Category: 3 to 6 months

Bubble Bottle

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This little sensory bottle is the infant version of a soapy bottle I made for Travis as a toddler, incidentally one of the very first posts on this blog!

For a baby version, fill a small water bottle halfway with water. Add just a few drops of liquid dish soap and a couple drops of food coloring. Don’t shake it together yet!

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Screw the lid on very tightly. If you’re worried about it coming off (especially if your little one tends to put things in his or her mouth) you could even glue it on and let dry completely.

I sat down with Veronika and tilted the bottle so the color dispersed and the bubbles bubbled up. She loved looking right away!

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You can roll it on the ground for your little one.

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Or shake it overhead while they are lying down.

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Veronika immediately wanted to grab hold!

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As a bonus, the bottle will make plastic crinkling sounds as your little one grabs hold.

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It also works during tummy time, where Veronika reached out and tried rolling it back and forth by herself. Easy to put together, and I liked that it engaged multiple senses!

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Change the Scenery

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We’ve only decorated Veronika’s nursery with little touches here and there, and I wanted to add a nice change of scenery for her. There are two ways to make this cute bunting – the true way if you can really sew, or my super-quick hack if you have no skill with a needle and thread!

First, I traced a triangle onto paper, and cut out. Use the triangle to cut shapes from different patterned fabrics (available at a craft store).

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What a pretty assortment!

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Lay down a long piece of colored duct tape, and arrange the fabric triangles along the tape, evenly spaced. Fold the tape down to secure them in place, then hang on your baby’s wall or in the nursery windows.

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If you are more skilled – and own a sewing machine! – here are more detailed instructions. Safety pin the paper template onto the fabric, and cut two triangles for each desired pattern. Pin the pieces together inside-out, then use a sewing machine to attach on the long sides. Turn the flags the right way around and trim with pinking shears.

Insert the sewn flags into bias tape. Pin the flags to the tape at 2-inch intervals, and sew together. I’d love to see the results if you do this correctly, so please share in the comments!

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Bumping Noses

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Here is my new favorite way to make Veronika smile. It’s the cutest, quickest game ever but gets giggles every time.

Hold your baby a little ways away from your body, looking eye to eye. Whisper “boo”! and bring him or her a little closer.

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Say “boo” again – a little louder now! And bring him or her even closer.

Now say “boo” even louder… but don’t yell or you might scare the baby! This time, bump noses gently. It gets Veronika grinning and giggling every time.

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This game is also a fun one for siblings, who probably can’t hold the baby, but can play it while your little one is lying down on a blanket.

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Go On a Nature Trail

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Spring has sprung!

For my baby girl, born just as autumn turned cold and gave way to winter, I have been waiting and waiting for this first spring day to show her that the world can be warm and wonderful. So today we took advantage and took her on a nature walk! You can do this activity in any park or wooded trail near you, or even in your own backyard. The goal is simply to engage all the senses and introduce baby to nature.

Strapped in the front carrier, I narrated everything we could see to Veronika, including trees and the first spring flowers. Hello purple!

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If you want, let your baby get up close and feel interesting finds, like the bark of a tree or a smooth stick or soft leaf.

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You can also stop to smell, whether the fresh grass of the meadow we walked through, or any plants you find.

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Don’t forget abut the sense of hearing. We were delighted to happen upon a pond full of chirping sounds! At first I assumed it was birds, but then realized it was more likely frogs.

In sum, the simplest of outdoor trails will be full of wonders for your little one.

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Enjoy Some Downtime Together

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Here is easily the most relaxing suggestion I’ve found for whiling away time with your infant – and one that I hope Veronika and I can include in our everyday routine moving forward. Or at least on the days that big brother is at school!

Try to take a moment (today and each day!) to play soothing music and just have downtime next to your baby. This sounds so simple, but our house is always filled with noise and movement, and I usually have Veronika playing on the living room rug while I get things done. Very rarely do I sit until the kids sleep!

Today, the goal was to take a pause. I set my Spotify list to slow jazz tunes, and we retreated to her nursery.

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She seemed immediately surprised by the switch to her room, but then seemed to like the jazz right away. Aah, time to read the paper while she kicked and played with toys.

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We switched to Celtic meditation music.

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I got to do the crossword and sip a smoothie! She loved playing with a tactile mat in the background.

We switched to piano sonatas (flute sonatas would be pretty too).

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She had a blast doing tummy time in the relaxing location!

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Finally, we tuned in to Indian classical. She was still so busy playing, that I easily could have spent ages in here with her – if there wasn’t more to get done!

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Happy relaxing!

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Have a Change of Scene

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Sometimes when you’re a stay-at-home parent with an infant, you just need to break up a long day. And sometimes that means a change of scene – for both of you! Veronika and I played around with this idea in two ways today, one way more for her, and one more for me.

First, if there’s a walk you traditionally take with your baby, you can mix things up with one simple twist: Pop open an umbrella! The more fun the pattern the better (a little kid’s umbrella fits the bill perfectly). We simply walked the usual grounds of our apartment complex, but she couldn’t stop gazing up at the umbrella shade. And wanted to grab the handle!

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Having this funny purpose to our walk helped make the old seem new, even when we paused just to look at the regular view. A nice change of scene!

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Now it was my turn. With my firstborn, I had a habit of ordering everything we needed online (hello, Amazon Prime). But one afternoon, I realized that the act of strapping baby into a car seat or stroller, making our way to a physical store, and buying an item there helped fill long days with a pre-verbal person! As a bonus, the baby gets all kinds of new stimulation from sights and sounds. So even if you need something simple – a baby item, a gallon of milk from the corner store, a quick cup of coffee – get out of the house, avoid the drive-thru and the internet, and make an event of it.

Today, Veronika and I strolled the downtown sidewalks…

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…popped into a cute local boutique since she needed a few new bibs anyway…

 

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…and otherwise soaked up the sights – and the change of scene!

Name Check

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Today’s activity is a simple reminder to… use your child’s name! It builds upon the Name Drop game we played back when Veronika was only two months old.

A child’s name is one of the first words they’ll truly recognize, since they probably hear it hundreds of times each day. For each action today, I made a point of saying “Veronika,” first. “Veronika, I’m going to pick you up now.” “Veronika, we’re going to do your diaper change.” “Veronika, we’re getting in the car.”

Then, although she’s years away from learning to read and write her name, it was also fun to provide her with a visual of it throughout the day.

To wit, she starts the day on the sheets that say her name!

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Big brother Travis and I then had fun going through “Veronika’s photo album,” and putting together a personalized puzzle with her name – and she got to have fun watching the action.

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Personalized books are great for this purpose, too, since many companies will now custom print a book featuring your child’s name.

We even have a family song almost entirely about her name. The ditty works like a charm whenever she’s fussy in the car. It goes:

Veronika, Veronika

We love Veronika – oh yeah!

And yes, I’ve been known to repeat this song for up to ten minutes on end, if it keeps her calm!

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What other cute personalized items does your baby have? Chairs? Step stools? Backpacks? Please share in the comments!

Start Naming Colors

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As a general rule, I tend to pepper my speech for Veronika with mention of colors. They’re all around baby everyday, and you can say simple sentences like, “You’re wearing your green shirt” or “You’re holding a pink toy.” But today, we played a cute game that focused on the three primary colors, plus another very common one, green.

Build up a tower of soft blocks that are all one color for your child. As I placed each block, I repeated the color. “Red, red, red” I said, as this tower rose up, up, up.

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I repeated the process for a blue tower, green tower, and yellow tower.

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Then play a round of baby soccer (i.e. kicking) and have your child knock the tower down. “Now we’re knocking down the red tower!” I told her.

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Once she was surrounded by blocks, we took turns playing with one color at a time, again saying each color’s name as we played.

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This turned out to be such a delight that we had to repeat the building and knocking down several times!

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Once baby tires of it, leave some of the towers up for a great tummy time visual.

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Baby’s View

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If you’re at all like me, you’re probably in the habit of putting your baby in the same places, facing the same direction, and looking at the same spots. This is certainly true for Veronika, with her head always the same way for diaper changes, her high chair at the same angle near the dinner table, and a go-to spot for her blanket during playtime on the rug.

Today, the goal was to shake things up! Although routine is good for babies (it helps your little one record information), even little changes can help forge new pathways and memories in the brain.

First, instead of getting her dressed on her diaper table, we changed outfits down on the floor. Hello, new location!

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Next, I placed her high chair in a different corner of the kitchen while I cooked and cleaned. Goodbye old spot…

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Hello new!

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She loved that she could look out the patio door from here, and seemed delighted whenever I opened the cabinets just past her shoulder.

Then we slid her tummy time blanket over to a different section of the living room, and I faced her another way. A whole new wealth of furniture and sights to see!

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Obviously it’s not practical to move around big pieces of furniture like a crib, but if you have small, easy to move pieces, do a switch-e-roo today. I turned her baby swing, which normally faces one way…

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…and oriented it another. I’d say she liked the change!

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Finally, I always make a point of switching up which way Veronika sleeps in the crib. If she nurses on the right side just before bed, her head goes to the right, and vice versa for the left.

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So take the time to switch things up today, and see if your baby finds a new favorite point of view!

Keep Hugging

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After a busy weekend, Veronika just collapsed against me in a hug and took a nap on my tummy. I cherished the moment; although it’s something I had time for almost every day with her big brother, I can rarely fit in a tummy nap with baby number two!

What I can make time for every day is hugging. So today’s activity is simply a reminder to keep doing so, if you’ve gotten out of the habit since my post all the way back in November.

When you hug your baby, you can say, “I’m giving you a hug,” or “Here’s a kiss.”

Then, put your baby’s arms around you and say, “Now you hug me.” This is such a simple way to teach them about love and affection.

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Big brother Travis has decided that several times a day should be designated “Hugging Times.” He’ll swoop in for a big hug with his sister, which usually has her giggling.

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We finished off the day with a cute read of Huggy Kissy by Leslie Patricelli.

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Does your family have any special hugs? Please share in the comments!

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