From the category archives:

Month 9

Bake pizza dough fresh and hot

July 26, 2006

Last night was the second time I made us a pizza for dinner. It was fun to play with the dough, choose toppings, and eat my resulting (some say “deformed”, we say “artisan”) creations. Alec was really impressed that I could get a hot fresh pizza on the table in about a half hour without [...]

Activity #170: Fake a sneeze

July 7, 2006

Really. Almost always makes a baby laugh… if it doesn’t work the first time, try again and really draw out the “aaahhh aaaahh aaaaah” part before the “choo”! At 13 months old, Holden has a “joke” of his own. He can say “aaah aaah chooo” without being prompted (and usually not when he is prompted!). [...]

Activity #178: Build a tower

July 3, 2006

For a quick indoor activity, you can stack different toys on top of each other and invite baby to smack ‘em down. We have some really handy, soft blocks for this purpose (pictured). Do you see how quickly Dylan crawled over to destroy my work — it’s like warp speed? We also have some excellent [...]

Activity #227: Drive and listen

June 8, 2006

If you are a naptime driver, you might want to consider getting some entertainment on board for your daily drives. My friend Sarah was happy with NPR while Gabriella napped, but if you’re high-tech, try some podcasts. If you are low-tech, try some books on tape. I’m a new iPod owner, so I have been [...]

Activity #307: Make wild animal gestures

May 31, 2006

My husband walked into the kitchen once last week to see the tail end of a very special performance. I was caught in the act performing Old MacDonald for my baby by making grand animal gestures and noises. I spice it up by including some rather unusual “farm” animals… like peacocks, rhinoceroses, and snakes. I’ll [...]

Activity #296: Try two spoons

April 9, 2006

Why are two spoons better than one? Now that my baby grabs for the spoon when I’m feeding him, things can get a little messier and a lot slower. Of course I don’t want to discourage his learning process, and some day, I will surely want him to feed himself (exclusively). So, I make sure [...]

Activity #292: Let your baby use the phone

March 23, 2006

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, my baby just called you” — don’t you wish you had that excuse when you were in college drunk dialing your ex-boyfriend?! Or, like me, if you got caught in grade school for ordering a prank pizza to a cute classmate… well, now you do! You know it’s going [...]

Activity #252: Rock out with your bad self

February 8, 2006

The idea is to introduce baby to some music that’s fun for the whole family. Just like Ryan is plugged into the adult music scene, I feel like Whitney is very clued into cool, alternative kids’ music. Julian has favorite songs and even signs when he wants to hear them. I, on the other hand, [...]

Activity #250: Sing in the car

January 22, 2006

Speaking only for myself, it feels good to be cruising down the open road with the windows down listening to my favorite songs and singing at the top of my voice. Before I had a kid, and was a travelling consultant, I made friends with more than one truck driver who was impressed with my [...]

Activity #6: Let them eat… sand

January 9, 2006

Take baby to the beach or, more realistically, a sandbox, and take off her socks to let her dig her feet and squish around in the sand for the first time. I’m proud (is that really the right word?) to report that as of 8 months, Holden has now figured out how to get the [...]

Activity #176: Clean up the car

October 24, 2005

Boooooring, I know! But anything loose in the car becomes a dangerous projectile, so make a game out of picking up loose toys (so, that’s where that went!) spare clothes and blankets (get them clean and back in the rotation) trash (do I need to tell you where that goes? no, I don’t think so) [...]

Activity #179: Yank my chain?

October 22, 2005

Make your baby the subject of your own psychology experiment: tie a string or ribbon to a familiar toy and put the toy just out of reach. Does little einstein a) pull the string or b) scoot toward the toy? What happens if you show him? Once he masters this skill, watch for low hanging [...]

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →