We as parents have been grappling with how to handle one issue we've had with Jacob - we were so excited as our little guy learned to throw balls - but now that he can throw reallllly hard and, at times, just throws things behind his back without looking - and his height means at times what he hits is pretty painful... we tried working with him on just rollllling balls in the house, but he has some really soft balls that we thought "well, he could toss those"... and he's thrown the little, hard balls that came with various toys since he was crawling and could "fetch" them... sigh... so it was becoming a daily "battle" and discipline issue to only roll and not throw balls in the house. I was getting overwhelmed and feeling a bit at my wit's end - we were having meltdowns and felt like way too many "no's!" were coming at our boy (who is, a BOY) daily... so, after he went to bed last night, we talked and had this epiphany - move ALL the balls outside - store them there, play with them there, and make a strong association of balls and throwing balls is an OUTSIDE thing to do! So, after he was up this morning, I did just that! I took one of our big plastic bins with a sealing lid and gathered all his balls, whether soft or hard, and they are now outside. We then spent a great deal of time this morning outside, and he LOVED it. He took them out, threw them, would go get them, ran around... EUREKA! Now... for some fall weather!
After this "success" (at least day 1 ;-) )... Josh had this great idea...he recently got some new Red Wing boots for work through a voucher they give and they come in this great box - Josh was like "I could cut some holes out and we could get some bean bags and he could have a bean bag toss in the house!" Perfect! So, Josh cut it up this morning just before getting ready for work. After he had left for the day... we had a great day of keeping busy... then, the moment! I started going through the fabric bin that Maren gave me with activity bags her MOPS group made - the idea is that your child(ren) only get one of these special activities when you are cooking dinner or on the phone or on the computer - for short periods... So that it is something different than the other toys and activities they have during their day. I've gone through it before and several of the activities were too old for Jacob, though I've been so excited to use it! I decided I needed SOMETHING today as I cooked dinner - so went through it again and found 3 activities (a lacing activity, a ring toss, and the one that made our night...) that really are great for Jacob's age - and one of them was a BEAN BAG TOSS! I had been thinking we'd look at the dollar store or wal-mart to find some bean bags but, as God would have it, no need to spend that money - we already have them!! Thank you Tante Maren!!
I took the shoe box with holes and demonstrated throwing the bean bags in and Jacob LOVED it! He spent quite a while throwing them in and taking them out!! SO, after he was in bed, I wrapped and decorated the box - so excited to have another activity idea that involves some indoor throwing that is safe and has a target!
A little happy Mama moment! :-)
I also have decided to create at least one or two "centers" in the house. One that has been on my mind that I've really wanted for Jacob is a music center. He LOVES music! So, using one of the empty fabric drawers I have, I moved everything that we had that was musical into a spot in the living room. I'm working on coloring an ASL/picture/English word sign from this book to label the area. I want some more musical "instruments", but started getting "Dave Ramsey" creative today - I made a "shaker" with an empty vitamin bottle and brown rice and a "drum" using some plastic dividers I'm not using and some chopsticks (I have like 100 sets, so figured one set as drumsticks is a great plan :-) ).
Our music center!
Jacob's shaker (that I plan to label with some construction paper) and his "drums!
I have felt this desire to have as many activities, learning tools, creative play resources, etc. in place for my boy before his baby sister is born so that we have all that established as part of his days when Mama is having to focus on things like breastfeeding baby Ruth. Plus, it gives us the resources needed as I create some flexible 'scheduling' for our days with things like music time, color time, outside time, art time, etc. I'm excited about how God is leading Josh and me and providing creative insight to what activities and play works for our precious Jacob!
~ Mama Bruffey
Wife of One, Mother of Two
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