For Jill and her little Miss...

This is how Liam and I play the days away...

Music time:

Everyday I do something that involves music with Liam. We sing all kinds of songs, listen to a cd or make music of our own. We bought bells and a maraca for Liam, it has been fun, he went from holding the instruments(0-4months), to putting them in his mouth(4-6months), to shaking them (7+ months).....he is very proud of the" music" he makes!

Reading/Rhyme time:

We go to the library once a week and stock up on all kinds of books. We read everyday. I often get stories about activities we may be doing during the week (ex. on Thursdays are "animal days" I take Liam to see some kind of animal....if I know I am going to take him to the local farm...I grab all the farm animal story books I can and we try to learn the animals and their sounds.)

When i read, I use my finger to fallow along the words in front of Liam. A literary professor told me it helps them understand words, reading, and focusing.....I have no idea if that is true ....I figure what the heck! He does often fallow my finger with his eyes....so who knows, maybe it does work!

Some days, Liam is not into being still for long story time periods. On these days, we just practice turning book pages together and then do rhymes. I have acquired some fun little rhyming games that we play nearly everyday. The fallowing is an example of one of our rhymes;

come climb upon my knee Liam and take a horsey ride with me...
Gidy up, gidy up ride to town

Gidy up, up!

Gidy up, down!

Gidy up, gidy up go!

Gidy up, gidy up, whooow....!!!

(* we do actions along with the rhyme....I use my knee as the horse!)

Nakie time:

Daddy time: We are not fans of diaper rash. In efforts to keep it at bay, we let the little man get some air. He loves it....feels very free! ( never once have had diaper rash problem, so though you risk a pee pee accident, and yes, they have happened once or twice, i think it is worth it!)

Spanish time:

We bought an inexpensive stack of inexpensive stack of flash cards that have English on 1 side and Spanish on the other. I pick 1 or 2 cards to work on each week. A couple times a week, we find the object on the card around our house and practice the Spanish word ( this mostly helps me learn some Spanish, but also helps train me to be in the habit of using Spanish words as much as possible with Liam. We want him to have a good understanding of the Language. Also, each day we sing the alphabet and count in Spanish! When Adam is with Liam, he tries to speak with him in Spanish as much a possible and they read stories in Spanish together. Once a week, I let Liam watch a baby Einstein ( Film Fridays! that way I can fold my Laundry.) I usually put the film on in Spanish. Who knows if it will work.....but at least we are trying ......right??!

Swing time:

Swinging everyday, outside is a must. We swing at home, the park, really where ever we possibly can! Liam loves to swing! ( somedays we swing inside.....but that is mostly so I can make dinner or go potty!)

Mommy love time:

I spend un- interrupted time with Liam where I tell him how much I love him, count his little fingers and toes, take notice at all the small things about him. I also, day dream and talk to him about life, my aspirations as a mother, my dreams for him and for our family, and listen to all the his cute noises he makes. I have this time with Liam each day, in efforts for me to get in the habit of taking time each day to talk with my children and LISTEN to my children. Plus the days are going by so quickly, I want to remember everything just EVERYTHING about Liam, so this helps me log memories deep in my brain!

Massage time:

This is always at the end of the day, before bed. I use coconut oil and give him a good rub down. There are so many positive health benefits associated with massage, we never go a single day with out a good rub down! It is also, nice to help make that transition from day time to night/ bedtime!

Nature time:

We get outside as often as possible. Whether is it out for a walk, sprawling out a blanket and blowing bubbles, or simply looking for and listening for birds. We really do not care what we are doing, we just love being outside!

Family time:

This is our time together as a "trio." Adam and I use this time to dote over Liam together. It may only be a few minutes a day, but we want Liam to remember in his earliest memories we always spend time together as a family!

Social/Play date time:

I find a way each week or a couple times a week, to get Liam around other children. He LOVES children, esp. older children. I take him 1x a week to a mommy and me lap time class with other children his age. Most weeks we walk the horse trail with some of Liam's friends from his library class. Other times, Liam and I go to the park and People watch.

Alone time:

Everyday, Liam has 15-20 minutes where he plays in his crib on his own with toys. I do this so Liam learns how to entertain himself, and also, so Liam can creatively decide how he thinks a toy should be played with as opposed to me always showing him what to do with a toy. I make the room very bright, remove all blankets and binkies ( so Liam does not think it is time for him to sleep.) I love spying on Liam during this time....he is so funny and plays very well. I started with just a few minutes of alone time each week until we have worked up to 15-20 minutes.

Water time:

At least once a week I try to do some water related activity with Liam. when He was smaller I would put his feet in a bowl of warm water and show him how to splash. Or I would let him put his hands in the water. Now, he has a little pool that he splashes around in or he gets to have a bowl of water while sitting in his little pool (empty) and Liam decides what he wants to do with that huge bowl of water!

Well Jill, there it is in all it's crazy glory.....Now, I combine a lot of these actives ie. for mommy love time we will go outside and spread out a blanket. Each day is different with things we do. I just try to schedule some "constants" and plan activities around accordingly. My constants are 1.service on Mondays
2. Library/ lap class Tuesday
3. water activity on Wednesday
4. Animal day on Thursday ( I bought a year pass to the zoo! other times we do something as simple as visit a pet shop)
5. Film Friday
6.Go with the flow Saturday( usually spend a decent amount of time outside.)
7. Church/ lots of family time Sunday ( we often all get in bed together after church and watch a little movie or just play around.)
I figure Liam is just a sponge and craving learning opportunities....so I do try to get out of the house, or play as often as our life permits. I plug in activities whenever we have a gap in our time. Generally, the reading time and alone times are the same everyday.

I also, do the majority of cleaning a cooking with Liam ( with in safe measure) as I feel like it is every much a learning/ bonding opportunity as the zoo. Liam loves to vacuum with me, the other day he was so bothered when I was vacuuming with out him on my hip! I always am looking for new ideas if you have any PLEASE send them my way!