Hellobee Boards

@runnerd: Do you have outside space that you can see from inside? I would get a water table (tons of activities with that), lots of sidewalk chalk, bubbles, etc.

I have a small balcony and my LO was at the water table on the balcony a lot last summer when I had a newborn. She would also paint and blow bubbles out there.

Inside, I filled up the water table with rice and gave LO lots of pouring cups. LOT of rice got on the floor, but I could vacuum it up afterward in about 3 minutes, so it's worth the mess.

LO1 also liked finger painting, paintbrush painting, water painting, drawing, etc. We had several Ipad apps that I used for a while there.

For me, the newborn stage was fairly easy because LO2 slept pretty easily and was pretty content not being held and would nurse wherever. The infant stage was more challenging as LO2 started the daily "witching hour" (more like hours) from 3:30-9 pm every night and was very high maintenance. And then after that, feeding became challenging because LO2 was too distracted to nurse unless she was in a very quiet room.

From a very young age, I only "ignored" LO1 during LO2's feeding time--then LO2 had to learn to go to sleep by herself, on her own. I just didn't think it was fair to LO1 to be alone for 20 minutes while I was nursing LO2, and then another 20-30 minutes while I rocked LO2. So I would just nurse the baby, lay her down and leave, only coming back every few minutes to paci replace.

This was obviously doable because LO2 was a pretty laid back baby. It would be different if she were colicky or something.

My friend got a ton of ideas off pinterest. I don't know what she came up with, but she had like 20 small plastic bins - each one was a different activity. I think for instance, one was sand with trucks in it, etc.) It was super nice how organized it was!

It's messy, but cornstarch + water makes ooblek, which my lo looooves! I add glitter and food coloring, and put play doh toys and plastic animals in and she goes to town.

It's easy to make cloud dough too.

we similarly made a big Michael's trip before a big winter storm a few months back, and other big hits include foam stickers, a variety of markers/crayons/chalk, and glitter glue, which she "paints" with with a brush and sometimes uses as actual glue, though she mostly just gets it on her hands, lol. she likes play doh and stamps too. oh and washi tape.

These aren't very active, but my LO loves the Melissa and Doug water wow books. We took one on a 9 hour plane ride and he "painted" for a long time!

@runnerd: LO has the vehicles one but I also just ordered the abc one. I love that he can use it anywhere. By the time he gets to the last page the first page is often dry again and ready to use.

I love the idea of getting small bins that could be pulled out with quick activities! Even just something simple like stickers would be fun!

We just had our baby Sunday and DS is 20 months.

We set up a more accessible play area in the living room. A low coffee table with a Little People car track and a bin of cars, a bin of books, a bin of play food. We set up a bigger toy box with music and sound making electronic toys and another of blocks and Magnatiles for building. That creates like 4-5 stations or activity by type. We also moved his chair and baby's bouncer out there so we can all hang out together.

We set up a play area on the covered patio. We put down AstroTurf rugs and put his push car, cozy coupe, water table, and a makeshift play kitchen out there. We also got an inflatable kiddie pool and stuck his slide into it and filled it with ball pit balls. We can use it as a pool or ball pit depending on what we feel like. We have folding chairs and a card table back there for DH and I to sit at and once DS2 is bigger we'll haul the PNP out there for him to hang out in. We also put a sandbox in a shady corner of the yard for him to dig in as well.

It's been working pretty well in the week before delivery and while I was in the hospital for DH and my mother to look after DS. It's very hot where we live so parks aren't always feasible especially with a baby.

Before baby we scouted out some indoor kids play cafes and splash pads and kid-friendly restaurants and took DS to them on dry runs to see what he liked and how much assistance he would need while we were there. Some places I know I will need another set of hands, some places I know I can go myself, but I'm glad DH and I ran through them so we would have a list of places to go.

We also started using a regular sitter in my 3rd trimester so that DS had a familiar face watch him should I need more help after the baby arrives. Usually if I can get the 3 hour block between breakfast and lunch or between after nap and after dinner, I can manage.