Your new baby is unique.  Babies come with different personalities, likes and dislikes.  Babies also reach milestones at different times in development.  This is ok, it goes hand & hand with individuality.

Believe it or not, newborn babies communicate from birth and are learning all the time.  For optimum development, babies need physical contact.  How do they communicate?  They give you signals when they are hungry, tired, wet and uncomfortable.  They react by reflex.  They do not know what is happening to them or that they are separate from you.  They cry when they are hungry or tired but do not realize that they are being taken care of.  They are not capable of responding with a conscious purpose, when they cry, it is because they need something, not to get your “attention”.  They feel, they can’t think.  These days go by quickly, enjoy them.  They will be smiling at you by 5-7 weeks old, and they will laugh by about 3 months.

Newborns can hear, even before birth.  Talk to them, play music and sing to them.  They will soon recognize your voice.  While babies can see, they can’t put the images into meaningful shapes.  They are attracted to bright objects and light, primary colors and bold patterns.  The human face is the first thing that they recognize.  Make sure that you look at your baby when you talk to him/her.

At about 7-8 weeks, they discover their voice and begin to make cooing sounds.  They may even hold a conversation with you, by cooing back to you when you speak to them.

Sucking, grasping and startling moves are all reflexes.  But at about 8 weeks, they begin to lift their head during tummy time and they start to kick their legs.  By 3 months, they are watching their hands and feet.  They begin to reach for things.

Play is a child’s work, it is how they learn about the world around them.  And babies do play at an early age.  You should provide toys that stimulate their senses of sight & sound.  When they begin to grasp things, utilize toys that have texture and color.

The best toy for your newborn is you.  Play with them in various ways

1.  Stroke them to find out how they like to be touched.
2.  Speak and sing softly to them and use their name.
3.  Let your baby look at your face and see your facial expressions.
4.  Mimic their facial expressions.
5.  Hold them, hug them & rock them.

As they get older, they begin to see the world around them and need other things to help stimulate them.

Newborn toys: Make sure that any crib toys are well secured and unbreakable.  Soft-bodied dolls and stuffed animals with faces(make sure that there are no parts that can come detached), hand puppets, simple mobiles(out of reach), music.

At about 8 weeks, add board books with colorful pictures(they love sitting on your lap & being read to), rattles ,tethers and squeeze toys that they can hold, wrist or ankle bells.  These are also toys that you can use with your baby.

I know that you are tired, need time to take a shower that lasts more than 2 quick minutes and find time to eat a leisurely meal.  But, before you know it, your baby will be a toddler, the years move much too quickly.  Enjoy the moment.

Here is a link to some of the baby toys that we carry at the store.  http://pinterest.com/samsar1/baby-toys-birth/

{ May 21st, 2013 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments }

We all have these life changing situations, and for the most part they are wonderful.  Yes, I am talking about children.

I was enjoying my lunch at 11:59 AM and at 12:01 PM, I was a new Mom.  At 3:00 PM, Sam & I walked into the adoption agency and Sister M handed Sam this little bundle (He was 2 months old)  and said, “Enjoy holding your son because the minute you hand him over to Sari, you won’t get to hold him for a long time.”  I did share, but it was hard.

Fortunately, I came from a large family and babies were no strangers to me.  I was child #5 out of 7, so I had lots of nieces and nephews.  Sam was a novice, even though he was the oldest of 4 boys, he grew up in a house where Mom did it all.  I will say that Sam did take well to bottle feeding and changing wet diapers, the messy ones were a different story.

I hope to do a series of blogs to give you the highlights of each baby stage and to show you wonderful toys for each age level.  But we must remember, babies love to develop at their own pace, some do things earlier than the books say and some do things later than the books say.  But, as Dr. Bibby used to say, they will all be potty trained by Kindergarten.

 

{ April 30th, 2013 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments }

What is the Halloween Fairy? 

Thanks to someone who shared their fairy with me last year, we can all have a Halloween Fairy.  None of us want the kids eating tons of Trick or Treat Candy, and we don’t want to eat it either.  So, every Halloween night, after the kids get home from Trick or Treating, or parties, or grandma’s, have them sit down & choose 5 or 10 of their favorite pieces of candies.  The rest goes into a bag and outside the front door, waiting for the Halloween Fairy.  Explain to your child that there are so many children that can’t go out on Halloween and the fairy will bring the extra candy to them.  What a great way to get the kids to learn about doing for others that are less fortunate then them.  It is really hard to give away something that you want, so the fairy leaves a lettle something in place of the candy.  It should be something little, but something that helps to make them glad that they were magnanimous.

{ October 9th, 2012 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments }

So many things to do.  Shop, spend some special time with the children, prepare the kids for school, imagine what the house will feel like with the kids gone for the day, maybe stay clean for a few moments, but more important, it will feel quiet & empty for a few days until you get used to the new schedule.

 

They also have to get ready for the new schedule.   Here are some tips to help everybody prepare for the changes.

• Sleep routine.  During the summer,  bedtime is much more flexible.  You want to start getting the kids ready for bed earlier.  Start bedtime 15 minutes earlier for a few days & then another 15 minutes for a few days, by then, hopefully you will be close to school night bedtimes.  Also, start to wake them up on the same schedule so that you get closer to wake up time.
• Before bedtime, have the kids select what they want to wear & lay it out.  this makes for a much smoother morning.  Remember to select the shoes also.
• Once school starts, have them pack their backpacks the night before so that it is just grab & run.

Shopping is so much fun for new shoes & clothes.  Remember, kids like to wear what their friends are wearing.  Only get a few new things, so that they can get the similar items that their friends have.  But, new shoes are always fun!  So are sharp crayons.

{ August 1st, 2012 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments }

We all love toys, that is why we are reading this.  But, besides liking to play with a particular toy, there are reasons why we like it.

• The toy is safe for our children to play with.    I am so glad that I refused to carry Buckyballs.  The Consumer Safety Board just made this annoucement that ordered a halt to sale of Buckyballs magnetic toys on Wednesday, calling them a serious hazard in the panel’s first stop-sale order in 11 years. I refused to ever carry them.
  Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/07/26/cpsc-bans-sale-buckyballs-magnetic-toys-cites-hazard/#ixzz21l24xYcq
• The toy is age appropriate.   Our children are very smart.  They seem to learn things so much sooner because of the wonderful programs available on the internet.  But we must remember, they are children & they need to run, jump, manipulate, create, build.  All necessities to develop mentally, physically and socially.
• The toy engages the child.   The toy encourages open-ended play so that the child spends time playing.
• The toy grows with the child.  I great toy introduces and reinforces age-specific skills and helps the child advance from one developmental stage to the next.  I love The Smart Max Magnetic toy.  Sam & I gave it to the twins.  They stuck magnets on anything they could, now they are making long lines of magnets and balls, also learning that some pieces attract & repel.  Their parents are teaching them to make shapes, they talk about the colors, patterning.  Soon, they will be making bridges & arches.  Age appropriate, starting at 1 yr old.  Age range: endless.
• Is it fun?  If it has all of the above elements, it sure is.

I hope that you have enjoyed this blog.  Please share it and reply to it.  Look for more to come.

{ July 26th, 2012 | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments }