How to Keep a 1 Year Old Busy

A list of the frequent attempts to occupy a busy girl:

• set up little toys on shelves around the living room and kitchen then have her push the cart and go "shopping"
• Books. Any book. Side note... be prepared to read it again and again and again
• Go through photo albums and let her find all the pictures of mama and dada. See note above
• Build a fort and climb in it
• Play peek-a-boo when the blanket fort collapses
• Let her put her feet in the sink while you wash dishes
• Then let her help mop the floor with all the water she splashes out
• Finger paint! For great recipe, check here
• Go for a walk
• Play with poker chips, helping her to sort them by color
• Climb the stairs, staying right behind her of course. 
• "Fold" laundry. Or unfold if you're Eliaya, that's a much better game
• Tear up junk mail and let her take each piece to the trash
• Dance to the ABCs
• Tickle monster during diaper changes
• Go to a playground! Jax friends, check out this one
• Give her a rag and let her "dust" with you
• Chase her around the living room
• Chase her with the vacuum (a personal favorite in our house, Eliaya laughs, Simba barks)
• Let her play with the pretend credit cards in an old wallet
• Color cards for daddy
• Play date!
• When you've done all that, it's bath time!
• Be sure to snuggle some every day :)

It's amazing to me how much a 1 year old can do! To think, just a year ago she was kinda in the "blob" phase where she was definitely cute.... but not so interactive. I'm thankful for a busy kid who wants to get into everything. At the moment, she's trying to get the costco sized miniwheats box on her head. Oh, success! 

Gotta go catch her before she runs into something, just wanted to create a snap shot of what we do for fun. I hope you have a great day!

-the Reeds