Dear Olive,
When baby #2 came along, one of the things that made me anxious about parenting was what to do with my toddler while my baby was nursing. If experience had been any predictor, I knew that the older kid would smell blood in the water when I most needed him to self-entertain.
In anticipation of the carnage, I made several "busy bags" to be secreted away until they were most needed. As the kids have gotten older, we still pull out these independent activity pouches during an important phone call or in the company of guests. I also take them out for long car visits or doctors office trips. They only took a few minutes to make each one, and have been a life saver over the years.
In the next few months, I'm going to start mailing you some of our busy bags to borrow. Just in case you want to make your own, here are the contents:
The jeans road bag is one of my favorites. I just cut up an old pair of jeans into road, including crossings and curves, painted some yellow lines and added in a few matchbox cars.
The string wall art is a great fine motor task for pincer grasp. Cut up bungee cord and Ikea brush holders rounded this one up easily.
Ella was entertained by this for at least one phone call and 4 work emails.
I wish you scream free mommy-tasking this month!
