Holiday Decorations

We put up a tree and other holiday decorations this past Sunday, and I finally composted the mini pumpkin and gourd that he had been rolling around. Fall is over and the winter holiday season has officially started.

Every morning I take my little guy into the dining room to check out the tree. He brushes a few bulbs with his fingertips, he sticks his finger in the toothy mouth of the furry German nutcracker, and he pushes back and forth a toy car that his great-grand papi played with 80 years ago in France.

In the evenings, we turn on the lights (wrapped in the upper branches of the tree, out of his reach), and he lets out a little gasp and once again lightly caresses a few ornaments with his fingertips. We check the mail, open the cards and feel the glitter or embossing, and put them up on the mantel.

It will be so fun when our son can help make cards and cookies and is singing songs and talking about Santa. He won't even remember the little memories that we are making now. But I certainly cherish them.

Hiking, or More Accurately, Ambling

Today we went on a hike with friends and their dog. Since my son has been walking, he prefers to hold my finger and walk rather than being held. With his little legs toddling along, it was more of an amble than a hike.

We are only a half hour drive from a redwood forest that is full of sights, sounds, smells, and things for a toddler to touch. For much of the hike, he waved around a huge, perfectly shaped yellow leaf, fanning his face with it. He woofed and pointed at every dog that passed by. He stuck his finger in mud. Then he stuck both hands in mud. He dabbled in a little puddle that had formed in the hollow of a fallen tree. The smell of moss and redwood and moist earth were a change from our regular environment, as was the lack of train and car sounds.

The hike with the little guy was free and required no extra "things," which for me is a better way to spend the afternoon on the Friday after Thanksgiving than shopping with throngs of deal-seekers. Let's leave Christmas shopping to another day and enjoy our dwindling days of sunshine.

Interactive Books

Books that pop up, have flaps, or other fun things to touch are a good way to make reading time more interactive. They can also help teach concepts like "gentle" while developing object permanence and fine motor skills. Babies love them, parents love them!

Here are some interactive books that we have liked so far:

3-9 months

• My Little Sweetheart by Sara Gillingham
• Anything by Sara Gillingham and Lorena Siminovich--they have about a dozen books with built-in felt finger puppets
• Anything by DK Baby Touch and Feel--they have chunky books on every topic, from bunnies to tractors

6-12 months

• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell--different flaps reveal various inappropriate pet options
• Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt--this book is a classic for a reason!
• Little Black Book by Renee Khatami--lots to touch with velvet, scratch and sniff, whiskers

 9-12 + months

• Heads by Mathew Van Fleet--a very sturdy book with lovely pictures and fun pull-tabs
• Alphabugs or any book by David A. Carter--26 interactive pages!
• Gossip or any book by Jan Pienkowski--these pop-up books are super 3D

Farmers Market

With very few exceptions, we go to the farmers market every Saturday. We started taking our son to the market when he was two weeks old!

The market is full of sensory stimulation for a baby. Today he tasted three types of Asian pears, a persimmon, locally made soy milk, and nectarine jam. He got to listen to a couple buskers. He smelled the kettlecorn popping. He grabbed a lime at the avocado vendors and--ahem--explored it with his mouth. Plus all of the colors--red dahlias and shiny bell peppers, bright orange persimmons, yellow squash, green kale and baby spinach, and purple carrots. When he was really little, I tickled his feet with the rubbery soft fresh carrot tops and he squealed with delight. Now that he is older, I give him whatever samples are available so that he can try as many tastes as possible.

Over the years we have gotten to know the vendors. We don't know each others names, but we are friendly and chat. This is a community that cares about local and seasonal food, and I love that our son has been exposed to it since he was a newborn.

The Very Busy Spider

Orb spiders are weaving their webs around our yard, setting up sticky nets with silver dollar sized arachnids to avoid. My son has been interested in spider watching, so a good thematic book for the season is EricCarle’s The Very Busy Spider.

The Very Busy Spider builds upon a common board book schema of introducing various farm animals and their sounds. Added to this is a story about a spider who cannot play with a line-up of barnyard friends because she is too busy quietly building her web. This industrious protagonist ultimately (spoiler alert! ) reaches her goal, catches a pesky fly, and rests peacefully after a job well done.

Like many other Carle books, this one stands out because of its tactile engagement—the spider web and fly wings are raised. However, the third dimension is subtle; even though I model rubbing the page, my son still has not copied me. He does enjoy and respond to the art and the animal sounds that I make. But given our current eight-legged neighbors, the book’s biggest draw is the intriguing big spider on every page, weaving her web a few silk strings at a time.