Some days I find it difficult to entertain a 12, almost 13-month old. She finds shoes, spoons, books, and credit cards fascinating, even in her room full of toys and other magical things for babies. But then again, when it’s bed time, her toys are the most interesting things in the whole world and it seems she would give anything to just have a few more moments with her precious toys.
But what about the days where all she wants is to be in my arms? That’s tough. Because I’m only so interesting. Once she’s found all my ears (I only have two, but she wants me to turn from side to side to side to side so she can see my ears until I distract her with something else), pushed everything she can down my shirt, picked my nose, stuffed things into my mouth, and patted, then yanked my hair, there’s not much else to do.
The car is the worst when she’s antsy and wants to be running around. Her Dr. Seuss stuffed orange something-a-rather, Gorfo, keeps her entertained for a little bit. She likes her books but she also likes to throw them. Other toys are sort of fun but she throws them across the car as well. Spoons are probably her favorite but they get lost on seats and on the floor after she’s got too carried away with playing with them and they also get thrown across the car. Unfortunately for her, I’m strapped in to the front seat and reaching all her thrown toys is not something I usually do.
I can’t wait until she’s older so we can play car games, like the alphabet game – finding every letter of the alphabet in order on billboards and signs. I remember it was that game that got me through long car rides as a young one (and sometimes still today). It’s always so satisfying to get through the alphabet … and then to start all over. Sometimes though, especially as a kid, it’s really frustrating to not be able to find some of the letters. I sure wish there was one of these signs back in the day when I was playing:
