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baby play

Growing Up

Sensory Play for Baby with Tissue Paper

sensory play for baby with tissue paper - discovering the world through simple sensory play. Lots of simple ideas for making it fun for baby!
This entry is part 2 of 33 in the series Baby Days

Our youngest one (AG, 7 months) is finally getting around a little bit more and spending more time awake during the day.  And it is so fun to watch him, as his sister says, “learn how to play.”  The discoveries he makes each day are so fun!  And this portion of his growing up is so fleeting – I feel the need to soak it all up!  Today we were playing with him and I just quickly decided to throw in a little sensory fun into the mix.  And it was so simple and added up to so much fun for all of us!

All we added to the mix was some colorful tissue paper!

This is such a great early sensory experience for AG because he is getting so much sensory input:

  • the wrinkling of the tissue paper provides something new to touch
  • the crinkling of the tissue paper provides something new to hear
  • the color of the tissue paper provides something new to see, and
  • the movement of the paper provides something new to wonder at

To create your own sensory play for baby, here are some ideas for introducing tissue paper play: Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Encouraging Independent Sitting

encouraging independent sitting - help baby learn to sit independent of you without using a Bumbo seat
This entry is part 27 of 33 in the series Baby Days

We have an independent sitter!  He doesn’t always remember that he is an independent sitter, but we are to the stage where he can sit on his own for over a minute!  I love this stage for kids!  It is so much fun to see them wobble and catch their balance.  And watching them get a new perspective on the world is neat.

I think we tend to forget just how much WORK it is for a baby to start sitting independently.  The muscles and balance involved is nothing short of herculean for these little five and six month old babies!  And I think there are a LOT of “helpers” on the market that don’t necessarily help baby to work out the core and find balance any faster than they would on their own.

We had a Bumbo seat with our first two babies.  And then I did the purge of 2015, weeks before I got pregnant with our third.  In that purge I got rid of almost everything baby related, including the Bumbo seat.  And when we found out we were pregnant, I had the opportunity to select the things that we would really use to purchase or put on our registry.

The Bumbo seat didn’t make the cut.  And it is not for the reason you would think.  I didn’t add it to our registry and I didn’t purchase one myself this time around; not because I don’t think they “help.”  But because I couldn’t believe how expensive they were!  I did not remember spending as much on our first one and I just couldn’t bring myself to part with the money.

So, we tried the independent sitting “training” a different way this time around.  Unaided by any baby sitting devices, our little one still reached the milestone of independently sitting at the exact same time as his older sisters (who had the benefit of the Bumbo).  And what was wonderful about this process is that I discovered some tips and tricks for encouraging independent sitting with our baby that I wanted to share with you. Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Baby Play: Simple Counting Play and Song

This entry is part 10 of 33 in the series Baby Days

I haven’t been able to write a baby post in a while because I haven’t had a little one in my arms in far too long (hint, hint to my husband!).  But over the holidays I had the privilege of holding and playing with a couple of our youngest family members.  Thus, I got to take out some of my old favorite baby distraction games!  One of my absolute favorites is a simple finger play game that I made up with our oldest and use on every baby I can find.  It works almost every single time to delight and distract them.  And as our youngest has had her sudden (and shocking) vocabulary explosion, she is starting to learn to count.  This old standby game has really helped us to have fun while she learns to count to 5.

So I thought I would share it with you.  It is SO easy to learn and does not take a great singer to make it fun. Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Dressing Games for Babies

dressing games for babies
This entry is part 23 of 33 in the series Baby Days

Most days I struggle to get dressed before my husband comes home.  Yes, I will admit it!  In my defense he comes home fairly early, but still! And one would think that my reticence to dress myself would carry over to my kids.  One would think they wear their bed clothes most of the day.  But, they are usually much better dressed (um…well, dressed) than I am.

My mother-in-law mentioned one time that she was surprised (pleasantly so, I think) that I dressed the girls each day instead of leaving them in their bed clothes.  She said a lot of moms just keep their babies in their bed clothes.  I don’t know…do you?

Well, I dress my girls most days, not because I like to put frilly things on them and play dress up (that’s just not my gig), but because I think it is part of a normal routine.  And though I struggle to get myself dressed for the day pre-3PM, I still would like to leave the impression to my girls that getting dressed it part of everyday life.  And yet… Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Early Development, Learning, and Fun: Baby Play – Sound

Baby play - sound
This entry is part 3 of 33 in the series Baby Days

 

The sitting, early crawling stage is such fun for babies and parents!  It is a time of exploration, discovery, and enlightenment.  We so enjoyed this stage with our first one but with time constraints couldn’t write it down and save it.  That is why I am so excited to be able to record the baby play activities we are doing with our W.

I love having some one on one time with her and being intentional about the brief quiet moments we have together.  So, while her big sister is napping we PLAY!  She develops, learns and has lots of fun (Oh, and I guess I do too!).

Here is how we first explored sound together: Continue Reading

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Growing Up

Farm Fun

We are in the midst of a Farm Unit for our Tot School for Twos with G and so we have farms on the brain.  Even W is getting in on the action and playing and learning about farm animals!  And there are a couple of places you can go to check out all the action: Continue Reading

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