entertaining babies

How do you entertain little babies?

Seems like since this is my fourth go around I would know what I'm doing by now but I still question if this is enough. lol The babies are now 3mos old. How do you entertain the babies when they're this young? I lay them on the mat and talk to them, sing, move their little legs, do tummy time, and kinda play. I do this a couple times a day. It's usually only five or ten minutes. They're awake more and more though and I can't sit and entertain them the entire time. Sometimes I will sit them in their bouncy seats or on a mat in the room I'm working in and talk to them. If I'm playing with the kids I put them in their seats or on the mat in the room while we're playing. If we're reading I will put on in my lap. They can sit up assisted. I have an old walker with a missing wheel. So basically it's just a seat since it can't roll. I can sit them in that for a few minutes a couple times a day. They love that! I am going to buy them exersaucers after Christmas. Seeing as they are just three months I'm not in a huge hurry. I'd rather wait for Christmas money before buying new ones.

 

My kids went crazy with exersaucer and jumperoo around 3.5-6 months. They still like those but not so crazy anymore. They can play in those for a good 30mins, 2x/day.its nice break for us.

 

Sounds like you are doing great! Everything I would suggest-you are doing! Singing, reading, music, dancing(my kids all loved dancing around with me-and still do!). You could go on walks-whether in the neighborhood, or the store, or the mall-new sights and sounds. My boys enjoyed when we went out to eat-sooo many things to look at. They were relatively well behaved too. But I know you have other kids too. Just talk to them, read to them, tell them about your day. You're doing great!

 

I had two play mats at that age - the kind with toys hanging overhead. I would rotate them on the different mats, and attach different toys with rings. One had a ball on it they could kick, which they really liked. Some of the toys played music if pulled, and they eventually learned to pull them themselves. They continued to like the mats until they could roll over. We also had a jumperoo and an exersaucer that we got around 3.5 months - they loved both of those, too, and that gave me time to eat, make supper, etc. I wish I could contain them like that now - now they won't even stay in their play yard! :laughing:

 

I remember at that age, I would put them on the floor beside each other and I would do push ups over them and give them giant kisses and zurburts and they would go crazy for it!!! You get a little work out in too!

Exersaucers were awesome for them at that age too. I would stuff them with blankets so they wouldn't flop all over the place. Activity mats and just lots of interaction with mommy is what they really want!

 

I loved those gyms that they lay under. I had a baby einstein gym that had those little toys hanging down from it and you could adjust them to lower or higher as they grew. I would lay a blanket on the floor and lay them down and put that under them, visually stimulating for them.

 

We called it circuit training :laughing: . We'd cycle them through jolly jumper, tummy time on the mat, bumbo seat, jumperoo... then it would be feeding/nap time again and we'd start all over when they woke up. Getting out is good too! Mine loved to get in the stroller and look around at everything.

 

I lay them on the play mat together and they watch Baby Einstein DVD's - usually one will give me 30 minutes to clean the kitchen or to do laundry, etc. Then we get in the jumperoos (I have two of the fisher-price rainforest jumperoos) they have a nice high back that supports the head - they play in those side by side and I can get a little more done that way. But I usually have a Baby Einstein DVD on a few times per day (Baby Noah, Baby Doolittle and Baby Bach are great at this age!). Tummy time and practice rolling over are good also, and I always take them for at least one walk per day.