The fine art of Distractions

My baby is a jealous little guy. If my attention is not on him most of the time he comes over to me and grabs at my legs or arms until I pick him up. Once up, he proceeded to wiggle and squirm and lean over until I set him down. Once he is down, he goes off for a few minutes and then comes back to me.

I go to play with him, but he is not interested in playing with me... it is more that he just wants me to be on the floor with him while he plays.

Sometimes this is ok, other times I really just want a little break. That is when I bring out the distractions. A ritz cracker keeps him occupied for  a good 5 minutes. Long enough for him to forget why he needed to sit in my lap and whine and squirm to be let down as soon as he got up there. Long enough for me to feed Forest when I am babysitting. Long enough for me to run into the kitchen and wash something or grab a snack for myself.

One day all I had on hand was a container of ginger snaps when I had a hungry and sad Forest in my lap and an angry Liam, who up until the MOMENT I picked Forest up was just fine playing with his books.

I don't want to be one of those moms who just gives her baby a snack when he gets in the way. I don't want Liam to think that if you get bored or cranky you should eat something.

But nothing much else will keep his attention for long. Until he gets settled in with his toys, then he could stay there for HOURS!

We will be bringing home a puppy soon, in a little over a month. I have a feeling that the puppy will help keep Liam amused when he is no longer content with his toys. And as Liam learns to walk and then run the puppy will be his companion as they explore the outside world.

I also really like that our new basement renter has a baby who is just at Liam's age, he has the same birthday as the little boy I babysit for, 5 days younger than Liam. He comes up to play and it is especially fun on the days I have Forest as well. The kids play together and learn about toy hoarding, how to push the other baby out of the way, how to navigate the playing field of little tripping hazards when they toddles about. Or when Liam crawls... he is still learning the walking thing. Soon I think!