Baby Play for five-month olds!

I am really enjoying Idris being more alert and playful now - he likes to play very simple games for short bursts at a time. When I thought about them, they are based around communication and repeating the same simple action over and over. I thought I would put a few of his favourite games up on the blog for others to enjoy with their babies!

• Bath play - Idris loves to watch fingers gently splashing the water, then pausing and waiting for him to respond with a sound or a movement then gently splashing again. He also loves to watch water poured from a play teapot into a measuring cup. He clasps the cup and watches the water trickle in.
• Rhymes and singing - I had a limited repertoire so found some new ideas here
• Silky see-through materials gently floated down over him - he reaches up for them and gazes through them!
• Walks - watching animals and birds and looking at plants, trees and water (and he LOVED the fish at the aquarium!).

NEWSFLASH!!!! Whilst this post was still in draft format, Idris learnt both to roll over and to babble! Unlike my girls he managed to pull his arms free straight away and he actually likes being on his tummy! The girls hated tummy time and moaned as soon as they were over but he wiggles around and plays with things and is already pushing up on his arms strongly.

The babbling appeared late on Saturday night - he was finding it hard to get to sleep (teething) and eventually at ten pm I put him down next to me in bed and settled down myself. He went crazy, wriggling and squealing and laughing and then I heard some quiet, tentative 'dah' and 'bah' sounds!! By Sunday lunchtime there was nothing quiet or tentative about them at all - more like loud and incessant!! He is very pleased with himself!!