Day 3: Moe's Favorite Things (video edition)

It's been a busy day, so I'm going to cheat a little on our "Moe's Favorite Things" holiday special and just say that what Moe really loves to do is be really, really active. If we let him go at a park, he'll just run and run. At home, he spins, runs, climbs and jumps. He can get quite manic, actually. I used to try to calm him down when he got in these moods, afraid that over-excited Moe would quickly turn to over-tired Moe and end in a screaming meltdown. But a recent OT consultation helped us realize that Moe needs these releases of energy, and that we can use them rather than work against them. That led to us making a few changes in Moe's schedule, like giving him a bath (a very exciting activity) in the afternoons instead of right before bed.

I also try to use Moe's energy to try to get some language out of him. For those of you who don't know Moe, he is able to talk some. He has very little functional language, so that is obviously something we work on a lot. He used to talk more, mostly labeling things, and was easy to understand. But now, when he does talk, he has trouble forming the words. It is almost like he hasn't used those mouth muscles so he needs to build them up again. But lately he seems a bit more willing to try, so I use every opportunity to hear his words. Here is an example of that. Enjoy!

Day 2: Moe's Favorite Things

Let's talk toys, people. Moe doesn't like very many toys, unless they have lots of lights and sounds. To encourage creative play, and keep mommy sane, we try not to give him too many of these. So we have a lot of legos and blocks, a play kitchen, and lots of puzzles. For the most part, these are not Moe's favorites, though he does like to pile the legos in his crib and dump out all of the puzzles so before bed I have to reassemble 15 puzzles. I've gotten pretty good.

But there are some toys that keep Moe's interest, so here are a couple of his favorites.

Alphabet Pal
One of our most recent additions is this caterpillar toy. We originally played with this with Moe's OT, who thought the shape of the buttons would encourage using an index finger point.I resisted purchasing one Moe for a long time, but when I found a used one, I bought it. he loves it and it keeps him engaged because there is music (26 songs!) and the antennae light up.

Fisher Price Music Player
Moe sings all the time and gets really excited when I put on the music from school. We started using music as a way to relax before bed time and it seemed to work. We finally broke down and bought him his own player when were looking for some self-soothing techniques Moe might be able to use if he wakes in the middle of the night. We've loaded it with familiar songs from school, some audio books (Brown Bear and The Hungry Caterpillar) as well as some calming meditations for children from Relax Kids, like this one: Relax Kids Nature: Enchanting Meditations For All Ages.

Magazines
Moe loves all his books, and will spend long stretches sitting among a pile of board books, chewing on some, flipping through others. I think he understands some of them because he will often choose books that are relevant to what is going on at the time (i.e books about school or about having a baby sister). This astounds me for a kid who seems to have very little language. But Moe really loves to look through magazines. He gets a kid-oriented nature magazine that he enjoys a lot, but he seems to especially like looking through cooking magazines. It may be just because that's what I happen to have lying around, but flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures is very calming to him. Jeff always laughs because Moe and I both like to flip through magazines while we're eating. Moe will also page through the decorating and gardening books we have in our combination office/playroom.

We do a lot of trial and error around here with toys, and some toys seem to come in and out of favor periodically. I can't wait to give Moe his Hanukkah present tonight: 

What are some of the toys that keep your kids engaged?