Activities for Busy Bees

Once your child starts to walk (or even crawl for that matter), there begins his desire to explore and experiment the entire world around him. For the physically independent busy body every single thing becomes an object of interest; right from the tiniest spec of dirt on the floor to the mightiest piece of furniture. I am totally awed with how much toddlers appreciate even the most trivial of things (read forcefully made trivial by the so called adults)...For example to see the bubbles that are formed while filling a bucket of water, to see the way a ball bounces as you throw it, to feel the texture of sand, to walk in a puddle of (dirty) water, to gaze at the starry sky and to point the Moon and different stars... the list is endless...
How I wish I could see the world through a toddler's eyes, how beautiful would the world be, how genuine would my happiness and laughter be...

SIGH! Now back to reality. Having a toddler at home and to match their energy levels is no joke and to be as enthusiastic as the little ones is to be on our toes all the time...LITERALLY! As parents, we run out of ideas to keep our ever bubbly toddlers engaged. Here are some ideas that you and your toddler can enjoy doing.

1. Reading books
Grab those bright colored picture books and read them to your toddlers. It could be very difficult to gain their attention initially, but once you read to them everyday they will start to enjoy it so much that don't be surprised if they make you read on and on and on. Besides, at least you get to sit down for a while and give those achy legs and back of yours some rest :-)

2. Sing-along time
Sing some nursery rhymes (just not English, try some in your native language too!) with a lot of actions and animation. Not only will it grab their attention and make them stay focused for a wee bit of time but they will get to learn some nursery rhymes in the process too. Try some Sa-Re-Ga-Ma too, if you can!!

3. Laundry
Oh yes! Make your toddler bring the clothes from the laundry basket and load your washer. You have no idea how happy and grown-up the little ones feel when you involve them in house hold chores! You can also let them fetch you clothes one by one as you hang them up in the cloth liner. Teach them counting in the process :-). Yes, and do take their help in folding fresh laundry. I also encourage my daughter to sort the folded clothes. And believe me, they hit the bull's eye most of the times (Beware, at times you might end up folding the clothes all over again if you don't put the clothes back in the closet at once).

4. Catch me if you can
Just run around randomly and let your toddler catch you to start with. The fun begins when you let your toddler run and you pretend to catch her and tickle her. Believe me, this activity will have your little one (and you too) in splits. But, do make sure the area that you run around is child-proof and not slippery. An accident is the last thing we would want in the fun time, right?

5. Stroll
Take your little one out for a stroll. Make up your mind, the whole idea of this stroll is just to let your kid dawdle, never have an agenda for yourself during that time. Let him touch the dead leaves/flowers, observe the butterflies fly around, jump on the puddle of water or anything (safe) that he wants to do.

6. Move your body
Play a peppy dance number and bring out the dancer in you and your child(ren). After all, isn't it a good work out even for us adults? Sometimes, my daughter and I also get to do some stretch exercises. She is so amused to see me do my neck and hand stretches! (He he...!)

7. Bouncing the ball
Who doesn't like playing with the ball?? Throw the ball/ kick the ball/ run-around with the ball... Playing with the ball instills concentration and focus with a lot of fun factor. Don't you think so?

8. Art time
Take some crayons or oil pastels (preferably non-toxic ones) and let your tiny tot do some random strokes with different hues on a notebook. It is a great platform to learn colors and to improve her fine motor skills. Caution: This activity should be strictly done under adult supervision. Unless you want a modern art on your wall/floor or worse a tattoo on their body :-) Also, the colors could be a choking hazard/toxic for kids.

9. Clean up
Towards the end of the day, see if you can take their help in cleaning their toys and books. Even if they bring just one toy of theirs to you, appreciate them. It will motivate them to clean up. But NEVER EVER expect them to clean up when they are tired/hungry. You will find the place to be messier than how it was a few minutes ago.

If you have any ideas please do share it!

Fighting Constipation

Once we become parents I am staggered with how much we start to appreciate basic bodily functions...from the REPULSIVE poop it becomes HOORAY poop!!  When children start to eat solids, they sometimes face a parent's worst nightmare; Constipation. As a parent our heart goes out to see our little baby struggle to get her stools out. Especially to see her tender face turn from baby pink to beetroot red only to see the waste matter play peekaboo! After an effort of hours and perhaps even a day or two, it is such a relief to see your baby have her bowel movement. With intelligent diet modifications, constipation can very well be prevented. These ideas have worked out well for my daughter. Hope they help you too.

1. Water

Check if your baby drinks enough water. Try feeding her few spoons of water after every meal or in between meals. If she drinks water in a sipper, keep the sipper in her view. So that, in case she gets thirsty, she can point the sipper to you or reach it herself. (Yes, but do remember to have an eye on her as she drinks water). Keeping your baby hydrated is very important especially during summers. 

2. Fruit Juices

Give your baby about 100 ml of fresh orange/sweet-lime juice (sans sugar that is) everyday. It is advised not to give your children any form of sugar that includes honey/jaggery/brown sugar/palm sugar until they turn one. Fruits like oranges/sweet-limes have good amounts of fiber that help in pushing the bowel out.

3. Fruits
Give at least a serving of fruits everyday. You can give her any fruit; apple/banana/pear in whatever form she likes. If your baby has just started to eat solids, it is a good idea to cook apple/pear and mash it well without lumps before feeding her. Always feed your baby fully ripe bananas (bananas that have black dots all over).

4. Vegetables
Vegetables are an important part of a child's diet. Mash the cooked carrots/beans/potatoes/any vegetable and give your baby at least two servings of veggies. Once your child is ready to eat finger foods, he will appreciate to eat those tiny pieces of cooked veggies all by himself.

Vegetables and fruits are not only rich in fiber but have good amount of required vitamins and minerals. Also, the sooner you introduce veggies/fruits the more the children will take to it.

5. Whole grains/Cereals
It is advised by many pediatricians to feed children whole grain/cereals cooked at home than to give them processed food. So include locally grown whole grains/cereals like Ragi, Broken wheat, Rice, Oats, Millets in the menu. Be creative, give your kids Porridge/Upma/Dosa/ or even cookies made out of them.

Ensure that after introducing solids children have a bowel movement everyday (most of the days, that is...they could have off days too!). If they haven't had a bowel movement for more than 24 hours, then give him more water/juice. Also, giving him 3-4 teaspoons of Prune puree does ease constipation.  I also give my daughter an extra helping of Oats porridge and it has always worked.

After all, as the old adage goes "You are what you eat"!! So inculcating good food habits right from childhood goes a long way in bringing up responsible adults.
Also, please feel free to share remedies that have worked for your kids!

Break ke baad!!

You know that I published my last post in November. Really, has it been that long since I wrote a post. What have I been doing all this while? Come on, most of you know the answer, don't you? I have a TODDLER at home. Well, is that the answer?

Then you might wonder what I do when she takes her nap. Yes, she does sleep for an hour or so and I completely have my ME time...totally. I ensure that I don't enter the kitchen or do the endless house hold chores or even pick the phone up when she sleeps. I have the entire time to MYSELF. Then, what is it that I have been doing? Reading books, Perhaps...Yup, I don't deny it, only when the book has been a page turner. Besides, I do most of the reading when I nurse/put my DD to sleep. In retrospect, I find that I have spent most of my precious ME time, doing-nothing, a.k.a social networking. How very wasteful can that be??

Now most of you might disagree with me instantly. I'm not surprised. Don't we catch up with our family/friends/acquaintances/colleagues? I don't deny it. We get to read what our friend fixed for that romantic dinner night with those mouth-watering pictures...Aww....How sweet can that get??? We also get to see the vacation hot spots of a long lost school friend...OMG!OMG! Did you really go there? How lucky...Then, our dear colleague flaunting her newly acquired size-zero shape in that gorgeous dress...At least, this is a little motivating (to shed our ever "cushiony" flab). Right? 

Sometimes (read most often) these social networking sites act as a platform for some juicy gossip. How many times have we been interested to know what our friend's friend or friend's friend's friend is up to? The list is never ending. Also, the more attention "networking sites" get from us, the more addictive we become to it. Vicious...very very vicious...I agree that humans are fundamentally curious living beings, but then, is so much curiosity essential?? Curiosity that takes away our invaluable time, resource and most important of all peace of mind. Misplaced curiosity, yes that is how it is called.  

As the adage goes, better late than never...I have decided not to dwell on these social networking sites. Of course, I would log in but never reside on it for too long. I only hope I am able to keep up the vow and so in turn I hope to blog more. 

There I see two little groggy eyes stare at me... My ME time is up for the day :-))