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Hi Friends,

Hope you all are well, I want to inform you all that this blog has moved to The Average Mom website. My own site, kindly subscibe to my new site so that we remain connected.

Thanks A ton for being a friend and follower,

Waiting to see you on my new Site https://theaveragemom.in

Smita

“You’ve No Time For Us!” : Friends say I have changed after motherhood

How much does your relationship with friends change post a baby. Are you the same any more?

The perfect mom – isn’t that what it always is about? The ‘perfect’ is everywhere you look; the pressure to be perfect is in every aspect of life. But is ‘perfect’ real? Is the photo of the mom who’s rocking her baby, her beautiful curly hair flowing in the wind, both baby and mom smiling at each other, silhouetted against a setting sun, amid a field filled with gorgeous daisies – is that photo real?

Here:

(a) I have not washed my hair in the past 4 days, (it is a new grunge look I am sporting; goes well with my crumpled tees), and
(b) There are no daisy fields around me.

So, I am guessing that photo is not real and all it does is make me feel bad. Truth is, motherhood is the most blissful period of my life but it is the toughest too! It is a juggling act wherein you are constantly trying to keep all the balls in the air and the balls have a mind of their own. As new mothers, we read a lot, are advised a lot, prepare a lot… but nothing can actually make us ready for what is in store. You go in with a lot of preparation, yet you actually learn on the job.

Once you become a mother, your relationships change too. The most important person in your life now is a small human, who does not come with an instruction manual, is very unpredictable, and mostly sleeps but for short periods of time. After becoming a mother my priorities and my capabilities changed. My friends felt that I was changing, and yes I was. I was no longer the perfectly turned out, fashionably dressed girl with the latest designer bag in hand (one within my budget), ready to go out on a moment’s notice in my ridiculously high heels…

The perfectly turned out feature was lost somewhere in my third trimester when my transition from human to waddling penguin was complete. The fashionable dresses changed to clothes that would fit me now, would be easy to wear, and could survive constant spit ups, and a lot of wiggling and pulling. Oh, I have tried wearing fashionable blouses, with frills, boat necks, layered ones…But trust me, it gets really difficult when you have a toddler who thinks it is absolutely normal to hang from and pull down mom’s dresses necklines! Now I stick to tees and yoga pants almost entirely. The designer bag is filled with sanitisers, diapers, wipes and snacks with an odd toy or two. And heels, you say?

So what about going out with, or talking to, friends? Do I get to do it?

Read it further  On WOM, were I originally wrote this :

Real Moms Real Stories

Review of Sipahh – Milk Flavouring Straws

Milkshake in a Straw – SipahhAs the name says, it truly is an Ahh! I just discovered the best and easiest way to make milkshakes and am going to share it with you.

Say hello to Sipahh! A unique milk flavoring straw from Australia, which has less than ½ tsp of sugar in each serving. All this time, I had been adding various milk flavoring powders to my milk to make it tasty and was consuming loads of sugar with it, now I can just use Sipahh instead. Amazing isn’t it?

Recently, I was sent this amazing box of milk flavoring straws in 5 different flavours and trust me I have been bowled over. It is tasty, healthy, with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, with less than ½ tsp of sugar in each serving and is a super fun way to make milk interesting. AND, my baby absolutely loved it. He has been asking for ‘Malk’ ever since he had these. 😊

What is it ? 

It is a straw filled with flavored beads. Each straw is filled with these colorful balls which imparts a unique flavor to your everyday milk and makes it tastier for your kids. As you sip, the pellets inside the straw dissolve and infuse a tasty flavor into your milk. Here are some of the things to note: 

. The straws are filled with flavored beads


. These can be used with reduced fat dairy milk, soy milk or any other milk alternative

. These can be used with both room temperature and cold milk

. 250 ml serving of milk with this straw has less than ½ tsp of sugar

. It comes in various flavors; thus there is a whole variety of tastes to choose from, my personal favorite being Lamington Dreams


. All these flavors have a very subtle taste. They enhance and don’t overpower the taste of milk.

. Each straw is made of stiff plastic, with a mesh on both sides through which the milk passes.

. Each straw can be used one time only

.These are gluten-free

. Excellent for kids who may be fussy about drinking milk normally

. Adult supervision is recommended



What I liked best ? 

Apart from the fact that it makes the milk tasty and flavorsome without having to add the sugar loaded flavoring agents, there are a couple more things I liked.

  • It is so much easier and mess-free. No adding, swirling, or shaking it up in a blender. You can just plop the straw into the glass of milk for your child and sit back while they slurp up the milky goodness. Lazy Mom Win 😆
  • It is lower in sugar than the other widely available ready-to-drink flavored milks and flavored syrups.
  • It is as flavorsome for an adult as for a kid, so yeah, even you can enjoy your glass of milk with some flavor without worrying about extra sugar.
  • Lastly, it is a milkshake in a straw, what more can I say? 😊


My baby liked it so much that he did a little dance upon drinking it, and kept coming back for more. He kept saying ‘Nam Nam’, which means ‘super tasty’ in baby language.😄

Here’s a link to the video I made of him drinking it :

So let your kids enjoy the Sipahh flavoured milk and let the goodness of milk fulfill their nutritional needs too.

Mommy Unstyled 

Messy bun and yoga pants, that is my style statement nowadays. And guess what, I like it. There is a reason why ‘moms’ adopt this style, coz it is smart, and easy. So to the younger me who was like ” I am never going to be the messy bun and leggings mama” “Girl !!! Weren’t you stupid 😂” When you are a mom, you realize the beauty of this style. It lets you run around a toddler who is always high, without worrying about your dress getting creased, it lets you walk out and get groceries at a minute’s notice from the shop downstairs. It lets you run down to the park when the toddler has had his nap and needs his exercise. 

Of course, Elegant flowy gowns are a thing of beauty, but not so much when my toddly hangs on its neckline and pulls it till it gets stretched beyond recognition. 

Of course I like the satin night gowns with frills, but i cant be bothered to change in and out of it everytime I have to go pick up my kid, or drop him, or go get veggies for his soup and dinner. 

Of course, i love to style and braid my hair, but my toddly thinks that yanking the pins forcefully out of mommy’s hair is the greatest 🙈. 

Of course I love my beautiful tops and blouses, but the tshirt can withstand many washes which are required thanks to the innumerable stains of mysterious origins that pop up on it. And frankly, I never iron these, just take it out and put it on 

And well in this hot weather having my hair high up is the only way i can survive. So shorts and tees and yoga pants and buns and ponytails are my staple styles. Dressing up is great but frankly it happens less frequently now. 

I mean face it, leggings and messy bun are there for a reason and that is because moms know how to do it right. 😆. Yay ! rocking my average mommying in my yoga pants. Do you mommas love the messy bun too? 

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Review of Carter’s Baby dresses : Baby boy fashions 

Here is a review and picture of my recent puchases from  @carters from @firstcryindia. Two  sets  of 2 piece Top & Shortalls with dungaree style straps, and 2 tshirts, perfect for the summers and a very bright and cute prints. These pieces are Cotton & Machine Washable, I always prefer machine washables as I really hate the hassle of hand wash or dry cleaning required clothes and baby A’s clothes need a wash every time he wears them. 

The one pictured below is the Dark blue & Yellow 2 piece Top & Shortall

The top is very bright and adorable and the metal buttons on the shortalls look very good. The print is adorable with small airplanes on it. Both the dungarees are very easy to use as there are romper style buttons for a quick diaper change and you don’t have to open the whole dress for a diaper change. One of the reasons I avoid dungarees during travel or while going out is the problem of diaper change. But these two are pretty easy to use. And dungarees look so cute.

It is very comfortable too for baby A. 

I loved boths  sets and it looks adorable on baby 

⏺ Top 100% Cotton

⏺ Shortalls 100% Terry Cotton

⏺ Metal Buttons

⏺ Pants have romper style buttons for easy diaper change

⏺ Dungarees style straps

⏺ Machine Washable


The model was not very willing to pose as he had other things to do; namely chewing on bad quality plastic water bottles. The ones I have a habit of collecting whenever I fly or visit a hotel. I have quite a collection of such bottles. And baby A knows where they are kept and takes them out to chew on regularly, as he has yanked off that drawer’s child latch already. Featured here are two such bottles; One is from Madarin Hotel Singapore another one is from the closed Kingfisher Airlines i think 🤔. Well, from ensuring that I only use BPA free containers for him; when at all i have to use them, to not caring if he eats crap as long as it is not actual crap. I am rocking my average mom journey. Parenting fail 😂

Along with these I also bought two t shirts for the tiny tyke. Both cotton and have very cute designs.

The material is very good on both and these two are machine washable too.


It is really hard for me to buy cute clothes for baby A, not many brands cater to this need, whereas it is pretty easy to buy clothes for girls. Carter’s is thus my highly favourite brand given that it has a lot of adorable designs and their quality is superb. 

Nothing but the best for the baby, right? Also keep a lookout for discounts, I bought these from Firstcry.com with a pretty decent discount. Carter’s is available on Firstcry site 

What is in your bag today? Packing list of a toddler; by a toddler

Packing List of a Toddler: by a Toddler. This is what a toddler needs when he is running away. Yes, thats right, while all other mommies are giving some really nice tips and helping with lists of how to pack when going out with babies, I The average mom, bring it for you from a toddler’s perspective. So, baby A made a run for the door, again, (he really always is ready to go out and play and I want to just slouch on the sofa 😭). And this time he did not take his regular bag, which I carry when we go down to play, this time he decided to take charge of his own packing. So here is the bag that my 1.5 yrs old toddy packed on his own. Watch the video to see it. Turns out I have been making the wrong lists all this time 🙄.Hmm, now I know. 😂

On a more serious note, now baby A has adjusted really well to his day care routine, but, I can see a new pattern nowadays and that is of an increased amount of tantrums, once he is back. He gets really tantrumy when he is back and throws a couple of fits, for some time at least, like today he threw his water bottle right out of my hand and kept doing that whenever I picked it up. I have noticed that he is very happy when he comes out of his day care, he rushes at me laughing and for some time clings to me, which is natural, but once we are back home, he does get a bit fussy. Thiugh it lasts for a very small time, and I keep talking to him softly and ask him why is he getting angry or what is it that he needs, but he does surely is a bit fussy, for some time. I am wondering what is the reason for the same, all in all, he is pretty easy going and a loveable tyke. But off late the tantrums have started coming on. I am wondering is it the onset of the ‘terrible twos’? Please mommies tell me what do u think about this. Is it natural for a few tantrums to start at this age ? .

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#babyboy #momlife #mumlife #motherhood #bloggers #parenting  #love #picoftheday #photooftheday   #cute #baby #candidchildhood #oureverydaymoments #amazing #babiesofinstagram #momswithcameras #mother  #mom #momblogger #goodmorning  #perfect #pretty

Going out ; how it looks like post a baby & Review of Fisher Price High Chair 

Review of Fisher Price High chair and the scenes of evenings out after baby

What do your evenings look like after becoming a mom? These are our Weekend scenes. After a tiring day my little moppet fell asleep during dinner. Life sure has changed in the last year and a half for us.

 Dinners out are way different than what they used to be. There are no more relaxing conversations over some yummy food, rather, now it is trying to keep the toddler engaged and happy. Though the second part is pretty easy as baby A is very happy to go out. He enjoys it a lot. But keeping him engaged is another thing.

 Also having a super active toddler around means that we never ever travel without our high chair. Most restaurants have high chairs available, and I make it a point to call ahead and ask that. If they dont provide one, we carry ours along. 

I have been using the @fisherprice 4 In 1 High chair and it is one more thing I am happy to have bought. It converts into a portable high chair which is very easy to carry along in our car. Without a high chair, we cannot hope to dine out with baby A.  I really like this chair as 

  1. It has 4 features, 
  2. can be used as a high chair 
  3. a booster seat, which is portable and easy to carry
  4. later on this can be used as a table and chair for the toddler to sit and read at
  5. The tray is large 
  6. The fabric part comes off easily and is machine washable
  7. It is very sturdy, trust me, baby A shakes and  behaves like a mini tornado at times, while sitting on it but he is unable to budge it a bit 
  8. You can see the pic below, and it is available on @amazonindia

Here is the link; http://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B00TH5AMAW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491548862&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=fisherprice+high+chair&dpPl=1&dpID=41kUcfranRL&ref=plSrch


The second challenge is keeping all the cutlery away from him and also hiding all types of glasses from him. He is in that phase where he wants to imitate all of the things that we do, and thus refuses to drink water from his sippy cup and insists on drinking it from our tumblers. He is getting very good at it too. Eating with a spoon is a little distant yet though, thus we end up having a lot of spilled food around 🙈. He does not let us feed him and has to do it on his own. Thus Eating doesn’t happen that much. 

There are a couple of things I ensure to do when we go out

1. Go to a place which allows babies and also ensure it is not too crowded and loud. Though i want him to get familiar with outside environment but I don’t think he needs his dose of live music and bar crowd just right now. We prefer the little less crowded places. 

2. I remove all cutlery from his reach, as mentioned earlier. I also carry his spoon and sippy cup. The restaurant cutlery is sometikes heavy and not suitable for a child. 

3. Carry loads of wipes, and sanitiser of course is always in my bag. Wipe his hands down, wipe down everything around him as he may decide to pick it up and put it in his mouth. And sanitise our hands before eating. Though I will prefer washing hands anyday before sanitising. But sometimes it is not possible so much

4. We generally choose a seat which is a little secluded or in the corner and is confortable. So that he can jump around and we are at peace and can let him be him

5. Baby A loves spaghetti and noodles, so the 1st thing we order is that. Inask them to make it with very little seasoning and spices, most restaurants will oblige and prepare the dish as per your instructions. Ask them to make something simple which your baby likes. 

6. We put him on his high chair and let him eat on his own. It can be messy i agree but he surprises me with the way he handles his food. Awww moment there 

7. All the food we order is alway instructed to have less spices and no chilly. As baby A does end up tasting and eating our food.  And i let him eat whatever he likes. It is important to let hom explore new tastes. Continental food has a lot of grilled and steamed options and it is easier to feed it to baby A. He loves it.

8. I do not let him have outside water yet, not even mineral water. And carry his water.

9. I carry some of his fav snacks in my bag, just in case if he refuses all the food. A hungry baby will be hard to manage and you cant eat if he is hungry. So it is for emergencies, generally i carry , whole wheat biscuits or home made nimkins and a bottle of milk

9. A change of clothes for him and extra diapers. You need to be prepared just in case 😊

But as I was saying, the dinner scenes have changed a lot, both of us are busy entertaining the baby and don’t really get to talk that much. And the focus is also on feeding him. And then if he wants to get out of the high chair, which he does after some amount of time, then trying to eat with him squiggling in your lap is an effort worth an award. Well in those cases, we give in and put on a video for him 🙈🙊. Go ahead judge away, I don’t mind, We want to have our dinner in peace and this way we can, so there it is. I don’t mind a little bit of screen time, if it is the only way to keep him engaged at times when we are outside sitting at some place. 

This pic was taken when he fell asleep during dinner, he was tired after running around the mall. How do your evening scenes look like post a baby, have they changed? Do share any tips if you have to make the evenings smoother when going out with a kid. Would love to read some tips 😊

Review : Fun day spent at Garden Railway Theme Park : Neverenuf, Manesar, Gurgaon, India. 


Love trains? Love toys? Love magic?… here is a sneak peek into all the fun we had at #garden #railway #park , #Neverenuf, near #gurgaon . A magical world of beautiful mini castles, houses, trains, planes. Perfect #miniature models of another world. If you want to see more of this head out to my vlog, link is below. It shows you a world of small yet perfect rivers, streams, hills and plateaus, a fantasy land. A magical land, where our kids and also the kids inside of us, will both be lost. It was a dreamland, a perfect getaway, a wonderful storyland. There were fire trucks and firemen, a drive in movie theatre, an Irish castle, beautiful hills, calm rivers, cars, jeeps, ropeways and aeroplanes and lots and lots of model trains, of all shapes. Going toot toot and transporting us to a #neverland like place. .

I have done a video log this time, do check it out at the link below( link in bio too) and tell me what you think about it. Do leave your comments if you get the time to check out the video, and please share it if you like it. Loved the place, can’t wait to go again.

Open on : Weekends from 11:00 AM till dusk

Open to Preregistered guests only

Register on site : http://www.neverenufgardenrailway.com

Tickets : 575 Rs/ person ( includes tea/ coffee / cold drinks)

Outside food allowed

Directions : near Manesar, Gurgaon, India , follow the map on the site( not google map) 

Neverenuf Garden Railway


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How to decorate a toddler’s play room without spending a ton; some DIY ideas 

This is baby A’s play room. When we moved to this new place and I had a spare room, I was super happy as I knew I could turn it into a play room exclusively for baby A. But since he is very young yet, we don’t need any proper furniture really for him,( table chairs, beds etc) as we co-sleep. So, I had to come up with some DIY ideas to decorate his room. So here is what all went in decorating his room:

on the walls : Danglers. I did danglers on baby A’s birthday with photos from each month of his first year. Photos from each month along with a little small write up about that month, are part of each dangler. And then i used ribbons to weave them together. Some glitter paper and number cutouts make them cuter and these are a permanent keepsake that now adorn the walls and make the memories easy to cherish


Decals on the walls : I found some really cute decals on @amazonindia . I bought some Animal decals and train decals as both are baby A’s fav. He loves pointing out to all the animals and to the train pictures. He can now correctly point out all the animals when asked, including butterflies 😊, thus these turned out to be a great way to teach him animals too 😊Here is a link to the decal I bought from Amazon : http://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B00OPYNS88/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491332020&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_QL70&keywords=animal+decal&dpPl=1&dpID=51zlncRMofL&ref=plSrch


The shelf on the floor which has his toys, is made out of cardboard boxes, colourful wrapping paper and a hot glue gun. How I made these DIY Shelves are on my other blog post , you can chexk it out at this link; 

Once done, I used wicker baskets to store his toys on the shelves. I spent less than 100 Rs in total and had a great handmade shelf ready which is the perfect place to store his toys. And i did not need to invest in another piece of furniture / shelf for it. Win win. Point to note, I had to use a separate round cardboard cylindrical pipe in the middle of each shelf to reinforce the shelves else they would collapse in the middle. You can see it if you look closely. 

Tip: where to find such cylindrical cardboard pipes 😳? I used the hollow pipes that came with the decals I ordered and cut them according to my need. 💃. It was good they came packaged like that . 


A floor bed makes the room complete for baby to sit on and play, ( he doesn’t sit though) as also a place for all his teddies to lounge on. 

⏺I have also kept his play pen in the room, which he loves. He loves playing inside it and sometimes just takes his toys and sits inside the playpen. He also loves his rocker which I have kept in his room and sits on it with a book in hand when he feels like it. 

Here are a few ideas to deck up a toddler’s play room.

 1) Baby proof :  the area, cover up sockets, corners, edges, remove unstable furniture, it should be safe for baby. 

2) Decide on the type of decor you want, keep a lot of floor area free, just put a mattress / play mat for baby to play on. You can also put in a low bed or a baby cot.

3) Photos of baby: they are the best idea to deck up a baby’s room, frame them, hang them with a tape, hang them weaved on a string, whatever you want. These will brighten the room instantly and are a great way to cherish all those baby memories 

4) Fancy yet low cost deco : some low cost things you can use to brighten up the room are fairy lights, shimmer / net cloth/ dupatta / stole pieces, make sure that they are away from baby though and do not pose a hazard for her, hang these high and fix them properly.

 5) Wall Art : Get on the net and download some cute pics, depending on your theme, eg disney characters for a princess theme, animals for a safari theme, print these and paste on cardboard / foam, and paste these on the wall with a double sided tape. Cover them first with cling sheets,  if you want longevity, else you can also easily get decals online.

 6) Wicker baskets/ storage boxes : Get some baskets Or make a shelf like I did to store baby’s toys. You need to keep the toys organised and for that yoh will need boxes

7) Play Mat : get a play mat too, but it is not needed if you want to put in a mattress, with play mat the room will be easier to clean though. Be sure to leave as much of floor area as possible for baby to play around, no use cramming the place with too many furnitures. 

 8) Glitter Foam sheets : get it from a stationery shop. These are glittery sheets made of thin rubber foam. These are cheap and easily available in many colours and you can use these to cut out baby’s name, or to frame the pictures you want to hang, or just cut out few cute big hearts out of these and hang them around the room 

9) Pom Poms / Banners : buy some Crepe paper sheets and make big poms poms out of them, tie together a bunch of these and hang from the ceiling. Make two such bunches and that is enough to liven up the room. Cut out some banners and hang them across the room, these two things are fairly easy to make and are so low cost, yet these are a favourite decoration essential. You can find a pompom and banner making tutorial online easily.

10) Colours : I preferred using as many colours as possible for a baby’s room, as I don’t believe in the blue and pink divide, but please do keep the colour scheme as one if you like doing that.

Patience : Another lesson learnt through motherhood 


Motherhood teaches you many things, things you never knew you were capable of. It makes you realise how strong you are, yet so weak. It teaches you to be so organised, yet so care free. It teaches you to be so powerful, yet so overwhelmed. One thing that it definitely has taught me is patience. And it has come slowly, with each passing day. 

I was not as calm,composed & patient a person from day one, as I would have liked to be. In fact, it took me a lot of time to adjust and learn to be patient, and not to be stressed and frustrated with so many things happening around me, so many things which were out of my control, things around my life which I could not keep organised; try as I might. 
Truth is, as a new mom, it ended up making me frustrated and impatient very easily. I have always been a busy person, always trying to get out the most of my day. Always rushing and trying to keep myself one step ahead of my day. Trying to keep everything and all the things around me, as organised as possible. Suffice to say I was not a person who liked to waste time much. I did relax and unwind too, but was busier most of the times. And When you have a baby, the work increases ten fold. You have a hundred more things to do, and babies dont run as per timetables. Result is you are more stressed and loosing your shit within a year of new mommyhood. But then, right in the middle of your predicament, you learn to find peace, you learn to be patient and relax. The tiny, disorganised, pooping, spitting tot teaches you that, he teaches you to sit back and laugh at giggles for no reason, he teaches you to kiss away your blues, he teaches you to relax even when the world around you is not that perfect anymore, your clothes don’t fit anymore 🙄, your hair is never clean anymore. 
Baby A has taught me patience, I thought I was a patient person before, But, then again I also used to think I was tired before 😂, I had no bloody idea about the truth. It was him who taught me that it is ok to relax, ok to live in the giggles & tears, to stop and smell the roses in real. 
He is the one who has taught me that it is so important to stand at the window and just look out at the world, though it is the same everyday and yet learn to enjoy it and its mundane ways. So just stand at the window for some time, today, everyday. 

Project 50 Toddler snacks, Simple potato gravy dish, no ginger garlic 


Here is another very simple potato and cottage cheese recipe that is easy to make and is liked by my toddler a lot. As I use very few spices to make this.

It is ready in about 5 mins and does not use any ginger, garlic, or onion and tomatoes.

You can substitute the cottage cheese with scrambled eggs if you want. Also can be made with just with the potatoes.

Remember to use the water in which you boil the potatoes( peeled and sliced) for the gravy as it provides the thickness to the dish. 

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 4 peeled and sliced

Cottage cheese/ scrambled eggs – 1 bowl 

Mustard oil – 1 tsp

Ghee/ Clarified butter – 1 tbsp

Bay leaves – 1

Slit Green Chilly – 1 

Kala Jeera – 1 tsp

Asfoetida – 1 tsp

Turmeric – 1 pinch

Salt to taste

Find the recipe in the link below :

Activities for developing Fine Motor Skills using things around the house : ages 6-18 months 


Here is an Example of how Fine motor skills are developed, baby uncorking and screwing the bottle top.  When children imitate and learn to do day to day activities. It is not always necessary to only rely on specific tools or toys. Your child will try to do things on his own in his environment and all these actions are in a way developing his motor skills. Though we play with large puzzles and blocks (he is more into breaking than stacking though) and rings on a stick kind of activities, but the things that he does which are normal activities for us adults are all helping him develop said motor skills. He can do simple activities like uncorking bottles, opening and closing drawers ( though that is the one gives me the most amount of pain😭😭😭), pouring water from his bottle, handing us things, drinking from a glass, eating with a spoon, ( less eating more spilling), picking up his toys, opening various boxes, holding a pen, pushing the buttons of the remote( another pain 😭, I have found a way out for that one though, I give him a dummy remote while I am watching something 😈😈😈) All these activities are helping him develop his motor skills, letting him grasp the technique of using his hands and eyes in a coordinated way, learning to use his fingers and thumbs in coordination. So let them explore around the house, let them follow you while you go about your day, and let them try out new things, certainly keeping an eye on them all the while, and in no time you will be amazed to see how much your baby has already learnt, how easily he is grasping things, the baby who used to sleep with his arms stretched over his head on both sides like a statue can now pour water in his glass and drink on his own.

Here are a few activities you can do with your baby with basic house hold objects which will help them their motor skills.

7-12 months 

* When babies start crawling they learn to balance themselves on their arms. Let them get on their hands and knees and explore. 

* Help them learn the pinch and grasp with the fingers by giving them small toys or blocks, let them hold it with their finger

* Offer small finger foods once you start solids like carrots, potatoes etc which baby can pick up and take up to his mouth. This is a fine learning for hand, eye coordination too and also a development of his motor skills

* Give them to play with push button toys which make noise and light up, they will love to push the buttons to see it light up

* Read picture books to them while pointing out to pictures while doing so, baby will learn to point at the pictures soon enough

* Give them pots and pans and a spoon or ladle with which to bang on it, yeah, it will make a lot of noise, but it will teach him how to hit and bang at the pot to make sound

* Sing rhymes with wide hand actions to them, our fav was twinkle twinkle little star and baby A learned to imitate the action right from he was around 8 months old. He himself would do some of it with us

* Give them crayons and let them just scribble on a paper

* Do finger painting with some home made colours; you can use veggies like spinach, beets, or turmeric etc

* Let them put their hands in the colours and just dab it all around, most of it will go on their bodies though 🙄, no worries that calls for a hot tub bath 😊

* And in the tub give him squeezy toys and tumbler to help learn how to pour water

* You can give him paper to rip, it will help develop his skills and coordination. Jus use some scrap paper but be careful as baby will put the said paper in mouth after tearing

* Show him how to clap, do hi-fives, bye bye and give a flying kiss. Constant repetition is the key here. In some time your baby will learn to perform these actions himself

12-18 months

* Let them eat with a small spoon, of course there will be more spills and less eating but this involves a lot of hand and eye and fine motor skills, holding a spoon upright and correctly manoeuvring the spoon into his mouth will teach him all of that

* Give them some crayons and let them draw dots and lines , show them how and let them try

* Stack boxes, blocks, tumbler, anything can work here. Stacking is an important skill enhancement, you can use empty boxes around the house like tissue boxes too

* Let him drink from a tumbler, though again a lot of spillage but yes this is also a fine development activity

* Point and read books with him

* Point at various things around at house and name them, like the fridge, the tv. Slowly start asking your toddler to point and show you these things. Pointing is another skill 

* Give him a sponge while bathing and let him squeeze water from it

* Give him nesting bowls to play with. My favourite are measuring cups and spoons

* Give him bottles to uncork and screw on

* Give boxes with simple lids for him to open, simple activities like opening the box of cookies can be great fun for a toddler 

* Give him a treasure box, filled with things he uses daily, or things from around the house, like his spoon, bottles, brushes, sponge, keys, blocks, soft toys, balls etc, try to include various textures in the box then let him pick them out while you name them 

* Show him how to drop small items into a large open box, like balls and blocks 

* Let him wash hands on his own while you hold him on the sink

* Let him dry his hands on towel

* Let him try to put on his socks and shoes 

These simple activities around the house are the perfect way for your baby to learn fine motor skills. Let them explore around the house and be independent while enhancing their skills in handling these small activities.