I had to go down to the DES office the other day to take care of some insurance stuff. You know how that goes. You pull a number, and wait in an endless line in a room that smells like urine. True story. I got there at 8:30 am and there was already a huge line that I was going to have to wait in. So I grabbed a seat and pulled out a short book to read to pass the time, which was Toddlerwise by Gary Ezzo. If you know anything about me, you know that I am a Babywise mom. I love Babywise and have implemented their theories and methods ever since Cruz was born. I know and understand the controversy behind Babywise, but it totally worked for us and I stand behind it 100%. I’ll be using it in the same way with Rider once he’s born. It totally made our life with a newborn so much easier in so many more ways than one.
This post isn’t all about Babywise, I promise.
When I was at DES, I brought my Toddlerwise book to read. I’m severely behind on my reading and should have completed Toddlerwise a long time ago. But I’m still slowly reading it and using bits and pieces of it in our every day to day routine with Cruz. One small part that the book focused on was structured play and how important it is for YOU as the parent to pick activities that your kids are going to do throughout the day. That is shows them that THEY aren’t the only ones who can pick what they want to play with and that you are in control by guiding them in choosing activities for them some of the time. As I read this, I realized that I don’t really do this enough with Cruz. Sometimes he’ll color or we’ll go swimming etc. But I don’t have activities for him to do on a daily basis. But not only that, he hasn’t really shown much of an interest really. So I read all about it and then my number at DES was called and that was the end of that.
I get home and Cruz and Jay had spent the morning swimming. It was almost lunch time and they were drying off and changing clothes. There was probably about a thirty minute time span before it would be time for lunch, and I didn’t even really think about how I would fill the time. Jay jumped in the shower and I started picking up/tidying the house a little bit while Cruz played. At one point, I looked over and saw that Cruz was just picking up toys and throwing them for no reason. He was kind of wandering around the house, moaning a little, throwing toys.
He’s bored, I thought. It totally dawned on me. He’s never really acted bored before, but I knew he was bored.
So I searched the cupboards for crayons. Then I remembered that I had to throw those away because Cruz was EATING THEM. I don’t have paints because, well, he’s not even two yet. Then I came across some Easter egg chalk that my sister gave to Cruz at Easter time. They look like eggs, but are chalk that you can draw on the sidewalk with. At Easter, he was still to little to understand how to color, but recently he’s shown more of an interest in it. But I had never thought of how COOL chalk would be for him!
So I pulled it down and asked him if he wanted to color. He started giggling with glee and so I grabbed a sheet of paper and prepared to have him color in his highchair. He lasted for two minutes with this set up.
I’m not sure why I thought he’d want to color with chalk on paper. I’m kind of new to this and I honestly didn’t want to put shoes on the kid and go outside twenty minutes before lunch. THEN, it dawned on me again! Our porch! He can play with the chalk on our porch and we can just wash it away afterwards.
I mean, seriously, you’re probably reading this thinking, “Wow Jess. This isn’t rocket science!” and I know that it’s not. But it literally never occurred to me that he might be ready to start doing different kinds of crafts and such. I should have thought of it, but I just didn’t. So I asked him if we wanted to go color outside and his little face knew EXACTLY what I was talking about and couldn’t wait to get onto that porch fast enough!
HE HAD SO MUCH FUN.
So I grabbed the camera, of course and snapped a few pictures of him experimenting with chalk and having a blast!
Then he started making a mess and all of me was cringing inside at the chalk that was covering his clothes and legs and arms and hands. And all of me let it happen because let’s face it, getting dirty as a kid is what it’s all about and it’s fun! And after all, it was just chalk!
Then he started getting tired and hungry. So we wrapped things up to go inside. But we were out there for probably a good thirty minutes, just playing with something as simple as chalk! It made me realize how important structured play is for a kiddo his age and how I need to start thinking of ideas that would entertain, nurture and teach him new things. Wow they grow up fast, huh?
If you’re a mamma or have any ideas or thoughts of different things you do with your kiddos, I would love to hear them! I need some inspirational and age appropriate ideas for crafts and structured play that I can begin to do with Cruz. Please leave your comment below!
I had to go down to the DES office the other day to take care of some insurance stuff. You know how that goes. You pull a number, and wait in an endless line in a room that smells like urine. True story. I got there at 8:30 am and there was already a huge line that I was going to have to wait in. So I grabbed a seat and pulled out a short book to read to pass the time, which was Toddlerwise by Gary Ezzo. If you know anything about me, you know that I am a Babywise mom. I love Babywise and have implemented their theories and methods ever since Cruz was born. I know and understand the controversy behind Babywise, but it totally worked for us and I stand behind it 100%. I’ll be using it in the same way with Rider once he’s born. It totally made our life with a newborn so much easier in so many more ways than one.
This post isn’t all about Babywise, I promise.
When I was at DES, I brought my Toddlerwise book to read. I’m severely behind on my reading and should have completed Toddlerwise a long time ago. But I’m still slowly reading it and using bits and pieces of it in our every day to day routine with Cruz. One small part that the book focused on was structured play and how important it is for YOU as the parent to pick activities that your kids are going to do throughout the day. That is shows them that THEY aren’t the only ones who can pick what they want to play with and that you are in control by guiding them in choosing activities for them some of the time. As I read this, I realized that I don’t really do this enough with Cruz. Sometimes he’ll color or we’ll go swimming etc. But I don’t have activities for him to do on a daily basis. But not only that, he hasn’t really shown much of an interest really. So I read all about it and then my number at DES was called and that was the end of that.
I get home and Cruz and Jay had spent the morning swimming. It was almost lunch time and they were drying off and changing clothes. There was probably about a thirty minute time span before it would be time for lunch, and I didn’t even really think about how I would fill the time. Jay jumped in the shower and I started picking up/tidying the house a little bit while Cruz played. At one point, I looked over and saw that Cruz was just picking up toys and throwing them for no reason. He was kind of wandering around the house, moaning a little, throwing toys.
He’s bored, I thought. It totally dawned on me. He’s never really acted bored before, but I knew he was bored.
So I searched the cupboards for crayons. Then I remembered that I had to throw those away because Cruz was EATING THEM. I don’t have paints because, well, he’s not even two yet. Then I came across some Easter egg chalk that my sister gave to Cruz at Easter time. They look like eggs, but are chalk that you can draw on the sidewalk with. At Easter, he was still to little to understand how to color, but recently he’s shown more of an interest in it. But I had never thought of how COOL chalk would be for him!
So I pulled it down and asked him if he wanted to color. He started giggling with glee and so I grabbed a sheet of paper and prepared to have him color in his highchair. He lasted for two minutes with this set up.
I’m not sure why I thought he’d want to color with chalk on paper. I’m kind of new to this and I honestly didn’t want to put shoes on the kid and go outside twenty minutes before lunch. THEN, it dawned on me again! Our porch! He can play with the chalk on our porch and we can just wash it away afterwards.
I mean, seriously, you’re probably reading this thinking, “Wow Jess. This isn’t rocket science!” and I know that it’s not. But it literally never occurred to me that he might be ready to start doing different kinds of crafts and such. I should have thought of it, but I just didn’t. So I asked him if we wanted to go color outside and his little face knew EXACTLY what I was talking about and couldn’t wait to get onto that porch fast enough!
HE HAD SO MUCH FUN.
So I grabbed the camera, of course and snapped a few pictures of him experimenting with chalk and having a blast!
Then he started making a mess and all of me was cringing inside at the chalk that was covering his clothes and legs and arms and hands. And all of me let it happen because let’s face it, getting dirty as a kid is what it’s all about and it’s fun! And after all, it was just chalk!
Then he started getting tired and hungry. So we wrapped things up to go inside. But we were out there for probably a good thirty minutes, just playing with something as simple as chalk! It made me realize how important structured play is for a kiddo his age and how I need to start thinking of ideas that would entertain, nurture and teach him new things. Wow they grow up fast, huh?
If you’re a mamma or have any ideas or thoughts of different things you do with your kiddos, I would love to hear them! I need some inspirational and age appropriate ideas for crafts and structured play that I can begin to do with Cruz. Please leave your comment below!