What about Little Brother?
About a month ago, I asked Facebook readers what they would like to see more of on the blog. Many of you said you would like to see more activities for younger children. I haven’t ignored your requests, I just haven’t been able to come up with anything new and creative for the wee ones. Because of this, I thought I would share some “activities” we do with Little Brother (14 months) in each area of development.
Language Development: Read everyday…as much as your child will let you! I have noticed a big difference in the language development of both boys. Big Brother was a talker…he talked early and often. Little Brother doesn’t have as much of a desire to talk. He only says a few words. Part of this could be because I haven’t read nearly as much to him as I did to Big Brother. We have really kicked our rears in high gear these last few months and are making a conscious effort to read as much as Little Brother will allow. Go here for more information on reading to your baby.
I also try to talk about the events of our day…what we are doing, where we are going, who we will be seeing, etc. This is especially important if you have only one child. Big Brother talks so much it is difficult to get a word in!
Little Brother’s two favorite books right now are:
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| He does the cutest little pig snort I’ve ever heard when we read this book! |
Cognitive Development: Babies around 12 months of age are just entering the “dump and fill” stage. They don’t really want to “play” with the toys, they just want to dump them out of a container, fill it back up, and repeat. As annoying as this is, it is a natural stage of development. We’re embracing the fact that the blocks don’t really get used to build anything…they just get dumped out all over the floor.
Little Brother’s favorite “toy” right now is this clothespin drop I made around his first birthday. He loves it! He also loves to open and shut cabinet doors, so we have a few in our kitchen that are “Little Brother proof” without latches.
Social/Emotional Development: Little Brother has a big brother. Socialization is not an issue in our house. We have daily battles that include sharing, taking toys/food away, tackling, and sweet-but-a-bit-violent kisses. ;) All of these “issues” make me want to pull my hair out most days…but I also understand that learning to socialize is a necessary part of development.
We are working on taking turns with toys (which is a challenge for both boys) and giving gentle pats.
And Little Brother just learned how to throw himself on the floor this week when he doesn’t get his way. Oh, how I love this phase of autonomy (said very sarcastically)!
Gross Motor Development: Little Brother is walking super well…in fact he is just about starting to run! He especially loves push toys and to climb on furniture! I don’t really have to do anything to encourage him in this area of development. If I had to label one area as his “strength”…gross motor would definitely be it!
This last week, we have been working on kicking and throwing balls…both of which Little Brother has taken a liking to!
Fine Motor Development: Little Brother eats mostly fingerfoods now. Any activity where a child uses his/her thumb and pointer finger to pick up or pull is wonderful for increasing fine motor control at this age!
He also enjoys pulling fabric out of wipes containers. We tried coloring for the first time this past week and he loved it!
Self-Help/Adaptive Development: Little Brother is down to getting 2 bottles (of whole milk) a day. I know he really should not have any bottles right now and only take a sippy cup…but I’m not quite ready for that (plus he doesn’t drink very much from the sippy cup and I’m worried about him not getting enough fluids). He does hold his own bottle now, but still wants to be held when he gets it. I, of course, love any cuddle time I can get with this busy boy! We’ll probably drop one more bottle in the next few weeks and then the last one (the nighttime bottle) within a few months.
He still has his paci as well, something that I know we need to rid him of. It’s harder for me this time around to “take away” these comforts because I know just how fast time flies and how fast they grow up…and I just want Little Brother to stay a baby forever (well, not really…but you know what I mean). But the day is drawing near…the dentist told us we needed to start weaning him off of it very soon!
Spiritual & Moral Development: It’s never too early to start teaching your child about God! We read a Bible story every night and love to sing “Bible” songs (“How I Love to Pat My Bible”, “The B-I-B-L-E”, “The Bible, The Bible, We love the Bible”). Little Brother loves to pat his Bible and “love” his Bible (by cradling up to his cheek).
We also have been working really hard at getting Big Brother to fold his hands (and not eat) as we pray. This is difficult as he will fold them for the first 2 seconds and then go right back to eating. We don’t want to make “prayer time” negative by creating battles over this. In time, he will catch on to what he is supposed to be doing.
Our babes are about the same age (we have the same firetruck, btw!). Mine loves music. He'll try to dance and even tries to say some letters in the alphabet song, including "elmo p". We have a recorder, drums,guitar, and keyboard that we let him experiment with. He loves it.
As I was reading this there were so many times that I wanted to shout "Me too!". I have a 2.5 year old and a 7month old. We read all the time to our first one and that was definitely part of a routine early on for him for bedtime. Our second child is so easy going comparatively so we haven't felt the same stress about making sure that things are exactly the same for him (probably has nothing to do with the fact that we have done this before so we are more comfortable, huh?). So, we also have not done nearly the reading that we did before. I also am having a hard time with our littlest growing up…I didn't introduce solids until after 5 months, still haven't introduced a sippy cup or juice. Because I know that we are not going to have any more, it is just hard to see him growing up. I am also fortunate to have taken the whole school year off of teaching to be with them so I am certainly in a different frame of mind this time around. Anyways, it was reassuring to me while reading your post that I am not the only one out there experiencing some of this. Thanks for always posting with honesty and integrity. It is appreciated!
I was just thinking the same thing about our 11 month old. I read to our 3 year old all the time. He could sit for an hour or more and listen to books. Our little brother hears me reading to big brother, but lately I've been thinking it's probably not the same and I need to make myself read some books at the little guy's level. It's hard to move from long stories back to animal sounds! I always swore to raise all mine like first children (with individual time for each), but I can see that maybe that's not possible.
something I do with my 18 mo son is put legos together so he can take them apart. He loves it. Probably occupied him for a full 20 minutes yesterday.
Don't worry too much about the pacifier! I don't know what world your dentist lives in but in the real world they really are ok until about 2 unless it's causing serious damage.
Love the idea, thanks! My little guy was born Nov 11, 2009 so we are in the very same age range as your little brother.
That is one adorable little boy with a precious smile. I love how intentional you are about your activities. I play and read all day with my little girl (20 months) but I don't do many activities on purpose yet. I need to start working on that!
My little guy doesn't talk much either, though my daughter talks non-stop. We read to them the same amount (as much as the boy will stand – he doesn't like to sit still!), so I attribute his not talking to the fact that Big Sister will let us know everything he wants and needs. My son is now 22 months old though and has begun talking up a storm (he didn't hardly at all at 14 months)- yours probably will too!
And I get the prayer thing – we've started holding hands at prayer time to encourage a family prayer, and discourage eating during prayer. Now we're just working on not talking while someone else is praying! :)
I've been making a conscious effort to do reading time alone with my baby (16 months) and to include him in more of the art projects I do with my 3 year old. He loves to color (washable crayons!) and play in the rice box. I am still getting used to the sensory tub idea. I'm having a hard time with the mess. We also tried kool-aid playdough and edible finger painting recently with great success.
http://www.mommysavers.com/2011/02/homemade-kool-aid-playdough/
http://www.mommysavers.com/2011/02/kids-craft-edible-finger-paint/