Help! How do you entertain your LO?

PurrCrasher · June 2013

If I had the option to clone myself I think I'd do it. Now that they are both mobile I am absolutely at my wits end trying to keep these two entertained. I need your advice on how to add more entertainment into our day so I'm not constantly pulling them off of each other or chasing them at opposite ends of our house.

Currently we spend a lot of time playing in the house because it's hard to take them both outside by myself although we usually go for at least one walk a day. Inside we rotate between their billion toys and books, play with bubbles, play little games like peek-a-boo, bounce on a yoga ball, use the jump-a-roo, and hide under blankets together (a new favorite).

The real problem is that each of these things keeps them entertained for about 30 seconds and rarely at the same time. What is your go-to entertainment? I need more than 30 second intervals of them not accidentally hurting themselves or each other while trying to get into everything.

latnprincess · June 2013

When I'm home (on the weekends) its a constant rotation of things. But the one thing that keeps him entertained the longest is this video I have called "God made music" Its Baby Einstein style, but with Bible stories and stuff. He can watch that thing for forever. Mezmerized. I don't do it often, but when I do, he's good for a good 30 minutes. I feel bad about that though, so like I said I don't do it often. Baby Einstein videos may have been proven to do nothing, but they work for moments of peace! Otherwise we sit on the floor and play. Play with ODS. I let him climb me. He loves to walk holding our hands. Plays with his toys. We go outside for a walk. That's all I got.

Ms. Lisi · June 2013

I give LO a little while each day to play independently. She basically crawls around and screams at the dogs to get off the dog bed so that she can lay on it. She likes it because she doesn't get too overwhelmed, and I like it, because although I am supervising, I get to sit down and actually drink my cup of coffee.

AutumnLeaves2 · June 2013

DD does a lot of independent playing with me keeping close watch. She climbs on her toys, pulls up, walks around using the furniture to hold onto. I lay on the floor and airplane her or tickle her. Sometimes just me sitting on the floor near her while she plays is enough to keep her satisfied.
Everyday she discovers something new in the house so, as long as its safe, I let her explore all around.

Mrs. Rohde · June 2013

Wow. Just reading that makes me so tired and overwhelmed. Can they play alone? Even for a little bit? I do pretty much what you do but DS plays independently a lot of the time and even when he doesn't want to play alone I leave him for a few minutes because he needs to learn to entertain himself and I can't be on him all day. What about an extra walk just to break up the day a bit more? Sorry I'm not much help. I don't know how you do it with two!!

bigbootyjudi · June 2013

I make up shitt to do.

I'm serious.

Oh, we need grapes...grocery store, here we come! I need a nail file, let's go to Target! I cannot stand to be cooped up in the house the entire day. Other than that, we're at the park or on a walk.

I don't know how I'd do it with two, but, for my sanity, I would HAVE to figure something out. Is there anything in your area you can do like a GTG? Mommy & me yoga? Have you looked on Meetup? The Meetup group in my area has activities 2-3 times a week.

Inside, it's hopeless. I just let him do whatever; pots, pans, a magazine.

mmdailey · June 2013

Ambsies:
I do shifts of trying to entertain him and letting him do his own thing.nbsp; He's pretty good at entertaining himself.nbsp; I keep our family room safe for him, so when we're home we hangout in there a lot.As long as he's safe and supervised, he can do his own thing, IMO.

I totally agree. She gets tired of being with me and being held sometimes, so I load her pack n play with toys and she goes to town, or she'll sit at her piano, or her walker, or her bouncer. Also, never underestimate the power of Sesame Street. She'll watch maybe one episode a day and sit totally quiet for about an hour. Her and I both love not feeling like we constantly have to entertain each other.

sdlaura · June 2013

Ms. Lisi:
I give LO a little while each day to play independently. She basically crawls around and screams at the dogs to get off the dog bed so that she can lay on it. She likes it because she doesn't get too overwhelmed, and I like it, because although I am supervising, I get to sit down and actually drink my cup of coffee.

This. I think independent play is really important (and just read a good article on it - I'll try to find the link). I let her do her own thing other than re-directing her away from unsafe stuff, or if she crawls over and wants to interact with me.

lady_tytah · June 2013

Its lots of independent play around here. Binky, sippy with watered down juice and clean floor. He climbs couched [newest skill], dangles off of bed [another new skill], chasing inanimate objects, and just plain crawling.
I'm not really one of those parents who plays with her kids. I believer in independent play. Sometimes organized chaos is good.

PurrCrasher · June 2013

Thanks for all your insight ladies. I should add, the majority of the time they are playing independently with supervision but what I'm running into is that they will only want to play with what the other one is playing with or they want to climb all over each other. They love on each other constantly but inadvertently hurt each other in the process because their hugs and kisses are kind of rough. I just want to add to the myriad of things they already do. I love the idea of bowls of water and spoons outside. We have a huge deck that I should try to utilize more often!

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