Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Because we ripped enough newspaper today.

Noah is fun and active. He wants to go, go, go and do, do, do. But the trouble is that I’m running out of interactive things I can do with him. I think we’re both tiring of the repetition. We read a lot, listen to music, stack blocks, rough-house, sing, and play with cars, buses and trains – but we need MORE. I don’t need more toys – because we’ve got too many of those. I’ve consulted my baby books and have come up with squat. So tell me, people - what can I do with my nearly one year old?

Spent all my nap-time doing stuff for the salon today so no more time for blogging. God this place is a sty. Please send reinforcements.

10 comments:

Kathryn said...

Is it too early for fingerpainting or play doe? Of course I guess that would by messy. I'll ask my mom, she's got a phd in early childhood development and has TONS of ideas.

hazel said...

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

maybe he can blog?

trent was in daycare (as is bella) so I don't have a ton of ideas for this age.

amandak said...

He napped. Excellent.

That's cool that you're getting involved with the salon project. It's good to have something to do other than keep an immaculate house. Yay for living in a sty! Just call it creative clutter.

Jen said...

I like the previous suggestion of something creative, whether it is painting, clay, washable markers or whatever. Other than that I am at a loss.

Anna said...

I will ask my aunt Cyn tomorrow morning, since she is a child rearing goddess. I figure I'm going to need to know this, too, and you should certainly benefit from this information!

Thank you for your concern on my blog. I've been just so busy with work. I stayed late to meet with a client, and then refused to retire until I posted (and I did!).
I'm okay on food, I had homemade chana masala for lunch : d. Thanks for caring, and I'll try to comment more on your site, too. Sweet dreams. : )

lonna said...

Like Patrice Dermot has been in daycare, so I don't have to worry about that stuff. We keep him busy on the weekends by running errands and letting him have unstructured time with his toys.

That being said, I started attempting to do projects with Dermot at around 14 months. I bought a book of activities to do with toddlers. Most of them are too advanced for Dermot. Dermot does love crafts though. The problem is that he has no attention span (and he shouldn't at this age), so they don't last for long. He loves playdough, crayons, and painting. I don't really have a good place for painting until he gets a little less crazy, so I haven't done much of that here. He's pretty happy for about ten minutes with crayons and paper.

What Dermot really likes to do is stick things to stuff. This is good for improving hand-eye coordination and improving fine motor development. It also encourages understanding space. I give him either clear contact paper/laminating paper or construction paper covered with kid-safe glue. Then I have a bucket of different textured and sized and colored pom-pom balls that I got at a fabric store. I also have made a bag of shapes that I cut out of construction paper. I just let Dermot pick what he wants to stick and let him put it where he wants to go. Another thing that he likes at daycare is the sensory table. We don't have a sandbox (that's set up) or a water table, but at day care they have a water table and they put something new in every day, and it seems that Dermot just loves whatever it is. One day it was cotton and pine cones. Another day it was gourds. Sometimes it's rice and scoops or water and scoops and cups. He just loves that stuff. Good luck.

OMH said...

I fingerpainted with chocolate pudding on a paperplate with my grandson a few days before his 1st birthday and he loved it! I didn't have to try to keep his fingers out of his mouth but his mommy thought I'd taught him to play with food. He has never tried to play with food and he's 3 now - I never presented the pudding as food just as paint. Might be fun - COVER EVERY PART OF THE CHAIR TABLE AND ANYTHING ELSE that could be slimed.

Jen O. said...

A Google returned teh following age-appropriate activities (I deleted the ones that I know you already do):

# Accommodate empting and filling almost anything.

# Put raisins or pieces of cereal into a plastic gallon milk jug and let baby figure out how to empty it.

# Save junk mail for baby to open and re-assemble.

# Begin to chat about consequences that come from disobedience.

# Reinforce waving goodbye to friends and family.

# Play games like pat-a-cake.

# Art activities

Anna said...

Okay, this is what Cyn said: Give him things to play with that are not toys, like get an old purse (the more pockets and zippers the better) and fill it with things like small tupperware, Q-tips, buttons (provided you'll be watching/sitting right next to him), empty perscription bottles, empty spools from thread or ribbon - in short, big people stuff he normally wouldn't have access to, as long as they're not dangerous and won't hurt him. I hope that helps somewhat. I asked heer to e-mail me any other suggestions she might have. Wheeeeeeeee!

Kathryn said...

From CanaMa: Oatmeal box or coffee can with smooth edge and a variety of handful sized toys....5 or 6 of them. If she can find BIGGO buttons it's even more fun. As the baby drops them in the can/box 1 by 1 they say "Bye Bye Button!" Then the baby dumps it all out and does it all again. Literally hours of fun!