Fairly New SAHM...Need Some Ideas for 11 Month Old!

[TwinGirlyMama]

Hi! I am a fairly new SAHM...well, depending on how you define "fairly new" :) We adopted our twin girls in September so I have been home with them for about 4 and a half months. I feel like I am finally getting them on a fairly good eating/sleeping schedule. But its time to include myself, DH and the maintaining of the home into that schedule too.

We brought them home when they were 6 months old so they are now nearing 11 months in age. I feel like I ought to be doing something more actively involved with them than watching them play with their toys (I play with them some...like peek a boo, singing songs, and reading books). They are still putting everything in their mouth so I am not sure what is safe for them. We live in Fairbanks, Alaska and it is currently -30 degrees outside, so outdoor activities are kind of out of the question for the next few months :)

I want to be active with my girls starting early and have fun...I'm just a little lost as to how I should start that. Any advice would be appreciated.

[CherryBombMama]

Congratulations on your girls, they look adorable!

What you are doing sound pretty good to me, since that is pretty much all that babies want to do at that age.  When I felt like I needed to get something done, I usually modified it for each ds.  Say I needed to do the dishes, I would plop the baby down on the floor with a unbreakable bowl filled with a little water, on top of a towel, and let him play.  After a while, things got added into the bowl, like a small cup or water safe toy or dish soap.  On days that I was brave I threw pasta or flour in there, which they loved, but that usually meant there would be a huge cleanup, but that was also another "activity" for the boys - I would give them a spray bottle and wash rags and let them "help."  Mostly they just drank water from the spray bottle and chewed on the rag lol. 

When I needed to fold laundry, that meant the boys got to sit in the baskets. Sometimes I would throw blankets on top, and they would play peek a boo, or I would throw legos in there, or a pillow.  That was always fun. 

When I needed to cook, I usually put a bowl of something edible but not their usual food that they would love to put in their mouth, like uncooked pasta or rice or oatmeal.  Add some spoons and other bowls and there is a awesome, quiet activity for 30 minutes. They loved having a cupcake pan to put these things into. And then again, another clean up they could "help" with.  (edit - I am sure this probably isn't super safe. I always kept an eye on them and since my boys are 16 months apart, the older one would always chew things then eat it and the younger would mostly put the uncooked food in his mouth just to spit it out. )

My house was always being destroyed, but it sure helped the day pass by and made me feel like I accomplished something while letting them play.  

I believe babies learn best when doing what mama would be normally doing, only modified a bit for their attention span and safety. :)

[bookwise]

cherrybombmama, thanks so much for these ideas - i have an almost 10 month old, first baby, and am also wondering at times what i'm forgetting to try with her .. we only have a bumbo for now in the kitchen, which she'll sit in to eat, but once she's done, she pulls off the tray and then i don't know what to do with her when i need to be in the kitchen a bit longer. i gotta say, my kitchen floor is *much* cleaner now than it used to be since i feel so bad letting her crawl around on a dirty floor while i'm cooking/washing dishes. i love love the idea of a little water in a bowl - definitely going to try that.

twingirlymama, i only have one and she's a bit younger, but here's what i do, if it helps at all: i look to see what she most recently developed and strengthen it as much as i can. for example, she's standing more and more confidently, so we play standing peek-a-boo (i'm sitting on the bed, she's standing at the foot of the bed, she squats and then stands and i say peek-a-boo, over and over and over), or she started pointing a few days ago, so we point at all kinds of things togehter, or if she points at something, we go over and touch it and i describe it, we point at each other a lot and we'll touch index fingers which makes her laugh like crazy, etc. also we've started learning how to crawl on and off low furniture safely, which she is very proud to do. oh! and recently she discovered echos - so we'll often find corners of various rooms/spaces that make particularly good echoes and just shout out. she loooves that - and i love it because i can be on my laptop while she makes silly yells and listens for her echo. ;)

[tracyamber]

you all have some great ideas. i love the water in the bowl... my son is 10 months old. i let him help me with the newly dried clothes out of the dryer(this means i dump them on the floor and he rolls and rubs the clothes on his face. i put him in his high chair when i really need to cook and give him those organic kale rice treats..which are awesome for his fine motor skills(thumb and forefinger) he loves putting them in his mouth. half of them end up on the floor. umm, we play chase. he loves to run away from me especially when i have taken off his diaper and i am trying to get another on him. i open my bottom drawer of my dresser and he likes to pull all of my yoga pants onto the floor. he likes it when i open the closet door because there is a mirror. he gets to check himself out and he just laughs and sometimes kisses himself. he so cute my baby. umm,oh and i straighten his books on the couch 5 times a day and he loves to crawl over to the couch then pull himself up to a stand then pull every single book off onto the floor. i pretend to be slightly annoyed when he does it so he thinks he's not suppose to pull the books down. this makes him want to do it even more. little does he know i have it all planned out lol.

 tre