Keeping a baby entertained

Last Wednesday night my son laughed for 15 minutes at the spinning Lazy Susan on our kitchen table. He belly laughed as he watched our napkins spin round and round and round. It was delightful.

Babies are just delightful, aren't they.

Babies are many things.

They are fun (most of the time).

They are charming.

They are delightful.

But keeping an infant (or toddler) entertained is not always fun, delightful or charming. And while puffs can buy you a good 20 minutes before the screaming starts, food is not always the answer. (I know, even I gasp as I write that.)

So how can you keep a baby entertained on a weekend, or how do you fill the day if you're a stay-at-home mom (or dad)? Or how do you keep that kiddo happy on a long car ride? And how do you keep all of this entertainment stimulating and engaging?

Here are five tips from the experts. (Notice I am not an expert.) Best of all- these ideas are either free or can be made from things you already have around your house!

Photo credit

1. Water Sensory Bottles Sarah Eleanor over at Spoonfed Baby shared this idea on her Facebook page. It's brilliant and Little Bits and I will be trying it this week. She combined oil and water with food coloring and all sorts of shiny things in a water bottle for endless infant fun.

2. Baby Core exercise. Okay, the first time I saw this I thought, "this woman is crazy." But when I tried it with baby boy, he loved it. I mean LOVED it.

3. Edible Sensory babies love two things, putting everything in their mouths and then trying to eat whatever it is they just put in said mouth. Why not try a little Edible Sensory Activity?

4. It keeps going and going! Let's add a third thing babies love- pulling on things. Hair, jewelry, food bowls. Why not engage them in some pulling that won't hurt your head or leave your floors a mess. I Can Teach My Child (my sister's favorite blog -other than this one of course) had this great pin worthy idea of putting scraps of fabric in an old wipe container for hours and hours and hours of fun.

5. Touch book. If you love to craft this one is up your alley. I found this idea on Pinterest. It's a sensory book you can make yourself. Out of scrap materials. Think: soft, smooth, rough etc. etc.

Do you have any ideas to share? I want to know how you keep your baby engaged.

Dry herbs in the microwave

Yes. You read that correctly. I said microwave.

I had two sets of herbs I needed to do something with. Some cilantro I bought at the farmer's market that was going to go bad and some oregano I grew in my garden.

But I live in the place where they invented humidity. So hanging them to dry was NOT an option. So I microwaved them. Serisously. The whole process from start to finish took maybe 10 minutes. It was great. When I was done I still had time left over for a cup of coffee.

What you'll need:

Herbs

Paper Towels

Plate

Microwave

Containers in which to put your herbs. (I reused an old spice container and a yogurt container.)

Let's get started.

First you need to make sure your herbs are clean, clean, clean. Wash them and dry them with a paper towel.

Then strip the leaves from the stems.

Layer a couple paper towels on a plate and lay the herb leaves flat on the paper towel.

Then place the plate with the herbs in the microwave for 30 seconds on the highest setting.

After the first cycle the leaves will be mushy. They obviously aren't done.

You will put them in for 30 seconds more and check them again. You will do this for a total of 2 minutes - 4 cycles. Does that make sense?

After the last cycle the herbs will be totally dry and crumble at your touch. That's how you know you're golden.

Put them in container and label them.