PLAY
Owen is one busy little guy. A few short weeks ago he was leapfrogging his way along and then, all of a sudden, he turned six months old and decided to crawl. And he is into everything. We're in the process of baby proofing and rearranging and hiding dangerous objects from him but until that all gets done, my main job during the day is employing the mighty power of redirection. We've been going through a massive heat wave in LA this past week and my usual strategy of, "Let's go for a walk!" or "Let's go play in the yard!" is being replaced by "Let's stay inside in the air-conditioning so we don't die of heat stroke!" So here are a few toys we're loving and using all the livelong day:
- Building Blocks
We tried his wooden letter blocks first but they must be delicious because he chewed them so hard that the paint started to come off. That seemed like a bad thing so we switched over to these Tower of Babble Stacking Blocks from Land of Nod. There are ten of them, all sides are brightly illustrated and they stack inside of each other. Owen loves them because they are light and he can push them around the floor, giving himself a great game of chase and because they are hollow. He'll sit and bang them on the ground, listening to the noise they make, for extended amounts of time and I love it. Yes, he tries to chew on these too but not for long. They're more fun to chase.
- Walker
Have I mentioned that he likes to move? Well, he also likes to stand. And this walker from Babies R Us, when on the rug, doesn't move. It's just a great little play center for him when I need a break from chasing him. He also likes scooting around in it on the wood floor. He's gotten a little too tall and grabby to let him scoot for too long though. He likes to grab anything within reach and a lot more is within reach when he's in this. Like his stroller. And the TV. No bueno. So 'free scoot' time is limited. What is bueno though is that he figured out how to pull himself up to standing when the walker was sitting on the rug. He was laying next to it on his belly the other day and all of a sudden he was standing. Of course, he doesn't understand the concept of falling and will completely free fall backwards if I don't spot him, so there's that. But it's fun watching him learn to stand!
- Bumpy Ball
Got this ball from the toy section in Target with the intention of it helping Owen learn how to sit. My friend suggested it because her daughter would sit with it between her legs, it helped stabilize her because she could lean forward on it and then, ta-da! Sitting. Owen doesn't cooperate though. He immediately bats it away and takes off chasing it. Which frustrated me at first - you're supposed to be sitting, Owen - but now I love it. The bumps make it a cool ball because it doesn't just roll. It zigs and zags and rolls away and rolls back, whichever way the bumps take it. He's like a dang puppy with this thing.
- Taggies
I try not to leave the house without his Taggies blanket. He's crazy about tags these days. Hand him a stuffed toy, he'll play with it's tag. So this little thing is genius. He'll turn it round and round, examining it, tugging at the tags, sucking on them and then tug some more. It's the best way to keep him occupied in the car and on long walks.
EAT
Owen's never been a big eater. He's strong as an ox and has more energy than I know what to do with so this hasn't ever been a big concern. But it was enough of a concern to his pediatrician when I asked if I could start him on solids at his four month check-up. She was worried that if he started eating solids he would get full and not drink enough formula, which means he wouldn't be getting all the nutrition that he needs, so she suggested we wait until six months to start feeding him. This made sense to me so we held off. As his six month birthday approached I called the doctor's office to talk about starting solids before our next check up (which isn't until this Friday when he'll be six and a half months old) and they asked that we only do rice cereal until our appointment. Le sigh. But, again, makes sense because he does have a bit of eczema that can get worse as foods are introduced so we'll wait until our appointment to learn more. Until then, we've been having fun with rice cereal and these are the tools we've been using...
- Spoon
This adorable silicone train spoon by Ooga came in one of our Citrus Lane boxes and even though we have other baby spoons, this is the only one I use. He can get off all of the food easily, he enjoys chewing on it and the choo-choo noises I make while feeding him make way more sense.
- High chair
We live in an apartment, which means we don't have tons of square footage and this space-saver high chair does exactly that...saves space. You attach it to one of your dining chairs and you have an instant spot for baby at the table. I love it and it means one less bulky baby item in the house.
- Formula dispenser
Um...this formula dispenser is way easier way to make a bottle on the move than my baggie method I employed early on in Owen's life. My cousin had one of these when we were in the Keys and I was like, "Huh. Yep. Duh." Got ours at Target, use it nearly every time we leave the house.
- Bottle Nipples
Did you know that as your baby gets older you can get them bottle nipples with more holes in them and they can drink more efficiently? Because I did not. My mother-in-law was visiting and said, "I wonder if Owen would be a better eater if he could get the food more quickly? We used to sterilize a needle and poke more holes in the bottle nipples as our babies could eat more. " Well color me embarrassed. That seemed like a no-brainer. Instead of poking more holes, I checked the Avent bottles we use and found that they sell nipples for six-month-olds WITH FOUR HOLES. Here he was, five and a half months at the time, drinking out of one measly hole! I made the switch and prepared myself to feel like a terrible mother if all of a sudden he was eating larger quantities. His appetite didn't increase but he did start eating more quickly. And that's good for everyone.SLEEP
These days Owen is going to bed at around 7:30PM and waking up around 6:00AM. Can I get an Amen?! He's also figured out how to pull up in his crib so we need to lower it (on the to-do list for the weekend) and take down his mobile because he loves to grab it. Had to move his monitor out of reach too because he swatted that down to the ground a few times before it found a better home.
- Mesh Bumper
We all know by now that crib bumpers are a no-no in order to reduce the risk of SIDS. But mesh bumpers, while not as cute, are breathable and help prevent Owen from breaking his limbs as he tosses and turns and kicks and stretches in the night. He was going through a phase of lifting his legs and slamming them on the mattress, in his sleep, and he managed to kick through the slats of the crib a few times. Imagining mangled limbs, I went out and got a mesh bumper immediately. Seriously think it has saved us a trip to the emergency room.
- Huggies Overnight Diapers
We use Honest diapers throughout the day but since they don't make an overnight diaper yet, we have to use Huggies OverNites for bedtime. If we don't, he wakes up at 2AM soaked in pee. Without fail.
- Footless Pajamas from Carter's
Too-Tall McGee doesn't fit into most footed pajamas so he spent the summer in footless pajamas from Carter's. Of course, they don't seem to be selling any larger sizes of footless PJs for the winter so we are going to have to see about getting a size up of footed ones and hope he doesn't swim too much in them. I don't know. Solutions anyone?Wait a second. It's been half a year already??
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