PerryWinkles Kids Blog

I knew it would happen.  Every baby goes through it and I knew the day would inevitably arrive when our baby became aware of how powerful dropping a toy on the floor from the height of her high chair could be.  The first act happens innocently enough - “let’s see what happens when I place my hand in the air and open it!”  Down goes the toy to the floor and makes a noise.  And down goes the baby’s mommy to pick up the toy that fell on the floor…or so she naively thought!  Then they perfect the throwing-toy-on-the-floor technique through trial and error.  There’s the sweeping of the arm across the tray, then the picking a toy with their little fingers and dangling it in the air before releasing, and the grabbing with their whole hand and projecting in the desired direction.  And they all have the same desired effect of mommy or daddy bending down and picking it up for them only to wait two seconds before the toy finds its way back on the floor. 

I admit that I find this little game charming and amazing.  It’s cute to see a bit of personality coming through in a baby and, also, it’s incredible to witness learning and skill development happening in front of your eyes.  First there’s object permanence, which teaches them that objects still exist when they’re not in their view anymore; then there’s the dexterity developed in their fingers through all those Cheerios and little bits of fruit they pick up from their plate; there’s finally being coordinated enough to grab an object and move their arms in the direction they want them to end up.  And I’m sure there’s tons more at play!  I don’t consider this little game in itself a form of manipulation because babies (we suspect) find this fun.  So why not indulge them.

What did concern me (in a humorous way only) was when I realized that Clara, now over 8-months-old, had incorporated this little game into her feeding routine to get me to get her toys for her when she wanted.  The game goes something like this: we start happily feeding, mouth is popping open, food is going in easily.  Then Clara starts fussing a bit so I give her a spoon or bowl to distract her, and we continue happily feeding.  A few minutes later off goes the arm in the air dangling the bowl, looking back at me before releasing her little fingers, then excitedly looking over the side of her chair to see where the bowl landed.  Nice throw!  It’s what followed that shocked me when I realized I was being manipulated by my sneaky baby: Clara sits back on her chair looking at me who should obviously know to pick the toy back up.  When I try to feed her at that moment she softly closes her eyes and looks sideways.  I initially thought she was just full and done eating so didnt’ think much of it.  Except after I finally handed her the bowl she immediately popped her mouth back open, I filled it with food and she threw the bowl on the floor again! 

Upon realizing this was going on, of course I first persevered and tried to get her to eat without giving in to her game.  I don’t know how long this fascination with toys on the floor will last and my back is stiff enough as it is! Soon enough, however, I just wanted her to finish her meal and I knew the only way was to play along.  So I did and had a great laugh at my baby’s cheekiness!

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In the past month, my daughter Clara, now 7 months, has graduated from her original choice of baby toys. She no longer lingers on the grabbing toys but is fascinated by balls and anything that rolls, as well as stacking blocks.   Also on her favourites list are stuffed animals that make noise.

Having gained more control of her movements she can now pick up balls the size of her palm, as well as get her hands into beachballs. She is still at that fascinating stage where she can’t not reach for something if you put it in front of her, which makes distracting her from getting into dangerous things easier.  But the wonderful thing is she’s also learning cause and effect so you can almost see her brain light up when she shakes a toy and hears a noise coming from inside it.  Then she figures if she shakes the toy really quickly more noise will come from it…and if she bangs it against another toy!…soon we’ve got a concert going on!

Clara’s current collection of favourites includes:

1. A beachball that is not fully inflated so she can grab easily with a couple of fingers. ($2 at Gymboree)

2. A colourful ball that makes noise and she can grab with both hands.

3. Small, animated balls that fit easily into her hand.

4. Mandarins that she can push around and quickly grab and get her teeth into. (She needs to be supervised during this activity, lest she actually eat the citrus fruit that her stomach is not ready for yet!)

5. Stacking blocks are fun to hold with all its textures, sounds and colours but even more fun is stacking them and letting Clara hit them and watch them tumble.  We can do this activity over and over again without her tiring of it!  ($15 at Manhattan Toys)

 I can’t wait to see what the next stage will bring!

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I’ve been humoured by the blob quality of newborn babies.  They just get moved around and plopped down, picked up, changed, bathed, fed.  Everything happens to them, they can’t actually consciously move.  This is why I was so impressed with the milestone that Clara reached two weeks ago when she rolled over on her tummy.  It took her a number of tries and a lot of kicking and screaming and persistence but she finally achieved it.  This felt like a huge milestone because it was probably her first conscious act.  Her first step to being mobile and to independence. 

I quickly also found what this milestone means for my free time.   While Clara is having a ball rolling on her tummy any chance she gets, she doens’t actually like staying on her tummy (in spite of the daily tummy time workouts!).  This means that as soon as she has turned over she will cry and scream for someone to turn her back on her back. 

I was surprised initially that babies would learn to go back-to-tummy first and then get stuck there for a few weeks when they learn the reverse motion, until I learned that babies’ heads make up a quarter of the proportion of their bodies!  Now I have to laugh every time I look at a baby because I am so conscious of the huge melons they have to lug around all day.  Imagine how different we would look if we kept those proportions as grown-ups.  No wonder the poor things are so exhausted at the end of every day, from all the effort it takes just to hold their heads in place!

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As we decide how to spend our time with our new infants we are bombarded with toys to choose from. The choice is yours to make as to which one will get your baby’s attention and hold it for more than ten seconds, which one will make her smarter, which one will develop her eye coordination, or work on her grasp, will this one make her dumber?!, could this one be toxic?! We know that novelty is good for a baby’s development but what is too much? You wouldn’t want to spoil your baby!

As a first time mom you pay so much attention to your baby’s every tiny reaction and expression with a new toy trying to figure out if this one passes the test. (I imagine the second or third time around you either know it instinctively or realize that none of this really matters!)  Below are some of my favorite toys from our collection, mainly based on how engaged Clara seems with them and how long that lasts.

1. Haba Wooden Frog. Haba is a German company that makes beautiful wooden toys of non-toxic materials as well as some soft toys. They make clutching toys for infants that are perfect for when they are learning to grasp. The frog has dangly arms with pieces of wood at the ends that make it easy to grab on to and inevitably end in the baby’s mouth. These toys aren’t exactly in the ‘bargain’ category but are worth the money. (Note on Safety: while their wooden toys and parts are made in Germany, their soft toys are made in China. These, however, are made under German supervision to comply with German safety standards.)

2. Sophie la Giraffe.   Made by Vulli, a French toy company, Sophie has been around for 40 years.  This sweet-looking giraffe toy is made of natural rubber and food paint, and is easy to grab, as well as, apparently, fascinating to chew on!  Clara does seem to enjoy mowing down on Sophie’s head, legs and neck!

3. Kathe Kruse Organic Gugguli Girl Doll.  This was a gift from friends in Germany and I’m so glad they introduced us to this toy company.  Kathe Kruse is a 100-year old German toy company that hand-makes these cuddly dolls that are safe for children.  I don’t know about the educational benefits of this doll but it is the most adorable, soft little thing and it keeps Clara company in her crib; plus it makes for great photo opps!

4. Mr. Lion.  It’s hard to escape Lamaze toys when you have a baby.  And after seeing how my baby loves grabbing, punching and chewing on her Lamaze Lion I now understand why.  You can almost see their brains exploding with sensory stimulation from the colours, textures and sounds in these soft toys.  

5. Fuzzy Bee and Friends.  Priddy Books makes wonderful cloth books for infants.  Clara can’t get enough of the sounds and feels of her new friends as we turn the pages.  A great way to introduce them to books and reading.

6. Running water.  Sometimes instead of relying on toys and songs for entertainment we walk around the house exploring new textures.  One of her favourite things is the feeling of warm water running down her feet and hands.  This one ranks high in the budget category!  Don’t forget to explore every-day items around your house.  We take them for granted but for the newly-arrived everything is a novelty! 

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