Thursday, June 28, 2012

Indoor and Outdoor Fun

My previous post touched on how I discovered about the magical three hours a toddler needs daily, in the form of physical activities. This post is mainly about the activities I do with Blake on a regular basis, adding new activities along the way when I discover them.

Indoor Activities

Some of the activities Blake and I enjoy doing are playing hide and seek (he will hide, and I will seek), allowing him to climb up and down furniture, dancing to some of my favourite tunes, and running around the house playing catching.



But our favourite activity of all time has got to be water play! Be it a bubble bath, or just water on its own, it’s a sure hit for both Blake and me J

We bought a mini pool from Toys’R’Us, and some bath toys to make water play at home fun! The mini pool is super awesome for use on rainy days. Blake can have water play, rain or shine! Whenever we have water play, or bubble baths, I will bring in my ipod and speakers to up the level of fun with all the songs I can sing along to. Hehe.



 


Every once in a while, I will also like to pick Blake up and put him on the sofa and start tickling him. Making him laugh wastes energy, and it’s super fun too! Haha.

Outdoor Activities

When it comes to outdoor play for Blake, sky’s the limit!

What we do on a regular basis is to bring him out without a stroller, and make him walk most of the way on his own. Not only will Blake be able to get all the walking and exercise he needs, we also have one less big bulky item to bring out! We take public transport (especially the bus) everywhere we go, so this was a HUGE load off our back J On top of that, we don’t have to rely, and squeeze with people in the elevators to get from one level to another! Total freedom for all of us!



There is just one tiny problem… If Blake is too tired to walk, he will want to be carried, and might fall asleep. If this happens, I’ll have to carry him everywhere I want to go! And at almost 12kg in weight, that’s quite a load! Luckily, we still bring the baby carrier (we’re using Babybjorn Synergy, by the way) so there is some comfort there.

Another one of our favourite outdoor activities to do is swimming! I try to bring Blake to the swimming pool at least once a week. He started out being really afraid of huge water bodies (read all about it here). It took me months, after we stopped going for about a year, to get him to fall in love with swimming pools! And now, whenever he sees a big body of water, he will want to jump into it!


Evidently in love with water, Blake wanted to join the pink dolphins at the Dolphin Lagoon Sentosa for a swim.

Another huge hit for Blake are playgrounds, be it dry or wet. As long as he sees one, he will want to go and have some fun in it. Thankfully, most of the time, I’m able to pull Blake away from playgrounds when we are in a rush to get from one place to another. I do try my best to let him play whenever possible though.



And then there are days where the weather is awesome – cloudy with good winds. These days are great for times to stroll in the park, where Blake will have an endless road to run on! Parks are not something we do pretty often, even though we stay just opposite one. Haha.  We got Blake a tricycle to ride with when we go to the park, but he seems only keen to sit on it at home, and not out. I wonder why! I think I’ll try the tricycle again when we’re bored, and out of ideas to drain his energy. Hehe.



The last on our outdoor activities list (for now) is bubble play!

Blake loves to chase the bubbles, and would go crazy laughing when we start spraying/blowing the bubbles. So much so that the entire ground level will have his laughter ringing throughout!


So these are all the activities I have been doing with Blake for the past few months, only going at it more actively in the last 2 weeks or so, after I read the article.

I even did a test the other day, by not giving Blake at least 3 hours of activities. By evening time, he was cranky and grouchy, refused to eat during dinner, and kept throwing tantrums! The following day, I packed his schedule with non-stop activities, stopping for a nap and meals, and he was very cooperative! I truly, truly am a believer in the three magical hours. Do try it to see if it works on your child!

P.S. Do take note though, if you’re going to the swimming pools or wet playground, do invest in swimmers’ diapers.

P.P.S. all these activities done with Blake also means less time for him to be with his pacifier! I’m sure he will wean off of it soon, on his own! J

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