I was hoping to post about what we've been doing sooner however better late than never!
Sweetpea 12 months
Sweetpea is now 13 1/2 months but the post will be about when she was 12 months.
One of Sweetpea's favourite things is to take objects out of containers and put them back in. She loves to do this with all of the baskets. I have set up a basket of small Schleich type animals for her to play with while she is on the potty. She loves to take them all out and then put them back in or transfer them into another container. Although it does seem that she likes to stop the process when everything is out : )
One activity I set up for her is this tissue box with some wooden coasters.
After she'd had lots of practise with in and out I thought I would she how see would react to not being able to see what she was taking out. I introduced this bag with a few different shells in it. This is somewhat like the mystery bag that older children use where they try to guess the objects they feel. In our case it is purely for discovery.
I introduced the bag by calling her over and asking her if she would like to see what was inside. I opened it enough to put my hand in, searched around for a second and pulled out a shell. I looked surprised and examined the shell for a few seconds. She kept reaching for it and after I'd finished examining it I gave it to her to examine. I then opened the bag quite wide and offered it to her. She put her hand in just a little bit and then took it out. I repeated the activity myself again and then offered it to her. This time I opened the bag quite wide so she could get a peek at the contents. She put her hand all the way to the bottom and got a shell. Sweetpea and I repeated this several times and it held her interest for several minutes.
I now change the objects in the bag every week but I think it is still a little early for her. Occasionally she will bring the bag to me but she wants me to pull out the objects or if I encourage her she will take objects out if I hold the bag wide open. She also enjoys putting them back in.
The treasure basket has now turned into a language basket as well. I put one type of item in the basket each week. When introducing them to Sweetpea I find it works best if I let her take out the item and hand it to me first and then I name it. This basket contains items of clothing. Although she is not showing a lot of interest in language at the moment I know she is absorbing everything.
Sweetpea has mastered the cylinder imbucare box so I put out the rectangular prism as well. At first she was interested and could do it most of the time but she has now lost interest and if she can't get it the first time she will move on to something else. I have just taken them off the shelves and will bring them back in a couple of weeks.
I started Sweetpea off with this small stacker. At first she enjoyed taking all of the rings off but after a slow demonstration of how to put the rings back on she easily mastered it and we moved on to a larger stacker.
Although I don't have a picture by far Sweetpea's favourite material is the stacking cups. They are usually the first thing she goes for and always takes them off of the shelf. She can take them all out one by one and can also put them back together. I stack them up for her and she takes them off one by one instead of just knocking the whole tower down.
A favourite game is to hand items back and forth. This has been great for her learning to give things up and she like to hand things to Baby J as well but she gets annoyed and frustrated if you don't always take the item from her. We have been working on her putting the item on the ground instead of handing it to me or if she isn't doing a work then I will name whatever she is trying to give to me instead of taking it. With perseverance it is starting to work.
Sometimes I have activities that I'm so excited to put out for the babies and then once they are on the shelves they aren't nearly as interested as I am excited. Some things are just epic fails. Others I take away after a few days and will bring them out again in a few weeks.
Here is an example of one said activity. It is just a Pringles container with the bottom cut off taped to the side of the shelves. I used rolled up baby socks for her to drop down it. She was not as excited about it as I was : ) She would however drop a couple down every so often as she was coming back or going into the kitchen. Baby J was very interested in this and would try his hardest to try to get the socks in but I had hung it a bit too high. Eventually he tried to pull up on it to get the socks in which worked for him but he ended up pulling it off the shelf. I will bring it back in a month or so I think.
The number one thing that Sweetpea has been working on this month has been trying to walk. She is confidently cruising around all of the furniture but the best ever thing has been this walker waggon that Baby J got for Christmas. It is perfect for her. You can put as much weight into the waggon as needed and it is incredibly stable. The best part is you can take it outside and take your best bud for a walk!
I have really enjoyed watching Sweetpea develop and learn this month. Despite being very focused on learning to walk she has also been developing her concentration and focus with the materials as well as her fine motor skills.
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