Chorevia

Day 222 of 300 · Week 30

In and out

Last reviewed · 4 min read · 9 sources · Plain-text version

Putting a block in a cup is a 12-month milestone, so this month is the warm-up: dumping, refilling, and the low cabinet of pots and lids that beats any toy you can buy.

A Latina mother sits cross-legged on a kitchen floor in morning light with her thirty-week-old propped between her knees, a steel mixing bowl and three large plastic lids scattered in front of them.

A bowl and three lids. That's the whole toy today, and it will outlast most of the ones with batteries.

Heart

Putting something in a container, like a block in a cup, is a 12-month milestone on CDC's list (CDC), which means it's months away for most babies and the perfect thing to play at now, with no expectation. What's on the 9-month list is the pieces of it: moving things from one hand to the other and banging two things together (CDC). Dumping, banging, and dropping are experiments in how things work (AAP), and a bowl of lids runs all three at once.

Head

The hard part isn't the putting in. It's the letting go. Early in this stage your baby rakes things in with the whole hand, and once they can release on purpose, dropping and throwing become favorite games (AAP). So a lid that gets carried to the bowl and then just held there is a baby who has solved the first half. CDC's suggestion for this age is to practice dumping and refilling together (CDC), and "together" means your hand tipping the bowl while their hand grips the lid.

Body

At this age, ordinary household objects are the most fascinating toys: the AAP's list is wooden spoons, pots, and plastic containers, stocked in a low cabinet (AAP). Two rules keep it a game. Everything in the bowl is too big to fit entirely in your baby's mouth (AAP), so large lids and wooden spoons, never bottle caps. And your baby sits on the floor for it, on a rug or a mat, not on the counter or a bed.

Try today

  1. The baby, sitting on the kitchen floor against the mother's legs, dropping a big plastic lid into a mixing bowl with both hands, the grandmother kneeling beside them saying something.

    In and out

    Time: About 5 minutes · In and out in the guide

    1. Give your baby a mixing bowl or bucket and three or four big plastic lids, blocks, or wooden spoons, each too big to fit entirely in their mouth (AAP).

    2. Tip the bowl and dump everything out together, saying "out!"

    3. Drop the pieces back in one at a time, saying "in!" each time; guide their hand over the bowl and wait for the letting go (CDC).

    4. Hand them a lid and hold out the bowl. If it goes in, cheer; if it goes in the mouth or on the floor, that's today's version.

    Make it work:

    A metal bowl is loud and a plastic one is quiet; pick by your headache, not theirs.

Watch for

  • Normal

    a lid banged on the bowl for a full minute, then on the floor, then on your knee (CDC).

    Call your pediatrician right away

    for a fever higher than 104°F (40°C), and know that the AAP says you may need to call about 103°F (39.4°C) or higher in a baby over 6 months (AAP; AAP).

  • Normal

    every lid mouthed before it goes in the bowl (AAP).

    Go to the ER now

    if your baby may have swallowed a button battery or magnets, and call the National Battery Ingestion Hotline, 1-800-498-8666, on the way (CPSC).

  • Normal

    a baby who sits for the game and then tips over reaching for the far lid.

    Call your pediatrician right away

    if your baby won't move an arm or leg normally, or cries when touched or moved (AAP).

For you

The mother on her knees at an open low kitchen cabinet, moving cleaning bottles up to a high shelf while the grandmother holds the baby on her hip in the doorway.

The low cabinet is the yes space. Tomorrow's note is the whole idea; today is the first shelf of it. The AAP's advice is to stock a low cabinet with wooden spoons, pots, and plastic containers (AAP), and the quiet point of that advice is that it's a cabinet your baby is allowed to empty. Every kitchen has one cabinet that holds the cleaning sprays and one that holds the pots; if they're both low, swap them. Then the crawling, scooting, or rolling baby who gets there before you do finds lids, not bleach (AAP).

If you're the partner: you do the swap. Cleaners and alcohol locked up high, and the pots and lids down where the baby can reach (AAP). It takes ten minutes and it's the single most useful thing you'll do in the kitchen this month.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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