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I have done Jelly painting with Ben a couple of times and he has loved it. Today we painted with red jelly and got it all over the grass and had a great time.  For those of you who don’t know what jelly painting is here are some basic instructions:

1. To get started just make jelly as per instructions on the packet and let it set in a plastic bowl. 

2. When you are ready to begin find an area of flooring in your house that can be easily mopped clean, such as tiles or floor boards (do not attempt this on carpet). 

3. Lay out a large sheet of paper and sticky tape the corners to the floor. 

4. Dress your baby in as little as possible as the jelly tends to get everywhere. 

5. Put the bowl of jelly next to the paper and scoop out a little onto the paper. 

6. Encourage your baby to use the jelly to draw lines and shapes on the paper and to explore the feel of the jelly in the bowl. 

7. Let your baby (and yourself) have fun and be creative. 

8. It doesn’t matter if he/she eats a little bit of the jelly and be prepared to have a bath straight away as it can get very messy.  

For more creative ideas and tips for babies visit www.Baby-Patch.com

Jen

Ben’s 15 month old brain has finally clicked into gear and he has worked out how to walk!!!  His record is 10 steps in a row and he seems to be pretty proud of himself.   Every-time I try to capture him walking on video he refuses to perform, hopefully I will get lucky in the next few days.

Jen

Since 5 months of age Ben has been a great sleeper, to bed at 7pm and wake up at 7am.  Ben’s biological clock is pretty accurate, he is my little alarm clock.  We follow a pretty strict routine and it has worked really well.     But around daylight saving it always takes about a week to get back to normal. 

This time I started preparing Ben a few days before daylight saving finished, putting him to sleep 20 min’s after he normally slept the first day, 40 min’s the second day and then 1 hour the third day (which was the new normal time anyway).   It was interesting how Ben’s biological clock responded to this, he was happy to go to bed later but woke up earlier, the first day at 6am, second day at 6.15am, third day at 6.30am, forth at 6.45 and finally the next day he was back to his 7am wake up!!!    I am now enjoying our 7am wake ups again, as I do not do well with earlier wake up’s.

Jen

www.baby-patch.com

Ben and I were gardening last week, pottering with the compost to try and get rid of a few of the creepy crawlies in it and weeding the garden (well I was, he was picking up dirt and sprinkling it on the plants).  I was absorbed in turning the compost when I heard a cry behind me and Ben was rubbing his body like he had being bitten by something.  I checked him over and he was covered in ants, that I quickly wiped off.  Ben was still uncomfortable so we had an emergency bath.  He had a few red blotches on him which must have been bites from something (not sure if ants bite???).   The experience has not deterred him from playing with the soil  he has been getting dirty pretty much every day this week.

Jen

www.baby-patch.com

Ben can sign and roar like a lion.  Every time he does it, it puts a smile on my face.  Over the weekend we went on a boat to a Marine reserve where we lucky enough to see a Sea Lion slothing up a beach.  Everyone on the boat was excited to see it.  Every time someone said anything about the Sea Lion, Ben would roar and put his hands out (and I would smile to myself).

Jen

I wanted to get my friend’s son an interesting gift for his 1st birthday party and asked my sister for a few ideas.   She recommended a tea set as this was a gift that she had purchased for her son and given many times.  It is a common gift for girls but not really thought about for boys. When toddlers reach about 18 months they can start to engage in imaginative play and something like a tea set can be fun and will help develop a toddler’s imagination.  So it is a great gift for a 1 year old, and if you give one to a boy he will probably not receive a duplicate.

Jen

for more great baby gift ideas visit www.baby-patch.com

I didn’t realise how much fun an aquarium can be for a baby, Ben is 14 months old now and he had his first visit to an aquarium yesterday and he loved it!!!  He was able to get up close to all the displays and he could not stop pointing to every fish he saw.   He especially loved the glass tunnel where we could walk beneath the swimming sharks, sting rays and fish.   Aquariums are definitely a great outing for any aged baby or toddler.

Jen

I attempted to do some drawing with Ben when he was 13 months old but all we achieved was him chewing the crayons and ending up with a green mouth.   I gave drawing a bit of a break for a few months but tried it again today with coloured pencils and Ben took to it like a fish to water drawing lines all over the paper - we had a great time, I feel this is the start of many art masterpieces to come…..

Jen