My friends sent this one out to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday. Sense of humor, yes?

Remember, do what YOU want to do and the rest will fall in line.

His first Easter, four-month old Julian slept through the whole thing, but when he got his first taste of modern American celebrations of this holiday, Julian never looked back. Since he is not actually Christian, his experience of Easter was limited to the hunting of plastic and hard-boiled eggs. And hunt he did.

It was so much fun, that I realized we should be doing this in the backyard whenever boredom strikes. The more the merrier, so this might be something to suggest when your relatives are visiting. A little fresh air is good for everyone.

So the activity of the day is to conduct an age-appropriate treasure hunt for pre-verbal toddlers.

Materials needed:
- three or four of the same object, such as golf balls, tennis balls, or plastic eggs. (We use lemons from our backyard tree).
- small gift bag
How to do it:
- Place objects in a grassy area in plain view.
- Hold a small gift bag on behalf of your little scavenger.
- Announce the hunt: “Let’s go find some golf balls!”
- Model the desired behavior: “I found a ball – now I’ll put it in the bag!”
- Help child “find” another object and place it in the bag.
- When child is not watching, take “found” object and toss it from the bag back onto the grass for more finding fun.
- Practice this exercise periodically so that when Easter rolls around next year, your toddler will be kicking butt and taking names.

My friend and parenting expert, Julie King, had a rookie baby who would not sleep once he reached the toddler age. Once he figured out that better things were going on in the other room, he resisted.

Together with her friend and co-author, Joanna Faber, they created Asher’s Dance and Rest Tape to trick the savage toddler into napping.

Julie told me:

Joanna came up with the concept and then made the tape for me (and Asher) years ago, when I was having trouble getting him to calm down and nap (and I had his new baby brother to juggle). As a classical pianist who only listens to pop music when someone force-feeds me and have no idea what I’m hearing, I was at a loss when it came to picking actual music, so she came to my rescue.

It has about 30 to 45 minutes of music, and it goes from very lively dance music, to calmer dance music, to soothing, ending with Gregorian Chants.

I would always do it with Asher (or else he wouldn’t do it), and we would start off with wild dancing, and then get slower and slower, and by the time the Gregorian chants came we’d be lying on the floor on a blanket, and he would take his nap on the floor.

Inspired by your comments last time I posted this scenario, I created a Rookie Mom’s Dance and Rest Playlist on spotify. It starts with fast songs (like the move it, move it song) all the way through sleepy songs and chants.

I’d love to hear your feedback if you try it. I tested it on my seven year old and about halfway through, he got bored, so, there’s that.

A reader from Toronto sent this video to us and I thought it was pretty cute.

This guest post is from our real-life friend Amanda, rookie mom to baby Felix.

Before I had a baby, I mildly judged the few mothers with whom I spent time for being upset when their babies would cry. I figured, “Hey, babies cry. That’s what they do. Relax. Let me finish telling you my story about my big break up/realization about my father/the annoying woman on the plane.”

I was correct in guessing that it would be different if I ever had my own baby. But I was wrong about the reason.

I thought it would be hormonal (OK, maybe it is). I thought it would stem from some primordial sense of being a Mother. (It doesn’t. I really don’t feel like a Mother because I keep on thinking I have to return him to the library any day now.) It stems from knowing little Felix, and knowing that he’s a pretty happy guy and he really only seems to cry if he’s distressed.

When he was younger (newborn), his distress was pretty much all food-related and very easy (lucky for me) to allay. As he gets older (10 mos now), I think some of his distress is sometimes more related to liking the frequent attention he receives from his parents, who both work part-time and have no other children and sometimes dare to not engage with him while he’s awake. So, sometimes when I’m trying to clean a mess, get his dinner ready, get myself ready to take him on a walk, send out a quick work email… some of those times, Felix cries. And I think, “Hmm, I could go to him. I could hold him and type this email/puree this spinach/brush my teeth (but not put on my pants) one-handed.

But then I think, ” Hmm, would I be spoiling him if I did that?”

So, then I don’t go to him, and his crying gets more frantic and I question my mothering decisions: is it better for him to cry sometimes? Does it help him get out pent-up energy? Does it teach him the important life lesson that you can’t always get what you want? Or, am I stunting his emotional development by denying him a little affection?

I’m pretty sure that it’s not the latter, to be honest, but here’s my trick to sparing myself the quandary: I pretend that Felix has an older brother. Let’s call him Javier.

It’s realistic to me that if Felix had siblings, I would sometimes have to prioritize their needs over Felix’s. So, I pretend I’m taking care of Javier instead of pureeing spinach/brushing teeth/writing emails. Right now I’m giving Javier a bath, say, and I would never abandon Javier in the tub to possibly drown (Javier and Felix are very close in age) to mollify Felix’s every little fancy. So, there it is. Sometimes, I invoke Javier to get other stuff done and it really minimizes the guilt I feel in leaving Felix screaming on his toxic-free playmat.

Photo of Javier in the bath:

An oldie republished for stir-crazy parents and kids.

This morning, Milo was throwing train tracks at me. And some legos. And some scrambled egg. And a fork. It reminded me that I need to harness this energy and find something he could throw.

Beach balls, like bubbles and 2- and 4-packs of crayons, are items I hoard and keep with me for when the need strikes.

For easy indoor fun:

1. Inflate a large plastic beach ball.
2. Roll the ball to your seated baby.
3. See if he will roll it back.

A baby this age might not catch on very quickly, but he will certainly be amused.

We asked Christie Mellor, author of The Three-Martini Playdate and the new Fun Without Dick and Jane, to suggest an activity for rookie moms. Put the fun back in some of your routine outings by “going hunting” with your toddler or preschooler. Here’s how:

You want to spend a nice morning with your baby, but you need to sneak in a few errands too? It’s time to go hunting! Going Hunting is much easier if you can walk, so choose a few errands that are in walking distance of your house or apartment, if possible. Insert baby into a sling or front carrier — or a stroller if it’s easier — and head out.

Describe to your child in enthusiastic tones that you are Going Hunting, and as you start down the street, tell your child that you are hunting for… Buses!! When you see your first bus, point to the bus while exclaiming excitedly that you found a bus. A bus! Get them all hopped up about the bus. Bus! Bus! Dang, a bus! Big bus! Yay, for the brave bus!

Repeat the exercise with the next bus you see, until you notice your child making similarly rowdy noises the moment he spots a bus. Jeez, it’s a bus! Can you believe it? It’s a freakin’ bus, did you see the size of that thing? Whoa! That is some bus. Bus! You may hear only squeals and gurgles, but trust me, your child is simply astounded at the bus he has spotted.

So you head to your little neighborhood park, and announce that you are hunting for…squirrels. Squirrels! Holy cow, check out that furry squirrel! Park benches, ducks, trees, pigeons, you can go hunting for anything that you know you will be seeing a lot of. If you’re on a city street, you might hunt for red cars, or tow trucks, garbage trucks, more pigeons.

Eventually, you may need your child to enthusiastically help you track down a grocery store, so that you can pick up a few necessary items, and of course after all that excitement you may need help hunting down a nice cup of coffee for yourself (and maybe an apple juice or a biscuit for your hunting buddy.) Happy Hunting!

Thanks to Christie for sharing her activity with us. Find out more about what Christie is up to on ChristieMellor.com, pre-order her new book on Amazon, or read my enthusiastic sleep-deprived book review of her last book (when Milo was a newborn).

[Photo by John 'K' via flickr]

Source: The Natural Parent Magazine on Facebook

I saw this picture on Pinterest and wished I thought of it myself when Julian was an infant.

I also wanted to Photoshop the words “Takin’ care of business” across the top of the photo, but it’s not my photo, so you’ll just have to imagine the cleverness.

Have you done any funny photo shoots with your baby? (Do you know there’s a whole book of them?)

See more creative sleeping baby photos at the blog behind this book, Mila’s Daydreams.

If you’ve got a babe who doesn’t yet roll over, your creative challenge this week is to take an absurd photo like this one of the baby wearing clothes from your closet. Too late for this activity? Pick another one from our Makin’ It series.

Unfortunately I cannot credit the source of the business suit photo because it was on Reddit’s home page which changes every minute.

I have been blessed with three beautiful hairless baby boys. Their resemblance to one another is so strong that sometimes I have to look at the date of a picture to know which child it is. The face recognition on iPhoto doesn’t do much better. So, without further ado, I invite you to play “Name that bald baby!”

Your choices are Holden (2005), Milo (2007), Sawyer (2011), and a decoy bald baby that I did not birth. Hint: each of my sons is pictured at least once.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

To accommodate our holiday guests in our tiny dining room with its four-top table, my husband ordered a new camping table from Amazon.com. It arrived in a cardboard box big enough for a 7-year old boy and a 4-year old girl to lie down in. How do I know this? Because my kids got in the box, of course.

In an excellent post about the most basic and universally loved toys on GeekDad, the author says:

Boxes can be turned into furniture or a kitchen playset. You can turn your kids into cardboard robots or create elaborate Star Wars costumes. A large Box can be used as a fort or house and the smaller Box can be used to hide away a special treasure. Got a Stick? Use it as an oar and Box becomes a boat. One particularly famous kid has used the Box as a key component of a time machine, a duplicator and a transmogrifier, among other things.

He notes humorously that this toy can be procured easily from Amazon.

[They] include one with virtually every order I place there.

Here are a few inspirational photos of cardboard boxes, the most versatile toy in your house this week.

from The Imagination Tree

to make while keeping your box-sitting toddler company: cardboard thank you postcards (via designsponge)

homemade marble run – this one is from a cereal box by Made by Joel

Cardboard shape sorter from Parents.com (this article has 11 more box ideas, but is super annoying to navigate due to the ads and one-idea-per-page format.)

I love the Dr. Seuss feel of this silly bedroom set. Make a few “frames” for kids art? via Tip Junkie who has 32 cardboard box ideas posted.

Probably not feasible for most of us, but we do have a handful of small people, furniture and animals who could inhabit a box, via Busy Being Fabulous

Another one from Parents.com. Unless you are a stylist for Parents magazine, your cardboard kitchen won’t look this cute, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Have you come up with anything cool to do with cardboard?

Update: Two fabulous friends shared their boxes with us over on our Facebook page.

Cori’s kids show us in fast-motion what fun a box can be.

Mike knocks our socks off with this pirate ship he made for Emme to navigate puddles at the park.