{"id":12461,"date":"2016-06-10T10:18:23","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T14:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=12461"},"modified":"2016-06-10T16:07:18","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T20:07:18","slug":"5-ways-keep-baby-busy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/5-ways-keep-baby-busy.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways To Keep Ada Verastic Busy This Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with HBO<\/a> and DiMe Media<\/a>. However, all opinions expressed are my own<\/p>\n

Ada Verastic is growing everyday, as expected. As a first-time mom, every single thing is new and interesting and awe-mazing<\/em> to me. For example, Ada Verastic recently started crawling, and I could watch her all day. The way she just takes off and gets to the other end of the room in no time, it leaves me amazed. I am in awe of this little human. And sometimes, I watch her and I cannot believe that I, too, was once this little. I wish I could remember my life when I was her age.<\/p>\n

Anyway, considering that Ada Verastic isn’t one yet, she is learning and experiencing everything for the first time ever. She’s had her first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first Valentine’s Day, first Easter, and now, first summer. These days, I try all kinds of tricks to keep Ada Verastic entertained (especially for when she’s tired of crawling around). So, I have come up with a list of five things that I’ll be doing to keep Ada Verastic entertained (in no particular order):<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Read books to her<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"Book\"<\/p>\n

It’s never too early to start reading, no? She likes to stare at me when I’m talking to myself or pretending to be standing in front of a large audience and giving a speech (don’t judge me). As a child, I loved reading books, and they were my favorite activity, so I hope I can pass the love of reading to Ada Verastic, too.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Watch Sesame Street on HBO<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"Elmo-Sesame-Street\"<\/p>\n

She’s becoming interested in TV, or maybe she’s just interested in big colorful objects moving around on a big screen. Either way, I’m sure she would love Elmo and Big Bird and the Cookie Monster. Sesame Street and HBO have partnered to air all new and classic episodes of Sesame Street on HBO. It will be going down on Saturdays at 9:00 AM. Old episodes will also air during the week on HBO Family. Also, the past 5 seasons will be available on HBO Go, HBO On Demand, and HBO Now. And yes, there will still be appearances from celebrities like Lupita Nyong’o, Ne-You, Pharrell Williams, and Gina Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Toys: <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Believe it or not, but I have not bought one single toy for Ada Verastic. She has a few things that she plays with, but I didn’t buy any of them for her. Contrary to what the baby industry tries to make us believe, babies do not actually NEED half as many things as they tell us. Still, I’ll definitely be investing in toys for her.<\/p>\n

4. Beach time<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Don’t laugh. But I have seen too many pictures of little human beings on the beach. And come August, I’ll be going to Los Angeles for BlogHer16 and Ada Verastic will be coming with me. We’ll be using the trip as a mini family vacation, so I plan on going to the beach. Maybe Ada Verastic will build her first sand castle.<\/p>\n

\"Beach1\" \"Beach2\"<\/p>\n

5. Games on the iPad<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"iPad\"<\/p>\n

In 2012, I bought my first and only iPad (the third generation one). At the time, I had a Blackberry, so the iPad felt like I went from zero to hundred. I took the iPad everywhere, but months later, I bought a Samsung Galaxy phone and stopped using the iPad. So I have given my iPad to Ada Verastic. I’ll be downloading games for infants. Considering her love for my phone, I’m sure she’d love her iPad, too. \u00a0Wish us luck!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the thought of watching Sesame Street again is nostalgic. When Toby was a child, he tortured us with Sesame Street. He had the DVD, and he chose to watch the same one over and over and over. This time, at least we’ll be watching the new episodes – bright and early every Saturday morning at 9:00 AM EST.<\/p>\n

If anyone has any other ideas for how I can keep Ada Verastic busy and entertained this summer, please share!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with HBO and DiMe Media. However, all opinions expressed are my own Ada Verastic is growing everyday, as expected. As a first-time mom, every single thing is new and interesting and awe-mazing to me. For example, Ada Verastic recently started crawling, and I could watch her all day.Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[560],"tags":[565],"class_list":["post-12461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-social","tag-sponsored-post","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 Ways To Keep Ada Verastic Busy This Summer - 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