Spoons and Cups in the Tub

September 4, 2019Leave a comment

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I used to avoid giving Veronika anything resembling a cup at bathtime, because she lifted everything to her mouth and that meant a mouthful of soapy bath water (yuck!).

Now that she’s not mouthing everything automatically, these simple items make for fantastic tub time. I recently wanted her to have an extra long bath (to help soothe a slight sniffle; hello back-to-school season), and these kept her occupied for so long.

After she played for a while in her own way, I showed her how to stir. She really did try to imitate the motion!

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Likewise, you can show your baby the idea of water transfer, whether from cup to cup, or from the measuring spoons into a cup.

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She also tried stacking them, tapping them together, and swishing them around in the water. And she came out from the bath a little less sniffly!

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It’s a Goal!

September 4, 2019Leave a comment

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For some fun sport today, Veronika and I played her first round of soccer!

Lie a box on its side and present your baby with a selection of balls. Veronika was excited when she saw a growing pile of mini soccer balls, baby sensory balls, and other favorite toys.

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I rolled one toward the box, and as it rolled in I said a very excited, “It’s a goal!” Channel your inner futbol announcer for this!

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She picked up on the excitement immediately. Her expression demanded a repeat.

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Then I encouraged her to make the goal.

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Even if her ball was close but not quite in, I repeated the excited, “It’s a goal!”

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She looked so proud of herself.

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This led to lots of further ball play in her own way, tapping them together, holding several at once, or following them around the room.

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A great morning of sport, in sum.

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Telephone Talk

September 4, 2019Leave a comment

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If one telephone is fun, then two telephones are twice as fun!

Smartphones are like catnip for babies, Veronika included, which is why I deliberately avoid my phone except for necessary calls. A far safer alternative is to buy baby a toy cell phone. We happen to have two versions of the same phone, which makes for perfect games of “phone call”.

Today I sat down with her and pretended to dial.

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I handed her the other phone and began a conversation. “What should we do today?”

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Wait for your baby to babble back, which will help encourage the idea of a two-way conversation. Oh my goodness, she looks too much like a teenager already!

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Then it was her turn to dial me!

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This kind of make-believe play might seem advanced for a 10 month old, but it’s exactly through such modeling that Veronika is learning about the world. Nice chatting with you!

Beat to the Rhythm

September 3, 2019Leave a comment

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No doubt you’ve pulled out pots and pans and Tupperware for your baby already, and discovered that it’s a fantastic way to keep little ones occupied in the kitchen. And while a free-for-all jam session is fun, don’t discount introducing real rhythms at this young an age; kids pick up on it much earlier than you think.

So today, I sat down with Veronika and first we simply banged on our saucepan “drum.” But then I showed her one beat with my hand.

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She banged her hand a few times, but I repeated until she, too, was doing one solitary beat.

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It may have been coincidence, but this worked when I moved up to two beats as well. If I tried for three, it became a free for all of tapping and banging.

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We also tried the game with a spoon, first one beat, then working up to two and three.

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Again, don’t expect your baby to be a maestro, but you’re introducing the idea of beats and rhythms, and your little one gets to have a blast! Big brother wanted to be a demonstrator, too, and loved making one beat with his hand and watching her copy.

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Needless to say, the spoon and pot entertained her so thoroughly that I was able to clean the kitchen undisturbed!

Fee Fi Fo Fum

September 3, 2019September 3, 2019Leave a comment

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Grown-ups are likely all familiar with the common syllables “fee fi fo fum” from the giant in Jack in the Beanstalk. But there’s no need to include the scary giant as you introduce this word play to your baby! The syllables echo a baby’s babble at about 10 months old, so today, I recited this classic for Veronika… with a twist.

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Sitting in front of her, I said:

Fee fi fo fum,

Here’s my fingers, here’s my thumb (open your fingers and then your thumb).

Fee fi fo fum,

Fingers gone, so is thumb (tuck fingers and then thumb away).

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To add a little learning in, I then repeated the rhyme with a different first consonant. For each letter, I handed her the accompanying foam letter to play with – a little extra learning to absorb! So she played with a big foam B for “bee bi bo bum” and giggled over T for “tee ti to tum”,

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We also did the rhyme on “dee di do dum” and then finally on “mee mi mo mum.”

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A big hit, for little effort!

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Make a Night Sky Mobile

September 2, 2019Leave a comment

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Talking about the moon and stars with Veronika prompted me to follow up with this cute mobile craft. There are two ways to make it, mine decidedly more of a hack, but it worked in a pinch!

For the easy version, I wanted to purchase a mobile frame with predrilled holes from the craft store. You’ll notice that the closest thing I could find was actually twisted in the shape of a soft pretzel, but Veronika didn’t know the difference!

With that on hand, I made a few simple night sky decorations to dangle from it. I traced a moon, star, and cloud onto cardboard.

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Cut out the shapes and gave them a few coats of gold and silver paint. Let dry completely.

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Once dry, hole punch the cardboard and thread from your frame with yarn or twine.

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If you’re far craftier than me, you can instead trace your shapes onto tracing paper as templates, pin to colored felt, and cut two for each shape. Sew the felt together with a blanket stitch, leaving a hole to stuff in roving. Sew up and then attach to the mobile frame with thread.

But like I said, my baby girl didn’t mind my quick version; if anything she was entranced!

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She loved grabbing onto the dangling pieces in the playroom.

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For a true mobile, you’ll need to suspend it where your baby can’t reach it, not prop it up like I did.

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Since we were just playing, I let Veronika grab at the tips of the moon and star.

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Her expression was full of wonder at these glowing night objects.

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Exploring the Night Sky

September 1, 2019September 1, 2019Leave a comment

It can feel funny sometimes to teach a baby about celestial objects – the stars, the moon, planets – because they are rarely awake to see nighttime! Especially here in the summer, Veronika is asleep long before stars come out or the moon shines.

If your child also sleeps before dark, have fun pointing out these night objects in books instead! Today, instead of reading the words, I sang star and moon poems as we turned each page of a favorite book.

When we came to a star, I pointed and sang:

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are.

And here’s a rhyme to go with the moon page:

I see the moon

And the moon sees me

As is floats so high

Over mommy and me

I see the stars

And the stars see me

As they shine in the sky

Over Daddy and me

You can also point out stars wherever you may have them around the house. Veronika is transfixed by our nightlight.

We tried going outside just before bedtime, but the sky was indeed still light.

But then wouldn’t you know it; an unusually fussy bedtime had Veronika up later than usual, and look what was peeking at us just before she slept.

Meanwhile, we’ll wait for the impending shorter days of autumn and winter, when I can truly take her out to marvel at these wonders of the night sky.

Laundry in the Fast Lane

August 31, 2019Leave a comment

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It’s getting harder to keep Veronika entertained while I do laundry, so today I upped the ante; instead of seating her next to me with her own laundry center, I put her right in the laundry basket!

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She instantly was intrigued with her new surroundings. To keep her occupied, I dropped in easy, small items – baby socks, washcloths – and soon she was playing happily with them.

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Next I played a game of peekaboo, draping a small hand towel over her head and asking, “where’s Veronika?”

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I lifted the towel for a big reveal: there she is! She loved this one.

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Now it was time to turn the laundry basket into a car.

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I zoomed her around, including back and forth to the dryer to check on a load, and announced “Pit stop!” when we came to a stop. These words got a giggle every time.

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One note of caution: big siblings are going to think this looks so fun that they’ll want a turn! Needless to say, this is one way to take the drudgery out of laundry.

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Arrange a Musical Playdate

August 29, 2019Leave a comment

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Classic children’s songs are so much fun for babies. Parents will likely know the words and motions from their own childhood, making them favorites to pass down (think Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, or Open Shut Them). When you make it a group event, it’s just that much more fun!

Today, Veronika and I joined a group singing at our local library. She was thrilled to receive props like scarves and puppets as we sang to favorites like Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

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This is a great way to see other babies in action, too, playing with instruments and moving around. Our group singalong featured an assortment of rattles and shakers.

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Another fun song for movement is Row Row Row Your Boat. After we rowed our babies’ arms on the classic first verse, the library added some cute new lyrics.

Drive Drive Drive your car (move your baby’s hands like a wheel)…

Chug Chug Chug your train (elbows swinging)…

and

Fly Fly Fly your airplane (arms out)

At home, I made up a few more silly verses. We rowed up a river to see a polar bear shiver, up the stream to see a crocodile and scream, and to the shore to see a lion roar.

You can continue the musical fun long after group time has ended. I’m a Little Teapot is another one that’s great for gross motor movement (and props!).

I’m a little teapot

short and stout

Here is my handle (one hand on hip)

Here is my spout (other arm out straight)

When I get all steamed up

then I shout

Tip me over

and pour me out! (lean over to the side)

The tip gets a giggle very time – mommy is sideways!

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If your library doesn’t have a musical sing-along for you to attend, consider being the host for a musical playdate. Have a few friends over whose babies are about the same age, and scatter all the instruments in the middle. Parents sing while babies bop and shake along!

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3 Baby Obstacle Courses

August 29, 2019August 29, 2019Leave a comment

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Veronika can’t wait to break free from “pillowville” (the name I have for the way I currently block her in the playroom with pillows; it’s time to buy baby gates!), and she’s trying to scale the pillows constantly. Today I set up a few obstacle courses to develop her gross motor skills, and boy did she have a blast.

First, I placed a very low obstacle in the center of the playroom with a few toys on top.

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This is lower than couch cushions, so it was great practice for getting her knees up and onto the top, the last piece of the puzzle for her to work out.

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She was so proud when she reached the toys!

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You can make a similar “obstacle course” for any early crawler with low pillows or bean bags to crawl across. Toys at the end as incentive always help!

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Next up was more of a cerebral obstacle course. I had her practice zigging and zagging across the room by placing a series of enticing toys.

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First she crawled to bean bags hidden under cups.

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Then she had to zig to a tower of blocks.

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A current favorite music box toy was up next. She made a beeline for it.

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She probably would happily have stopped there…

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…so I moved it to the final point of her “maze” too. As she moved towards each group of objects, we also worked on language development. “Come get the blue bean bag!” “Can you get the square block?” The activity also builds math skills, believe it or not (the geometry of zigging and zagging) and fine motor skills as baby plays with each toy along the way.

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Finally, it was time for the big girl obstacle course! For this one, I set up the couch cushions so they formed “steps” and “ramps.” I did all of this over a soft floor mat, and added blankets along the sides as added protection against any rolls.

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She needed no encouragement at all; she wanted up! She headed for the toys at the top of the first ramp, still needing a bit of a boost on her bottom.

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