Friday, May 2, 2008

Fun with Baby

Oliver has learned how to be interesting! He no longer just lays about wasting the day away, waiting to be fed and changed. In fact, it is really difficult to get him to lay anywhere for a long amount of time. He wants to be standing, sitting, talking and moving. His favorite games include:

1. Near/Far - I admit I stole this one from a Sesame Street. You remember the skit where Grover ruuuuns up to the screen saying "near!!" and then runs, arms akimbo, away from the screen screaming, "faaaar!" Well, it is a little bit like that but we stand the baby up and lean him close to our face, and then away from our face.

2. Air Toss or Flying Game - We all are familiar with this one. We are certain with enough practice, we can teach our infant to not just crawl and walk, but also fly. To this end, we toss Oliver up above our heads and wiggle him back down. Also, we hold him high above our heads and zoom him around. He is a little rough on the landings still.

3. Fill the Sonic Cup - This is best played in the car. We will be sitting, nursing quietly with the radio playing. Then, Oliver pops off the boob at the exact second that my milk starts really flowing, sending me scrambling for something to hold over my boob. Hence, fill the sonic cup!

4. Diaper Dump - This game can only be played when a new diaper arrives in the mail. First, I pet the diaper and squeeze it. Then, since the baby has already had his daily poop, I try it on him. Much oohing and ahhing commences. The baby immediately poops long, and loudly, ruining any chances I had of picture taking, or reveling in new fluff.
WARNING: Gratuitous Fluff Shot!!



5. Solamente Español - In my efforts to make my son bilingual, I invented this game. It consists of me trying to thread together enough high school Spanish to talk to Oliver about basic things. An example of a conversacíon: "¿Cuantos dedos de pies tienes? Uno, dos, tres etc. ¿Cuantos dedos de manos tienes? Uno, dos, tres, etc. ¿Quien es el niño muy guapo? Tú eras!"
I think this is probably just going to confuse the kid in the long run, but I have fun...and so do any native speakers who overhear.

6. Upchuck on Chuck - This is a very basic sort of a game that only needs two participants, only one needs to be aware that there is a game going on at all. The unaware party plays with Oliver until he is good and shaken up. He then tosses his cookies all over them. This is fun for two reasons. First, the baby feels much better afterwards. Secondly, it makes me feel like a bad mother for having a baby who throws up all the time. Variations of this game include Upchuck on Britt, Upchuck on Gean, and Upchuck on Mama. (Please click on picture for action shot)

1 comment:

Jonathan said...

In response to #5 it reminded me of one of the scenes in Paris Je'taime where a woman sings a song to a baby in Spanish. If you haven't seen the movie I would recommend it.