My 10 Favorite Baby Things

After being a mother for 16 months, I have things that I come to love.

One of the first few things that come to mind is California Baby's calendula cream. It was great for The Little One's ezcema, was great when her skin was too dry, great for rashes, great even for small scratches! I like it that it is organic, smells wonderful and has none of those nasties that a lot of other baby creams have. It is even wonderful for me as a night cream! It was so good, we started using the bath products for her as well. They do cost quite a bit more, but I LOVE LOVE their products. Speaking of which, I ordered some stuff online, and they would be here next week. HAPPINESS!

I know of some parents who shy away from using Desitin diaper rash cream. Some aren't too comfortable with it containing zinc oxide. But hey, it works for her! She used to have pretty nasty rashes, so we slapped on a generous amount of her butt at every diaper change. we tried other brands, nothing works as well as Desitin for her. These days, I just use it when we are out and that she hasn't done her poop of the day yet. Yes, she is done to a poop a day now, forever gone are the days of multiple poops! Further digressing.... ever since she was able to stand well, I have taken her to the shower stall to wash her butt every time she does a poop. Cleaner and it saves on the wet wipes. I know I can still wash her butt in the shower stall even before she can stand, but being the clumsy person that I am, I didn't know how to hold her, wash her butt, and try to stay dry at the same time. When she was a newborn, we put her in one of those sleeping bags instead of using a blanket because I was really paranoid that she might suffocate! It worked like a dream for us!

I love Grobag, it being soft and lightweight. She was happy, I was happy, knowing she isn't freezing her little ass off. I can't remember when she started to protest being in the bag, it should be at about the same time she started walking - around the 10th or 11th month. She hates the blanket, even now, so she goes uncovered most of the time. Everyone seems to have a Sophie these days. It used to be her most chewed on toy! Actually, it is the only toy she seemed to like chewing on. We are lucky that she doesn't fuss too much when she was teething. I know of babies that are cranky all the time, couldn't sleep, and very very difficult. She is a little more difficult than her usual self, being a little more whiny and clingy, not eating too much, but most part of it, she was OK. She didn't really need to gnaw on her teething toys, no fever, no runny stools, no excessive drooling. I can only pray that the second one is the same! Not exactly baby products, but I can glad I got her books. She loves her books, more than her toys. In fact, I given up buying toys already. Ok, we bought her a kitchen set, but that is because she likes to pretend play and I am hoping that she can pretend cook along side with me while I cook! Ok, back to the books... When I first started shopping for her books I was still pregnant with her. I always love children's books, especially those with beautiful illustrations. I was pretty enthusiatic with the buying, in the end I ended up with books that weren't age appropriate. They were too complicated, too wordy and most importantly, too FRAGILE! I did buy some small simple board books, like Pat the Bunny, Spot and some others. Her favourite ones are the ones with photos of real objects, not illustrations. I never thought those were great, but those are the ones that she likes. I went on to buy more of those. She likes pointing out the things that she knows. Lately, she is showing more interest in the other books, and to my present surprise, was willing to sit with me while I read the book to her. She likes it when I read and use my fingers to point at the words. I love wearing my baby. I love my sarong which is so versatile! I use it when I nurse her in public, I use it to carry her around. Even now, when she falls asleep when I am out with her, I will just sling her in the sarong and carry on with my business. We have another baby carrier - the baby bjorn, that we used a lot before she got too heavy. That was great too, but being me, I never put her in there for too long a period, half and hour max I will take her out. I have a mai tai that I hardly use, not because I don't like it, but she was just getting too heavy for such things, and besides, she wants to walk everywhere now!

I bought a dozen of those inexpensive muslin diaper cloths and they are fantastic! I always have one in my diaper bag. I use it to lay on changing counters in nursery rooms when we are out. I use it in the car in the even that we need to change her in there. We used to cover the stroller with one when she falls asleep and it is just too bright outside. That was when she was little tiny, now she doesn't even want to be in the stroller. We have also used it to cover her when we were caught in the rain! It was also a towel when she got herself too wet playing in fountains or water features or whatever you call those things. I never thought the Jumperoo would be so worth the money. She was always so happy to be jumping in that thing. She would go on and on and on in it if she can, but usually I would have pluck her out after 15 minutes. She jumped so wildly and so hard, I was afraid that she might break it. It is amazing that it survived. The thing gave me some time to rest a little back then when she didn't like to nap, didn't like her toys, and all that she cared was for me to be with her, play with her and interact with her. That time almost drove me nuts. As much as she doesn't dig the stroller anymore, I still love the Peg Perego P3 Switch. We were out an awful lot, and without it, we wouldn't be able to have meals, coffee or even a stroll in the park. we can't put her in a carrier for too long can we? It was sturdy and doesn't tip over like how some strollers could. She could be facing us, or facing the other way if she gets bored of us. It could recline all the way so that she can sleep, it has extensible handles for tall folks like us, so that we do not need to hunch. we will start trying her in the stroller again, because, I can't afford to be carrying her any too much longer. Her Stokke Tripp Trapp. Yes, it is expensive, but it is a handsome little thing! I love the design and the fact that it blends right in with the rest of the house. It doesn't have its own tray, so she sits at the table with us, not away from us. Of course, without a tray, it means the mess isn't contained, and cleaning up takes double the time. That is the only gripe I have about it. So, this is the 11th thing that I am listing, but I am lor sor like that. The internet. Again, not really a baby baby product, but I never need to leave my home to shop for books, clothes, baby gear, read about baby stuff, like milestones, development, parenting, and other boring baby/parenting stuff that only parents care about. I never would know about the calendula cream if not for the internet.

Last one! I promise! We had a mobile for her cot. It was colourful, plasticky, moves and had music! Ignore the matching outfits and look at the plastic fantasic piece of mobile at the background. She loved looking at it go around and round and would get pretty excited, kicking her legs (perhaps to the music, I dunno...) It was heaven's sent for times when we had to get ourselves ready, or to distract her when we change her diaper. It was great, til one day, The husband decided to carry her up to where the mobile is, and with one mighty grab, she crippled it. It stopped moving totally.