Games to Enhance your Baby’s Development

With your baby’s mind growing so fast during their early formative years, it is natural to want even their playtime to be educational. Here are some fun games to play with your baby that will aid them in their development.

Music

It doesn’t matter what age you are, everyone loves music. Let your little one experiment with different sounds by playing kid-friendly musical instruments. You most likely already have a rattle, so why not purchase a mini-drum or keyboard? And try not to worry too much about the loud noise.

Copy Cat

Place your baby in front of a mirror. Let them crawl up to it and touch it. Play copy-cat with them, getting them to do certain movements and letting them watch as their reflection does the same.

Sing

Unless your baby is a child prodigy, it is highly unlikely they will be able to sing themselves. Sing to your baby and let them make noises along with you. Provide something visual as well. This can be dancing, clapping, or just letting them wiggle on the floor.

Name Game

Play a game of naming the parts of the body. Say the names as you touch their feet, belly, arms, fingers, and so on. Repetition is key, and it is a very close bonding time. Make sure to use the proper names even if they can’t say them yet.

Peekaboo

You would be surprised how beneficial a game of peekaboo can be. Eye contact can help with facial recognition, displaying and understanding emotions, and helps to create a strong bond. This game also lets them begin to understand cause and effect, along with permanent and temporary states. They might not fully grasp the concepts yet, but their minds are taking it all in and working on it.

Patty-cake

This game helps your baby develop their hand-eye co-ordination. They can start to distinguish patterns and experiment with how they move their arms and body. Pair this game with a fun and educational rhyme!

Clean-up

Yes, even getting your baby to help you clean will enhance their development. This doesn’t mean sending them into the bathroom to scrub the toilet, but working with them to put their toys back in a proper place can teach responsibility and how items can be sorted into categories.

Pets

Growing-up with a pet is not only a lot of fun, but your child can forge new skills as they forge their friendship. Be with them as they play age-appropriate games like fetch. Teach them about how to manoeuvre their bodies so they can ‘friendly-pat’ their pet. Find out how to include them in caring for the pet at www.catlittlersource.com.

All children mature and grow at different rates, so don’t worry if they are more receptive to one game than another. Provide positive reinforcement for their attempts, praising them for trying but still correcting them.

Jen Brenner  (C)

Keeping Your Messy Eater of a Baby Out of Trouble

Is your baby the messiest little one in the world? Having a dirty kid can be a chore indeed. Some children are very well-behaved in most situations. Woe betides the unsuspecting adult who tries to feed them at meals, though. Messy eaters are the worst to deal with because of the cleanup than afterward takes so much time and effort. According to clean-smarter.net, there are ways in which you can prevent the mess from ever reaching your clean kitchen floors.

Invest in a Bib and Use it

Bibs are remarkable inventions for parents around the world. Having a little cloth bib for your baby is perfect for keeping them clean and looking cute. You don’t have to just use it as a blast shield, either. You can use it as a towel to wipe up stray food when it gets everywhere! Babies can’t spit like adults can – your child is going to be dribbling food all over themselves without spraying it everywhere. Of course, as your kid grows up and learns to use a spoon alone, you’ll need more than a cloth bib. Plastic bibs are more heavy-duty and can catch the worst of the spills with ease.

Get Food That Isn’t Messy

The food industry has heard the prayers of beleaguered parents everywhere. There are particular brands of baby food out there that have specially thickened sauces. This food sticks to the spoon and doesn’t spill or spray all over the place. Other than this, you can get creative when figuring out what to feed your baby every day. Some food is less messy than other types. For example, you can mix cereal with bananas squished into a paste, making it a perfect source of good, non-messy nutrition.

Start Cleaning While Feeding

It's a very easy way to avoid walking into your kitchen after feeding time and wanting to drown yourself in the kitchen sink. Clean it up right then, if you notice a little spill while you’re feeding your child. Freshly dropped food is easier to clean.After feeding's over, take the ten seconds to wipe up after each mouthful, and you will see less of the nuclear fallout! Dab at the bib too if you want to. The cleaner it is, the less likely food is to roll off the bib and onto the floor.

Eat Outside More Often

It's a simple way around messy post-baby kitchens. Take them out to the deck every day in the summer and eat there instead! You get to expose your kid to the beauty of natural living. They get to make as big a mess as they want without destroying your floors. It’s a win-win situation that works for everyone!

Using these simple tips and tricks can easily solve your problem of a messy child. There are plenty of other ways in which you can use your creative mind to address this issue. Learn to deal with your child’s messes as soon as they happen – this is the best way to manage them.

Jen Brenner (c)

Natures Baby Organics Body Wash is the Best Ever

Baby Bath Products

There are a lot of baby bath products on the market today. Not all these products are good for babies new and soft skin. I searched high and low for baby body wash when my twins were born. I will not show a photo of my twins taking baths though, that would be gross. Anyway, babies are sweet and tender, so to is their skin. There is one company I found online that makes natural baby products and I want to share them with you. These products are great for baby shower gifts and your baby right now. In fact, I still use them for my twins, who are now 6, and myself. Yes, I even use these bath and body products. For one, they smell good, with two scents that are great for bedtime and second, they are an all around good product. This is a bath product I will recommend over and over again. It is important to promote products you actually use because you would not want to keep this information all to yourself.

A Babies Skin

There is nothing softer than an infants brand new skin. They have to softest skin and adults, as hard as we try, can not have that soft baby skin again. It is not as if we are not trying too. This is something I will talk about at another time. So babies have to softest skin and in order for their skin to stay soft and not irritated by all the chemicals is name brand bath and body products, it is best to use this specific bath and body product designed for babies.

To read the rest of my article of Squidoo, please click here. While reading my article, you will see the what the toy my twins played with look like.

TwiceBabies Mom in Church Nursey Today

Today I went to church myself since my twins and Daddy are still recovering from their colds and coughing. So, today, before church, I went to gas up my vehicle, then went to church. Today, I had 5 babies I was watching. I love watching the babies once a month. They are so cute and to keep them occupied or not thinking of Mommy or Daddy, I sing to them.

The songs I sing are the songs my twins love to sing as well. They are, "The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round, "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes", "Where is Thumpkin..." and other songs that allow the babies to move around and stay a little bit occupied, if only for an hour while Daddy and Mommy are in church service.

After church service today, I went to the grocery store, came home and put the groceries away and left for the Children's Ministry Meeting. The Children's Ministry Volunteers, as we are called, got lunch and,played a game and given the new direction for this year.

I had a nice day and a so did Daddy and our twins..

Yeah, tomorrow they are going back to school...Twin "A" misses school, Twin "B", not so much...but at least Twin "B" will be able to see her friends again..