Baby Games For 6-9 Months

Now that my little one is 8 months old we've started to develop other games to play with her. We have expanded on the older games that she played when she was younger (such as eye-spy) and we've introduced a few new ones that I'll cover.

1. Baby's drawer. Give your baby a low drawer in the kitchen, her room, or whatever room you wish. Fill this drawer with toys and fun things for baby. We have a drawer in the kitchen that is full of toys and plastic bowls and spoons. She loves to take things out of this drawer and play with them while we're cooking or just playing. I also encourage her to put things back in the drawer when we're done and once everything is put away we say "All done!".

2. Baby Talk. If you haven't already communicate more with your baby. Talk to them, read to them, repeat what they're saying. A good thing to do to help your baby learn associations is to adapt their speaking to new words. if your baby is 'da' alot associate it with 'do' and 'di'. This way it isn't a large leap to start developing new words and vowels.

3. Where'd it go? A game we play alot is hiding an object under a blanket or towel and having her find it. I always start by showing her the toy. Once she's played with it or looked at it I show her that I put it under the towel. Once she pulls it out I excitedly praise her and we rinse and repeat. She loves this game and it really only took a couple tries before she really became a pro at it.

4. Name the face. Start pointing to objects on your face and naming it for her. Point to your nose and say "that's daddy's nose". Then you can move on to pointing to her nose and saying "Thats baby's nose". As your baby starts to grasp this, start forming it as a question "Where is baby's nose? There it is!". This will build on her communication skills and be educational at the same time.

5. Help me stand. By now I'm sure your baby is pulling up on everything. We are strongly encouraging her to explore and try to walk. As much as I hate seeing her grow up I want her to be curious about the world around her and able to explore it. We stand her up on the coffee table and move objects around the table and praise her when she moves to it. She's gotten this down pat and now we have a hard time keeping up with her.

As always look for new and exciting ways to play with your baby. They're sponges at this stage and we try and throw everything that we can at her to help her develop. Never be afraid to try something different to keep your infant entertained.

Stick around for our next article!

Baby Bath Time

Ah.... Cleanliness..

This is an area that the wife is so much better at than I. Especially when she was younger I just couldn't keep her situated or from sliding around in the tub when she was all soaped up. We had a lifesaver of a bathtub that fit perfectly in our kitchen sink. At first she hated, I mean hated her baths. If you were a neighbor you'd probably would have thought we were murdering her. By about 3 months though she was in love with them. She would kick and splash around in the water like a little fish.

Once she got a little bigger (around June/July) we went swimming with her and did a couple of blow-dunks to get her used to having her head wet. Needless to say she loved that as well and she never took in any water (thank god!). After we felt confident that she could handle it we switched to family shower time. This is something that we still do once a week as a bonding experience with her. We all hop in the shower and give baby a bath. Always making sure the water is cool enough for her but also warm enough to keep her from being cold. At first she didn't know what to think of it. Now, she loves it.

Typically about and hour or two before bedtime we get in the shower and one of us will hold her while the other one washes her from head to toe. She loves to put her head under the water and feel the water on her hands. Most of the time the battle is keeping her from being under the shower for too long.

Some tips on baby bathing though. Wash EVERYTHING. Babies have little folds and crevices that you have to make sure your getting. Also, scented soaps and shampoos for babies are a blessing. Lavender is the best for ours. This knocks her out and calms her down for bedtime. Also, we typically only bath her at most 3 times a week (unless she's gotten into something). Her little skin got so dry when we exceeded this. And last tip; lotion, lotion, lotion. To help keep her skin soft we always put lotion on her after every bath, not to mention who doesn't like a little massage?

Stay tuned for our next article.

Baby Games For 3-6 Months Old

As my little one grows up I'm always looking for new ways to keep her development moving. As a followup to my last post about baby games to play here is a list of some games you can play from 3 to 6 months of age.

1. A piece of glass seperates me from my best friend. around 4 or 5 months she was really looking at things and smiling at things so my wife found out something fun. Find a big mirror that you can stand in front of while holding baby. I would move her close enough until she would catch a glimpse of herself. She would immediately light up and start cooing and giggling. To this day this is our pre-bath routine. As she got older I would change distances to help keep her eyes exercised.

2. Help me name that. An adaptation to the baby eye-spy we played when she was younger was this game. Once she could reach out and touch things I would encourage her to touch things while I named it. Sometimes I think she got it other times she'd look at me and just grin. Again, this is another game we continue to play.

3. I must be butter cause I'm on a roll! Once she was used to being on her belly on the floor I'd get down and play with her. I'd put toys that were just out of her reach and have her try and get them. If she did happen to roll over or get the toy somehow I would get real excited and tell her how good she is and how big she is. As time progressed she loved the excitment I'd give her and she would do it much faster.

4. ABs of steel. She always was trying to sit up and see things when she developed her baby muscles. In an attempt to encourage this and help grow her muscles we would have her hold our fingers as she sat up. At first we had to pull her up to look around. As she got older and stronger she would pull up while holding on. At this point she just sits right up by herself. This helped to encourage her to be curious and to build some core body muscles.

5. If your happy and you know it. Around 3 months we really got into using her arms and legs when we sung songs. We would play 'this little piggy', 'patty cakes', & 'if your happy and you know it'. We would either clap her hands or her feet to the beat and sing to her. At first we got the craziest look. As she learned to like it she would get the biggest grin. Another thing that I would do is play a pop or rock song and have her be my little 'drummer'. I'd sit her on my lap facing away from me and take her hands and have her 'play the drums'. She would giggle and giggle.

We still play a few of the games from when she was younger but alot of them we've adapted to either be more physical, vocal, or visual. Also, make sure you're always talking to your baby. No matter where we are I'm having a conversation with her. Telling her about my day, asking her about hers, or reading things to her. The most entertaining is when we are shopping at the grocery. She loves hearing the nutritional facts of foods. Go figure.

Stay tuned for the next post!

Where Have I Been?

Sorry for the long delay between posts! I've been away from the computer a lot and with my computer being on the fritz as of late it's slowed me down as well. A little blurb about the little one.

She is growing up fast! She's a few weeks over 7 months and she has developed so much. She mumbles da da da da. I'm hopeful it is for my benefit but only time will tell. She's also apparently into the demolition derby. We went to the local fair this month and she had a blast. The loud noises, the crowds cheering, etc. She actually ended up sleeping through part of the show!

Also, she is getting up on her hands and knees and I'm afraid of the day when I'll have to chase her around. I've got some good articles comming up so stay tuned!

A Quick Product Review

I don't have a great amount of time today so I thought I'd drop in another product review.



This little toy was and still is an essential packing piece for my little girls diaper bag. This little thing has been her favorite toy for months. Ever since she could grip the toy she loved to shake it. It was especially entertaining when she was at the age where she would shake it and give it the craziest look I've ever seen. That look that says "Did I just do that?". Now that she's older I'm always packing this away with her other carry along toys to keep her occupied. A definite recommendation for any parent.

Fun & Stimulating Things for You and Baby < 3 Months

As a father I was always on the lookout for some fun but mentally stimulating things for my baby. I looked feverishly online and came across a few that worked for me and I'd like to share them with you.

1. Dancing. During those times when I couldn't get her to be content nothing was more soothing for her (and a workout for dad) than putting on some music and dancing away. Sometimes I would dance to classical other times I'd blast some pop music. Either way she loved the opportunity to be up and looking around and having close contact with daddy.

2. Baby eye spy. Another soothing thing is I would either walk her around the home and show her things (pictures, the stove, plates, colorful things) or sit her down and read her picture books. I doubt she understood any of it but nothing pacified her more and kept daddy sane as I explained things to her.

3. Karaoke. Okay, I'm no American Idol or anything but she got to hear me sing when I would want to play with her. At first it was alot of baby songs. But she's also heard my terrible voice with pop songs and country songs. Either way she didn't seem to mind. Although I think she'll hate it when she's in the car with her girlfriends in a few years.

4. Peak-A-Boo/What's that? A fun game we played alot was a spin on baby eye spy. I'd take objects and if it was soft (like a towel/blanket) I'd run it down her face saying 'peek-a-boo'. If it was a toy or the TV remote I'd hold it out of her peripheral vision and bring around while excitedly yelling 'peek-a-boo'.

5. Baby Daddy time. Although it wasn't a game another soothing thing was to have some baby daddy time. I'd take off my shirt and lay her against me so she could feel my warmth and hear my heartbeat. In times when mommy wasn't available to sooth her this worked best. My pediatrician and other parents told me about this and it worked wonders.

Now that she is older some of these games we still play. With her being a little more active now I can see her learning these games too. Stay tuned for other fun games to play with your 3-6 month old!

Product Review: Graco Stroller & Carseat

This carseat is one that my wife labored over what to by for the longest time. We went from baby store to baby store looking at different companies carseats and strollers. This is one that we finally both agreed on. Mainly because we liked the sturdiness of the stroller and the car seat could be carried by itself, strapped in without a base, use an easy load base, and you could put the carseat in the stroller. The carseat is compatible as well with some of Graco's other bases so if you have to buy a second base (like we did) then it isn't too hard to track one down. The assembly of the stroller wasn't too difficult and it only took a short amount of time. One of the neat features of Graco's seats (and others may have this too) is that there is a strap at the base of the seat that you can use to secure the infant in the seat. Some of the cheaper carseats we looked at it was a pain to loosen the straps enough to remove an infant. The Graco seats on the other hand have a nifty little release lever and you hold that puppy down and pull on the shoulder straps and you can remove your child easily. The carseat is really easy to remove and place into the car base. There is a lever on the back of the seat itself and you just pull the lever and lift the seat out of the base. The stroller is probably my favorite thing about the package. It compacts down to an easy, carriable stroller and you can put this in most trunks. Our daughter is now 6 months and we actually can put her in the stroller without using the carseat and she is secured by shoulder straps, waist straps, and a strap that comes up between the legs. Its got alot of storage for cups, diaper bags, and other accessories you might want to cart around. And it is easy to maneuver around. All in all we're both very happy with this carseat and package and I would recommend it to any parent looking for a good, decently priced seat.