Keeping Your Toddler Happy in Church

Many of you know of the difficulty we have had in keeping Addie in the nursery at church.  For some reason, no matter what, she always catches what other kids have brought with them! Note: If your child is sick, please don't expose others to what they have.

We have decided that for us for now, she needs to stay with us in the service. An hour of convenience is not worth a week of having a sick toddler. This is not new for us.  We have kept her with us for most of her almost three years.  As an infant it was rather easy.  Diaper bag was packed with diapers, wipes, juice, bottle, pacifier and an extra outfit.  She usually slept right through the service (nap time) and was ready for lunch when church was over. 

As she got older, it became more of a challenge to keep her occupied. But we have managed, and have done very well.  Yesterday, she almost made it through the entire service until she saw the youth group kids get up to man their stations at the spring break missions trip fundraiser, and she was ready to go out with them to see what they were up to. Oh, my little social butterfly!

In her bright pink princess backpack (which poor Brian ends up carrying around), we have a book of five puzzles, a variety of books, a coloring book and crayons, a little doll with changeable clothes, two kinds of snacks, a sippy cup of juice, a change of clothes and underwear.

Before we arrived at church, we tell Addie where we are going and we review how she is supposed to behave (our weekly ritual).  In her words, we are going to "sing songs, pray to Jesus, listen to Pastor, and no talking."

During the service, we chose to sit along the wall in the extra seating section.  It gave Addie a bit more wiggle room and we were not disrupting anyone else's worship time. If the extra seating chairs are not set up, then we usually sit in the last row or as close to the last row as possible. During the song and worship time, we let Addie walk along our row of chairs to help her get as much of her wiggles out as possible. 

When the sermon started, she sat beside me and out came the book of Sesame Street puzzles.  I took apart the puzzles one at a time and she would put them back together. For this, I let her stand in front of the chair as long as she was quiet to put the puzzles together.  This took a good portion of the sermon to complete. 

Next it was time for her snack.  For this she had to sit in her chair. I had a small container of blueberries and another container of Goldfish crackers.  After her snack was completed, she had a little juice to wash it all down.

During each activity, I would look over at Brian's sermon notes to see how much time we had.  Pacing your activities is very important.  If you rush through everything in your bag, you"ll be left with nothing to interest them by the end of the service. However, you don't want to drag each activity out.

Next I pulled out her doll, which she named Dora because of her dark hair.  This doll has little hard plastic clothes that (quietly) snap on and are interchangeable.  She played with the for some time..... and then the youth group got up right at the closing prayer.  I had to take Addie out, and Brian got stuck holding the pink princess backpack.

 This has been our system for quite some time now, and each Sunday is very different.  Some days, she just sits and isn't interested in the bag.  Other days, I feel like the bag didn't have enough in it.  But for the most part, our bag works well as it is. 

Hopefully, someday soon we can begin putting her back in the nursery.  But until then, I will make sure our bright pink Princess backpack is armed and ready to go.  And I am so thankful that I have a good man who is willing to carry it for me.

From the Toy Box

The photos for this week's post were taken about a year ago. I can't believe how little Addie looks! We will be looking at two toys and one everyday item that we used to help Addie learn and develop.

Nesting cups: For those of you who have been following for a while now, you know how dear my friend Cathy is to me. Just before Addie turned one, Cathy and her daughter Kenberly (Ken-Ken to Addie) brought us tons of toys and learning tools. For a while, Addie's favorite thing was a set of nesting cups. These nesting cups not only brought hours of entertainment to our girl, but also helped her to develop a critical thinking mind (she had to figure out which cup fit properly into the next in order for the cups to stack correctly). Just after she turned one, Addie was nesting all ten cups on her own. We also used them to review colors with Addie. Once she developed more controlled motor skills, Addie learned how to stack the cups to make a tower. Addie has not outgrown the nesting cups, and they are wonderful for developing her critical thinking and motor skills.

Jumbo Alphabet: Another gift from Miss Cathy was the set of jumbo alphabets and numbers. These are wonderful for reenforcing the alphabet sounds and letter and number recognition. They are also great for stacking! I can't even begin to tell you about the "towers" Addie has made out of these. Clean up is also easy for little ones with these because they are able to group like items in order to put them away.

Magazines: These are not usually seen as a toy or learning tool, but they can be. In the afternoons, after my work was done, Addie was up from her last nap of the day, and we were just waiting for Daddy to come home from work, I would pull out some magazines. I left them accessiible to Addie. She would flip through the pages and look at the pictures, but it taught her how to handle books with finer pages. If a page tore, it was no big deal, but I would use that opportunity to teach her how to treat a book, "We don't tear pages. We have to be nice to the book." Addie is now allowed to look at pretty much any book we have. She gently turns pages and doesn't harm the books in any way. In the pictures from last week's book club post, Addie was looking through The Confident Woman book. She gently turned the pages and looked at the letters, pronouncing them and pointing out her favorites. The magazine pages helped her to see the amount of force needed in turning these lighter pages compared to the amount needed with board books.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Some Great Toys

I had mentioned last week that I would be talking about some toys that really pull double duty when it comes to playtime and learning. Today, I'll be talking about two that were given to us (or should I say Addie) by a special pair.

Mr. Potato Head- Uncle Jim gave Mr. Potato Head to Addie for her birthday. Mr. Potato Head is a great toy for many reasons. It makes for lots of enjoyment just pulling out the pieces, replacing them, changing them around, and even pulls out the artistic side some times (his tongue has been put at the top of his head, an ear where the nose goes, and so on). Once while Addie and Brian were playing with Mr. Potato Head, he told her, "When you go to bed, I'll put the pieces where I want them." All ages can find loads of fun in this toy.

It is great for refining the fine motor skills as your child will need to put the pieces in their appropriate places and fit the pegs in the holes.

We use Mr. P to review body parts. I will take three of the pieces in my hand and have Addie pick out the ear or the nose or the hand. She picks it out and then puts it in the appropriate place.

Thirdly, it reenforces cleanup, and all unused pieces can be easily put away by your little one in the compartment on the back of Mr. P. Thank, Uncle Jim for such a great toy!

Leap Frog Click Start My First Computer- Also for her birthday, Aunt Faye bought Addie the Leap Frog Click Start. It is a toddler friendly computer complete with a keyboard and mouse that hooks up directly to your TV. The cartridge it came with has different games using either the keyboard or the mouse.

Right now, she plays with the keyboard games because she "gets it". I do play one of the mouse games with her to help her understand the concept of the mouse.

In the computer world we live in today, it is so important to have our children understand how to use a computer. This game really helps with that. I also don't have to worry about her pushing any buttons that she shouldn't. She gets computer time every day for about 30 minutes or less (attention span has a lot to do with it).

Next week, I'll introduce you to two other toys that can also double as an educational tool for your child or any children that you are with.