Indoor games for outdoor babies

Baby in a 'tent'

Dens

Probably the most obvious game we can play and as you know our Shuktara blanket comes into it's own for making dens. The light dapples through the patchworked colours making lovely dark and light contrasts that you can spot through the patterns. We LOVE the way it drapes, better than any synthetic parachute that we've played with at toddler groups.

Hide and Seek

A firm favourite as long as Kathryn is the one to hide, although don't take too long finding her as 'chase me' is also a good game as you run back to your hiding place. A quick dash around the side of the larder or open door, a little face peeking around at you for the 'peekaboo!'. So much giggling...

Make a rainbow

Colour me beautiful?!

Out comes the art mat, a plain canvass mat that's waterproof on one side and an empty canvass on the other. It's time to put Mummy's art supplies to good use... I can recommend pastels for those under 2, as long as you don't mind the mess. We mixed colours on the paper with our hands and then looked at our hands to see the result! Such a pretty mixture of colours, our own private rainbows.

Baking

Well, mixing cornflour and water together. If you get it just right then you have a watery paste that will pour but will not be pushed. Drop a few pieces of food dye on to it and watch the colours swirl. Try to mix it together and it crumbles?! A hard one for an adult to understand and magic to the baby.

Bubbles

Washing up has never been so fun! A sink full of bubbles, a saucepan that needs cleaning... around and around with the bubbly brimful of soap suds. Messy work, as both Mummy and baby will be damp but the washing up gets done.

Egg hole can also be peeked through

What noise does this make?

Our knitted friends and breakfast boards have come in to their own. Into a box they go, baby picks one out and Mummy says 'It's a bunny, bunny goes hop hop!' or “It's a chicken, chicken's go cluck cluck”. The knitted animals are soft to the touch and usually come out of the box first but Kathryn loves to peek through the 'eye' on the breakfast board and tries to say 'Meow' with me.

Twist vs Pull

A collection of old bottles washed clean and ready for recycling are all that's needed for this game. Some twist but some pull, which is it? Try them both and watch the squeals of delight when the top finally comes off... 'POP' shout Mummy and baby when the cap is finally released. Same game in reverse to put the top back on (Twist or Push!).

Slow boat to China

Is your Summer holiday suitcase still waiting to be put away? Well for someone small it can become a boat to an adventure. Quick put in some T-Shirts and other essentials (anything baby wants to put in) and climb on in. Most suitcases can be pushed forwards and backwards like they're on a rocky sea. Don't forget to sing those sea shanties... “A sailor went to sea, sea, sea to see what he could see see see but all that he could see see see was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea”.

Enjoy your time indoors!

[Turns out DangerBaby is not allergic to the garden – YAY! We've picked up a virus that's currently spreading around Surrey; similar to baby hand foot and mouth but not the same virus. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/health/handfootmouth/ 

Thank you to all the Mummies that contacted us with helpful information and support. Very very appreciated]

It shouldn't happen to a Mummy

What a week it's been! Really it shouldn't happen to a Mummy... first my little one starts to suffer from separation anxiety and will not go to bed. She wants to sleep on Mummy, or be touching Mummy or have Mummy cuddles. I'm hoping it's a phase, as neither of us is getting much sleep. If she wakes in the night then she really needs Mummy and we both doze from 3.30am to 7.30am when it's up time.

So what? A little sleep deprivation is something parents are used to. What's so tough about that? Well it was the second thing to happen that has really hit us hard. This was an allergy (we think*). A severe reaction to something that has caused huge painful blisters to appear on the soles of baby's feet and all over her hands. Blisters on her knees and small sore red marks on her bottom. They started as a small rash and grew into big painful fluid filled blisters... they were so bad she couldn't walk or pick up anything.

Now I don't suffer from any allergies and couldn't understand what was causing the blisters at first – it looks like she's walked in acid or on hot coals and burnt herself.** I've racked my brain for anywhere we've been where she could have come in contact with something awful. There's only one new thing in our lives – horse chestnuts.

Old photo of the horse chestnut covered back garden

In the area of Surrey where I live we are surrounded by huge mature horse chestnut trees and we're having a fantastic harvest this year. The chestnuts are ripe, loving this hot weather and are coming down like hailstones (big, fast dangerous to be under the tree type hailstones). If you want chestnuts for roasting on an open fire, then I'm your gal – we have boxes and boxes full already. It really is a good year for them. I have two huge mature trees in my garden, so our lawn is a carpet of “ow-er ow-ers” as we've called them to let baby know they are prickly. They fall as soon as you pick them up, so I'm constantly hoovering them out of our way with the lawn mower.

5mins of collecting!

So with this recent discovery of Kathryn's reaction to horse chestnuts & their casings this means the back garden is now out of bounds. For my little nature girl this is torture; she can see the garden from our lounge and has quickly learnt to say 'door'. Heart breaking as I want to go outside and play in this lovely October sunshine as well.

But we've found some indoor games for outdoor people and we'll share them on tomorrow's blog!

*I'll let you know about if these are the cause of the blisters once we've taken her to the nearby allergy centre.

**Blisters improved with a day at the seaside playing in the salt water, we've been using bicarbonate of soda in her evening bath and calamine lotion to help calm the red sores.