A is nine months old now and super excited about ripping up the apartment 
Toys, not so much. I'm going to start trying to think of some fun activities to keep her entertained and also help me engage with her more as I sometimes do find myself not being as involved as I would ideally like to be, and just checking my phone a bit longer than I should...
What do you do to keep LO entertained, and yourself?
pineapple / 12793 posts
I go hang out with my friend C and her daughter A! 
Seriously though...go on walks, spend time in my bedroom playing, then the living room, trying to find play dates. I pretty much assault anyone in my neighborhood with a stroller. I go shopping way too often. Run errands. Though half the time I wouldn't be able to tell you what we do all day. It just kind of goes.
persimmon / 1153 posts
She's almost 4 months old, so we do lots of tummy time & Montessori mobile time and take lots of trips to Target for fun Now that she's more aware of stuff I'm taking out some toys to entertain her and plan to take her to baby hour at the library.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
9 months was an in-between age for us. Still crawling but starting to walk and gettin into everything! I wanted to tear my hair out!
We have a much better routine going for us now, and have for awhile now. Things for significantly easier after her first birthday.
We color, play with play-doh, go outside & play with the water table, run through the sprinkler, blow bubbles, go on walks, pick flowers, hunt for fairies (haha!), play ball, draw with chalk... Being able to spend time outdoors had given us endless opportunities for fun!
pomegranate / 3759 posts
I struggle with this. We live in the country so dont have play groups close by and driving into the city isnt feasible every day. I read books, play with her toys, go outside, etc. However, trying to do this while pregnant is challenging so DD gets lots of independent time while mama tries to relax.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@oliviaoblivia: Well as you can see I was very keen to get a play date organised this week, there's only so much tearing up the apartment I can deal with!
@emg86: Library is a great idea! There's a class in the fall I want to start with A but it's not until late October.
@Mrs. Jump Rope: I cannot WAIT to look for fairies!!! My gran used to do that with me all the time and I honestly believed that there were tons of fairies living in her cupboards and the pond. Unfortunately when she did this with my younger cousin a few years ago there was a dead mouse in place of the fairies inside the favourite fairy cupboard, ha ha.
@Lindsay05: Ahhh I can't imagine running after a toddler while pregnant! You deserve a medal!
grapefruit / 4582 posts
Go to toddler classes (Gymboree) and we've met a lot of great friends there. Have play dates. Go to the park. Run errands. I try and divide the hour in 15 minute intervals. Example:
:15 - read books
:30 - play with toys (knock down blocks, push cars, stack rings)
:45 - sing songs and do physical stuff (dance to music, yoga which she thinks is so fun to crawl over me and imitate me)
:60 - independent play (if she lets me) / go on a walk
ETA: check local bookstores for children's story time. They have free classes there or libraries.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@luckypenny: Good idea, I think PBK does a storytime on a Tuesday actually, thanks!
pear / 1769 posts
My LO is almost 9 months. Before I was just switching rooms, putting kid music on, and letting her explore to keep her happy and content. Now, she seems to need more or she will get into anything and everything. We will start kindermusik in September and hope to start going to the library when storytime starts back up. Otherwise, I have been researching at home activities I can start trying to do with her. This week I have been trying out some of the summer (water) activities that she was previously too young for. This website has a lot of activity suggestions:
http://www.productiveparenting.com/aspx/ActivityLibrary.aspx?aid=0C
I made some colored ice cubes and let her play with them in water today:
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
@travelgirl1: Chloe never sits still, but will watch all of the tinkerbell & the secret fairy movies. We lay in bed on rainy days & watch them on the iPad! I promised her once the backyard was cleared we'd make a fairy garden & she's so psyched. We're 80% done so I started favoriting items on etsy to buy for her. In the mean time, we hunt for tink outside every night.
Chloe thinks tink lives in bubbles, so we blow lots of bubbles then catch them on the stick to see if we can find tink.
Most. Fun. Ever.
Tink also lives under our apple tree near the big pink pinwheel
eggplant / 11824 posts
I'm only home with LO 2 days a week, so I have it easier than most on this tread but on our days home we:
- go to library story hour
- go grocery shopping
- Art-time: LO loves to color so we make cards for grandparents weekly.
- walk outside in our yard: touch things, pick up leaves, talk about how everything looks and feels
- walk around lake trail
- run errands
- children's museum
- dance party
- read books
- free concerts
- go out to lunch together
LO *loves* ice (Ice is pretty much the BEST THING EVER!!!) so we play with ice too. Moving ice cubes from tuperware to tuperware, eating ice, licking ice, sharing ice...it's all good.
I do try to keep her to her 3x/week daycare schedule, so lunch around 11:30, nap around 1:30.
clementine / 769 posts
Sometimes I brought him to a mommy and me class. We would also go to the gym,
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I always try to leave the house in the morning. We go to library (they have classes for birth-18 months at all of our libraries), music class (also for your LO's age) http://musicwithmar.com/, and just a shopping/browsing trip if there's nothing else.
We're stuck at home for a couple of weeks while we're doing some construction. LO's usually happy just playing with her toys, and we've done a couple of art projects. Today I think we'll do some baking. She's 2 so she is loving anything that involves helping me.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Rainy days are the worst, but we combat that with trips to the childrens museum or aquarium in town. We get a yearly membership and it more than pays for itself.
When I was at home full time, we used to go to the pool in the summer and then in the fall we started a playgroup.
Other than that, yes, we did fall into a rut.
squash / 13764 posts
We take music and gym class, we go to the park and go on the swings, go out to grassy areas where he can crawl around...rainy days are super hard because we're stuck inside most of the day. On those days, I try to switch from activity to activity in our house--maybe 20 minutes of playing with blocks and his puzzle, 20 minutes of reading books/pulling them off the shelves, 20 minutes of playing hide and seek. then it's usually meal time, and then I'll usually go for a walk, even if it's raining (as long as it's not torrential down pour. Honestly just getting out of the house helps the day go faster and entertains both of us.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22276 posts
I also struggle with this. I feel like we do the same things every single day and I get very bored. Since being pregnant I am extremely sore, to the point where I can't take her for walks, or to the park anymore so that limits us. The few mom friends I have work so I can't make play dates with them during the day. We live on a street with a sidewalk on only one side so it's not really an ideal neighborhood to meet other moms, it's hard to describe. We play in her playroom, she gets independent play, we read, paint, color, play in her sandbox, pool or water table. I'm hoping to get her a pass to the children's museum so we at least have that to do. I may sign her up for story time this fall at the library.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@Mrs. Jump Rope: That is SO cute!
@rawrasaur: I LOVE this idea! I bet she had a blast! What did you use to colour them with? I might steal this idea next week if it's still hot.
@yoursilverlining: Ha ha, I'll have to see if A likes ice - if she does it's a cheap and easy toy! I love the dance party idea too.
@FancyGem: We used to go to a mommy and me class, I met some great ladies there who we go on play dates with now, including two bees, actually!
@artbee: I think leaving in the morning is a great idea, it seems if I plan to do it in the afternoon instead I never end up going. Mornings are our constructive hours, I think.
@looch: Starting a playgroup sounds fab! I can't wait for rainy days when she's walking so I can buy her some wellies and jump in puddles : )
@hilsy85: When did he start to like hide and seek? Your LO is a month or two older than A, I think, I might try that with her and see if she gets it!
@Bao: I was trying to find a thread that I'm sure you started asking what do people do with their babies to entertain them... did you start a thread like that? Aw I bet it is hard being pregnant. I know what you mean about others working, the mums I'm friends with will all be going back to work in a few months but I won't be so then I'll have to really work at finding some new friends.
pear / 1769 posts
@travelgirl1: Just food coloring. One squeeze of the bottle per cube. They melted quickly once they hit the water - which was fine for A's attention span - but if you want it to last longer I would suggest colder water or adding them in slowly
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