You have it all planned. The feeding, changes and cuddles. Is that it? What do I do when he starts moving?
After the huge initial shock into motherhood I started to get into the swing of things. You make your own little routine with your partner and baby that works well for you. Then all the anxiety came over with the fact I should really be doing things to help his development. Because I led him in his Moses basket near the tv for the first few weeks have I damaged him? Surely not! I did a little research and didn’t overwhelm myself so here’s a few things I did to keep my little Elwood entertained.
A cheap little black and white book. Whilst sat on the toilet having a break I read the book ‘Your baby week by week’ – which I may add is great but also very structured at the same time. It said that at his little tiny state he could see black and white and would love monochrome patterns. So straight away I went to Amazon. There were loads on it! Flash cards, banners, play mats and books. I chose a little fabric book. When it came I didn’t really know what to do with it. I showed it him and he glared and I though ‘Is this actually doing anything?’ I felt awkward doing it, getting nothing back from him. I kept going anyway and as the weeks went on he started reaching out and crunching the pages with his hands. He still at the age of 1 picks it up now and flirts with himself in the little mirror. So I guess it was a good little cheap investment.
Play mat. As he started to be more aware of the world, I needed to actually start moving off the sofa, and do things for myself instead of having a baby attached to me. My mum ordered Elwood a little play mat and it become my best friend. At first he laid there, shouting and crying. But as his vision got clearer and he could control his hands more he loved grabbing the little panda and playing. Before he started rolling I would pop it on the kitchen table and lay him down on it so I could do some dishes or cleaning whilst he was entertained (when I was feeling motivated enough to do so). When he turned 5 month old he grew out of it, I would find him laying the opposite way round or that he had pulled all the toys off. I invested in a bigger one. Again kept him entertained for a few months before he could pull everything off and had a 2 second attention span. He could also pull himself up on it when he sat up and just got annoyed about the dangly things in front of his face.
Jumperoo, now this is a bit of a controversial one. There’s lots of dos and donts when it comes to these to do with the development of their feet and hips. Elwood got his when he was about 6 month old, he was sitting and had great head control (oddly he had this at about 4 weeks old. Lockdown babies aye). They are huge, they are ugly. And at the moment it blocks my full view of the tv but, it keeps him entertained – well kept. Elwood is still tiny so only in the last month has started to fully touch the floor with it. We pop one of them water play mats underneath his feet for more of a sensory play. He is obsessed with the giraffe on there and manages to pull it off every time. Now it’s just a quick place to pop him when I want to hoover or quickly do something. I think he’s grown out of it now and will probably sell it soon but we have had some funny times with him in it.
Books I love books, and I want Elwood to be one of them kids that get excited about a new book coming out. When he was smaller it was easier to sit him down and read to him. Whether he took notice or not I loved to do it. As he’s got bigger I cannot keep him still to do so. Unless it’s a touchy feely book which I am not allowed to touch it only he is. He loves the ‘that’s not my’ books! We have a huge collection as I cannot help myself, nor can auntie Gemma when it comes to buying Childrens books.
Instruments. Me and Jake are quite musical, we both play guitar and I play other instruments and sing too. Music is a huge part of our lives and Elwood loves it too. When he was little we would give him bells to shake. My mum has a music corner for him with lots of instruments to bang. I have this bag of wooden instruments to bang and shake, a recorder and he loves it. Though when I play the recorder he politely takes it off me and hides it. He’s started to get his groove and dances to music on the TV. During his first sleep regression the only way to get him to sleep was to play ‘Is this love’ by Bob Marley. I’m hoping to get a ukulele soon to learn and teach. My goals is to have a piano we can sit and play.
Toys. Now when I was pregnant I was always the one to say I did not want plastic noisy toys in the house. Now my living room is full of them. Anything to keep him entertained and let me drink a warm cuppa. Elwood doesn’t like to play much on his own. Sometimes he does but mostly will want one of us to sit on the floor with him. No matter how many light up fancy toys we do get, he will always go to his little wooden disks and plastic cups. He loves them. Stacks them and will sit banging them for ages. His new favourite thing to do is to hide his toys. It’s super annoying as I still can’t find one of his Toomie eggs and me and Jake spend our evening pulling the TV forward to fish little balls and blocks from the back. He also hides them in between books on his toy trunk.
Tv. Again controversial and again I said whilst pregnant that he wouldn’t be watching lots of TV. He doesn’t watch it much but he loves these YouTube videos with dancing veggies and also Miss Rachel. They allow me to shower, get dressed and have some time to myself to meditate etc. I pop it on on the tablet in his bedroom whilst he’s in his cot with toys and he will sit happily for half an hour. We have CBeebies on in the background sometimes. He only likes the music intros. The only programme he will sit and watch is ‘in the night garden’ which is part of our event b wind down routine. At the end of the day I don’t think there is a right amount of TV to show your children. It’s what works for you. And if it allows you to have that extra 5 minutes head space to yourself or a hot coffee then do it.
Going from little newborn to a baby who wanted entertaining was so hard. Finding myself trapped by not being able to leave him and not letting the house look like a pig sty. I really did not know how to play with a baby and I thought I must be boring him! I’ve learned that it is the simple things he loves and also simply spending time with me. Not looking at my phone not stressing about silly little things. I’ve made it my goal this year to sit and play with him, have fun because he isn’t going to be little for long.
Learning Motherhood 