Post by calimomof1 on Feb 23, 2015 23:48:03 GMT -5
Hi all!
My LO turns 12 weeks tomorrow. She is growing and changing so much, and I'm finding it hard to find activities to do with her that interest her! The only thing she seems to like is having me hold her while walking around the house, and nursing of course. My arms get tired, though, and she doesn't like to be in a carrier (I've tried a Boba wrap, Mei Tai and Ergo 360 so far).
Can you share with me what stimulating activities your babes are enjoying these days?
We aren't quite 3 months but thought id share. We have the baby Einstein activity mat, and LO has just started showing interest in that, grabbing for the hanging toys and stuff. Sometimes I read my book outloud to him. I clean, which he enjoys watching. We do walk around a lot, but I'm hoping as he gets a bit older he will be able to entertain himself a little bit better with the activity mat.
Post by songbirdsinging55 on Feb 24, 2015 0:23:50 GMT -5
This is the time when LOs start to pay attention to their surroundings. I hold him on my lap alot or he sits in his bouncer.I have been doing sing alongs with hand movements. Wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider ect. Books are a huge source of entertainment for him. I usually lay him down on the play mat or bed with me (with barriers offcourse) and read to him facing the ceiling. As I am reading I explain different things like the colors and pictures. He loves Dr.Seuss. Also I play upbeat music and have a little dance floor time with him. I move his arms and legs to the beat. DH and I are starting to learn sign language and he seems to enjoy watching the gestures. I read somewhere that explaining to them about their surroundings helps them learn so whenever I cook I always set him up in the kitchen in his bouncer where I can explain while he watches me cook. I also do it with other things like cleaning lol. Sometimes if I want to watch master chef, I describe what I am watching or the technique they are using. He seems to be a very curious little guy.
LO will be 13 weeks on Thursday and we have struggled a little bit with this, too Especially recently—she's having more awake periods and not content to sit passively.
Her activity mat has been a big hit and she has started to bat at the hanging toys and grab onto them. We spend some time with me or H actually on the floor engaging with her while she's on the mat and we also give her some time by herself. One of us sits nearby—we just aren't up in her face for that bit. I recently got a mirror to sit at the end of her mat while she does tummy time and she seems pretty into that. We've been able to extend tummy time quite a bit.
Sometimes we sit and look at these black and white baby art cards with animals on them. I know she can see a lot more at this point, but the black and white contrast still seems to be striking and entertains her for a good 20 minutes or so.
We also have the Stokke Steps high chair which allows her to sit supported and be up at a level where she can see what's happening in the kitchen, etc.
Maracas and egg shakers are also popular. We just shake them and make up silly songs.
Writing this all out I'm kind of wondering how we manage to fill the time all day. Ha. She definitely doesn't spend tons of time taking naps, unfortunately.
Definitely the activity mat. We also go to babywearing yoga and a new mommy group. We go grocery shopping or just walk with her stroller to the nearby donut shop. Mostly, she just bats at the toys on her mat.
Post by ninergirl52 on Feb 24, 2015 1:52:52 GMT -5
My lo turned 16 weeks today. He loves his play mat. Grabbing at toys & so forth. Sometimes we go upstairs & I put him in his crib (not in the same direction he sleeps in) & he gets so excited to watch his mobile. He usually does that when I need to get something done. We also go for walks with the dog, read books, tummy time, listen to music, & we put him in his boppy on the kitchen counter (it's large & we are right there) & talk him through whatever we are cooking.
Post by MrsAdventure on Feb 24, 2015 1:59:59 GMT -5
Pips is 15 weeks today, but when she was about 12 weeks she was still anti-tummy time...anti-not being held actually, which made things difficult. Her activity mat gave us about 15 minutes of time a day, every few days, but any more than that and she got bored. Books were definitely in her top three favorite things to do. She hated her bouncer so we sold it and got a glider, which was a life savor. We fix a helium filled balloon to thing (keeping the string tied back) and she'll watch/kick/bat at it for an hour at least, she's een playing this game for weeks now and it never seems to get old. I buy a different color balloon every week. She liked(s) to sing and dance too.
Also, I know she's young for this, but I have an app by Fischer Price with dancing singing shapes that we use a few times a week that she adores beyond reason. I can't even use my iPad around her anymore, or she screams at me until I turn it on. I try not to let her play with it too much, cause I know it's not great for her, but she truly loves it. She talks to it, and it has a piano on the bottom of the screen that she likes to kick.
Thank you for sharing your ideas! I was just thinking about this the other day.
DS is 3 months now. We have a ton of books and have tried reading to him at least one book a night. We also have the Fisher Price kick and play piano gym that he seems to like. The babysitter says he likes to watch the big kids run and play. He is always kicking his legs and smiling at them. DH and I also like to lay I'm in the boppy between us in bed and just talk with him. We really don't have too much of a routine.
Piper is 14 weeks today. She loves her activity mat, reading board books, and we recently started using lots of toys. She loves the winkle ball and this vtech octopus that sings and says colors. I also do wear her and talk about everything I'm doing around the house. Her favorite thing ever though is to stand on my legs and face me and just talk to each other. Such a fun age!
Post by HutterFlutter on Feb 24, 2015 7:40:50 GMT -5
DD is going to be 4 months Sunday (omg where has the time gone?). She loves her activity mat, especially the one that won't play music unless she kicks or hits something. Teaches her cause and effect.
She also loves goofy faces and sounds and just stares at people's mouths and tries to imitate.
Loves music and books- I'm helping her turn pages now so she can actively participate more.
Post by runnershan on Feb 24, 2015 11:48:27 GMT -5
This post comes at such a great time. Isla will 3 months on Saturday (!!!) and I'm constantly wondering what to do with her during the day now that she's old enough to be entertained. So far she likes playing on her playmat but gets bored after awhile. The playmat my parents keep at their house has this light up toy that attaches to the top of the mat so I brought that home and she loves to stare at that thing!! We go on walks everyday too since the weather has been so nice here. There's a library about a mile from my house so I'm thinking about walking her over there for storytime on the days they do it.
She still hates tummy time though. I make her do it for a little bit each day but she just screams during it. She has great head control and loves to kick her legs but she just doesn't like to be on her tummy. She's no where close to rolling over!
Post by jax1182014 on Feb 24, 2015 11:52:04 GMT -5
Play mats are great! I have the little piano at the bottom and our little lady loves it! We also have a mamas and paps activity chair and she likes playing in that too. Sometimes I prop her up in her boppy and dangle different toys in front of her
We also do the activity mat a lot. But, I have a two year old as well, and he is very entertained by her. I feel like I struggled a lot more finding things to do with her when she was a baby. This one is sort of just along for the ride, whatever she's doing. It's nice.
Post by littleapplemom on Feb 24, 2015 13:00:44 GMT -5
Mousie is 17 weeks, he loves his playmat. It has a light up sun on it which he loves. He's really into grabbing the toys on it and anything that has lights and/or music. We also use rattles and a light up piano with the playmat to help with tummy time. The more interesting things that are in front of him the more he wants to do his push ups.
We have a monkey that sings the alphabet when you push the tummy(Garanaimals I think) and he starts "singing" along with it. It's jus baby babble "ooh ooh ooh's" but it could be the cutest thing I've seen out of him lately.
He loves playing airplane and rocking in his swing.
Reading books to him is also appealing, he really seems to concentrate on the pictures. We have some board books with really big pictures and some touch and feel books that we guide his hands to.
He likes the TV and I try my hardest to turn him away from it as much as possible when we're home, but I just found out my parents are totally letting him watch Elmo when they have him. He seems to like it, DH also does a pretty good Elmo voice and he's been doing it since LO was born so maybe that's why.
@littlespplemom at least it is Elmo! We don't have the tv on when she is awake at home, but my mom watches her while I work and she told me the other day that she loves Wheel of Fortune. She faced her swing in front of the tv. I about died, but decided to let it go. That's adorable your DH makes Elmo voices at LO. No wonder he loves it!
Post by calimomof1 on Feb 24, 2015 16:19:04 GMT -5
When my mom was visiting last month, we got in a fight over TV watching. My mom is a huge TV watcher...she can't not have it on! I, on the other hand, can go all day without watching TV...especially since I know it's not good for my LO. My husband and I have some shows we like, that we watch at night while I'm feeding LO. But my mom seriously has to have it on all the time! When she was here I just caved and let her have it on in front of LO. Sigh.
Post by MrsAdventure on Feb 24, 2015 19:34:05 GMT -5
Thought I'd share my sensory bottles that I made this morning. Aside from the bottles, I spent $4.00 on fillings at the Dollar Tree. The red is simply water and sequins. The blue is baby oil with blue and teal glitter, the oil doesn't allow the glitter to settle quickly. The yellow is puff balls with gold and silver sequins in baby oil and the green is glitter and sequins in water.
I wish I had used baby oil in all four of them, but I only bought one bottle, still they look cool. Once I get more bottles, I'm going to make different colors, and probably some ones that make different sounds too. Ember has been napping and hasn't seen them, but I can't wait.
mrsadventure ...idk how to tag on this site yet, but love this idea!!
And LO is 14 weeks... I read to him, he uses the exersaucer (with blankets around him for now), and he likes to look at his brightly colored toys (he has a very hungry caterpillar toy that he's intrigued by).... other than that he pretty much likes to eat his hands and be carried around. Lol!
Post by lovebuggies12 on Feb 26, 2015 11:35:53 GMT -5
Ds doesn't particularly "love" anything for a long period of time (he must have mommy's short attention span) but I have found he really enjoys a few things we do: Baby TV on YouTube, he loves the songs and colors. Pandora toddler station, activity mat, I just purchased a sea creatures mobile from target that he likes to kick at, he enjoys us playing phone games especially Candy Crush, tummy time on me and my bed and I get all in his face with excited encouragement, I dance and sing with him, he's ticklish so we play that game, and peekaboo always has him giggling. He's 14w.
Post by lovebuggies12 on Feb 26, 2015 11:36:55 GMT -5
We got a bumbo too and he'll like it for a while but when he starts slumping, I can tell he wants out. Next I'm going to get a jump n go. Hopefully he likes it.
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