How much of the day do you spend playing with them?

[loub]

Lily has just turned 4 months and has changed so much in the last week. As a spirited baby she could only be awake for about an hour at a time as she got overstimulated, but now it's extended to nearly 2 hours and she's dropped 1 of her 4 naps. I have been researching activities to do with babies (the Mirium Stoppard book is brilliant) and do a variety of things with her e.g. looking at books, tummy-time, rattles/other toys she can grab and just chatting and laughing. My question is, do people spend ALL the A time WITH LO every cycle? If not, how much time does LO spend on her own and what does she do? I have a play gym for Lily which she sometimes goes on for about 5 minutes but that's all I've tried. I have 2 concerns, firstly that she is going to exhaust me! Secondly I may overstimulate her.. (By the way I am not counting the activities we do when we're out e.g. swimming, baby massage, movement group..) 

[speechie]

Hi-
At 4 months, I gave my LO time to just take in his environment during A times. Even if it was only 5 mins of sitting in a seat looking out the window at the trees. He was/is so spirited that it was hard on me- he was/is SO ALERT and got bored quickly, needed new things to look at frequently.
He would reach out and stop his swing w/his hands at this age...I just would try to get supper done while chatting with him... You are doing a lot w/your LO if you are in 3 classes! wow-
Try putting your LO down on the playmat w/toys in the same room as you are folding laundry or some such thing... see how it goes...
HTH