Toddler fun

Our days are filled with toddler fun these days, and it’s all about learning how things work and enjoying our time together.  Here’s what we’ve been doing lately and what (I think) we’re learning.  All games can be played from the couch, for any moms who are on bedrest with a toddler at home like I am!

Game: Can Lofty Lift It?  We take turns putting random household objects under the crane/magnet on our IKEA truck to see if they stick.  If they do, we roll the truck around for a little while and see if it falls off.  We’re learning which items have metal in them, and later we’ll talk more about magnets.  Favorite result: The train cars dangling from the truck’s crane/magnet, over the edge of the table.

Game: Let’s Cook!  Our toddler kitchen set is at one end of the couch, and Widget will often cook after we eat, or while Daddy is cooking dinner.  Then he brings me tastes of what he’s been cooking in his little pots, and I gleefully taste them.  Currently, my favorite is braised pears.  He’s learning to cook, and I’m learning to appreciate his creativity, even when he adds too much garlic.

Game: Tent.  Widget often crawls into my arms and under my blanket, saying, “Tent!”  Sometimes he hides in there from me, and sometimes I pop under the blanket with him and we talk about that.  Extra fun when he discovers the hole in the blanket and pokes his finger through, saying, “Hole!”  We also hide from Daddy or the dog on occasion, and then pop out laughing like we did when he was much younger.  Then, he learned object permanance.  Now, I think he just likes to play hide-and-seek.  He also enjoys playing hide-and-seek with Daddy, and he has favorite places to hide (the coffee table, end tables, and the closet with louvered doors) already!

Game: Seuss!  We keep a few favorite books, including lots of Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss’ Learning Library books (these are fabulous, and not mind-numbing for Mommy either), and a collection of 14 favorite nursery books with pictures of each on the front, so Widget can choose.  He gains independence, we have great cuddle time together, and we’re reading together more than ever, which of course is the foundation for so much future learning.  His current favorite is, “There’s No Place Like Space,” and he can already point out several planets, the sun, stars, and whether a few of the planets are cold (“brrrr”) or hot (“hot!”).  Oooh, he is so my child!

Game: Leapfrog’s alphabet phonics.  Our only concession to Leapfrog’s vast empire (so far), and the only toy that plays those annoying alphabet songs in our house, this set of magnets is endless fun and teaches phonics as well.  Useful for me too, as I was raised using whole language, not phonics, so we’re singing the songs together and preparing to learn to read.

Game: Fetch.  Yes, it sounds embarrassing, but it’s been a vital survival skill for us when he wants something on the other side of the room and I can’t get up and get it for him (the pain in my back is excruciating and getting worse by the day as I get farther into the third trimester).  He gets up and wanders near something and I occasionally ask him to pick up the cup ON the table, the pen UNDER the chair, or the book NEAR the train set and bring it to Mommy so we can play with it.  Then, after much praise, we do.  What is he learning?  Prepositions. 

Game: Same/different.  We occasionally play a matching game, where I ask, is this the same?  It’s an important skill, but Widget doesn’t have much patience for it yet.

Game: Flashlight.  In the late afternoon, as the sun goes down and it gets closer to Daddy’s return, sometimes we play with a small flashlight in the dusk, illuminating such things as the phone, the lamp, the radio, the fridge, the easel . . . this reinforces his identification of nouns, ability to follow directions, and is just plain fun at dusk.

And of course, let’s not forget the many wonderful hours spent playing trains with our little wooden train set, coloring, watercolor painting, pretending to vacuum or blow leaves with the PVC pipe, listening to music, making music, bopping with the boomwhackers, pretending we’re kittens, looking at pictures of dogs and balls that we find in the morning paper, tickling, laughing, snacking, climbing, perusing cookbooks (he likes Cooking with Salsa), cuddling, and talking about babies and dogs and the seasons as they change.  8 months of bedrest may seem interminable, but we’ve gotten through the first 5 and have only 3 to go.  Yay, us!