How to keep them entertained...

We live in Minnesota and it's too cold to be outside with the girls. How can I keep them and myself from getting bored? We read books, do some shopping, they play in their exersaucers and jumperoo in the morning, I let them watch 20 minutes of Baby Einstein...what am I missing? Neither of them are crawling yet, which makes it hard for them to entertain themselves. I need some ideas!

Thanks

 

We live in Minnesota and it's too cold to be outside with the girls. How can I keep them and myself from getting bored? We read books, do some shopping, they play in their exersaucers and jumperoo in the morning, I let them watch 20 minutes of Baby Einstein...what am I missing? Neither of them are crawling yet, which makes it hard for them to entertain themselves. I need some ideas!

Thanks

 

I'm interested in hearing these responses as well. We have a similar routine but have never tried Baby Einstein. And with cold/flu/RSV season here, our outings will decrease, I'm sure.
When the crawling starts I can tell you it gets a little more interesting and time flies chasing them around.
As for activities, I'm at a loss as well.

We rotate the jumperoo, excersaucer, time in the highchair with new toys- tupperware they haven't seen is very exciting, so are measuring cups. The babies love to sit in their highchairs turned to face out the kitchen window while they play.

 

I'm curious to see the answers to this one too. My girls don't like to be left together to play, they always want someone in there to keep them entertained. I'm hoping that once they crawl and get some of their new Christmas toys they'll be able to entertain themselves/each other better.

We don't go out either, due to it being cold/flu season. I went to the mall on Sunday while they stayed home with DH and I walked past that play area. There were so many kids there - a virtual germ haven I am sure!!

 

Some of the things I have done requires much more work, but it keeps us all busy. I cart the saucers or turn the swings around so they can watch me when I cook, fold laundry, clean, etc. I will give them a sock or spoon or whatever fits with what I am doing at the time. Fortunately, I don't have to do too much entertaining this time since my 2,4, and 6 year olds are pretty on top of that.

 

I put a Bumbo next to my sewing machine yesterday and had one of my girls watching me while the other was still napping. She was *very* entertained LOL!

This probably isn't any help but most days I try to rotate them between the exersaucer, playmat, swing and the crib with the mobile and aquarium crib toy. i'll haul out the toy basket and pull out a few and rotate them too. Sometimes I just put them on the floor together with some and let them entertain each other by stealing whatever the other one has in her hands LOL!

If it isn't terribly cold or snowy I'd go ahead and bundle them up in their stroller and go for a walk. There are some really warm stroller blankets out there that would be really easy to get them in and out of.

Oh, they are both fascinated when I do physical tehrapy for my shoulder. It involves a lot of slow up-down with my arms and they watch me with rapt attention!

When he was little my son loved playing with a laundry basket. Not one of the tall hamper kind, just a plain old short plastic basket. He liked sitting in it, pulling it over himself, turning it over and pulling up on it, all kinds of stuff.

When all else fails we do "hydro-therapy" aka - a bath in the kitchen sink. I'll set the other baby up in her highchair to watch. They love when I leave the faucet on a trickle so they can "grab" it.

Hope some of this help! I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone has some ideas we haven't tried yet.

 

Do the things you need to do. Like the dishwasher and put them in their feeding seats with a few toys and talk them through what you are doing. Or prop them up so they can see you sorting laundry and putting it away....

They are constantly learning about each new thing they see and your talking to them through it will help them learn language and keep them occupied and you'll get chores done!

 

what are some of the best cold weather stroller blankets? i have bundle me blankets for both of my girls, but they are going to grow out of them soon....thanks!....aira

 

My babies really like baby Einstein also, a friend got us the whole dvd collection as a shower gift!

 

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm a first time mom, so why not ask, huh?! Is it okay to leave them playing by themselves for a long time, like an hour, if they're both totally content? Josie sits really well by herself, and Bella sits in her Bumbo, and they play together nicely for long periods of time. Like in the morning, they're done eating and are dressed usually by 7:30. Sometimes they'll sit and play with each other until it's naptime, usually around 8:30 or 8:45. Is it okay to let them sit there by themselves for that long?

 

As a mom of 4 my school of thought is: If it's not broke, don't fix it!
If they like that, I wouldn't worry. Of course I would check on them but my DD is similar, not so much playing with brother but she self-entertains. She coud sit/lay & play for a while and I let her. She gets plenty of cuddle time throughout the day.
That's good that they play that way. I can't leave my babies alone together safely because they treat each other like a toy. DS will crawl over DD to get to a toy just becasue it's the quickest route. Or DD will take DS's paci or fiddle with his ear, etc.

 

I give them tupperware and that seems to keep them happy longer than their toys. Go figure. For Christmas I should just wrap empty boxes.

 

I totally understand what you are dealing with! We have swings in front of the TV and they watch cartoons. They do this in the morning and only when needed the rest of the day. We have bouncers in our workout room, rocking chairs in our bedroom and tummy time toys in their cribs. I try to rotate them after each feeding to do something different. Hope this helps!

 

quote:
Originally posted by doubledownmom:
what are some of the best cold weather stroller blankets? i have bundle me blankets for both of my girls, but they are going to grow out of them soon....thanks!....aira


None of the bigger, thicker ones are cheap unfortunately. Brooks Pond Buggy Blanket is nice, 7AM Igloo's are nice too and they have some in their outlet onine. http://www.7amenfant.com