I-Spy Jar

Since their toddlerhood, Ana and Og have inspired me to create casual toys based on their interest at that moment, with things handy at home, nothing fancy.

The one that is etched in my memory is the Fill-and-Spill toy - any container with a lid and a slot on the lid to drop things inside. Oggie was obsessed with that activity when he was about one year old. I could just park him on the floor in my vicinity and go about my business knowing he will be occupied for 20 minutes at least, which is a long time for a one year old to focus on one activity.

I was casually clicking through some of my old posts here - just nostalgia, plus some late-night "alone time" - when I came across this little piece I wrote for Oggie. Ordinarily, I would dismiss it as Post-partum drivel, but, I do remember what prompted me to write it... and it gave me the much-needed perspective as I try to help Oggie through his Wild and Testing-Boundaries and Acting-Out-Impulsively phase that he has been going through lately...

Anyway, back to the I-Spy Jar. Oggie used to have something like this around when he was 2.5 or so but possibly because the size of it was not comfortable for his little fingers then, he didn't play with it much. He loved the I-Spy board books (Jean Marzollo), though.

About a week ago one fine evening he declared, "I want to do a project with you, Mama."

"OK. What project do you want to do? Build a toy/game/model? Create art? Make a book?", I indulged hoping to get to the specifics he had in mind, not realizing that he wanted to do it right then.

"I want to make I-Spy Jar like I saw in Ana's School for my friend now, Mama", he stated with finality.

"That's easy, shouldn't take too long", I caught myself thinking, knowing how some of his 'projects' seem to take shape organically and hence become quite time-consuming.

So, we talked about the materials we'd need:
Empty jar with lid,
Rice to fill the jar with,
a dozen or so little things to put in the jar to spy

I went with an empty plastic jar I had set aside for recycling - didn't want to use my glass canning jars - anything breakable, Oggie is sure to break it and I didn't want to be dealing with broken glass.

Oggie chose to color the rice blue and yellow and green - blue and yellow makes green.

He went about the house finding a few things he wanted to put in the jar:
Pom-poms
small bell
Lego™ man
smiley face button
flower button
large and small Wiggly eyes
Chinese-style beads
shiny glitter shapes - butterflies, swirlies, stars etc
feather
about 15 or 16 small items in all.

We filled the jar, a little at a time. After the first layer of rice, Oggie added a few of the items to hide in the jar. And then another layer of rice and so on until the jar was full.

I quickly tightened the lid and whisked it away to take a picture of the layered colored rice before he shook it all up.

And when I handed it back to him, "Can we go to my friend's house and give it to him now?" caught me by surprise.

And no amount of logical reasoning about the long drive to the next town, uninvited, at dinner time, seemed to satisfy him until I offered that we can take it to school the next day and see if the friend wants to play with it.

That was over a week ago.

And Oggie chose to leave it in school to share with his friends, which made me very happy - just the fact that it is something he made (with my help, of course) and the fact that he wanted to share it with his friends. It showed me that he feels some connection with his friends at school and feels comfortable enough to want them to experience the joy of his creation.

Magna Doodle

I didn't have Magna Doodle as a kid. It entered my life seemingly innocuously a few years ago as a present for the kids thanks to D... er.. Santa. It has given me, um... the kids, countless hours of fun.

Bah, I might as well come clean. Yes, I love it. Have loved it since that first little strawberry shortcake one Ana had till this larger-than-my-laptop-screen one that Oggie can't seem to get enough of. And it seemed about time I accepted and acknowledged it duly. Why else would I dedicate a whole post for it, right?!

Initially, the physics behind it fascinated me, but nowadays, just doodling on it feels like a much-needed relaxation technique.

Anything magnetic works, and that's the best part for me and the kids. Ana used to write "messages" for us with the Melissa & Doug™ Wooden Magnetic Letters that somehow always littered the floor near the fridge or dishwasher rather than adorn the said appliances.



When Oggie discovered he could use the Tow Truck from one of his wooden "puzzles" for drawing on Magna Doodle (as it has a little magnet to tow the other vehicles in that puzzle set), it didn't take him long to draw an Octopus with reasonable likeness. (Looks more like a spidery bug, but, Og insisted it was an Octopus, apparently, the missing legs/tentacles are behind him).



Ana had a lot of practice drawing and writing on Magna Doodle saving paper. Of course, the trouble was, if it was something particularly well-executed (in her opinion, at least), she wanted to "save it" - i.e., not erase it. Which was a bit of a problem.

"Mama, can you draw a rooster?", "Can you make the rooster run?", "How about a Polar Bear?" "I want a spider, with a web", "Is this a pollywog?", "Can you show me how to do a caterpillar?", "Can you write the letters? How about start with A?", "Can you draw a hexagon?", "How about a Brachiosaurus?", "I want to draw a silly face and angry face"...

Over the last year, I've spent quite a chunk of time drawing on the Magna Doodle for/with Og, and it hasn't gotten tiresome at all. So far.

Laying in bed this past weekend, with our temperatures hovering around 101°F, Oggie and I could only moan and whine till that latest dose of Ibuprofen allowed us to sit up in bed and try to find something to keep us distracted from our temporary agony.

Besides the Monster Trucks (Mark Todd), Little Blue Truck (Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry), Cars & Trucks and Things that Go (Richard Scarry) that kept him entertained (and my throat abraded), Magna Doodle and Ed Emberley's Animals kept his spirits up.

I like that there are some shapes that came with it - circle, triangle etc., making it easy for a toddler to make a composite image without much effort.

Ana is slowly outgrowing the Magna Doodle, what with Mama's stash of various Wood Accents, Stencils, and Rubber Stamps offering fresh set of activities to explore. But, before Oggie outgrows it as well, I wanted to jot it down here.

Hand-Me-Down Toys

It is not until recently that I started wondering about the advantage of hand-me-downs in the development of the younger child who acquires these.

Me being a younger sibling and getting mostly hand-me-downs possibly gave me an imperceptible edge over first-borns my age... Will have to explore that topic in another post... Actually, maybe not. There are experts who have fine things to say about it, with research to back them up. So, I guess I'll stick to just my limited experiences in motherhood :)

With Ana, everything was new for me, every toy was a gamble, every experience seemed to come with the price of doubt. As is expected with the first-born. But now with Og, it seems to get a little easier, as is normal, I guess...

While it is true that their personalities are different and I am constantly learning and tailoring them to Oggie's needs, some of the staple activities for toddler development are universal enough that they have become a hit with Og.

1. Coloring seems to have a universal appeal, and so far this seems to be Oggie's favorite activity, next only to reading books.
   
   
   
   Crayons and washable markers are a staple. And thanks to Crayola™ there are so many other wonderful products to try.
   
   Crayola Beginnings Tadoodles First Marks is fun, especially for Oggie's insistent hammering technique for covering the page with bright dots while repeating "Daats! Daats!"... and so is Tadoodles Easy Stampers.
   
   Crayola Beginnings Triangular Paintbrush seems to be frustrating for him, at least the ones we have, as the flow is not smooth and continuous, but, it is good to take out the frustration by jabbing the paper.
2. Peg Puzzles & Jigsaw Puzzles: Melissa & Doug™'s wooden peg puzzles, with or without sound, is another favorite.
   
   Just as with Ana, it is fun to watch Og place the pieces in their slots, dump them out and do it all over again. And again. For about half a dozen times at a stretch somedays...
   
   Of course, whereas Ana's favorite was the animals puzzle, Oggie's seems to be the vehicles one.
   
   In addition to peg puzzles, the wooden 12-piece Jigsaw Puzzles seem to be getting Og's attention - especially the hand-me-downs from my soon-to-be-4 year old nephew - viz., the construction vehicles, locomotives and dinosaurs.
3. Foam Shapes Puzzles and Letters:
   
   Ana favors the Loctagon pieces for building structures even now at 4¾, while Og loves the Circular Foam Pieces with geometric shape cutouts.
   
   The shapes are interesting, even if a bit challenging for the wee hands to put back together. And the cutout sewing activity promises to be useful as well.
   
   
4. Mister Potato Head: D being a Transformers fan, (collected them as a kid and went to Botcon2007 before the movie was released), the first Mister Potato Head set that Ana got a couple of years ago was naturally the Transformers promo one called Opti-Mash Prime.
   
   And, of course, now that I let Ana watch the Transformers movie recently, it turns out her favorite is Bumblebee and not Optimus Prime :)
   
   Anyway, I like this toy as we can keep adding different accessories. Ana likes the Princess Potato Head with pink shoes and crown and scepter and such. Plus the Pirate, Halloween Ghost, in addition to numerous animal-ish accessories like ape, elephant etc.
   
   It is fun to add eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hat, shoes and such, even winter accessories like scarf... sometimes in the wrong places - just switch around the eyes and mouth and see how funny the face looks...
5. Melissa & Doug Alphabet Stacking Blocks: At 1¾, Og likes to knock them down more than stack them, naturally, but, since Ana loves to stack them and simulate her Pink Tower experience from school, it works out fine these days.
   
   The pictures and the letters are a bonus - and they are fairly sturdy.
   
   Plus Og likes to nest the blocks, which is sort of appropriate for his developmental age... and Ana willingly handed it over to Og explaining that it is a "baby toy" and she is done with it, naturally reserving her claim to it at all times :)
6. Little Touch Leap Pad System: Ana got this for her first birthday from her Nana. At about 2 is when she really got into it. It was always in the car, entertaining her and interacting with her during those awfully long commutes to and from daycare.
   
   At a few months away from turning two, Oggie is beginning to like this. The letters of the alphabet is his favorite now - he gets a response for his action right away when he pushes on the page - animal sounds, words, letter sounds...
   
   Between 2½ and 3½ this book was one of Ana's constant companions. We bought more books for this as she mastered each. Her favorite (and mine) was the Stella Songbird book - it introduced her to music from around the world - Irish, Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, Mexican, and American (mostly Jazz). Optional activity was to identify the musical instruments and their sounds. Each page had recognizable landmarks from that part of the world. She learnt about Tabla and Dragon Drums, Taj Mahal and The Great Wall of China, Dragon Puppet and Iguana through this.
   
   Lulu the Letter-spinning Spider, One Bear in the Bedroom, Rainbow Fish were some of her other favorites.
   
   Oggie so far favors the Pooh Loves You! book for this Leap Pad system.
   
   I have some reservations and opinions about electronics for kids - especially those claiming to educate or jump-start and all that... but, as far as this Little Touch Leap Pad, I have nothing much to complain. It serves its purpose and serves it well.
   
7. Blocks, blocks, blocks: Be it Lego™ Duplo or Mega Blocks or Bristle Blocks, these are quite handy toys to have around the house. Robot, doggie, airplane, car... Appa is the guy to amaze the kids with these. I can stack them up and build castles at the most :)

Toddler Fire truck, tricycle/rocking horse, hopping ball, easel/chalkboard... they all have their appeal thankfully.

As with Ana, I set out only 3 or 4 toys/activities handy and then switch them out every other week or so for Og. After a couple of months in hiding, when an old toy comes out, it gets discovered in whole new ways not thought of before...

Whereas Ana didn't spend too much time on Dropping-Things-In-A-Box (Fill-and-Spill) then dumping them out and dropping them in again, Oggie has spent a lot of time between 12 months and 18 months doing this activity.

To keep it fresh and a bit challenging, I started improvising on the home-made toy: Empty baby wipes containers seemed to work well.

Little animal toys, crayons, baby spoons/forks - anything small enough to fit and big enough to not be easily swallowed worked fine for this activity.

It was nice to park him on the kitchen floor while I cooked, let him drop the little toys into the box through the slot, one by one, and then bring it to me asking me to dump them all out so he can start over again :)

As Oggie gets older, it might not be easy to automatically hand down Ana's toys as she seems into dollies and costumes and artsy stuff... but, what are nephews for? Og has been wearing my nephew's (Oggie's maternal cousin) hand-me-down clothes right from birth and I wouldn't have it any other way. And, almost all the boy toys so far for Og are the ones my nephew got tired of...

Hand-me-downs make the world go around!

Lilly: Paper Doll Fairy

Nana visited us recently and decided to get this Paper Doll Fairy kit for Ana. Ana is at the phase of being fascinated by fairies and princesses.

Her favorite declaration these days is, "I am a fairy princess, Amma!", even though I am sure she doesn't quite fully understand what that means...

Little girls are fun, aren't they?!



Anyway, this little kit comes with self-adhesive clothes for the fairy named Lilly, including shoes, socks and hats. The adhesive usually lasts as long as the interest lasts.

Basically, just peel and stick on the clothes and shoes and such and dress up the paper doll fairy as you like... and Ana loves to dress her dolls up, so, she took to this right away.



This would be a nice thing to have for long road trips or flight travel, provided the girlie traveler is at the right age and is interested in fairies and princesses.

I am sure Ana will grow out of her fairy princess phase soon, and will certainly get tired of dressing up Lilly in the same half-a-dozen or so set of outfits, but, it is such fun as long as it lasts - for her and for me. I love to just watch her trying to match up purple outfit with purple shoes and hat and such :)

the gracious hostess/medic

After relishing endless cups of (air) tea and countless pieces of (air) cake, I figured I must at least mention the gracious hostess here, after all, this space is supposed to be all about her. For the most part.



D presented Ana with a simple Tea Set this past Christmas and she has taken to it wildly. When she is in the mood, she (insistently) invites us to sit at her table and daintily pours us some tea, promptly refilling it as soon as we take a sip and place the cup back down on the saucer. And, she loves to offer slices of cake in the little dessert plates that came with the tea set.

And, some days, she just wants to have a quiet breakfast with her Ducky or Enid paappaa, and we better not bother them - the breakfast could last as long as 20 minutes at times, with Ana helpfully mothering the Ducky... it is rather amusing to watch her place a little booster seat (small cushion) to help Enid paapaa reach her breakfast on the table.

And when she is bored playing the demanding role of a hostess, she easily morphs into an efficient veterinarian, looking after the health of her Ducky and Bunny... and, without second thoughts becomes a confident practitioner caring for her Enid paapaa and Polly baby.



It is quite rewarding to note that the Medic Set I gave her for Christmas is being fully utilized. So far, at least. She loves each piece and tries to use them correctly - well, as correctly as we showed her at least :) Stethoscope happens to be her favorite, with the otoscope coming in at close second. It is quite a delight to watch her make her Polly baby drink the medicine from the medicine bottle...

It won't be long before she gets terribly bored with it. At which point, of course, I'd have to do what mothers worldwide do - simply hide the popular toys and wait a suitable period of say about a few months and reintroduce them into her accessible toy shelf and help her discover the joys all over again...

The other day, D was working on some repairs around the house and dropped something on my foot. My sudden yelp caught Ana's attention and she surmised that I am probably hurt by that thing that dropped on my foot and ran to her room, got her teta-scope (stethoscope) and examined me briefly, kissed my foot and pronounced "All better! Amma's OK!"

And, as bonus, she is not fussy about visits to the doctor anymore and curiously watches her pediatrician examining her, cooperating and volunteering information, even going so far as to boldly try to snatch the otoscope from her doctor's hand and try to check out the doctor! (It's a good thing her doctor is used to such tricks and has a firm grip).

24-piece jigsaw puzzle

Despite having a nice little room mostly child-proofed, filled with all her favorite books and toys, Ana likes to hang out in the living room if I am there, or in the nook by the kitchen if I am in the kitchen.

She is quite independent, does her own thing, but, prefers to hang out where either D or I happen to be working. And, likes to occupy the whole sofa and living room floor with her toys and books! I have given up on straightening out the house - by the time she is 4 years old, she will know and understand better - till then, I just say to the guests, "welcome to my house, try not to trip on any toys".

Ever since she was 14-15 months old and had enough dexterity to pick up the pieces and place them where she thought they should go, Ana has been doing puzzles - some newer Melissa & Doug™ wood puzzles as well as a few older wood puzzles that belonged to D. She progressed from simple ones to 9-piece to 18-piece jigsaw puzzles by age 2.

Slowly she has now graduated to 24-piece puzzles. She seems to love them. When I get her a new one, she forsakes all other toys for a few hours and makes me sit with her pleading, "Amma, let's do the puzzle. Amma, Ana ishio do the puzzle, please!" (Yep, the little booger says "please" whenever she wants something badly).

So, when I gave her this new 24-piece jigsaw animal puzzle, I knew I had to clear my schedule for the next hour or more, to help her do it over and over.

Now, she is possessive, so, she doesn't actually let me do the puzzle and I don't want to do it for her. I simply sit next to her and ask her a few strategic questions like: "Hm., here's a frog head, where's the rest of the frog, Ana?" or "Where did the bunny ears go?" and such so that she looks around the pile and finds the jigsaw piece with the rest of the frog, or the bunny ear and knows to put the pieces in the right place.

A lot of it is pattern recognition, and once she gets the large picture and what patterns to look for, she simply grabs the next nearest piece and places them where they should go without really trying to do them in any particular order.

It would have worried me a bit if she always did them in the same order - would make me suspect rote or mechanical or memorized way of putting the jigsaw pieces together, but, she seems to be doing it in her own way each time, talking to herself, asking the questions like I did the first few times:"Where is the goldfish?" "Oh, here it is" and so on...

Sometimes, she'll pick a piece and know that she might need at least one more in place before she can fit it, so, she'll say to the piece, "No, you go back. Not yet" and continue to do the puzzle...

It is a lot of fun to just hang around quietly and watch her do the larger jigsaw puzzles these days. After the initial few rounds, that is.

I got her a slightly more challenging 6-in-1 block puzzle of farm animals and already she is beginning to show enough interest...

More on Baby Puzzles here...