and toys that fall out." Or for Free, you can download an app that allows your kid to pop bubble wrap (chances are you'll want to play this one too).
 
While aimed at being  "toddler friendly" and "age appropriate," I have to wonder: Is the decision to distract him with my mini computer (so that I can catch my breath for two seconds) a bad one?  I asked Parents Ask expert Dr. Cara Natterson to weigh in:
 
Dr. Cara said, "In my opinion, though I realize the power of iPhone apps to occupy a child and buy a parent a few minutes of peace and quiet, I do believe that it is a slippery slope: what starts with shushing a child using a cell phone may easily wind up with giving him games to play regularly for longer periods. There are educational apps galore, so I am not suggesting that all apps are “bad for the brain”. But our youth will spend so much of their lives communicating on these devices—calling, texting, emailing, gaming—that it seems logical to try to postpone it as long as possible. The only health risk I know of related to the use of apps is the risk of accidental injury because of not paying attention. A good example is seen among pedestrians crossing the street while staring down at their screen: the risk of being hit by a car increases when a person is not paying attention to their surroundings."
 
It's true: giving him the freedom to play with my phone may be a slippery slope and a distraction that could end up being detrimental. On the other hand, if you saw him launching french fries across the table at Islands last night, you may have handed him your phone too...
 
So tell us: Do you download apps for your kid on your phone? We want to hear from you!