6 Things to do with Very Small People

‘It is a happy talent to know how to play’ – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since I had Diddy, I’ve been re-introduced to the concept of having a very small person in the house. I honestly don’t remember what I did with Boo in the early days, or how on earth I kept her entertained! I remember there being a lot of mess in my tiny flat, but mostly I think we just floated through the days. 

Diddy is a very different creature. She seems to have developed at a much quicker rate and she demands more attention and stimulation each day so I’ve gotten very good very quickly at finding distracting, fun things for her to do.

1.     ‘Let’s sing to be happy’
Diddy loves being sung to. Anything from nursery rhymes to Play School tunes to Jason Mraz hits, she loves to sing. I do the actions, or make some up just for her. If Boo is home she joins in and is learning to love good music this way. Diddy loves to sing along and she laughs when I do silly actions or dance with her.

'Sing a bit longer Mummy, I'm almost asleep!'

2.       ‘It’s so FLUFFY I’m gonna die!’
One of our favourite things to do when it’s just us is dump out all Diddy’s toys on the floor and play with texture. She loves it when I use a fluffy hairbrush to brush her tummy or face, then we find crinkly things and touch them, play with a silk scarf and on it goes. I talk to Diddy about all the things she’s feeling and experiencing and I adore seeing her face light up as she discovers new textures.

'So many toys, so little time!'

3.       ‘Food before one is just for fun’
Diddy loves playing with her food. I guess this is probably texture play but food play is something I totally encourage in my house. Her high chair has a plastic mat underneath, so all the fall-out is easy to tidy up after and it helps her learn tastes, smells and how to eat. Sometimes she’ll devour a snack, sometimes it’s mostly in her hair (or mine), but that’s the fun part!

My little yoghurt goblin

NOM!

4.       ‘Splish, splash’
Water play is always fun, at any age. Whether it be a spilt cup on the high chair tray, bubbles in the sink or a nice bath, Diddy loves water (so does Boo!). She has her bath at night, but sometimes when she’s antsy during the day I’ll run an ankle-height amount of water in the bath and let her go to town. She loves crawling in it, splashing and watching her ducks float. Water is such fun for babies, and I’m totally OK with popping her in the bath to make some mess – at least is forces me to clean the bathroom!

Poor pink ducky cops more chewing than any other toy!

5.       ‘Let’s go outdoors’
I love taking Diddy outside. Every day after breakfast we take a walk, mostly just to school to drop Boo off, but sometimes we continue on. We repeat this again at pickup time. In between, we often spend some time out in the sunshine. At the moment, we’re getting glorious Autumn days and Diddy adores being outside whenever possible. If I have to hang washing, I take her jumperoo out with me and pop her in for a bounce while I hang. She loves swinging, and getting onto Boo’s giant trampoline to crawl around, a perfect activity as the trampoline has a safety net. With a hat and some sunscreen, outside is perfect and limitless play for a baby.

First go on the big girl swing!

6.       ‘Read me a story, Mummy’
This one is obvious, right? When Diddy is sooky, or clingy, sometimes the best thing is just for us to sit down with a stack of books and read until we can’t read anymore. Any book, any story. She loves the pictures, the cuddles and the sound of my voice. Often, she falls asleep this way which is perfection to me.

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Sometimes, she even reads to herself!

It’s Tuesday y’all. I Blog On Tuesdays with Essentially Jess. It’s super fun! Thanks for reading.