We all have those baby books. Some of us love them, meticulously penning the dates of each miraculous milestone as they occur; printing the photos we snapped at exactly the right moment and scrapbooking them into place with pride. And some of us begrudgingly fill them in for the fourth child, sneakily fudging a few (most) dates since we have no idea about when tooth eruptions and first rolls actually occurred. I sit somewhere in the middle. A few milestones are haphazardly kept on my Sprout App on my phone, some are in the baby book and for others I am relying on the date sticker in my camera to help me remember if my daughter ever asks, or when I actually transfer every detail to her baby book. Whichever comes first.
Inside these beloved, or 'buried deep amongst the baby clutter', books is the "Favourites" section. When my now eight month old daughter was around twelve weeks I excitedly noted her favourites as anything she smiled or reached for. Which, of course, was everything. She loved her mobile, her parents, a particular stuffed giraffe we always gave her, Sophie (of course Sophie!) and anything we sang to her. It was wonderful! And probably a little far fetched...
It's amazing how their personalities grow so quickly though. Now I can definitely see true tastes and preferences emerging from my pint sized companion. So here is a list of just a few of her favourite things, and experiences:
Photo credit, Pietro Motta
10. Shape Sorter. We are entering a new realm of baby toys. No longer does bub just play with colourful, hanging, vibrating and rattling objects. She wants to push, pull, bang, throw, eat, flick, roll and kick her toys. She has taken a particular interest in the colourful Shape Sorter. She will meticulously extract each well designed piece from the bucket, sometimes two at a time, and proceed to hit, wave, suck on and intently study them. Of course,she has no idea how to use the shape holes, but I'm convinced her brain is starting to develop the realisation that they come in coloured and shape specific pairs. Oh the wonder!
My Pick: Fisher-Price Baby's First Blocks approx. $10.00
Available from K-Mart, Target and other retailers.
9. Wind Blowing in Her Face. Some things cost money and some better things don't. Like a puppy in a ute on the freeway, bub can't get enough of wind blowing in her face. It stops her in her tracks with a look of surprise, then the grin spreads and a kind of muffled, back of the throat laugh comes out via her sinuses. Joy.
8. Tickles. So simple. So beautiful. So precious. Sometimes I just wish I could hold moments forever. The moment bub first giggled was the most amazing sound I have ever heard. My husband and I would spend evenings trying to coerce chuckles out of her belly. Eventually we came to understand that tickles were very effective and produced some of the most gorgeous giggles.
7. Sophie the Giraffe. This toy must surely make most babies' list of favourites. The beloved Sophie. Don't forget the Sophie. Just don't. My Little Miss takes to most toys quite well that can be held, shoved in the mouth and chewed on with vigour. Sophie just ticks all the boxes. All the time. No part on this giraffe has escaped the wrath of bub's teething gums and the squeaker has come through some sketchy twisted moments. I think if Jedi can be a religion, Sophie could probably start her own too.
My Pick: Sophie the Giraffe
Available from most good baby stores for around $34.00
6. The Love to Dream Swaddle. I was loaned two small swaddles whilst I was pregnant and the day I pulled them out made a huge difference to our putting to bed routine! I can't even remember how to use a wrap. Muslin never worked (it's so slippery). Sadly, this week we have said goodbye to these swaddles as she has grown out of the next size up and I'm not going to buy anymore if she will just roll onto her face at any time now. I feel so many mums love how easy to use and snuggly these are. I could gaze at my bub falling asleep forever with her little swaddled hand pressed against her nose, holding her dummy in as if the devil were after it and sucking like crazy.
My Pick: Love to Dream Swaddle Up Original and 50/50
Available from a variety of retailers for around $35.00-$40.00
5. Singing, Rhythm and Music. We all project our own interests onto our children. I would LOVE to think that our daughter has a natural aptitude for rhythm and melody. But, the giggles that come from singing nursery rhymes and Abba and playing drums with daddy is most likely due to the sheer volume of exposure to music she has received from her father and I. (Cue the foreshadowing of guilt I will experience when my twelve year old daughter demands to stop piano lessons and she hates me for making her practise and all she wants to do is join the athletics team at school...) I have always been quite bemused by the particular interest bub has taken in Incy Wincy Spider though...
My Pick: Ever Earth Flip Over Triangle Musical Set
Available from Peters of Kensington for $28.00 (+p/h)
4. The Dummy. Have I lost half of you now? Or maybe I've gained a few more readers... Yes, I, unashamedly, use a dummy. And she LOVES it. I'm not going to even qualify how I use it in detail as I tend to want to justify actions some might not agree with, but that is the very reason why I'm posting on this blog. Real mums use dummies. Real mums don't use dummies. Full stop. All I will say is that we tried not using one for the first seven weeks and then we did use one. And our lives got easier. And I'm pretty sure my daughter is not damaged. At least not from the dummy use.
My Pick: Nuk First Choice Soothers
Available from Babies R Us and Target (approx. $12.00 for pair)
3. Toast. My little munchkin is a carbo-loader. And she can't even roll both ways yet. That is meant for another post. I'm not stressed, yet. New foods just don't compare to that first taste of dry toast she received around a month ago. This week has been a fairly (hugely) unsettled (I'm going crazy, can't wait for the husband to get home so I can pee) week. No food is good enough. Except, you guessed it, toast. Screw the healthy food pyramid. They will eat what they want to eat and nothing else. Maybe next week she'll accept banana on it, maybe not. At least she eats something! (My troublesome beginning with solids may be explored further in another post. It is by no means bad, but also it was not easy, hence my excitement of toast being a favourite.)
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