Wishful Slacker

Toddler Gear Guide- 15 months

Here is an update on the toys, books, etc, that strike Ellie's fancy, now that she is almost 15 months old:

1) Baby dolls
Jim and I got Ellie her first real dolly for Christmas.  There are many makers of baby dolls, and the brand that Jim and I were really looking at were those made by Corelle.  They have a plastic head and limbs with a cloth body, and come with different outfits.  The big problem is that they are PRICEY.  And the thing is, does our toddler really understand that she's been given an expensive dolly?  She's thrilled playing with cardboard shipping boxes, so there's our answer.  We got Ellie a $20 Madame Alexander plastic baby doll, and she is really starting to carry her around.  In addition, Ellie has started playing with her Baby Stella doll, which we received as a baby gift.  Baby Stella is an all-plush doll.  Ellie seems to really enjoy both- she picks one up, drops it, and then picks up the other one.  She likes getting Baby Stella's magnetic pacifier to stick to her mouth, and she slings both of them into her grocery cart and baby stroller.


This morning at our toddler class at Pied Piper Eleanor began to feed the baby dolls there with a plastic bottle.  She took it very seriously.  So, apparently we must now add "doll feeding accessories" to our list of future do-dads to acquire around here. 


2) Push carts
For Christmas Ellie received a little plastic shopping cart, which she really, really likes.  She places her bunny or one of her dolls in the front, and sometimes throws the others into the back.  Having a shopping cart at this age is great for her infatuation with constant movement.  At first, she kept leaning on her shopping cart as though it was a walker, and it would tip over and she would get frustrated.  She seems to now have gotten the knack of it.  There are many brands of shopping carts for kids. 


At a friend's house over Christmas break, Ellie had a great time playing with their doll stroller which my friend said she found at Target for about $10.  Sure enough, Target has these umbrella strollers (that actually fold up), and Ellie really loves hers.  I didn't know if there was a need for her to have both a stroller AND a shopping cart, but she really does seem to enjoy having both. 


3) Crayons.  Ellie is starting to enjoy coloring.  Jim got her a set of jumbo Crayola crayons for Christmas, and now we have one more thing to do on rainy days.  :-) 

4) Mega Bloks or other Lego/block sets
I got Ellie and Jim a killer set of Mega Bloks for Christmas.  I got a great deal- 100 pieces in a plastic tub from Walmart.com, for just $10!  It was right before Christmas, so I think I benefited from a good Christmas deal because I haven't seen them that inexpensive since.  Other Mega Bloks sets come in a zippered pouch, and I like the sturdy bin that came with our set.  The Mega Bloks are really easy for Ellie to snap together.  In the play area of a Barnes & Noble she was really enjoying playing with their Lego table.  My biggest issue with the blocks is that she always knocks down my amazing skyscrapers.  Sigh. 


Along the blocks theme, Ellie also received this train set for Christmas and really likes it. 

5) Corn Popper.  Yes, I am referencing that classic toy that we all enjoyed when we were kids.  We got one for Ellie for her birthday.  It took her a while to be able to push it forward properly without falling, but now that she is much sturdier on her feet it has become one of her favorites, especially when she needs to run off some steam. 

6) Laptop.  I still feel that I don't want all of the toys in our home to be electronic and an imagination-zapper.  But there are some battery-operated toys that Ellie just LOVES, and her little laptop is one of them.  We now bring it along for long car rides because it is great entertainment for her when she starts to buck in the backseat.  Hers is a little Vtech laptop, and there is a larger model at Pied Piper.  She loves that one too, and today almost launched into a full temper tantrum after another child TOUCHED it.  Yikes. 


7) Shape sorters.  My mom got us this one for Christmas.  I knew Eleanor would enjoy playing with it, but I was surprised to find after the holidays that it was probably her favorite new toy.  After she inserts the shape into the hippo's body, she pumps the plunger at the top and the shapes spin around inside and come spitting out the hippo's mouth.  She really likes that part. 

8) Maisy books.  Ellie likes all of her board books, but we have gotten several books about Maisy (who is a mouse, apparently, but I think she looks more like a rat.  Don't tell Ellie that).  They've got great illustrations and Jim and I like the stories.  Okay, maybe it's really Jim and me that love Maisy, and we are pushing that onto our child.  That may be more of the underlying picture here.  But, I have to say that if you tell Ellie to go get her Sweet Dreams, Maisy book, she goes and gets the correct one, which tells me that she must like it, right?  Oh, and we have gotten many of ours used (but in quite good condition) from Amazon.  We also like Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton. Ellie is starting to say "BOW WOW WOW" in a deep and husky voice when we get to that page.  Cracks me up. 

So, yes, bottom line is that Eleanor received many toys for her birthday and the holidays, and I am pleased to say that we will be taking quite a toy-purchasing break for the time being.  In 2-3 years, when I need to buy another munchkin a gift and my memory is fried, I can look off of this list.  :-)

Oh, one more thing!  We have had some friends inquire about the little play area that we have in our living room.  It is the playzone sold from the One Step Ahead catalog, but we found ours used on Craigslist.  We have the basic set plus two extensions, and then we got the foam tiles to go inside. 

Toddler Gear Guide

Yes- that's right- TODDLER gear guide.  Because I think that is officially where we are now- we no longer have a little baby.  In fact, right now our "baby" is sleeping off a fat lip that she got this morning from falling. 

And on a similar note, it has been a while since I have posted here, in part BECAUSE of the fact that our child is now a toddler.  She moves CONSTANTLY, is starting with separation anxiety (for example, I now can't even go into the bathroom without someone assuming I have left her life forever and will never return), and is also not sleeping half as well as she used to.  The past two nights were better (knock on wood 20 times please), but still, the bedtime process is becoming a long and arduous journey, complete with me slithering out of the baby's room on my belly after having rubbed her back for 20 minutes with my tired forehead pressed against the crib bars. 

In essence, I am tired, and have had no energy to write.  I am on my third cup of coffee and it's not even noon.  BUT, I have been wanting to post this for almost two weeks now and am finally forcing myself to get to it!  Eleanor turned one two weeks ago, and she received a collection of fabulous birthday gifts.  When I started the "Baby Gear Guide" posts, it was mainly for me and my ever-fading memory so that when it came time to buy gifts for friends I could look up the items that really worked for us.  I want to remember what Ellie got for her one year birthday for when it is time to buy gifts for our future little friends. 

So, here they are!


Jim and I got Ellie a pink chair from Pottery Barn Kids.  She LOVES it far more than we even thought she would.  It is a bit pricey, but we managed to get it using a sale where the chair itself was discounted plus there was no delivery surcharge.  We highly recommend it, and suggest you keep a lookout for any future sales. 

We also got her this puzzle by Melissa and Doug which she really, really loves.  Her daycare classroom has the same one.  It would be a great first birthday gift. 



Other great gifts:

LeapFrog My Pal Scout/Violet- This is awesome.  It is a cute plush puppy that plays music when you touch its paws.  You can connect it to your computer and upload information specific to your child.  So Violet says, "I love you, ELEANOR" and spells her name.  Jim got it set up, and it kind of freaked me out the other day because it started to play Christmas music.  So, you can change the songs it sings and everything.  Ellie's very favorite lovie is Vtech's yellow bunny, so she really enjoys these types of toys.  She likes chewing on their ears :-)

LeapFrog Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set- Another great toy.  It includes a magnetic barn that attaches to a fridge or other magnetic surfaces.  We have ours on the door to our clothes washer, which is great because while Ellie is playing with it in our kitchen we can still get into our fridge.  There are animal pieces that you can place inside the barn, and it plays the cutest songs depending on which front and end animal pieces you add.  Ellie loves the animal pieces on their own (we are finding them all over our house!) and she also loves to carry the barn around too.  There is a button on the barn that plays music that she likes to press.  She hasn't yet fully mastered being able to get the animal pieces in place by herself, but she tries and we know she'll get it sometime soon.

LeapFrog Cook and Play Potsy- I am including this here, though technically Jim and I broke down and gave this to Ellie before her birthday on a day when I needed to keep her occupied in the kitchen while I made dinner.  We didn't realize that my sister had also purchased Potsy for her, and boy was she mad when she learned we had beat her to it!  And with reason- it is a hilariously awesome toy, randomly yelling phrases like, "Vitamin A keeps me healthy every day!"

Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Apptivity Case- this is a toy of the future, a nifty gadget that holds your iphone or ipod touch in place so that your child can play with it.  A protective cover keeps the ipod from getting destroyed.  You can download free Fisher Price counting or animal name apps.  I think this will really come in handy for travel or other times when we are waiting for something and need a stationary activity. 

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*UPDATE*
To prove the statements in the second paragraph are indeed true, it has now been four days since I initially started this post.  Yes.  Four days.  And I am operating on about three hours of sleep.  Three hours!  It was the night of the crying baby and wailing cat.  But enough of that.....

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Little People- Anything Fisher-Price Little People is becoming a big hit around here.  Ellie received the airplane from her aunt and uncle for her birthday, and for her christening she received the A to Z learning zoo playset that has 26 little animals for each letter of the alphabet.  We also received the school bus and farm sets second hand from one of our friends.  She carries the figures all over the house, tucked beneath a pudgy arm or clasped in her hands.  It's pretty cute.

Melissa & Doug latches board and Magnetic Hide and Seek board- Grandma Rhodes also found these for Ellie, and they are great.  The latches board is full of doors with special latches (hmmm, great description, Lindsay) which the baby isn't able to get just yet.  However, we have all the latches and locks undone, and Ellie keeps going to the board to open and close the doors and is getting a real kick out of that.  The Hide and Seek board is also really cool, however for the moment I have put it away because the baby is teething and keeps scraping her teeth along the magnets which is in turn starting to ruin the pictures.  We will pull it back out soon for her to play with.

We can't forget good books, and Ellie especially loves this Very Hungry Caterpillar finger puppet book.  It really makes her laugh. 

I love toys that give kids a good starting point for their imaginations, but leave enough room for them to carry it through the rest of the way.  All of her first birthday gifts were so lovely. 

Anyways, I hope that you have found this list helpful.  I know I will thank myself in the future for when I need some good gift ideas.  But I will now end here.  It is time to go exercise off the ten tons of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and Pequods pizza that I consumed this past Thanksgiving weekend :-)

Happy Holidays!

Baby Gear Guide

Out and About

I wanted to highlight some of the handy baby tools that we have used to get around in the past 10 months and found to be very handy.



Uppababy stroller-
The decision of what kind of stroller to get is a big one.  Especially in a city- "Your stroller is your car" was a phrase we heard several times in the months before Ellie was born.  And honestly, it is true.  We take our stroller everywhere, over uneven sidewalks and divets and potholes while crossing a street.  This doesn't say much for the state and quality of Chicago sidewalks and roads, but at least we are able to confidentally maneuver and plow over these potential stroller-blocks.  

We contemplated a few types of fancy strollers, and first settled on getting a BOB stroller before we saw friends of ours using their Uppababy Vista.  I also learned about the Uppababy from a patient's mother, who recommended it as a cheaper yet excellent alternative to the Bugaboo brand that is so hyped among the city elite.  Now the Uppababy is by no means "cheap."  Looking on Amazon today they are listed at $675.  We were fortunate to receive ours as a gift, and we really love ours.  

When we went stroller shopping, I never honestly gave much thought to the basket beneath the stroller seat.  And thank God the basket under the Uppababy is HUGE- so my lack of consideration of that feature hasn't led me to repeatedly curse under my breath when we have needed more space.  Yes, your stroller is your car in the city, but it is also your GROCERY CART.  I knew we needed enough room beneath the stroller for our diaper bag, but I never thought about needing room for milk and bread and produce and Gerber snacks.  Thanks to our Uppababy, I can easily head over to Whole Foods or Jewel or Walgreens and throw everything under our stroller while we shop.  We are able to get a LOT under there, and our midweek shopping excursions have happily been quite easy.

The Uppababy has many other nice features.  There is a bassinet attachment (which we used more at home rather than while out and about for a walk.  I think Ellie perferred the normal seat even when teeny tiny since she could be strapped in and didn't bounce all over the place).  The seat is comfy and can face backwards or forwards when they are ready to take on the world.  Ellie has slept overnight in it many times when she's had a cough and benefitted from being propped up, or when we took our city staycation back in April.  There is a rain shield that zips around the baby and keeps her dry (and warmer in the winter).  The handles adjust in height, which works great when you are a tall husband:short wife combo like us. 

Stroller caddy-
A fail on the part of the ritzier strollers is that they don't always come with the accessories that you really need- like a cup holder or organizer.  Uppa Baby does make a clip on cup holder that you can buy separately, but it hasn't received good reviews on Amazon.  What we use instead is this stroller caddy by Jolly Jumper.  It was inexpensive ($12) and works great for us and the Uppababy (it supposedly is able to fit many brands of strollers).  It has two cup holders which are best used for closed containers like water bottles or travel mugs.  A regular cup from a coffee shop still sploshes all over the place in this caddy, even after you drink most of the coffee out of the cup first.  I also roll up burp clothes and put them in the cup holders, or throw my cell phone in them, etc.  There is a middle zippered pocket where I keep my wallet, and there are small pockets that we use for chapstick, hand sanitizer, travel Kleenex, band aids, and Neosporin (I am a former girl scout, remember). :-) 

Now that we have the stroller seat facing out, we can't put the seat in the full recline position with this stroller caddy when the stroller handles are at the shortest setting.  The easy solution is that I pull the handle back out to the full length, recline the chair, and then move the handle back to my setting. 

Jujubee wallet-
When we first started going out with the baby last winter, I found it to be a major annoyance to pack her diaper bag one day, then my work bag the next, then the diaper bag again, then the stroller three days later, etc etc etc.  To make life easier, I got this wallet from Ju Ju Be.  It is a basic wallet with a bit more room than usual for those critical items (in my opinion they are critical!)- chap stick, keys, and travel hand sanitizer.  It has a tiny little pen inside too (which is surprisingly a great pen).  I got mine one day from a www.babysteals.com deal, but they have them on Amazon too.  Having this wallet allows me to throw it around from bag to bag and to always know that I have everything I need in one spot.  It has a handy wrist loop too so I can take it from my huge work bag when I grab lunch.  For me, it works.  I have thrown mine in the washing machine too with good results (ie, it didn't shrivel up into a shrinky dink).  It also fits in the main zippered pocket of the stroller caddy, as I mentioned above.  

Chicco Umbrella Stroller-
Once a baby is about 6 months old, you can begin using an  umbrella stroller.  We really like ours.  It is small and lightweight, and can be easily folded up and thrown in the back of our car.  In fact, we just keep ours in our car so we always have a stroller on hand if needed.  I have used ours for longer walks here in the city, including a time when I walked to another Mom's house for a play date.  I was able to take the baby out, fold the stroller one handed while holding the baby, and then carry it up a set of stairs into the house.  There is a handy strap (that can be detached if you don't want it), which makes it possible to sling it across your shoulder.  And it is CHEAP!  $70 on Amazon!



Baby K'tan-
I loved the early cuddly months with the baby and my favorite carrier during that time was the Baby K'tan.  I was able to use a friend's Moby wrap at first and loved it once I got it all wrapped around me and had the baby nicely inside.  However, Ellie and I had plenty an afternoon where she screamed on the bed while I turned and turned and did circles while hushing "hold on baby! Hold on!" and turned around again to get the long sheath of fabric tied on correctly.  I loved the concept of the Moby wrap, but my execution left much to be desired.  Then I learned about the Baby K'tan from a baby blog.  It is the same concept as the Moby, but the biggest difference is that it consists of two simple loops that you throw over your head.  You lift an arm, adjust, lift the other arm, and boom- pass me the baby!  I had great success with ours.  We could still use it but now I think that Eleanor does better with the extra support provided by our Ergo carrier.    

Ergo carrier-
And ta da! That leads us to the Ergo.  We use the Ergo a LOT now.  When Ellie was really small, I wasn't so sure, as she seemed to get swallowed up inside.  There is an infant insert for newborns which we used, but it is now so simple to get Eleanor strapped in and ready to go without having to factor in the newborn insert or anything like that.  There are many other carriers available for babies, and the Baby Bjorn is another brand that you hear that people like a lot.  But I tried a Baby Bjorn a couple times and just never found it to be comfortable (though others swear by it).  The Ergo, on the other hand, is really comfortable for me.  

To get down to our parking garage we have to get through 3 heavy doors, and no matter how much I tighten my abs or work on my biceps, I cannot gracefully get all our gear through those doors with Ellie in the umbrella stroller.  I've seen other parents do it- even women my size- with no problem, so I don't know what my deal is.  But I learned that the easiest way to get the kid, the breast pump, the diaper bag, and my work bag all out to the car is to just strap her to me in the Ergo, and then carry the bags with my arms.  It took me about 5 months to figure this out, but now, happily, I've got it down :-)

I also use the Ergo carrier to get the baby from our car to her daycare room and back at the end of the day, for all the same reasons that make using it in our building a great solution.

I should say that the Ergo does not fit Jim's build, and the Baby K'tan is sized, so these baby carriers don't work for him.  But he also has the strength of Zeus and no heavy fire doors hold him back a second, so I don't think it is much of a hardship for him!  I also mainly use the Ergo for carrying Ellie in front of me (facing me).  I have only put her on my back a couple of times.  It is not as comfortable, and I need someone there to help me.  With using it in the front, I can easily get Eleanor strapped in on my own, and she seems to have no problems being in that position, even now at the age of 10 months.


Anyways, I thought that I would type this out in case these reviews could help others.  :-)  Let me know if you have any questions or other recommendations! 

 

Baby Gear Guide

Here are three items that I have found to be quite handy for baby.  They aren't as fun as toys or cute clothes, of course, but I have been happy to have them around:

1) Because we might have the palest baby in the city, I have really taken to liking the Rosk organic sun cover.  It is a blanket that has built in UPF sun protection, and on each side are ties so you can easily tie it to your stroller, car seat, etc.  Instead of worrying about applying sun screen all over those piggy toes and legs when we go out for a walk, I just tie on the blanket.  It is especially good for babies less than 6 months old, since it is not recommended you apply sunscreen on them at that age. 

We have only one blanket, and it is one of those items that I NEED to remember to grab whenever we go out in the car.  I seem to only remember that it is upstairs tied to our stroller after we've left the house and I see the sunlight fully emblazened on the baby's legs in the back seat (even with the shades on the backseat car windows, that sun always finds its way through!).  The blanket is nice and lightweight.  I tried getting us a second one last time they were for sale on babysteals.com but by the time I got there they had all sold out!  Curses!

Here is our Rosk blanket.  As you can see in the second picture, with the stroller's sun shield down, the baby is all set in terms of sun protection!




2) I saw on Facebook this morning a status post about someone being up during the night with their congested baby, which got me to thinking about another of my favorite baby gadgets, the NoseFrida.  The NoseFrida is a snot sucker, in the literal sense, and we learned of its magic from friends.  There is a bit that you put in your mouth and this piece is attached to a straw.  You place one end at the base of the baby's nostril and then you suck the baby snot into the straw similarly to how you slurp up a milkshake (hmmm, snot and milkshake in the same sentence...).  Sure enough, snot gets drawn out and your baby can now breathe much more easily.  It is a very simple tool and is very cheap too.  Check out all the comments on Amazon; people love the NoseFrida.  I haven't had to use it on ours in a while, but in the past when I have had to use it she really hasn't seemed to mind it all that much.  We found it to be a MUCH better alternative to squirting saline up her nose, at which times she would flap her arms in panic, cry, and then look at us in horror as though we had tried to drown her.  The NoseFrida clears up more of the congestion than the saline does anyways.

3). Baby leg warmers!  Whoever thought of putting little leg warmers on a baby was very brilliant.  They make diaper changing so easy (no more trying to heave pants up over a bulky diaper butt).  These are especially good, I think, for babies in cloth diapers.  I put them on the baby quite often for her daycare days and they love them there (I even keep a pair in her extra clothes bin).  It's a bit nicer sending the baby to them in her leg warmers instead of in a tight pair of jeans with a fly, button, and pockets to navigate around (is it really necessary for baby jeans to have a zippered fly?).  The leg warmers are also very handy to have in your diaper bag on those hot days when the baby is in just a onesie.  If the evening turns chilly as you are sat outside (hopefully with a nice glass of wine?) talking happily with other adults and have a nicely behaving baby gnawing on her Sophie, you can easily slide on the leg warmers without taking the baby out of her chair and continue on with whatever conversation you were enjoying without having to give in and call it a night!  And, of course they come in several very cute designs for both boys and girls.  There are many companies that make them, though all of ours are made by the company BabyLegs. 

Here are pictures of the baby wearing a couple of the leg warmers that we have.  I ended up getting many of ours from deal websites (babysteals.com, babyhalfoff.com, and others).  I will usually put socks on her too so her toesies aren't cold.





I would purchase all 3 of these items for new mamas :-)  I really love baby accessories!

Baby Gear Guide

Babies.  They require many accessories, don't they?  It is almost as though your first ultrasound image should contain a sign that reads "Some assembly required." 

Of all the crazy ways that we have changed in the past year, one of them is our newly developed knowledge of baby paraphernalia.  Like I knew what the heck an umbrella stroller was this time last year.  Or which swaddling blanket worked best to soothe a fussy newborn or which baby bottles were less likely to leak.  And now, from my vantage point here in our living room chair, we have baby gear everywhere- toys are strewn across the floor, plastic bins of too-small baby clothes are stacked waiting to go in storage, our boppy pillow lies plopped on the floor after our last feed, the high chair is tucked against the dining room table (blocking the path to the dry bar and liquor, rats), and elephant and monkey squeals emanate from the jumparoo in response to the baby's enthusiatic jumping.  Etc, etc, etc...you get the point.  We now have a lot of "stuff" for someone measuring only 28 inches in length.   

I have been thinking of writing down the items that have really worked for us these past 7 months for those moments that will come, I'm sure, several years down the line when I am invited to baby showers or wish to welcome a new little one and find myself trying to remember what things my babies liked best.  At a party this past weekend someone suggested to me that I make a list of our baby gear to share with others since I did so much research on them.  I did do a lot of research, but many of the "accessories" that have clicked for us came into our lives by chance- through gifts and hand-me-downs from friends or toys in the infant room at daycare.  So...just like I post recipes on this site mainly to help MYSELF out when I'm stuck on what to make for dinner, I am going to start posting about the baby things that have been real winners in our house.  Of course, every baby is different and I have heard within families that one baby might like something that his sibling didn't really care for at all and vice versa.  But, I figure you won't be able to go too wrong with the items I share with you.  I'll tag each one of these posts as "Baby Gear Guide" so they are easy to find :-)

To start, I thought I'd mention a few toys, because that is more fun than talking about wet bags or crib sheets...


This is the My First Green Toys Stacker:
I got this during an exchange for a duplicate gift we had received, and Eleanor is a big fan.  She loves to knock the tower over and to mouth the individual pieces.  In fact, just today she was banging one of the stackers against our kitchen cabinets.  She also likes to scream into them because it creates an echo.  I'm sure the neighbors love it.  We brought the whole tower to Michigan with us, as in her eyes it was like having 10 different toys to play with.  I actually bought another one of these from a deal website recently, and am just waiting for the chance to gift it to a new baby!

I took this picture to show off this cute diaper cover, but you can see that the baby is playing with her stacker pieces here.

Our next toy is this Star Teether by Learning Curve:
We were introduced to this one at the daycare.  It seems that each day a different baby is gumming it.  When the babies bite down on the star, it vibrates, which must feel very good on sore gums.  Eleanor doesn't have teeth yet but still likes to gnaw on her star toy. 

Here is the baby playing with her teether.  She looks a tad grouchy in this photo (I'd probably be irritated myself if someone took a flash photo of me while I was minding my own business), but trust me, the teether is a winner.  The baby is lying on another Learning Curve product, a teething blanket.   What amazes me about this blanket is how long she's gravitated towards it.  This blanket and her other "crinklies" (my mom actually made us a whole bunch from scratch) were the first objects that the baby would grab and play with when she was itty bitty.  And she is still a fan, go figure.  Each corner of the star is different and she likes to put each one in her mouth. 
  

And the last toy that I will mention are the Oballs by Rhino Toys.  This was another toy introduced to us by the daycare.  In fact, we held an oball above her the very first time we set her on the floor in her daycare room.  She reached out and instantly gripped onto that toy as if to say, "MINE!"  She was only 3 months at the time.  It is lightweight and no matter how the baby's hand grazes it, she is able to grasp on.  There are several varieties, including one that rattles. 

I will leave it at that for now!  Here is a leg, with our oball in the background :-)