Much Love Monday: 7 Games my Toddler and I Love to Play

Life is beautiful irrespective of what you are going through. Two and half years before I didn’t know what it would be like to be a mother. Now I am experiencing what it is like to be a mother as well as a child.

I used to wonder how many mothers kept the child in them alive. Now I know it! Having an infant is holding a bundle of joy, but having a toddler is having a fun package at home. That’s exactly how my days are going now. Finally, this year I have found the true reason and meaning for my stay at home.

I am not just happy, but overall satisfied with my current experiences with my daughter. I want to cherish these memories in words as well. Hence this post.

Though my days are filled with Ilakkiya from morning to night, realization has finally hit me that it’s not going to be the same in a few years. My daughter needs my attention now. As a mother, I am happy and excited about it. Though I complaint once in a while of not having my me-time, I must say she is thoroughly keeping me happily engaged. She has not just taught me to let go of many things, she has also taught me not to overreact for everything. ?

Since we spend our time together mostly, we have come up with 7 games. It helps my toddler and me spend our time better when we get utterly bored being together!

7. Sa Re Ga Ma

Now that we have learnt a few Thamizh and English rhymes, we are bored of singing them on a regular basis. I hum the song and she tries to find the song and it gets interesting when songs get mixed up. I realized some rhymes follow the same music and it’s fun to find similar songs. The good thing about this game is when baby girl tries to hum and asks me to find it. Imagine my surprise!

6. Draw The Rhyme

Find the rhyme!

This is similar to storytelling, but we use this technique for rhymes. For example, I draw a mouse, a clock, a cuckoo and a bed for the mouse to fall down on, along with an elephant to help the mouse at the end(updated version, courtesy – Coco melon). So could you figure out the rhyme? Yes, Hickory Dickory Dock. Drawing is not my thing, but I am delighted to learn how to draw a few animals. Earlier, the most difficult part was to make her believe it’s a mouse. Now, she finds it, so I guess I am better or she finally has figured this is the mouse mom can draw. Anyway, the game is interesting.

Find the animal! She said it was a cat, close!

5. Arrange the Veggies

This is what most parents play. I find it interesting that my little one enjoys playing this. The actual fun for her is not in arranging the veggies, it is in opening the refrigerator and keeping things in. If she has to arrange peas, lady’s finger and tomato, only half of it goes in, yes she loves to eat them raw. When I give her beans she breaks the beans and stores it, only because she loves to break them. If it’s broad beans (Avarakkai) then she treats it like another version of peas.

4. The Rain Game

This is something she found herself. She collects things, for example blocks and pours it down my head like the rain. This doesn’t stop with just the blocks, it’s applicable for erasers, pens and all stationary that belongs to me. So after all is done and we are flooded enough, we clean up the contents with the clean up song (Coco melon again).

3. Paint it Pink

We learn our colours everyday and the little one is supposed to dip in the colour I choose. Of course, we take turns. We start with a paint brush and a lovely book, then the book becomes messy, so we use our hand to make a bingo mark(just like another rhyme, where the fur friend paints with her human friend) in the notebook, then we want to know how messy can we get. So, recently she figured how to wash her hands as well as the paint brush on her own. We head to the bathroom to get a wash and a mini-bath after EVERY painting session.

2. Hello Doctor!

Yes, this is a new find. My father underwent laser treatment for Cataract before 10 days. From then, it’s all about what the doctor advised her Grandpa. However, we have given our doctor an extra duty, he handles the phones at our home. ? When the little one asks for the phone, my father says his doctor said he is not supposed to use it for viewing videos until his eyes get better. So when the father takes the phone to attend calls, his granddaughter becomes the strict doctor who denies him access to his phone. Other important element of our doctor game is testing head to toe for pains and troubles and treating them with a hug and a kiss as a medicine.

Another new version of the doctor game is addressing each other as doctors. Tell me doctor what do you think about this! (This can refer to pomegranate too!) And if we are not doctors, we become monkeys. Yes, we address each other as monkeys and continue our conversations. If not monkeys, we address each other as mom and baby. Sometimes I am the mom and sometimes I’m the baby. ?

1. Role Reversal

Though I enjoy all the above games, I enjoy this one a little bit more. She becomes the mother and I become the baby. So I’m supposed to give her all cuddles and requests and she is suppose to hear me and respond. How cool is this game! We have a glitch here. I’ll tell you that too, when I’m not able to handle her tantrums, this game comes handy. I get to repeat all she does and she just looks at me like, damn you are the baby now? The best part in this is she calls me endearingly and cuddles as often as I ask. How cute is that? Also, let me tell you she warns me just the way I warn her. That’s another best point, I’ll tell you that.

I am glad I wrote this post. I’d been delaying this for a while now. Today while we were playing the role reversal something happened. I asked her to come and hug me, but she had to go and meet her grandfather and greet him good night. I insisted she stay with me and hug me. She just turned to me and told me to wait, because she had to go and say good night. I was happy. As a mother, she clearly laid her priorities in front of her child. I’m a happy mom. I see myself in a better phase now. As a mother and as an individual. Thanks to my daughter. God bless.

What games do you love to play with your little one? I’d love to know so I could add them to my list.

*********************************

Much Love Monday is a series I am hosting in my blog about how each of us look at Mondays. This will be hosted on the 3rd and 4th Monday in this blog. You can share your experience about your Monday or an experience worth sharing on Monday in your blog. You can add this badge to your post and comment here so we can follow each other’s posts.