1 year olds...

[latestincarnation]

What do you do during the day with your LOs? My ds is really active, and I can never get him to sit and read/shape sort etc. He loves crawling at full speed and being chased.

What are good fun things to entertain him with? Having a "i'm a crap mummy" moment and worried that as he can't go "moo" when I show him a cow he'll never speak etc etc

Can you get some pots and pans out and bang them with spoons/ladles/rolling pins with im? That always distracted my two for a little while.

Try to get him to help you with things you need to do - make piles of washing and sort them, or try to put them in the machine together. DS2 loves hiding under the duvet on the floor.

Or put him in a bath to splash around at a different time of day - if he's anything like my two he'll love splashing around and it's a bit of a change from the normal day to day stuff.

Days are sometimes very long to fill with one year olds!

Thanks MissLiss! had a more productive day today, even though he ate the crayons rather than drew with them

What about making tents or buying tents and tunnels. My DD loves playing in her tent and crawling through the tunnel.

Large cardboard boxes are fun too.

With DD we do painting, playdough, messy play, crayons, looking at books. Many people freak out at the painting and messy play but ive been doing it with DD since 6mths. If she makes a mess its nothing that cant be cleaned up. Strip them done and sit on a big plastic mat (preferably on a hard floor/ not carpet) and have pack of wipes handy.
I give my dd the junk mail that comes with the post or in papers and magazines. she loves to "read" them.

We also visit friends lots,have swimming lessons and go to playgroups etc.

Re speech, Just comment on what they are doing and name things, One day they will just start repeating things. My DD is 14mths and now just doesnt shut up! You only have to tell her a word a few times and shes got it!

Generally she happily potters about playing if im trying to get washing on or something but i have been known to use In the Night garden as a tool for 20 minutes peace to do something without little hands helping!

Heh, I thought I was the only one who had these thoughts I frequently invite myself over to my friend's house so her 1 year old can entertain mine

DS likes investigating cupboards so if I'm cooking I might encourage him to sort through the tins or tupperware. Chasing our cats is also a favourite pastime Mostly though he just roams around the house exploring things and chasing/being chased by me. We also roar at each other a lot and I tell him all sorts of nonsense about what we're doing.

My 1 yr old son adores being chased too. He has some pull-along toys which I "chase" him with and then he chases me back the other way. He's crazy about footballs, in fact he has a large collection of balls - favourite game is either to roll the big football around for him to chase, or else he sits at the top of the stairs, I stand at the bottom and throw the smaller balls up to him, he fetches them and throws them back down the stairs...this can go on for half an hour or more...he also enjoys emptying kitchen cupboards (I let him go for the one I keep plastic boxes etc in)

Tried messy play etc but it was a disaster, I don't think he has the attention span for anything like that yet. He wasn't in the least bit interested - prefers to do something quite physically active.

Visit people, find a local park with baby swings, go for looooong walks - pointing out ducks, dogs, cats, man etc. Playgroups, naptime... ok the last one sounds a bit desperate

we put music on and dance - anything will do doesn't have to be babyish music. If your baby can't stand yet just hold him and jig about!

Things my dd has done as a 1 yrold at nursery (i'm not brave / mad enough to try at home) include playing with cooked pasta with food dye in, playing with shaving foam or even custard.

Don't get too hung up on the speech thing. It'll come. My niece couldn't say much until she was 2 1/2.

Yes, lots of people I know say their similarly-aged child says this or that, but I rather let it wash over me. My DS is extremely opinionated about everything, just not with actual words!

Ball-rolling games are also a big hit in our house timtam23 DS loves climbing in and out of things at the moment as well, so the vegetable rack and his inflatable playnest get regular visits. We had some impromptu soft play-style fun the other weekend by putting the sofa cushions on the floor, but it resulted in quite a lot of head-bumping as he blundered off the cushions onto the wooden floor.

DS's favourite at this age was a massive cardboard box that I made into a house. Was big enough for me to get in. It had wrapping paper decorating the roof, and holes cut out for the door and the windows.

Seriously... hours or fun, and they just love having that little bit of space to themselves.

Alternatively you could throw a sheet over the kitchen table to make a den and pile in all his toys.

Get all the sofa cushions and make a soft play area in the middle of the floor, and cover with a duvet. Practice roly-poly's etc.

Don't underestimate the power of CBeebies either.

The language thing is linked with us trying bilinguilism, and that I'm comparing it to other peoples dds, who seem to develop language quicker! On the whole I chill about it, just have those insecure moments!

Its really interesting to see the divide here - the boys seem to need loads of activity and the girls can concentrate on tasks.

I just can't leave him on his own for a second - he is into the cupboard/upstairs/off the sofa. He loves going to the park - crawls full speed across the bowling green chasing leaves or through the tunnel again and again (with me knackered playing peekaboo either end)

I like the idea of sofa soft play

He just will not sit - we tried to read a book this evening and he squirmed and cried until I stopped - then was laughing when my dh told him a story with actions etc and no book to look at. he likes singing so long as its "grand old duke of york" when I bounce him loads.

Why do boys love balls so much?! I have hundred of balls and make impromtu ball pools for him to dive at.

Keep the ideas coming ladies! The crawling hyper 1 year old is a strange age - I think he is frustrated at times, just wanting to run!

my ds is 17 months and he wasn't interested in books at all until about 2 months ago. he now loves sitting on my lap and looking at books with flaps, bright colours etc. hopefully you'll find the same with yours. I think interest in books often coincides with their 'understanding' development.

latest - he sounds just like my DS. He hasn't stopped and he's 23mo

He'll get the talking eventually, don't worry.

best advice i've ever been given on MN:

Enjoy him as he is at the moment. It will be gone all too soon...

imovethestarsfornowone thats so true - and this stage is so lovely - it does just get better and better