Day time activities - before crawling or walking

[newmothermary]

When your los are wee little like Devon (15 mos) and all they can do is sit (before crawling soon, I HOPE) and play with their immediate surrounding. Toys and such.
What did you do with them all day? Aside from the obvious stuff like feeding and napping.

She is actually playing with the baby einstein activity centers with the pulleys and a tune like "Old MacDonald" would come on. She is also playing more with the other activity mat and she is exploring not just the toys but the mat that she is sitting on. It ROCKS.
But I'd feel bad if she is in this setting for hrs. I would also do pt stuff like working on rolling, sitting on the ball and "push ups" where she is on 4 pts on the mini ball to build shoulder/arm strength. She doesn't roll. Its like she doesn't care to roll.
I would also put her on her on her on her tummy while she watch Wonder Pets or something. She loves t.v. I would also read to her.

You get the idea... But I feel like I am running out out ideas a little. I wish she was more motivated to crawl. She can't hold the 4 pt. position on her own yet but she is pivoting now on the sitting position. Motivation is a big area that is in need of improvement

Thanks guys, Mary

[zipworth]

-Big bowl of water on a towel with a spoon or a cup
-Go swimming at a pool
-go for a walk to a petstore, park, library, museum, etc.
-a bigbowl of puffed rice cereal with scoops
-Stacking toys
-Let him play with cans of soup
-Let him play with whipped cream
-Toys on a low table to encourage him to 'cruise'
-Books, books, books!! Especially animal books
-old purses
-Juice can lids
-fingerpainting with yogurt or pudding
-Small boxes with toys inside

[sbgrace]

Natalie has some really neat ideas!!
I thought the times when my sons were developmentally wanting to do more but physically unable were the most frustrating. And for them the sitting but not moving/pulling up was one of the harder ones. There just aren't a lot of toys for that time period and you've got it extended.

Is the PT concerned about crawling? Ours wasn't---only he did want Andrew to get up on all fours as a precurser to learning to pull to standing eventually. I know crawling isn't a milestone even (though rolling is...Andrew's weakness too). Have you ever thought of doing horse riding? Andrew loved that, I felt it did worlds of good, and it got us out of the house once a week.

I did and do do a lot of reading. Do you have some books she particularly enjoys? I could make suggestions of what my guys loved at that age if you need new ideas.
I wonder if you could make or buy some type of table so you could do a lot of the things that Natalie suggested with Devon sitting on the floor? I'm thinking like a really sturdy built breakfast tray or breakfast tray type thing. My hubby made stuff like that for me (he's not a woodworker at all so not pretty but that way we could play with height and such). I love all the sensory stuff zipworth mentioned!!
I'll add some but they aren't original: play dough, stacking blocks, coloring with fat crayons, big knob puzzles, shape sorter (which you don't need a table for; you probably already do those),
scooping or playing in those plastic storage boxes full of stuff--you could do rice like mentioned. I also like to do things that include differnet sizes--so rice, different types of beans, etc.
Banging pots and pans or toys with a spoon if she likes noise (put on a CD and you can both do it to music).
Play kitchen stuff (pots, pans, plates, cups were more important than actual pretend food here).
I know it is kind of boy like but I've seen plenty of girls that liked to roll around cars/trucks/trains too.
Singing songs, especially word/motions songs with her might be fun. (itsy bitsy spider; I changed it at that age to loompa doompa spider so I could be more silly--you can imagine the motions there; the ants go marching two by two, old mcdonald had a farm, etc., we played peek a boo and imitation games for a long time--certainly we still were at 15 months doing a lot of baby games)
Oh, I used to play games with them like:
http://www.perrypubliclibrary.org/Ki...s.htm#Bouncing Has a lot. I didn't have this site and primarily used three: Slowly slowly (under tickle time), The riding game (under bouncing; this is a bit different than what i did but similar--I did several bouncing ones but my delayed guy was a big time sensory seeker/proprioceptive so he loved that sort of thing). I did a couple others I can't find on google even the words. I must have made them up. But you get the idea.
There is a book by Becky Bailey called I love you rituals. It has lots of ideas of little things--most of which you could do with her sitting. It might be a rhyme that you do while you make motions that go with it on her hands for example. I imagine you could do a bit of peeking at it on amazon to see if it something that might appeal to her.


You know, I would be happy to think more on this if you gave me some ideas of her interests/likes/dislikes. I know things that appealed to Caleb at that age Andrew was no where near interested in them as he was (is) otherwise developmentally delayed. A lot of what I did with Andrew at that age was joined in whatever it was he was doing--he was pretty repetitive then--so if he was continually making a ball drop off the edge of something I would say wow! or oh oh! every time it dropped. And Caleb would have hated to have his hands messy at that age so some things would have been out for him based on that. I have a lot of ideas now that I wish I would have done with Andrew back then but I think most of those are based on his being on the autism spectrum so probably wouldn't appeal to a typical kid at that developmental age at all.

[MotherWhimsey]

we kind of live in our big red wagon. I have a nice pad in the bottom and we walk and walk and walk... you get the picture. Whenever anyone (including me) starts to loose it, we get in the wagon and just go. Not the most thrilling thing, but it works. It's wonderful.

[newmothermary]

You moms ROCK! Thank you for the BTDT advice!

Rachelle- (I knew I would hear from you : ))
I would love to do hippotherapy but right now w/ pt, ot, st and a special educator I am not sure where to fit it in. BUT, you bet I will bring it up at the next IEP.
I love all the sensory ideas. Some may not apply to Devon since she hasn't the grasp down yet. Though I think she is trying. She has been trying to get at the spoon during feeding time a couple of times.
She is REALLY sensitive in the feet so we are working in desensitizing that b/f any weightbearing is to be done.
But the idea of rice in a big bowl and exposing her to different texture, a sensory gym if you will, is a great start. I will put this together this weekend.
She doesn't like loud noises but loves it when daddy plays the guitar.
She likes things that light up and things that crinkle like paper. When I read to her, she likes to touch the book. She likes to watch t.v and stalking (well, with her eyes anyway for now) our cat. When we talk to her, she will "talk" back. It is mostly an "earh, earh" sound but the ST said it is ACTUALLY babbling and she feels that her communication skills has jumped 2 months in the last mos!

She can't really keep anything in her hand too long and I suspect its a little bit of the sensory stuff and strength due to her low tone.

Love to hear more ideas if you have it.
Also, I have heard about a SIOT, is that different from a regular OT? Devon can benefit SO much from de-sensitizing. She is a mystery really, b/c she can also be UNDERWHELM and look downright passive and blah.

Thanks again, Mary

[lactationlady]

I amso glad you posted this question! Rebekah is very similar to Devon in developement. Rebekah is 17 months and just started rolling around and pushing herself backward on her tummy about 3 weeks ago. She went from just sitting to moving herself around almost overnight. However she still doesn't get far before she tires out. I find that she often seems just bored and it is frustrating for me and for her. I end up just carrying her around much of the time just so she won't screech at me. I will be so, so, so thankful when she can really move and explore. She spends way more time than I would like watching Signing Time & Wiggles. I will be using some of the suggestions here to get us through.

[newmothermary]

Bumping this up for more BTDT advice or anecdotes.

Thanks mamas, Mary