How do you keep an infant occupied?

Jason and I were both off the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Thanksgiving, as well as the weekend following.  How did we manage to keep Tyler entertained that whole time (especially while Mama was in the kitchen cooking)?  The easy answer -- any way we could think of!  Here's the more drawn-out answer.

Boppy Time
There are several things we got from showers that have been lifesavers, but I'm a big fan of Boppies (we actually have two, one for upstairs and one for downstairs).  After it was no longer needed to help with meal times, Tyler now uses it to prop up for a change of pace.  Hey, as fun as lying down is, everybody gets tired of it eventually.

We've now started using it for some of his tummy time, too.

Watching some "Barefoot Contessa" while I made pies and the turkey brine

Jiggles and "Sit Ups"
Tyler loves sitting on our laps, but hates sitting idly on our laps.  He LOVES being jiggled either on our knees or while sitting on our lying-down bellies.  Lots of smiles, lots of giggles...

He's also getting interested in sitting up.  We would pull him up by holding his hands.  Over Thanksgiving break, he decided he wanted to initiate things.  Very awesome, but very scary if you weren't paying attention (because he can initiate, but can't actually sit up unassisted).

We also tried the Bumbo seat, but our, um, big-boned boy is already a bit too big for it.  I think the circulation was cut off to his little chunky thighs!

He also spent some time in his monkey chair.  He likes it more now than he did at first, but he does NOT like being in it while Jason and I are eating.  Even when we pay him attention, he still gets mad and arches his back to show us he wants to get picked up.  The only thing that can stop his fussing (other than picking him up, which we try not to do) is dancing around like a fool to his monkey chair's music.  Ah distraction, you are a parent's friend.

A few monkey chair pictures from Thanksgiving before he got fussy.

He has also gotten good about playing with the toys above his pack-n-play after he wakes up from a nap.  I have no pictures of this, though, because he's content playing -- until he sees Mama or Daddy.  And then his toys are HORRIBLE and his pack-n-play is HORRIBLE and all he wants is to play with us!  So yeah, I keep my distance during that time!

We do all kinds of other stuff, including making crazy sounds at him to get him to laugh or smile (ah-BOO! is a winner), walking him around the house to check on everything, showing him things outside the window, etc.  Distraction and variety is key.

Here's hoping we can keep him occupied over Christmas break!