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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 3:14 pm
Question: What is something fun I can occasionally tuck inside my first-grader's lunchbox? Eating is and always has been a huge issue so I was thinking maybe it would be nice to put a non-food (or at least a non healthy SMALL food) in it once in a while. The only thing I can think of is a few stickers. I can't really put a note in there yet as he can't read. I could put a simple note like I love Ryan. Are there any other suggestions out there that you parents (or non-parents) might have? I sure would appreciate it! Thanks!
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 3:59 pm
Stickers, take a piece of paper and kiss with with lipstick and leave a mark, a simple I Love YOU is pretty cool. Maybe a single hershey kiss?
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 4:39 pm
Go to a dollar store and look at party favors! They're cheap, fun and it won't matter if he loses it soon after! (I'd avoid the noisemakers, though! LOL)
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 11:48 pm
How bout picture clues for what you'll do when he gets home from school. If you're going to play a game, take a picture of a game piece, snacks you might have when you do stuff like that (when we have game night, it's always a fruit or veggie plate for snacks,) group everything together and take a pic for him to figure out the clues. How bout pencils for school? I picked up some Halloween pencils a couple weeks ago that the kids thought was cool. Have you tried cutting the sandwiches with cookie cutters? Dakota always thinks thats cool when she finds a sandwich shaped like a bear or a heart, lol. Ok, she also gets excited about finding carrot sticks and ranch dip. Our kids can't have candy, cookies, cakes, etc. at school so we have to be creative with treats.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, October 07, 2005 - 6:53 am
Thanks you guys! I will be doing all of those suggestions. Well, except for the carrot sticks as Ryan is UNBELIEVABLY ridiculous when it comes to food. He will eat carrots, but only if they are super super soft and warm (like in a pot pie.) Also, what are some not so bad snacks besides: graham crackers pretzels peanut butter crackers yogurt (I know go-gurts aren't too healty. I got dannon whips, so I hope those are half decent.)}
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Schoolmarm
Member
02-18-2001
| Friday, October 07, 2005 - 4:21 pm
Ok, cut pre-sliced cheese with a cookie cutter! This is really cool with orange cheese in pumpkin shapes for Halloween.
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Spitfire
Member
07-18-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 1:13 pm
My almost 15 month old has sorta always been the type of child that is not really into anything in particular. I realize that the attention span at this age is near to non-existant but there has got to be something? Right???? He has never really been happy to sit a play with a toy for any extended period of time and when he does choose a toy he usually just carries it around without really "playing." He always likes to be with me which is fine except...that's not what he wants either. The best way to describe him is unsettled and always looking for something. Has anyone else has a child that is this way? I guess what I'm looking for is any suggestions on ways to keep him busy and interested in something. The only thing that keeps his interest is us explaining things to him. Ex. This is a yellow hammer and this is what it's used for...This is your red motorbike and Daddy's is blue...lets color with the green crayon....etc. BTW I am not at all worried about him, that's not the issue. I'm just trying to find some sanity for both of us.
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Escapee
Member
06-15-2004
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:00 pm
DD was happy to have me read to her, but that doesn't solve your problem. Then I started giving her jobs. Like pouring ingredients from a measuring cup when I was cooking, etc. I guess that doesn't solve your problem either. She loves playdough while sitting in her high chair in the kitchen. She never ate it, some kids might. She loved the "Big" lego type building blocks. Something that they have to keep working at. Like peg puzzles. DD loves peg puzzles. They are good for motor skills too. Also, anything she can make a mess of, such as construction paper, etc. I'd just slap it in a big pile on the floor, then shed rummage through it, scatter it about. I'd tell her the colors as she was picking them up, all the while I was getting to watch TV or rest or do dishes, or something. then after a while, she'd lose interest, I'd pile it all up, and put it in the drawer for the next day. She also loves boxes, shoe boxes, storage boxes, gift boxes, you name it, she scatters those about, and then she moves onto something else.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:03 pm
Spit, I truly wouldn't worry about it-- most children don't "latch on" to a certain kind of toy until almost 2 years old. My DS had a bunny for sleeping, but it wasn't a toy during play time. Between 18 mos. and 24 he got "hooked" on Thomas the Tank -- and between 2 and 8 he collected over 200 Thomas trains, in addition to a full filing cabinet full of wooden track and another 100 wooden Thomas trains! ACK!!! Trains gone wild! It made Christmases and birthdays extremely easy, I'll admit, but it took adding a "train room" to our new house to find a living room floor! LOL Maybe I'm off base, but I think 15 mos. is too young for "favorite" toys yet. I'd use the time to create an appreciation for toys that won't drive you crazy later -- I can't imagine what would have happened if my DS had wanted to collect Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles! LOL Trains, cars, airplanes, those are a lot more "liveable" long term! GOOD LUCK!
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:18 pm
OH MY GOSH SPITFIRE!!! You sound EXACTLY like me. I have been looking for toys or videos or something to keep Ryan occupied since he was younger than your little guy. (What is his name?) Anyways, he never got "into" anything. Meanwhile all my other friend's kids and nephews, nieces, etc. got "into" Thomas stuff, cars, barbies, whatever... I bought all sorts of toys--luckily I got a majority of them at resale shops, garage sales, etc. (I have also since resold most). Some people might think I was spoiling him, but I was only trying to find something he would enjoy so that I might have a few minutes for laudry or whatever without him clinging to me. Didn't work well. He still has not found one certain toy that he loves for any period of time. Oh wait, at 15 months one type of toy he loved and stuck with for a long while was the tomy ball party type toys. I will post this and be back with some pictures. (It is a type of marbleworks toy but the balls are much bigger than marbles.)
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:23 pm

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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:27 pm
He also loved the Baby Einstein videos. (Just not the Baby Einstein one--that one blows if ya ask me.) Baby Mozart, Baby Bach, Van Gogh, etc are all really good. They are like a baby valium sometimes cuz they are very soothing and quiet and really could settle him down somehow.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:30 pm
He never did (and still doesn't very much) do a lot of dramatic play (ie pretending a car was real or a doll was alive, etc.) He mostly liked (and still likes) to line toys up rather than play with them. Luckily his one friend is VERY imaginative and through a type of peer pressure, I sometimes see Ryan trying to imitate his friend. These days his favs are puzzles and building type toys such as legos and k'nex.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:50 pm
Tomy
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:51 pm

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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 2:59 pm
At 15 MONTHS the kids are into Thomas, Barbie ect?????????!!!!!!!!!! wow, i must have had sluggo kids!! LOL they weren't into specific stuff at that age at all...mainly just being 'busy' walking around, playing with blocks for a few minutes but never with anything for long periods of time.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 3:43 pm
Pots with lids and boxes was it for my kids at that age, lol. They couldn't care less about the box of toys, they wanted the box or a spoon to bang with. Heck even now at 7, I can keep Dakota occupied for at least an hour with a large cardboard box. I keep a small stack of varying sizes hidden away and when she's bored I pull one out. She draws on them, uses them for forts, reads in them, pretends they're cars or planes. LOL, I have even seen her run off with a plastic bag, she cuts holes in the bottom, jumps into it and models it around the house (though I would never suggest that for such a little one!) When we first bought the house Caleb was around 18 months old. I had one cabinet in the kitchen that I left pretty much empty except for a few things for him to play with (like a pot and pan, couple tuperware bowls, and plastic cups and spoons.) If he wasn't digging stuff out to play with he was hiding inside the cabinet. Maybe my kidlets are strange, lol. But yeah, I don't remember either being particularly attached to anything before they were about 2 and Kota up until the last year or so never played with any toy for too long. LOL, as I say this, Dakota's running around the backyard. She has a ballon on a string she got from the fall festival Sunday (so the balloon is pretty flat) and she's tied a barbie doll to the string. She's throwing it up in the air and yelling "SKYDIVER!" That'll keep her entertained for about 12 minutes and then she'll be off to find something equally as odd, lol.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 - 4:20 pm
My niece at 15-18 months loved her barbie. (Probably cuz she has 3 older sisters who are all into Barbie.) Then when she hit about two she dropped barbie and was all about Belle (from Beauty and the beast.) My 20 month old nephew is all Thomas--all the time. He sleeps with the trains. He doesn't care so much about the tracks, but he brings the choo-choos all over.
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Spitfire
Member
07-18-2002
| Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 7:30 am
I don't have a computer at home and finally got a chance to check all the replies....and thanks to everyone. First of all I would like to say once again that I am certainly not worried about Sam at all. I do believe that at this point it is just his personality. I never meant for him to be "into" once particular thing like Thomas or anything else they have out there because I know it's quite early for him to be attached to something like that. I guess maybe I didn't explain myself well. Escapee I have done the blocks, playdough, and piles of junk on the floor. LOL....this sounds funny, but his reaction to me offering these things now is...."I'm soooo over that" Teach, like I said I am not worried about anything at all with his behavior. Just looking for new suggestions on something he may be interested in and or a way to keep him interested in something. Julieboo....I'm totally gonna check out that Tomy stuff. Is it available at any particular place. I'm in Canada BTW. That looks like something that he would like. Texannie I think he's to young to as well. He has a lifetime to get sucked into ads and brand names. You said your children walked around just "busy"....that's just it...he was doing that kind of stuff but all of a sudden he's not happy unless he's attached to my leg every 3 min. Then he'll go play and come back again. Wargod I don't think your kidlets are strange at all. They have a great imagination by the sounds of it. I'm starting to think that maybe I sound silly. It's really just a simple issue that is not a big deal at all. My doctor told me that there is a new term for his behavior....it's left me at the moment. Basically it was him to a tee....always searching for something new to discover and becomes bored very easily once he knows what a particular item is used for. This is not new for him either. He was like this from day one and went through about a two month period where it seemed he was changing and now heeee'ssss baaack. LOL
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Wednesday, October 12, 2005 - 7:35 am
I could almost guarantee he'll love that tomy stuff. I think I got our tomy toys at ToysRUs. They are not everywhere-like I don't think Target or Walmart carries them, but they aren't too hard to find. Ebay is a good place to look too, especially if you don't care if they aren't in a box... Sam sounds a ton like Ryan.
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