Quickie

A friend of a friend, Missy, who is now known as GearHead Mom told us that she invented a new game for her toddler that she found quite entertaining:

Ever since the massive toy recalls have begun, I’ve been a bit more hesitant to pull out Sy’s legos or other plastic boxes of fun. So yesterday when Sy and I were staring at each other post-nap, I figured we could play a simple game with nothing plastic, painted or fully leaded.

I got out two bowls and grabbed a bunch of cotton squares, figuring we’d play a rousing game of “one for me, one for you.” I assumed she was going to hoard all of the cotton, eschewing the overarching “let’s all share” lesson of this old-school game. But no, Sy took a little piece of pulled apart cotton square and wadded it up into a ball. So I went along with that and started to flick it across the table. She thought that was about the funniest thing she’d seen. She’d race across the room, try to catch the flicked cotton (which goes very far, by the way), squeal, miss the flick and then run all over looking for it. Once the treasured object was found, she’d bring it back to me like a faithful retriever and we’d start up again. This amused us for at least twenty minutes.

It was way better than licking lead paint, don’t you agree?

I do agree, Missy. And, want to throw in that Julian simply adores the salad spinner. We put a small car or two inside and watch it spin around.

We’re not so big into TV at our houses but as our babies turn into toddlers, you will find our sets tuned into the odd Wonder Pets, Signing Time, or Sesame Street at various times throughout the day.

So as we struggle with new babies and clever little toddlers and our creativity is starting to flounder a little bit, our pal, Karen, sent us this awesome list of how to entertain your two-year-old with no TV from No Impact Man. Here is a little excerpt:

We stomp the laundry in the bathtub together. “I’m splashing with my feet,” Isabella says.

We wash the dishes together. “You need my help, Daddy?”

We roughhouse on the bed together.

We ride aimlessly around on the No Impact Mobile (our tricycle with a back seat for Isabella), seeing what we can see and singing This Old Man if it’s sunny and The Old Man is Snoring if it’s raining.

We bang things really loud.

If Michelle isn’t there, we tell her things all the same and wonder if she can hear us in her mind.

We practice seeing who can scream the loudest.

I love this list because the activities are free/cheap; they do without not only TV but also other annoying toys; they get the parent to have fun like a kid; and they’re just so Daddish.

More ideas on how No Impact Man entertains Isabella without TV

This is a quickie little game that I do probably once a day… it’s easy to do when Holden is already in my lap or on the glider and he likes it about as much as me playing with his little piggies.

Easy steps to fake boat rowing:

1. Sit on the floor with your legs together and straight out in front of you.
2. Lay your baby on your legs with his head at your feet and his feet close to your body.
3. Hold his hands and pull him toward you as you lean back and forth.
4. As you lean forward, lower him again to your legs. While you are rocking, sing the song: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

It sounds simple enough, but Holden likes mix it up by combining standing, sitting, and laying down so he’s a lot to hold onto. This is also a really big hit when I do it on the glider… we really move then.