The Stories of our Lives

In regards to Xavier, and in an effort to:

1. Create for him a special mommy-baby time - that will seem odd, considering I spend all day with him, but once you take out all the feeding, changing, naptime, stroller rides, etc… it’s easy to forget to take a special playing time with one’s child, because it seems we’re already always taking care of them.
2. Amuse him - he’s been whining more than usual in the last few days
3. Stimulate his interest - he seems a bit bored with his usual toys and with constantly being in the same room nowadays
4. Introduce some variety - I’m hoping this will be good for his world exploration, and help improve his development

… I’ve been trying to come up with a new-game-a-day. Mind, these can be extremely simple, but they’re a novelty, nonetheless, and thus have been welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm so far. So, armed not with a budget that allows endless toy-acquisition, but with my imagination and Gymboree’s “Le guide complet jeux” book - thanks again, auntie Karine! - I’ve been trying to entertain my son for at least one special-time period per day.

Thought I’d share some of what I tried so far :

The laundry basket

• Trapped him under a laundry basket (I did say they were free, simple games, didn’t I?).
• Put the laundry basket on one side, with balls in it.

He likes that basket enough that I’m keeping it in the living room for some days yet…

Bubbles
Found an old soap bubbles stick-thing I had from long ago. Babies love to try and catch the bubbles.

Tupperware concerto
I made some rattles-du-jour by putting uncooked rice or dry noodles in little plastic containers. Xavier has already shaken/gnawed/soaked with saliva all of his rattle toys, which fail to impress him anymore, but these… these are grown-up objects, and they’re new. Need to make sure the seal is strong enough for baby’s attentions, however, or you’ll have a risky mess to clean up.

Hidden corners
I “hide” toys around the living room for baby to find. Plastic blocs under a piece of furniture, a bunch of little toys on a clean towel in the cats’ daybed (which the cats hardly use anyway), rattles and toys hanging from the kitchen cabinet handles, a lower shelf of the kitchen island, little corners… Xavier likes to find stuff - and I like to choose what he finds.

Room switch
We’re often playing in the same room (our living room/dining room/kitchen space), but it’s refreshing to change the setting once in a while (basement, bedroom, etc.). I expect summer will open up a whole new amount of space.

Pyramids
Xavier has a set of coloured plastic blocks. I like to try to build the highest colour-coordinated pyramid, and he loves to… crash it.

———–
That’s it for now; I’ll try to mention other games as I invent and try them out. The important part is variety, and the interaction we gain with our child. Please feel free to drop in suggestions of your own.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 15:28 and is filed under General, Xavier. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.