Child's Play

Delitachan

How does your baby entertain himself/herself?
I'm curious because we've noted that LO will spend hours grabbing a random object like the Puffs lid, and toss it around the room, then crawl after it. Toss the cap, then crawl and toss and repeat. He can go for hours like this. Sometimes, he'll switch to a ring (from those ring stackers) and do the same. Then he'll move to the ball and do the same. 
He presses buttons a lot, but other than that, he doesn't stack objects, line them up or even put objects into spaces. Is my child just unusual or do you think it's something I should address?

vintagevix2016

Delitachan said:

How does your baby entertain himself/herself?
I'm curious because we've noted that LO will spend hours grabbing a random object like the Puffs lid, and toss it around the room, then crawl after it. Toss the cap, then crawl and toss and repeat. He can go for hours like this. Sometimes, he'll switch to a ring (from those ring stackers) and do the same. Then he'll move to the ball and do the same. 
He presses buttons a lot, but other than that, he doesn't stack objects, line them up or even put objects into spaces. Is my child just unusual or do you think it's something I should address?

Damien does the "toss and fetch" activity with toys as well, doesn't matter what it is either. He's figured out that he gets the most distance with his ball though so he tends to use that the most.

He's just starting to stack things but he mostly enjoys putting his stacking cups back together rather than making a tower. It's a game to him to pull out all the cups and then put them back together. He likes it when I quickly put them together again as he's pulling them out too, thinks it's hysterical.

Another thing he's been doing, that can keep him occupied for awhile, is testing out sounds with various objects by banging them on various surfaces. His favorite place is the leg of the table, which is metal, so it makes a lovely CLANG sound.

We have a couple different types of block buckets with shapes for him to figure out which shapes go into which holes. He understands that he can put shapes into the holes but hasn't mastered matching the shapes to the right holes yet. Usually he just places a shape in a random hole and looks at me like, "Mom, this one won't go in!" 

He also likes to use various objects (blocks, cups, books, etc.) to slide across the floor. He'll place one (or both) hand on an object and crawl as he slides. He has a VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker that he insists on pushing while on his knees. He hates pushing it when he's standing, maybe just not comfortable yet. 

Delitachan

vintagevix2016 said:

Delitachan said:

How does your baby entertain himself/herself?
I'm curious because we've noted that LO will spend hours grabbing a random object like the Puffs lid, and toss it around the room, then crawl after it. Toss the cap, then crawl and toss and repeat. He can go for hours like this. Sometimes, he'll switch to a ring (from those ring stackers) and do the same. Then he'll move to the ball and do the same. 
He presses buttons a lot, but other than that, he doesn't stack objects, line them up or even put objects into spaces. Is my child just unusual or do you think it's something I should address?

Damien does the "toss and fetch" activity with toys as well, doesn't matter what it is either. He's figured out that he gets the most distance with his ball though so he tends to use that the most.

He's just starting to stack things but he mostly enjoys putting his stacking cups back together rather than making a tower. It's a game to him to pull out all the cups and then put them back together. He likes it when I quickly put them together again as he's pulling them out too, thinks it's hysterical.

Another thing he's been doing, that can keep him occupied for awhile, is testing out sounds with various objects by banging them on various surfaces. His favorite place is the leg of the table, which is metal, so it makes a lovely CLANG sound.

We have a couple different types of block buckets with shapes for him to figure out which shapes go into which holes. He understands that he can put shapes into the holes but hasn't mastered matching the shapes to the right holes yet. Usually he just places a shape in a random hole and looks at me like, "Mom, this one won't go in!" 

He also likes to use various objects (blocks, cups, books, etc.) to slide across the floor. He'll place one (or both) hand on an object and crawl as he slides. He has a VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker that he insists on pushing while on his knees. He hates pushing it when he's standing, maybe just not comfortable yet. 

My LO doesn't even try to stack or sort or put shapes into holes - any object for him is just bang, shake, then toss and fetch. LOL.
And yeah, my LO does the crawl and drag as well. He loves to put the rings on the floor and crawl while dragging them.

rmmorris

Abby spends probably 80 percent of her day chasing our cat around. 

newbabymakes4

Cruising around the coffee table, and now walking her drunken sailor walk.  Chasing the animals, throwing her toys out of the PNP for us to pick up.  Crawling for the stairs, and then looking over her shoulder waiting for us to say no (and then laughing). Eating everything, whether it's food or not.  Stealing her brother's toys. Shrieking until my ears ring.

vintagevix2016

newbabymakes4 said:

Cruising around the coffee table, and now walking her drunken sailor walk.  Chasing the animals, throwing her toys out of the PNP for us to pick up.  Crawling for the stairs, and then looking over her shoulder waiting for us to say no (and then laughing). Eating everything, whether it's food or not.  Stealing her brother's toys. Shrieking until my ears ring.

It's so funny when they start doing things that they know you're going to stop them and they give you that knowing, "Are you gonna say it yet?" mischievous look. Damien thinks it's so funny when we sneak up on him and say, "What are you doing?" super fast. Just laughs and laughs.

celticlor

Erin torments my cat or racing to our bed/bathroom laughing as her mommy chases her. We have tons of toys for her but instead we like to take things from the recycling bin and toss them around the house.

adiaz132003

Preston just started being able to hold his big rubber ball and walking so he tossed it around and chases it. Lol

lm45678

Playing the piano and arithmetic


No but in all serious she is either cruising/crawling away from us as a game, playing with sometime she shouldn't be, eating or trying to get us or the dogs attention.

alcermack

Lily just found the toggle on the wall that stops the door. Omg she can sit there and smack that thing til I'm ready to unscrew it. Lily is also excellent at clearing shelves. She spends her time going around the downstairs trying to find anything mommy forgot to block or hide. The dogs water bowl has been her latest victim.

vintagevix2016

alcermack said:

Lily just found the toggle on the wall that stops the door. Omg she can sit there and smack that thing til I'm ready to unscrew it. Lily is also excellent at clearing shelves. She spends her time going around the downstairs trying to find anything mommy forgot to block or hide. The dogs water bowl has been her latest victim.

Damien loves door stops. We've had to use our hot glue gun to keep the white rubber caps on them because he'd eventually rip those off and chew on them (definitely a choking hazard!). He also loves the dog's water bowl too. So gross!

adiaz132003

vintagevix2016 said:

alcermack said:

Lily just found the toggle on the wall that stops the door. Omg she can sit there and smack that thing til I'm ready to unscrew it. Lily is also excellent at clearing shelves. She spends her time going around the downstairs trying to find anything mommy forgot to block or hide. The dogs water bowl has been her latest victim.

Damien loves door stops. We've had to use our hot glue gun to keep the white rubber caps on them because he'd eventually rip those off and chew on them (definitely a choking hazard!). He also loves the dog's water bowl too. So gross!

 I pick up the water bowl unless she's eating.  Our vet told us that unlike cats, dogs like to drink all their water at once and usually after meals

vintagevix2016

adiaz132003 said:

vintagevix2016 said:

alcermack said:

Lily just found the toggle on the wall that stops the door. Omg she can sit there and smack that thing til I'm ready to unscrew it. Lily is also excellent at clearing shelves. She spends her time going around the downstairs trying to find anything mommy forgot to block or hide. The dogs water bowl has been her latest victim.

Damien loves door stops. We've had to use our hot glue gun to keep the white rubber caps on them because he'd eventually rip those off and chew on them (definitely a choking hazard!). He also loves the dog's water bowl too. So gross!

 I pick up the water bowl unless she's eating.  Our vet told us that unlike cats, dogs like to drink all their water at once and usually after meals

Our bullie rarely drinks it all at once. 90% of the time she just drinks a little here and there throughout the day. I wonder if it is breed-related? She's a bulldog. She may sip it here and there because she knows it's always there maybe? Who knows, she's an odd dog as it is anyway.

Delitachan

How are your LO's playing now?
My son doesn't play fetch anymore with his toys, but now just throws stuff. We tried playing Legos (mega blox) and all he does is watch me build something then destroy it. I put two blocks together and he takes them apart and throws them.
He will not stack stuff. He prefers to just undo it and throw it.
Wont fit shapes into sockets. Just throws blocks.
Loves to press buttons, especially ones that play music.

Part of me wonders if he's developmentally behind. 

Tawny87

Delitachan said:

How are your LO's playing now?
My son doesn't play fetch anymore with his toys, but now just throws stuff. We tried playing Legos (mega blox) and all he does is watch me build something then destroy it. I put two blocks together and he takes them apart and throws them.
He will not stack stuff. He prefers to just undo it and throw it.
Wont fit shapes into sockets. Just throws blocks.
Loves to press buttons, especially ones that play music.

Part of me wonders if he's developmentally behind. 

He is probably just developing other skills, I wouldn't worry too much. Cam's playing right now is basically trying to insert himself into whatever his sisters are doing or climbing onto the couch every 10 seconds. He does have a barn with the plastic animals that he does love too.

artlea2013

Delitachan said:

How are your LO's playing now?
My son doesn't play fetch anymore with his toys, but now just throws stuff. We tried playing Legos (mega blox) and all he does is watch me build something then destroy it. I put two blocks together and he takes them apart and throws them.
He will not stack stuff. He prefers to just undo it and throw it.
Wont fit shapes into sockets. Just throws blocks.
Loves to press buttons, especially ones that play music.

Part of me wonders if he's developmentally behind. 

'Throw' is Miles's favorite game! He holds out something small, or last night a full size football Lord help us, and looks at me and says 'thoooow?' until I say 'yes, ok, throw' and then he chucks it and laughs and laughs. Then he'll run and get it to repeat again. On the second or third time he usually stops asking first and just throws.

He will on the rare occasion put his mega blocks together or the regular legos at my parent's house. Mostly he wants to knock them over or will hand them to me to build. He does like his puzzles and his toys that put balls into holes. And pushing buttons too. He knows exactly which buttons, or close enough, turn on the jazz music in the stereo and bounces up and down sticking his butt out to dance. He loves dancing with DH and will tolerate dancing with me too sometimes.

lm45678

My daughter is currently taking all of the dog food pebbles out of their bowl and dropping it into their waterbowl

She loves to run around, read books, push her doll stroller, play we little people cars and planes and try to climb on things.

meggyme

Jackie LOVES books. I can't tell you how many times we're read Corduroy the Bear... She also likes to bounce the dog's tennis ball and throw blocks and push buttons. My cell phone home button is the latest favorite. Lately she's been walking around with the dog toy Mr Bill and carrying it like a baby. She will occasionally stack the coasters, but not blocks or cups.

vintagevix2016

@meggyme Damien is all about the Home button. He'll probably break it eventually from mashing it so often.

@Delitachan I wouldn't worry about it, Damien looooves knocking down stacks of blocks. He will stack a little bit but he'd much rather knock everything down.

vintagevix2016

Damien wants to chase and be chased so we do that a lot. He likes to figure out how to put the various shapes through their corresponding holes on one particular cube we have. It takes a bit of helping him but he gets it eventually. He is all about pushing buttons, flipping switches, and turning dials too. I read to him while he plays or sing songs. 

egirl1025

Tristan is super tactile and visual/spatial.  He loves putting thing into other things so for his birthday we asked for toys that did that.  He got a little thing where you put the different shapes in their slots, took him about a week to get all the shapes figured out.  He used to like to stack things, but now he just knocks stuff down.  He also likes ripping things apart, like leaves, Kleenex, etc.  He will bring over books on occasion to be read but rarely can sit still through a whole book.  He uses his little chair to climb onto the couch, but has zero concept of edges so will just walk or crawl straight off... Or go down head first.  He likes playing chase and keep away too.  Also likes his toys that play music... He will bop around to the music.  Current ultimate favorite though is making the lights and fans turn on and off constantly...ugh.

adiaz132003

Delitachan said:

How are your LO's playing now?
My son doesn't play fetch anymore with his toys, but now just throws stuff. We tried playing Legos (mega blox) and all he does is watch me build something then destroy it. I put two blocks together and he takes them apart and throws them.
He will not stack stuff. He prefers to just undo it and throw it.
Wont fit shapes into sockets. Just throws blocks.
Loves to press buttons, especially ones that play music.

Part of me wonders if he's developmentally behind. 

Oh not at all.  The woman who checks Preston's development says things like shape sorting and stacking are a 14 month skill meaning that's the beginning of when they'd start doing it. The lastest she expects to see stacking is around 18 months and it's not stacking blocks, it's putting an object on top of another like flat books even.  Nice thing about having her come is I never feel uneasy about certain milestones.  She gives us lots of material too so if anyone wants some tips on promoting certain milestones let me know.  She comes every other week and even mails me stuff so I can always text her requesting certain things and she prints it outs and brings it.  

bankssl1

Jack LOVES books, we read Brown Bear, Brown Bear 5 times a day.. He also loves the "Touch and Feel" books. He also loves to watch me sweep and takes my broom (YUCK!) so we got him his own tiny broom and dust pan that he takes everywhere, we even took a bath with his broom last night. He's really loves playing with anything thats NOT a toy.. a rubber spoon with a pot to bang on, his broom, shoes. 

khenry12

For babes that love to push buttons, I recommend "poke-a-dot" books. We have two and Adi loves them. We read them together, she "reads" them on her own, they have great illustrations for games like "find the (insert animal)." They by far are her favorite books right now. 

laurendiaz02

khenry12 said:

For babes that love to push buttons, I recommend "poke-a-dot" books. We have two and Adi loves them. We read them together, she "reads" them on her own, they have great illustrations for games like "find the (insert animal)." They by far are her favorite books right now. 

Omg. So ordering this!  Thank you. Ethan is obsessed with buttons (particularly the one on my iPhone so he will love this!)

bankssl1

khenry12 yes!!! thank you!!

vintagevix2016

@khenry12 Definitely will look into that book, Damien would love it. We actually pulled out an old computer keyboard for him to play with and he loves it.

Damien loves being read to but he's so antsy that he just ends up wanting to play with the book. I realized that if I give him a book of his own to play with while I read to him from another one, it goes over really well.

khenry12

@vintagevix2016 we also had to pull out a decoy keyboard. DH does about 50% of his work from home and this is the only way he can get anything done!

vintagevix2016

khenry12 said:

@vintagevix2016 we also had to pull out a decoy keyboard. DH does about 50% of his work from home and this is the only way he can get anything done!

We may look into old ham radio equipment since they have tons of switches, dials, and buttons for him to play with, assuming they aren't going to pose a safety risk to Damien. My grandfather had a whole radio room with equipment that my brother and I would get in trouble for playing with and I imagine Damien would have a field day!