100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 91: Pushing Pom-Poms

Today's activity comes from the Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers blog. She found it from another blog, so it's been passed down a few times. I decided I would try it and see what the kids thought.

What you need to make this toy:

* An empty & clean plastic container. She used a margarine container, and I used a yogurt container.
* A knife
* Scissors
* Permanent marker (various colors are optional)
* pompoms (available at your local craft store)

After cleaning and drying my yogurt container, I used a sharp knife to carefully poke holes into the lid. I worried the edges were sharp, so I used scissors to round out the holes as best I could. The holes were almost impossible to see on the clear lid I used, so I used a Sharpie to outline the holes. If your kid is older, you might outline holes with different colors. Your child can then put the yellow pompoms into the yellow hole, the green pompoms into the green hole, etc.

Once your toy is made, just give your kid pompoms and let them poke them into the lid!

Joanna loved this activity! She picked it up right away and enjoyed poking pompoms into the lid over and over. I think her excitement was contagious because Oliver wanted to play, too. We only had four pompoms (I can't find where I put the rest of them), so Oliver would take the lid off the container, dump it out, and separate the pompoms so they each got two. He put the lid back on, and then they'd push their pompoms through again.

I wasn't expecting this toy and game to be as fun as it was. They loved it and played for about 20 minutes.

We've played a different version of this game in the past. I keep an empty travel wipes container, and Jo enjoys dropping letters into it (like a mailbox). Pushing pompoms into the holes was a bigger hit.

Pros: Easy to make, simple, cheap, fun, keeps kids busy
Cons: Need supplies, possibly sharp

This took all of 5 minutes for me to make. The container is its own storage, so it's easy to tuck away for a rainy day. It kept both my kids (3 years, 4 months old and 16 months old) happily occupied. I'm thrilled! This is something I plan on keeping and pulling out whenever we can't leave the house for illness or weather. It gets an A.

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 63: Stacking Cheerios

I've really enjoyed flipping through all of the activity ideas on Toddler Boredom Busters. Oliver is younger than her kids, so not all of the activities are appropriate for him. I'll save the site to go back to throughout the next couple of years. Today's activity, Stacking Cheerios, came from that website, and Oliver had a good time with it.

The activity set up is easy, and, if your house is like mine, you already have all of the supplies on hand. I took a glob of Play-Doh and stuck some pasta on it. I had angel hair pasta, and it worked fine, but spaghetti probably would be stronger (some broke during the activity, but it wasn't an issue). Then, I sat Oliver down and asked him to thread Cheerios onto the pasta. He jumped right into it!

After two or three minutes, he "mastered" the threading and then moved on to removing the pasta noodles and replacing them. I realized that I probably just should have let him do the pasta part initially. Some pasta noodles broke, and Oliver learned you can't just fix them.

After he re-situated all of the noodles, Oliver threaded more Cheerios. Then, it occurred to him that Cheerios are also for eating. He stopped playing and chowed down!

"Stacking Cheerios" didn't keep him entertained for all that long (maybe 15 minutes), but it was so easy to set up and clean up, that it was worth those 15 minutes of fun. Plus, I'm likely to always have the supplies on hand, so it's an activity we can easily do when boredom strikes. The ease of the activity makes it a good one, so I give this an A-.

Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey (Part 2)

Oliver's always had great dexterity. When he was a week old, I mentioned to the doctor that he liked gnawing and sucking his hand. The doctor told me that, if Oliver gets his hands to his mouth, it's a lucky accident. We took a video (which we lost when we switched computers) of Oliver during tummy time that showed him pinning down his hand so he could suck it without it moving. He sucked on his hand (not his thumb) a lot by one week old. By three months old, he was able to reach directly for an object (no sweeping motions) and grab it. He'd grab all his dangling toys without a problem. Again, the doctor told me he is too young to do that; Oliver proved him wrong by reaching out and grabbing his stethoscope. Before six months old, he was pulling off his socks.

Then, by ten months old, Oliver started unscrewing things. This isn't supposed to happen until a child is nearly two years old. At ten months, he didn't do it often, but he did it. Sometimes, he'd unscrew his sippy cup. Sometimes, he'd unscrew shampoo bottles. It would take him a long time to get it right, but he'd work and work and work at it. Starting about two months ago, he'd want to practice screwing and unscrewing lids all the time. By now, he's mastered it. Here's a video of Oliver showing off his skills.

Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

"We're screwed. He knows righty-tighty-lefty-loosey," Andrew declared to me when he came downstairs.

He then proceeded to tell me the following story. Andrew took a shower this morning in the bathroom connected to Oliver's nursery. Within seconds, Oliver crawled into the bathroom. That's normal, and it lets us keep an eye on him. This time, however, Oliver grabbed his baby shampoo bottle and unscrewed it! Andrew quickly took it from him and screwed it back on. Once he set it down, Oliver grabbed it and unscrewed it again in seconds.

What?!

I guess anything that's everything needs to be put up high. Crazy, smart kid.

Oliver's Half Birthday!

Oliver Kory is six months old today! I guess this makes it his half birthday. He’s officially just as close to his first birthday as he is from the day he was born. Unbelievable! The day we went to the hospital to have him seems simultaneously so recent and so long ago. How our lives have changed!

Oliver’s first two months were (by far) the hardest and most challenging two months of my life. All he did was cry and scream, and we didn’t have a clue what to do. In order to get a break from the crying, we had to alternate who was caring for the baby at all times. As a result, Andrew and I spent almost no time together, and we spent almost no time together as a family.

That has changed so much! Oliver is very interactive and a delight to be around. We eat dinner together every night as a family now, and we have family reading time almost every night. One of our favorite things to do together is to put Oliver on the bed and watch him roll and play with his toys. We talk to him and to each other, and it’s a much more pleasant experience.

This month, Oliver has started going on more walks and runs with me. Most of the time, he seems to really like it. Sometimes, he makes complaining noises. When that happens, I just turn around instead of pushing him. I don’t want to make him hate the stroller!

He’s not sitting up on his own yet. At least, he’s not sitting for more than about 30 seconds on his own. He can hold himself up for a short while, but then he topples forward or to the side, or he throws himself backward. Crazy kid! I have a lot of confidence that he’ll be sitting up on his own soon, though. He holds his back upright and strong, and so it’s allowed me to carry him around on my hip. So, any time I’m running into a place quickly (like the post office), I just plop him on my hip, and I can navigate easily. It’s so much better than hauling around that bulky & heavy car seat! I look forward to the day (which will be soon) that he can sit in the grocery cart because it’s going to make it so easy to go to the store!

It’s hard not to compare ones baby to everyone else’s. As a new mom, there’s always a worry in the back of my head: Is my baby normal and developing normally? I’m grateful to have a few friends who post blogs about their babies (Sam, Meghan, and Patti) as well as a couple friends who post a lot of baby photos and updates on Facebook (Kristie and Lindsey). I frequently flip back on Sam’s blog about Charlie to see what he was up to at Oliver’s age. He was sitting up on his own (Oliver’s close!) and rolling to get around (Oliver does not do that!). Meghan’s newest updates about Murphy (who’s about two weeks older than Oliver) say that Murphy is also sitting up on her own and rolling. Gulp! Lindsey’s baby, Isabella, is a month and a half younger than Oliver, and she’s rolling around, too! I’ve started to get a little worried. I’ve heard babies who skip crawling miss an important developmental milestone that can affect them in the future. What if Oliver doesn’t crawl? Of course, I think he will. He just might never roll. He lies on his belly and tries to get his knees under him and wiggle forward, though he’s not quite doing it yet.

Meanwhile, Oliver continues to excel with using his hands and fingers. I’ve been teaching him how to remove items that I’ve stuck on things. For example, I’ve been sticking socks on the bears that are attached to his walker, and he usually loves to pull them off. As a result, he’s also started to pull his socks off of his feet (oops). A couple of times, he’s pulled them off and then started to shove them into his mouth. I guess he can’t have socks on unattended anymore!

Oliver has also started to get pretty good at feeding himself with his spoon. I dip the spoon into his mashed food and hand it to him. He usually shoves the spoon in his mouth and gets most of it off (he doesn’t quite angle it right to get all the food off of it). Sometimes, though, he takes his other hand and grabs the food off of the spoon. Naturally, he then smears the food all over himself and his high chair.

Spoon feeding brings me to my next point: food! Oliver’s menu is starting to expand. He regularly eats his old favorites (oatmeal, acorn squash, and apple sauce), but he also now eats green beans (his new favorite) and bananas. He’s also had cinnamon now, which I occasionally mix in with his oatmeal, apple sauce, and squash. I almost always make his baby food, which I enjoy doing, but I don’t make his green beans right now because websites I’ve read have said younger babies don’t like the pulp and recommend staining it through cheese cloth. I don’t have cheese cloth, and that sounds like a pain to do (especially considering a jar of green beans—which lasts for two feedings—is fifty cents). Yesterday, though, I realized that Oliver prefers his bananas when they’re still pretty chunky, so I might try making my own green bean baby food without straining it to see what he thinks. Next on our list of foods to try are peas, avocados, carrots, and papaya. I’m very excited to try those out! I’m also excited to start doing baby food blends (My friend Melissa gave me a recipe book for baby food purees that I’ve been checking out). I think his first blend might be banana with papaya. Tropical!

This month, we also officially introduced him to his Jumparoo (I think it has a different name, but that’s what we call it). He has so much fun in it! He loves playing with the toy that’s attached (it lights up and talks to him when he pushes buttons and pulls levers), and jumps like crazy. It’s his new favorite toy!

Two weeks ago, Oliver went to his first swim lesson, and he was definitely the youngest baby there. He loved the toys they had, and he enjoyed us holding him into a back-float position. He hasn’t dunked yet, but his next swim lesson is tomorrow, so who knows?

Now that he’s stronger and starting to sit up, I’ve started to think about retiring his jungle gym (that’s what I call his play mat). I know it’s just about time, but he loves it, so it’s hard to take it away. Also, he’s getting close to outgrowing his changing table. His feet touch one end, and his head is about an inch away from touching the other end. I think I might put a bookshelf in its place and dedicate a shelf of it to his diapers and wipes. I’ll just change him on the floor, I guess.

Speaking of outgrowing things, Oliver is too big for 6 month sized clothes, and most of the 6-9 month sized clothes are too small, too. And so, my big baby wears mostly 9 month old clothes! He’s also upgraded from size 2 diapers to size 3 diapers, and his cloth diapers are at their largest setting now!

At six months old, here’s a list of Oliver’s likes:
*Mommy (He whines when I leave the room or if I’m anywhere he can’t see me. This has made it hard for the grandparents to watch him, I’m sure!)
*Waking up Daddy in the morning (This morning, I propped him up on the pillow facing Andrew, and he wiggled about until he got close enough to grab his face. His face also lights up every time Andrew comes home from work).
*His toothbrush. Still no teeth, but he loves gnawing at it!
*His Jumparoo
*Bath time (He now kicks like crazy, splashing water everywhere, and sucks on the washcloth. Soon, he’ll be sitting up in the tub, but he’s not at that point yet!).
*His spoon (Although he still likes food, he doesn’t act as excited about it as he did before. Now, he’s mostly interested in the spoon).
*Green beans. Even though it seems to go against my last point, they’re his favorite food, so I’m listing it here.
*Floor time (He rolls a little in one direction or the other to grab a toy, but he won’t roll more than one flop for anything).
*Nursing, although he gets distracted easily
*Watching the washer and dryer
*Getting smooched on his chubby cheeks
*Boo!
*Watching us toss things in the air
*Hitting things to make noise, including hitting two toys together (right at this moment, as I type, he's slamming his hand on the desk to make the "thump, thump" noise).
*Splashing with his feet
*Washcloths
*Watching me stir things
*Sleep
*Feet
*Rattles
*The spice rack
*Paper products
*Anything we have (the remote, the keyboard, bills, anything)
*His elephant humidifier (I think. He insists on staring at it all the time)
*Watching people chew

Dislikes
*Mommy leaving
*Being laid down in the crib for naps (He wants to sleep, just in our arms. Too bad!)
*Getting buckled into his car seat
*Getting shirts pulled over his head

Oliver Feeds Himself

A Quarter Year!

We did it! We made it to three months! Hurray!

Contrary to everything I read and was told, things haven't magically changed at the three month mark. That's OK. Although I hoped he magically wouldn't be so high-needs at three months, I figured it wasn't likely. Last night was his worst night for a long, long (long) time. He got up no less than six times. Later, I read his baby book. It's crazy to think that, just a short month ago, he was sleeping 10 hours at night, only getting up once. I miss that uninterupted sleep!

The difficult night was preceded by a very difficult evening. He cried and wailed like he used to, and he was only contented by nursing. I think he's teething, and I think he has been for about four or five weeks. Really, that's the only thing (I think) that explains the drastic shift in sleep and behavior. Besides, he's been a drool machine for weeks (he sops through his clothes every hour if I don't diligently wipe his mouth). He gnaws on everything. Also, he's been wanting to eat every hour again instead of his usual 2.5 hours. I discovered this morning that he's contented by sucking on my finger. Still, I don't see or feel any teeth. Hopefully, they'll come soon.

In other sleep news, he's letting me put him in his infant seat for naps! OK, so he doesn't fall alseep in there on his own much (he's only done that a handful of times), but he no longer wakes up screaming as soon as his back touches it. This is allowing me to get a few things done around the house. On the down side, his naps don't last that long (half an hour or so) because when he wakes up, he wants to be picked back up right away. Hopefully, he'll learn to extend that out because I read somewhere that babies don't get through a full sleep cycle unless they sleep one full hour.

This month, Oliver has both forgotten and re-learned how to drink from a bottle. I freaked out for a few weeks that I'd never be able to leave home for more than two hours, ever, but Andrew jumped in and taught our boy how to drink from the bottle.

Also, he's started to watch TV! He loves it. I hate that, to be honest. I used to watch TV while nursing him, just to pass the time. A couple of weeks ago, he started craning his head back to watch, too! So now I keep it off.

Of course, there have been many positive changes and developments this month as well. He's really starting to sit well! One of his favorite things to do is sit on the counter while Andrew supports him. Seriously, Andrew can support him with two fingers. He just sits there, looking around, looking like a big boy.

He's also getting closer to rolling over, and he's finally letting us put him on his tummy for short stints. A couple of times, while he was on his back, he's flipped himself onto his side. However, he doesn't have the strength yet to push himself over his shoulder. I think it'll be a while because I need to help him a lot to get him over that hump! Maybe he'll learn to roll front to back this month. We'll have to wait and see!

He's getting really, really good at using his hands. He grabs his animals on his bouncer and turns them around, studying them. He also grabs and holds onto the animals in his gym (I call his play mat his jungle gym). Although he has to put a lot of effort in, he can use his hand and go straight for objects; he no longer has to do general sweeping motions to catch his toys. And, of course, he's completely mastered sucking his hands! He's always been good at it, but he used to have to pin them down to get ahold of them. Now, he goes straight for his mouth!

Oliver's been talking so much, too. In addition to his vowels, he's using a lot of consonents. His favorite is the letter "H," but he also uses "N" and "G" a lot. He's used "M" and "L" and "Th" and "W." His most recent sound is "Buh," but he doesn't use that much.

He can entertain himself for periods of time, too. He'll sit in his bouncy chair, playing, while I shower. He'll also sit and play with his favorite toy, Froggy, in the mornings while I eat a bowl of cereal. These changes have allowed us a little more freedom. This month, we took him to the store for the first time (he's gone to Costco and Safeway). He's gone to the post office a few times, and he lasted a full hour at Starbucks (and even then, he didn't throw a fit; he just got fussy). Yesterday, I took him to Andrew's work to show him off to all of his coworkers (they loved him, of course!! Ollie was so good), and then we went out to eat for the first time ever with Oliver. We went to Chipotle! Oliver played for about 10 minutes on his own while we ate. Just as we were finishing up, he started fussing. We wolfed down the last of our food and left before his fusses turned into cries. It felt really great to go out to eat, the three of us.


At three months old, these are Oliver's likes:

*Nursing
*Sitting on the counter
*Froggy
*Raffi the Giraffe (It's the most creative name I've come up with for any of his toys)
*Playing in his "jungle gym"
*Pulling on the lion in his bouncy chair
*Being naked
*Talking to us on the changing table
*Sucking his hands
*Watching the ceiling fan
*Watching TV (unfortunately!)
*Being read to (sometimes, he turns the pages! I think that's an accident.)
*Taking baths (I think. It's hard to tell, but he never cries and always splashes)
*Watching us eat
*Apples (I let him gum at my apple, and he loved it! I'm trying to be good and not do that again)
*The stove vent
*His reflection
*Going upstairs
*Babbling
*Outside (we walked to the mail box once, and he dug it)

Dislikes:
*The car seat
*Hats (although it's getting much better)
*Pants (although that's getting better, too)
*Red stoplights (keep driving!)
*Going downstairs
*Getting his diaper changed at night
*8pm bedtime (he always wants to go to sleep earlier and earlier!)
*Wet diapers
*Daddy holding him facing inwards (it's OK for Mommy to, though)

Oliver and the Bouncy Chair

Oliver is just over a month old, and he's able to use sweeping motions with his hands to hit his dangling animal toys.