New Year is Coming

It is a great feeling of a Magic, of Novelty, of Holiday, of Freedom and of Family cosiness when New Year is coming! It is also good time to set new targets and to review past achievements! On 1st of January it is very easy to start doing something one always wanted to do, easy to start a good habit. So, I wish everyone can have strong will to continue doing it throughout the whole year!

I wish that everyone could always experience full bouquet of emotions as child does: sincere and 100%! As these are emotions that we remember and they make our lives valuable!

Merry Christmas and Fruitful 2010 Year! New achievements, adventures and joy next year to everyone, to mums and their lovely babies especially!!!

Self-study

Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority.
- Tom Hopkins

True, self-study is our first priority when we are born. It is vital for one's development and for understanding the world around. When babies are 3-4 months old, they start to realize that they are not a part of their moms but individuals with their own body. They begin to explore themselves by playing with their hands and feet.

It is a good time for mums as the children at this time are fully absorbed by new impressions and don’t need attention from their parents. They also do not need any toys as they play with their body.

Maria likes to study herself, especially to put her feet into the mouth. I used to help her to catch her legs with her hands when she was 2 months but now she is perfect in doing it herself.

She adores to spend time by the mirror (as all girls do =))) observing her face, her body, smiling to herself. When she is crying or worrying about smth, we can go to the mirror and she is happy immediately.

I’ve noticed that she starts to be interested in her shadow and is a bit astonished when her shadow repeats what she does. We have even played with her a shadow theatre with main characters wolf and a hare. It was fun for both of us!

Bobath gymnastics

The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.
- Blaise Pascal

Mr. Pascal was right when he emphasized the importance of action and movement. This quote alludes us also to R.Bradbury's story A Sound of Thunder, where butterfly effect was described. However, in my post I would like to turn attention more to the importance of action to the one who performs this action.

All beings need a movement to survive. Sharks drown unless they move forward, tiger stays hungry if he is inactive. It is crucial for human beings to move as well, and especially it is imperative for babies, who are not yet able to crawl, creep or walk well. Movement for the child definitely is not only physical but also mental development, which demonstrates how mature is the mind of the child.

As of last week Maria started to attend Bobath gymnastics, which is usually needed when a child has too stiff joints and muscles. In cooperation with massage it tends to give very good results. Bobath gymnastics is also very good for kids, who do not have these problems; it is good for developing child’s body, space orientation as well as for providing happiness to the child when he moves.

Frankly speaking, I was not able to notice any special know-how attributed to Bobath. Physiotherapeut was working on the joints of the baby. However, I understood the basic principles of it:

• the movements with child’s body (legs, feet, arms, hips, hands) are very careful and slow;
• the movements are done till the end, sometimes one should continue even if there is resistance from the child;
• the training does not last more than 30 min; one should stop doing exercises if the child does not like it.

When performing exercise at home Maria with mum she enjoys it a lot (some elements we took from this detailed video http://video.mail.ru/mail/eestimamki/59/156.html (in Russian though)). However, when going to the Bobath training, she becomes very moody. But evidently she loves to spend time in the centre observing other babies doing exercise. She also adores training on the fitball and even laughs, when lying on it.

Bobath course she does consists of 10 trainings and we would also continue doing it at home after it ends at the centre. Hopefully, Maria will start to creep afterwards; she is crawling right now, though at a very high speed. The results will be posted later.

Currently, I see she becomes stronger with days passing, sometimes standing on her knees; she moves faster and more precise, she becomes also very good at seizing the toys. Definitely, physical activity has a ppositive effect on child's development if it is performed on a regular basis.

Yahoooo!!!!! We are together with Maria again after two days of absence due to my business trip. It was the first time we separated for such a long time. I was relatively confident that during the day time she would feel fine when staying with her loving grandma and father. I feared that during the night her sleep would be worrisome and not smooth enough to have a good rest.

Despite my worries it all went well and there weren’t any sleepless night for anyone. The baby woke up just once for eating. Maria evidently enjoyed staying with her father and grandmother, who were trying to lessen the stress caused by mother’s absence by offering the activities she usually adores: bath, banana, fit ball.

The thing we were all curious about was the emotions of the girl when she meets her mum. To be open, I was expecting a storm of positive emotions, but nothing like this happened. I was endowed with a calm smile; obviously for Maria it was more preferable to be with grandmother at that moment.

So, I am glad that she can be quite independent from her mother. It is also evident to me that she very well feels the attitude and emotions of other surrounding and acts like an echo to the true love.

Love of Books

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all."
— Jacqueline Kennedy

It is a celebration day today! Maria is 6 months old now! Indeed, it is a pleasure to follow her swift development and it is really fun to spend time with her!

Not only an adult develops intellectually when reading but also the child enjoys the time when parents read the books for him. Children at 6 months and younger love it, too. Especially they like short poems, where they clearly hear rhythm and rhyme.

We read together with Maria every day in the afternoon before the day rest for her this time pass as interesting and intensive as possible. She becomes crazily happy when she sees a book in my hands. Moreover, she likes a lot when I tell her who is shown on the colourful pages of the book. I‘ve noticed she is very fond of having a new portion of poems every day; the old ones she does not appreciate much. Usually, reading process lasts for approx.10-15 min – one should cease to do it before the child is fed up with it. I believe, this activity develops keen ear; Maria is a very attentive listener now, especially when one talks to her. She also notices even a subtle sound.

Of course, she is fan of crumpling books/paper and to satisfy this desire from time to time I give her some magazine or smth alike (of course, this needs supervision that the printer’s ink does not get into the mouth). Besides, Maria reads the book about a farm turning of the pages herself and looking at the animals painted there and again crumples it with enviable persistence =)))

Greetings!

Hello to everyone! I'm a Mum of a cute girl, who is 6 months old.

This blog, I recently decided to start, is going to be dedicated to the description of the ways of spending time with children to absolutely enjoy it. In this blog I will share my experience of efficient ways to play with child while putting emphasis on the development of the kid.

I am not a professional: not a doctor, physiotherapist, etc., just a mum, who is searching for activities and games we can do together for our mutual development and playful time passing. Hope, you will enjoy reading it!