Daycare needs, 3 to 6 months

I think you all know that Peanut started daycare right before 3 months.  To prepare, I did what any other mom would do - I bought more stuff.

 

Here’s some of the stuff you should consider for your kid’s daycare needs.

 

Bottles.

 

 

Yes, I know, this one’s obvious.  Since I’m breastfeeding, we decided to buy Medela bottles to fit my Medela pump.  I love these bottles and have them in two different sizes.  But after a couple of weeks, we started packing Peanut up with the Playtex drop-ins.

 

 

Because they’re really pretty amazing at cutting down on the spit-ups, super easy to put together, and warm up twice as fast.  I won’t even get in to the clean-up.

 

Needless to say, you’ll need some of the drop-in bags.

 

Labels.

 

There are a bunch of kids at daycare, and regardless how special and unique you think you may be, chances are - someone else already has the same bottles, tops, etc.  So label are a must.

 

I bought these inchbug labels for the bottles and sippy cups (the website).  I have to tell you - I absolutely love them.  They’re dishwasher safe, easy to slip on and off, and super cute.  I bought 2 sets of 4.

 

 

In addition to the slip-on labels, I got some stickers from Etsy (Gloria’s stickers).  These are also pretty durable in the dishwasher (this one has been through at least a couple of dozen times by now) and, again, they’re super cute.  I use the stickers for all the loose parts and other miscellaneous pieces.  They work great when you want to find the one missing cap (this happened to me).

 

Containers galore.

 

Once you’re in the “solid” food stages (honestly, I don’t really consider that food to be all that solid), you’ll want some baby Tupperware.  These are different from adult Tupperware because they’re cuter (are you sensing a theme here?) and because you get to shop for some more stuff.  I love these Take and Toss containers - they come in various sizes, are dishwasher safe (seriously though, I am always freaking out about germs), and cost very little.

 

Blankets and pacis.

 

These cotton blankets (gifts from the baby shower) are amazing for daycare - they’re lightweight, but warm enough to battle the A/C.  And we’ve recently switched to the 6+ month pacifiers (because I was running out of things to buy…you are sensing sarcasm, no?).

 

Seahorse

 

Finally, Peanut absolutely loves her seahorse for naps.  We actually just brought it to daycare on her very first day and left it there.  It’s her snuggle toy, her comfort item, her lullaby.

 

What do you pack your kid for daycare?

Are you about to go back to work?  Are you nervous?

 

Remember when I had to go back?

Favorite toys, 3 to 6 months

I’m starting to think that this is one of my favorite ages to date (ha…ha…I’m so funny).  Peanut has really become a little opinionated person, learning how to reach, grab, and even pass toys from one hand to the other.  We’ve loved watching her develop.

 

Here are some of her favorites:

 

Rubber Duckies

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I can’t seem to stop singing the Rubber Ducky song from Sesame Street (by the way, did you know that are pre-taped episodes of it On Demand?  It’s a great distraction for a couple of minutes while I cut Peanut’s nails).  Any-who.  Peanut absolutely adores her rubber duckies.  We have 3 (they don’t look like this, but they’re also pretty funny).  Before she was able to full sit up, she used to lean back in the tub and shuffle her rubber duckies around with her feet (for whatever reason my kid thinks that her feet are another set of hands).  Now she gets a kick out of rubber duckies “diving” from various heights into the tub and making a splash.  We can’t seem to get enough of them and they’re a sure way to bring on a round of giggles.

 

Rattles, crunching books, and other loud things

 

[I couldn’t find these online, sorry gang]

 

Peanut just loves her rattles.  In fact, rattles of any kind are her favorite.  She loves the noise they make, she loves putting them in her mouth and exploring their textures and she loves the colors.  The toy on the left mesmerizes her when you turn it upside down and back again and watch the little balls rattle down.  The rattle on the right has to be her very favorite.  She actually learned to turn her hand over to turn the rattle upside down and then back again to make the little loops go up and down.  It’s amazing to watch her learn all this.  The book makes all sorts of crunching noises, has some moving parts on the handle and lets us put in pictures of ourselves inside a protective sleeve.  Aside from sticking it in her mouth and making the crunching noise, P gets all excited when I point out “Peanut with mommy” and “Peanut with daddy” on each page.  All of these (and actually about 80% of all our baby toys) are hand-me downs from our neighbors and friends.

 

Toys that sing

 

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This one is P’s all-time favorite but she pretty much likes any toy that sings.  Initially we stuck this on her car seat, stroller, and just about everything else.  She loved moving the little rattles and grabbing the mirror.  By 6 months she loves pulling on the froggy and making him sing by pressing his eyes (I’m pretty sure it’s not really on purpose but she gets the general idea and can do it about 70% of the time).  We have so many toys that sing (and by now know every single tune by heart and end up whistling it in the shower). 

 

Move & Crawl ball

 

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We bought this awesomeness at a consignment shop ($7 for a $14 toy? Yes please).  It is so freakin’ cool.  The little lady bug spins and moves around, the buttons make noises, play songs.  And the ball rolls around on its own (there is alittle weight inside that makes it move depending on the button Peanut presses).  P just loves pressing the buttons and playing with the little tags.

 

Taggies

 

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Did you know that these existed?  Because I certainly did not until about a month or so ago.  Peanut seeks out the little tags on every single toy she owns.  One day I was whining to my bestie about Peanut putting yet another tag into her mouth when she said, “Have you bought her any taggy toys?” Taggy toys? What?! Why have I not heard of this?  (Apparently there are taggy clothes too!)  Jon and I ran out to the consignment shop and bought two of them ($5 each!) - the one pictured above and a book.  Peanut was in love.  She can’t get enough of these (although she still manages to seek out the actual tag on the taggy toy).  Then her Gigi bought her a taggy puppy!  Now she spends every single morning taking turns sucking on every one of them (they’re different textures) and then just sitting there with the tail of the puppy in her mouth.  It’s pretty funny to watch.  If your kid is like mine and loves tags, I suggest you seek these out immediately.  You won’t be sorry.

 

Got any toys to add to my list?

Favorite baby gear, 3 to 6 months

Our little Peanut-butter-face is now 6 months old, so I thought I’d fill you in on all the goodies in the 3 to 6 month category.

 

Projector Soother

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After Peanut moved to her crib permanently, we decided to invest in a projector soother and we sure are glad we did.  This baby keeps Peanut pretty entertained in the evening right before she falls asleep.  We usually put her down sleepy, but still awake.  This soother projects an image to our ceiling and plays soothing music, keeping Peanut entertained until she’s ready to fall asleep.  We don’t turn it on every single night, but we do when she seems a bit cranky and it works every time.  It also has a night light and a mirror for when she’s ready to go beyond the projector.

 

Egg Thermometer

 

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Okay, so you’ll probably be just fine without one of these if you’re a laid back kinda mom.  But since I’m a nervous wreck who worries about everything, I had to get one of these.  I couldn’t help stress out about the warmth in P’s room when summer got underway since her room is in the corner of the house and seems to be a completely different temperature than the rest of the house.  The egg thermometer tells you the temperature and let’s you know how it’s going by changing colors (you know, yellow- good, orange- uh oh, red- bad).  It’s easy to spot it and know whether the room is at the right temperature without reading the number.

 

Huggies Overnight Diapers

 

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Around 4.5 months we did the Ferber sleep training and Peanut started sleeping through most of the nights.  However, most nights when she did wake up was due to a wet diaper (I know, ours might be the only baby who hates a wet diaper).  We talked to a few of our friends and they all recommended the same thing - Huggies overnites.  These diapers are about 2 sizes too big for P (size 3 is the smallest), but we wrap them up tightly and put her to bed.  These keep her happy all night long and have cut back on her wake up time to just about 0 (or at least 0 due to wet diapers).  Heads up - they weigh about 500 pounds in the morning.  Did you know your baby can pee 500 pounds worth of stuff in just 10 hours?

 

Duck tub

 

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Rubber ducky, you’re the one…doo doo doo doo.  This tub rocks!  It’s tiny and blows up to be half of our bathtub size.  It fits in great, it quacks, and it’s soft for Peanut.  Did I mention bath time is her favorite time of day?  I’m guessing it would be mine too if someone put me in an inflatable duck tub that quacked.

 

Jumperoo

 

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Love, love, love this jumperoo.  We are borrowing it from my Bestie Inna and I have to tell you, it’ll be tough giving it back.  Peanut is obsessed!  At our 4 month appointment our doctor told us to go out and get a jumperoo because Peanut loved to be on the move and kicked her legs in every direction like crazy.  Needless to say, she loves jumping in it (the cute part is that she’s actually jumping to the beat!).

 

Exersaucer

 

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This is another one of those awesome things you gotta go out and get this instant.  Peanut just loves playing in her walker.  Recently we even started unlocking the wheels so she can walk around.  Her favorite part is moving the little birdies up and down the loop and pulling on the tree (it makes sounds).

 

High Chair

 

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This isn’t our exact high chair (although this one looks freakin’ awesome).  But I have to tell you, our high chair’s been a saver.  Peanut just loves sitting down for dinner with the whole family.  She immediately gets excited and opens her mouth wide for me to stick a spoon in.  She’s still too tiny for one (shocker, I know), but with a couple of blankets stuck under the cover, she has a boost that allows her to actually reach the table part.  The high chair keep her entertained (we have “food” toys that we stick on her table) and keeps her safe while I get her dinner ready.  Plus it’s a synch to clean up!

 

Got any other gear for 3-6 months to share?

 

I’ll do favorite toys and day care stuff separately this week.

Baby food to last a lifetime

This past weekend, after a trip to Wholefoods, I decided to make enough baby food to last trough the rest of Peanut’s baby food stage.

Well, not literally, but I did make a lot.



I started with this:
Zucchini and yellow squash from our garden.
Apples
Pears
Peaches
Plums
Sweet potato



Don’t they look delicious?

And of course, my immersion blender.



Plus my “cookbook.”



Then I started with the items that needed to bake since they take the longest.





De-boned peaches and plums.  I also put the sweet potato in the oven.

While these puppies were baking, I was boiling/steaming the rest.


Zucchini, pears, apples and yellow squash - pureed.

And after everything cooled off, I put it in ice cube trays.



(This is just the boiled stuff!)

I actually ended up having to run out and buy more ice cube trays to finish the job.

But now we have about 150 ice cubes of baby food to mix and match as we please.



We even have a few new foods to introduce to Peanut like plums and peaches.

Do you make your own baby food?

Did you know I used to cook for my dogs?

My kid likes to chew on things

Did you notice that the nice pretty Onesie stickers all start out like this:



But end up like this:



Let me show you why.


Hi mom.  You want me to sit nicely for pictures?


Then perhaps you shouldn’t put this nice white toy next to me.


I’m just going to chew on his arm a little.


Then swipe it all over the sticker.


And rub it in, for good measure.


Oh, were you trying to fool me with a paci?




You were wrong.

Obviously.

Peanut - 6 months

Hey, P.

 

 

Yeah, mom?

 

Do you want to take your 6 months pictures?

 

But I’m le tired.

 

 

Okay, P. We’ll hold off for another day.

 

How about now?

 

I don’t know, ma.  I’m pretty busy.

 

 

I’ve got things to do,

 

 

floors to play on.

 

 

You can’t hold me back.

 

Okay, P.  Guess we’ll just make do with what we have.

 

So, umm, at 6 months Peanut has become very opinionated.  The end.

 

Here’s a recap of our 6th month together:

• At her 6 month appointment, Peanut came in at just over 13 lbs and 26 inches.  That puts her in the 5th percentile for weight and 50th for height.  How true to her nickname.
• I can’t say this enough - the kid’s got opinions on everything.  Her little personality is showing through in everything she does.  She’s an incredibly happy kid, but I can see the mischievous streak in her.  She gets this “I’m-up-to-no-good” look in her eye whenever she sees something she’s not supposed to touch (cord on her wipe warmer, the remotes, my iPhone) and then immediately lunges for it. 
• She loves to do things on her own.  She wants to stand, walk, and attack the dogs.  As I type this, she is standing between my two arms and trying to type. (This makes for a very difficult job for me since I’ve had to retype multiple sentences she’s deleted.)
• She’s officially sitting without any wobbling.  She can even correct herself when she starts to fall back. 
• She’s also practicing standing and walking.  It all started innocently enough - a little lift to her feet here and there, but now she insists that we stand her up by reaching out with her hands, grabbing my arms and pulling up.  She’s also learned to shuffle her little feet and walk while I’m holding her hands.  The dogs are terrified because she’s usually aiming for them.
• Addi is still in 3-6 months clothes (although there are a handful of 0-3 onesies that she still wears) and size 2 diapers.
• She is taking between 3-4 naps a day (about 30-45 minutes each) and sleeping soundly from 7:30/8pm-5:30/6am.
• P has learned to hand things from one hand to another, reach for things around her (then promptly stuff them into her mouth), look for things that are out of sight, and play peek-a-boo with her blanket.
• Some of her favorite activities include jumping in the jumperoo, playing in her exersaucer, and sitting up on her playmat.
• Addison absolutely loves food (hard to tell from her weigh-in).  To date she’s tried apples, pears, zucchini, yellow squash, acorn squash, yams, rice cereal, oatmeal.  She knows it’s time to eat and opens her little mouth as wide as possible.  She tries to grab and stuff the spoon herself, since we seem to be too slow for her.  She’s also started drinking out of a sippy cup (although we still have to hold it for her).
• For such a quiet kid, P has started “talking” a lot.  And loudly too.  She loves to shriek, yell, laugh, coo, and even imitate some of our sounds.  No one can get the sounds out of her like the pups, who then scramble away as she lunges toward them.
• Addi is getting very good at imitating us.  If you press a button and look at her, she’ll usually try to press it too.  Some of my favorites right now are the phone (I will pick it up and say hello then put it back; Addi will pick it up immediately…then stuff it into her mouth), the rattle (I’ll take it and turn it upside down then back again; Addi will take it and turn it upside down and back again, then look up and beam at me with pride).
• This month we went away overnight to the Cape for the first time…and came back that same evening since Peanut was really sick/fussy.  We also went to the beach for the first time, and then hung out in the pool in our back yard. 
• Addison is still (I hope I never get tired of saying it) the happiest kid.  She rarely ever cries or even whines.  Mostly she just observes everything around her, smiles her gummy smile, or is content playing with her toys.

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

In case I don’t say it enough, I’m so in love with her.

 

Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xsi

50mm lens

1/25s f/2.2 ISO 800

 

Edited in Photoshop (with some help from Pioneer Woman’s actions - you can find them here).

 

Link up your photos!  I’ll put up one of them in the Weekly Roundup post this weekend.

Brothers & Sisters

As requested, here’s an update on Peanut and her puppies.

Because that is exactly what’s going on at our house - Peanut thinks that the dogs are her puppies.



Among the very first things that Peanut noticed when she started to notice objects were the dogs.  She is absolutely in love with them.



They’re the jelly to her Peanut butter.  She loves to watch them, laughs at their every move (especially when Cailey sneezes), and even lets them lick her (although I don’t let them lick her face).



They’ve become the reason for many of her milestones - she couldn’t wait to sit up so she could get her grabby little hands on them; her first real belly laugh came when Cailey tried to chew Travis’ ear; she’s learning how to walk (yup, I’m not kidding) because she wants to chase them around.



We still have quiet a few rules around here.  The puppies know that they cannot be in Peanut’s room unattended (Travis has a tendency to rip everything he can reach apart).  They’re not allowed to rough house while Peanut is around (Cailey can get mouthy by accident when she gets over excited).  They’re not allowed to lick her face (Travis has the hardest time with this one).



And we never, ever leave the kid unattended with the dogs.  Although we’re sure that nothing would ever happen and that the pups love her as much as they love us, it’s just not worth it to find out otherwise.



We’ve also started teaching Peanut a little more about the dogs.



She’s started to grab their fur very roughly, so we grab her hand before it reaches them and pet the dogs together “nicely.”



This doesn’t always work because Peanut is very quick to find something she’s not supposed to do and then go for it as fast as possible.



Thankfully, we’ve been prepping the dogs to such treatment by grabbing their fur hard and often.  At this point they either take it, or simply stand up and walk away.



Since that won’t work with other dogs, we want to get Peanut started on the right track for success with the pups.  Otherwise, how else would she be the next Dog Whisperer?

Does anyone remember this pic?  Aww Peanut, why do you keep growing so quickly?



Check out the original post about babies and puppies here.

How do you work with your dogs to make sure they’re playing safely with the dogs?

Do all your pack members get along?