Developmental Activities For 6 Month Babies: Ice Ice Baby!

Brrrrrr..... COLD! Ice cubes were a fascinating and frustrating adventure for my little teething babe.  If you think about it most babies have not really been exposed to cold, as generally adults are always so obsessed with ensuring that babies are warm and comfortable-not too hot and not too cold. So ice was a different experience as he wanted to hold on to it, taste it and play but it is uncomfortable cold and slippery!  Parker's tolerance was much longer than I anticipated as he wants so badly to play and accomplish whatever "goal" he had set out to do in his little mind!  

In other activities, Parker has mostly ecstatically enjoyed the experience but I honestly don't think enjoyment happened with the ice until the end of this activity. He was grumpy and whiny! He did not want me to move him or take him away from the ice (I was watching for his ques to tell me he was done- I am not trying to torture my kid lol) but rather he was focused and wanted to figure out how to hold it and get it to his mouth. He kept trying and failing... trying... failing... and well folks- that is frustrating for anyone-but it doesn't necessarily mean you should quit! It was also frustrating for me to watch him fail and whine because he can't do it himself. It is really hard for me to not just intervene and fix it for him. I did help him by putting the ice in his mouth and in his hand so he could do it himself but they did not fix his frustration as I was the one who controlled the ice or the ice would slip out of his hand and make him mad!  

​Eventually I stuck a piece of ice in a mesh feeder so he could really grasp it and have the control- and that was exactly what he wanted. I can only imagine what this personality is going to be like in the toddler years-sigh! He was so proud of himself and was back to my happy, giggly little boy. And Parker played and sucked on that piece of ice in the mesh feeder until it melted away. 

Happy Baby=Happy Mamma!