Today’s first time parenting tip - Take your baby to the local aquarium and watch them be wowed.

Looking for a fun activity you can do on the weekend that’ll keep your baby interested? Try taking them to the aquarium. Our son absolutely loved his trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Unlike the zoo, you can get right up close to the brightly colored fish. And unlike the animals at the zoo, they’re usually swimming and moving around the aquarium. Our son was enthralled by the big tank they have with all sorts of fish swimming around in the same environment.

And most aquariums are very kid friendly, so you don’t have to worry about being out of place. And it’s definitely something adults can enjoy too. Our son loved it so much that we’re going to do a fish theme for his first birthday.

Parenting, Fish, Aquarium, Fun, Activity

Today’s first time parenting tip - Patience and imitation are your best friends when teaching your baby how to use a spoon

Using silverware is the next step for your baby after they learn how to eat with their fingers. Since it requires fine motor skills, balance and coordination, you can expect the process to take a little bit of coaching. Here are some important tips to remember:

• Be patient. They won’t get it right away, and getting frustrated won’t help them learn
• Teach through imitation. You can do this by eating with a spoon out of your own bowl or plate. If they’re eating something you don’t mind stomaching, you can even spoon up their own food to show them how
• Let them experiment. There will be a fair amount of dumping food on the floor, their head, the cat, etc. It’s O.K., your infant is exploring this new tool they’ve found.
• Get a baby sized spoon. It’s smaller and will be coated in a soft rubbery material that’s easy on the teeth and easier for them to handle

Parenting, Teach, Spoon, Feeding, Food

Today’s first time parenting tip - Anything with a button or something your baby can press should be a big hit

Our son is getting to the age where he can actually start interacting and using his toys for what they were ‘meant’ to do. This will make them last quite a bit longer than if he kept picking them up and throwing them onto the kitchen floor.

We noticed that his favorite things to do were to press the buttons on our alarm clock, play with our cell phones whenever he could get his hands on them, and play with the volume control on his Leap Pad.

We’ve added a few more button-having toys to the mix and those are clearly his favorites. The big winner is a LeapFrog Phonics Radio that lets you flip pages AND hit buttons to hear letter songs AND play guess the letter. He’s in baby heaven.

Parenting, Toy, Learning, Buttons, Fun

Today’s first time parenting tip - Keep one of your kitchen cupboards reserved for your baby to play in.

Once you’ve baby-proofed the whole house, to your baby it may no longer seem like a fun place to play. They might get frustrated and all the more determined to get back the cabinet locks you’ve put on all the cupboards in the kitchen. What’s more, if you’re working in the kitchen and they are in there too, they may demand to be in your arms where the action is, which makes it very hard for you to get things done.

So instead of locking all the cabinets, leave one open. Fill it with your plastic tupperware or mixing bowls. That way your baby will feel like he’s got his own area, and he’s got something fun to do in the kitchen. Our son loves opening the cabinet and pulling out the plastic pitcher and tupperware we’ve got in there.

When you do this, make sure they can’t get to any other cupboards from the inside. Likewise, make sure there aren’t any nails or sharp things in there either. You have to remember that they may crawl right in there from time to time.

Parenting, Babyproof, Kitchen, Play, Boredom

Today’s first time parenting tip - Make your baby a dentist appointment for around their 1 year birthday

Your infant’s first dentist appointment should be somewhere close to their one-year birthday. Your baby may or may not have all his teeth in yet, but the dentist should still check their teeth and gums to make sure they’re healthy.

Like your pediatrician, you should be comfortable with your dentist, both in his bedside manner and his professionalism. The first visit will be fairly easy, the dentist will try to get comfortable with your child and check the teeth and gums for signs of bottle decay.

He’ll also be able to give you advice on how to care for your infant’s teeth, as well as possibly give you fluoride drops, especially if your tap water doesn’t have this added already.

After this first visit, you should come back every six months for a cleaning and check up.

Parenting, Dentist, Teeth, Care, Dental

, Clean

Today’s first time parenting tip - Treat a yeast infection with an anti-yeast cream

So the diaper rash we thought our son had turned out to be a yeast infection. It’s a little bit different from a diaper rash and it can also spread to their mouth as well. Here’s how to tell if your dealing with a yeast infection:

• Bright red rash
• Small red pimples around the edge of the rash
• Redness or irritation in the folds and creases of their skin

It’s caused my the moist, dark diaper area that is constantly replenished by bowel movements. Yuck.

When treating a yeast infection, get an anti-yeast cream and use it with a diaper rash cream if you like. You should make sure to keep their hands and yours extra clean so you don’t spread it to their mouth. You may also want to boil their bottles and nipples to get rid of any yeast that may be on them.

If your baby has an oral yeast infection, they will have milky crusts on their tongue or gums that won’t scrape off. You need to treat this as well.

If there are yellow, puss filled bumps or the symptoms don’t go away after 3 - 5 days, call your pediatrician. And if they begin to develop other symptoms like a fever or fatigue, take them in as well.

Reference: Web MD

Parenting, Rash, Yeast, Infection, Diaper

, Cure

Today’s first time parenting tip - Play kick the ball rather than catch the ball

At 10 or 11 months, your baby probably won’t get the hang of playing catch. Our son mostly just watches the ball come towards him as we roll it along the floor, it’ll hit him, he’ll laugh and then pick it up. He enjoys it quite a bit, but what he loves even more is to kick the ball.

Since he can walk around pretty well and cruises on furniture like there’s no tomorrow, he likes to walk with the ball in front of him and follow it all around the apartment. Another fun game we do with him is pick him up by both arms and swing him low to the ground so his legs whack the ball all the way across the room.

Just like his soccer playing mom, he likes kicking better than catching. And it’s another great way to help him develop physical coordination and work those big motor muscles. And if he ends up like David Beckham, 250 million would put us in a pretty nice retirement home.

Parenting, Kick, Game, Large, Motor

Today’s first time parenting tip - Play games of hide and seek with your baby

Want a good way to have fun with your infant, develop their memory and improve their understanding of objects in the world, all in one shot?

Playing hide and seek games with your child is the answer. By showing them an object or a person, and then hiding it somewhere to let them find it, you’re improving their ability to understand the physical presence an object has in the world.

Here are some fun games you can play:

• With people. Hide behind doors and furniture. Peek out at them and watch them laugh
• With cups and a ball. Hide a ball under some opaque cups or bowls and have them guess which one it’s under
• With your infant. Playing peek-a-boo is always a classic
• With some sheets and some toys. This is a little more advanced, but you can put some toys with a unique shape under some sheets and ask them to find what you ask for.

Parenting, Play, Hide, Seek, Learn

Today’s first time parenting tip - Let your baby interact with the world as much as possible

As your baby gets older, he’s going to want to do more and more of the things you do. While you might be in a rush to go and get on your way, you should slow down and let your infant try to do the things you do.

You may get things done faster and more correctly, but making mistakes and trying new things is a huge part of the learning process.

Whenever we leave the apartment, we let our son hit the “down” button on the elevator. Then, when we get inside, let him hit the “close” button (if we let him he’d hit all the buttons). Sometimes he gets it, sometimes he has to try a couple times, but he loves doing it. And we can use the numbers and directions of the elevator for more learning.

Today on the bus, rather than holding him or keeping him in his stroller, I let him sit on the seat next to me, just like a big kid. He had a ton of fun looking out the window and hanging on for dear life as the bus stopped, started and turned.

What can you do to let your infant experience the world today?

Parenting, Life, Experience, Mistakes, Learn

Today’s First Time Parenting Tip - Track your baby’s milestones to make sure they’re developing correctly

Its important to make sure that your infant doesn’t have any developmental problems, but if he or she seems slow in one area, don’t worry about it too much unless they’re way behind or your pediatrician seems concerned. Everyone loves to compare their accomplishments to others, but the fact is some babies are fast in verbal development, but slow in the physical department, or vice versa. If you’re worried about it, ask your pediatrician. At the end of the tenth month, your infant should be able to:

• Stand while holding onto something
• Wave good-bye
• Pick a small object up between their thumb and forefinger

Probably will be able to:

• Walk or “cruise” on furniture
• Pull up to a standing position from sitting
• Correctly identify “mama” and “dada”
• Respond to their name

They might also be able to drink independently, stand alone, play ball or give a high five, walk for a step or maybe two, say a word other than mama or dada or put objects into a container.

Taken from What to Expect the First Year

Parenting, Verbal, Physical, Development, Emotional