This is what’s on the Activity portion of our registry!
1. LEKA Baby gym – I love wooden toys for babies. They’re cute, fun, and not plastic. However, I have heard that babies enjoy those little attachments that rattle, squeak, or crinkle. Luckily, those can be attached to this baby gym. Add a simple baby blanket underneath and you have a baby play mat that is attractive and doesn’t take up much space.
2. EKOREE Toddle wagon/walker – How cute is this?? I’ve seen babies use similar toys when they’re just learning to walk, but this one is the cutest by far.
3. Bumbo Baby Sitter Seat with Play Tray – I think these are just the coolest things ever. I remember when my aunt used one with my baby cousin before he could sit up securely on his own. She’d feed him in it, let him play in it, I’ve even see people use them in the bath!
4. EKORRE Rocking moose – Definitely for an older baby or toddler, this rocking moose would be adorable decoration in the nursery until he’s old enough to play with it.
5. Boppy Upholstered Newborn Lounger – I first saw this over at Oh Joy and loved that it provided somewhere for baby to hang out that wasn’t mechanical. It’s also cute and gender neutral – big plusses in my book.
6. Mamas & Papas Ripple Bouncer – This has the typical vibrating function and can also automatically bounce to act as the mother’s heartbeat. I’ve heard that the automatic bounce is great because some babies need more than just the vibration to soothe them and keep them calm without being held every second of the day. Plus it’s gender neutral and aesthetically pleasing!
7. Disney Baby Music & Lights Walker – A mommy friend told me these are a must for when baby is too old for a bouncer, but not quite walking yet. They keep the baby entertained and confined so mom (or dad) can get stuff done around the house. I know our house will soon be taken over by baby stuff, but I’d like that stuff to at least be pleasing to the eye and not scream “look at me” when someone walks in the door.
I know what you’re thinking: no swing? Nope. No swing. I know that many moms swear by them, but we have limited space in our little house and I know they can be habit-forming. What I mean by that is that some babies love to sleep in them and then parents rely on the swing because they (understandably) want to get some sleep, and soon the baby will only sleep in the swing, not the crib or bassinet. I’m not saying they’re bad or that anyone who uses one isn’t doing it right, I’d just like to avoid big pieces that we might not really need. If we have to get one later, we will (stores stay open after the baby arrives), but I want to avoid it if I can.
What do you think of our activity choices? Is there anything we forgot?
Part One: Gear
Part Two: Activity
Part Three: Eat, Sleep and Poop
Part Four: Furniture, Decor and Clothing
Mrs. Tic Tac Toe’s Visual Gear Guides part 2 of 10
1. Our Registry: Gear by mrs. tictactoe2. Our Registry: Activity by mrs. tictactoe
3. Our Registry: Eat, Sleep, Poop by mrs. tictactoe
4. Our Registry: Furniture, Decor, and Clothing by mrs. tictactoe
5. Maternity Must-Haves by mrs. tictactoe
6. What's in our Hospital Bags by mrs. tictactoe
7. The Essentials: Newborn Edition by mrs. tictactoe
8. What's in my diaper bag by mrs. tictactoe
9. The Essentials - 6 Month Edition by mrs. tictactoe
10. Clothes for the Working and Nursing Mom by mrs. tictactoe
Mrs. Tic Tac Toe’s Registry part 2 of 2
1. Our Registry: Gear by mrs. tictactoe2. Our Registry: Activity by mrs. tictactoe
pomegranate / 3008 posts
I completely agree with your #1 item. I wish we had done something like that instead of one of the playmats. We ended up taking all of the things off of our playmat and creating something similar to the bar gym that my son was much more interested in. Use the lounger with it too so the head is elevated a little as your baby gets older.
honeydew / 7968 posts
i’m going to have to go check out ikea! like #1 and #4.
re: the walker – just looked it up and it had negative reviews – says it’s too “tall” for most babies, even in the 99th %ile. are you using it more like a bouncer and less like a walker?
cherry / 207 posts
Totally agree with the bouncer. We have a swing and don’t care for it as our 30 month old never took to it. Let’s see how it works with the twins!
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
love the baby gym! it’s super cute and the hanging toys are the best part of the ones that fold up anyway too.
i would suggest holding off on #2 and #7 for awhile. your lo won’t be able to use a walker until maybe 9 months at the earliest, so it’s just going to take up space.
and for the walker on wheels, i’m totally of the camp that they’re fine. but they’re generally for older babies who’ve already mastered crawling?
clementine / 889 posts
We avoided the walker and went for an exersaucer (at home) and a jumperoo (at the in laws). We don’t have stairs in our house so I wasn’t concerned too much about safety, but I wanted a stationary place to set DS if I need to run out of the room for a minute. DS LOVES to jump. We’ll be trading our exersaucer for a jumperoo before we have baby #2.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
We bought a used bumbo and tray and I’m glad we only spent $10 on it because LO pushes back and flips out of it already. She can only use it when we are sitting with her on the floor so she might as well be sitting in our laps. Oh well.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
Yeah, we never got much use out of the Bumbo either. It forced Baby Y into a position that aggravated his reflux, plus it was almost too small for his chubby legs.
We loved our swing :). I too was worried about forming bad habits … Until reality set in and I said “screw it, as long as he sleeps, I don’t care how!”
The Ikea stuff is super cute! Love that place.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
I love the rocking moose. So cute!
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
@pelikila: great idea, thanks!
@tequiero21: I was planning to use it more like an exersaucer, but I’ll have to check out those review, thanks!
@mrstilly: my little brother loved his jumperoo and now that I’ve learned more about the walker, I might switch to one of those, thanks!
@tana_bk: Mr. TTT got me the rocking moose for Christmas this year! He put it all together with a blue bow on it and put it under the tree, just like Santa had brought it.
cherry / 228 posts
I totally agree about the swing! Eli never liked our swing and he doesn’t sleep anywhere else but his crib.. Also, we never used a paci either.. well we used it but it would always fall out so we just got rid of it early on… it’s really nice not having to wean him off of anything bad… he is still swaddled tho… that’s something i’ve been having trouble wearing him off of.. i guess he’ll get out of that in his own time
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
@reggie: Is there a reason to wean off the swaddle? I’m sure he’ll get over it on his own like you said. All of these things the kids get over eventually, but the paci and swing make life harder for the parents as they get older. Swaddling doesn’t seem like a big deal to continue for however long, right?
guest
We never used the lounger (5), but love our swing for naps. If u get a swing – get one that plugs in to the wall. I know this is ur activity registry but we have the angelcare monitoring system and its the best baby thing we have…but I am super paranoid. You’ll figure out what works for u and ur LO.
grapefruit / 4120 posts
No idea if this is true but our pedi told us not to get a walker, jumperoo or exersaucer because it gets the baby used to being upright and then he or she won’t want to crawl. Once he was crawling, we’d have so little time left to use any of those before he started walking/got too heavy that it wasn’t worth it. Also I’ve heard walkers are illegal in some countries because they’re dangerous or something?
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
@sloaneandpuffy: Interesting! I know many babies who had walkers or exersaucers and still crawled at an appropriate age, so I think as long as the baby gets enough tummy time, he or she will be fine.
kiwi / 500 posts
I originally got the bumbo, then returned it after seeing how it would work. Definitely was concerned about the sturdiness and how quickly LO would outgrow it because of her chubby legs. I ended up with the mamas and papas version. Much more aesthetically pleasing, larger base so less worried about it tipping over and the insert comes out for longer use plus it comes with the tray! One of the best purchases!
I was gifted one of the more popular bouncers, but never quite got much use out of it. Personally the vibrations of the bouncer would annoy me! I think I would opt for a swing instead but get one 2nd hand it at all possible.
I didn’t use a walker because of space issues and I read about how dangerous they could be with babies getting stuck in doorways and running ino walls realky fast and jamming fingers and such. Looking at my 9 mth old DD, I could totality see her flying across the hall and running into a wall with one of her digits sticking out. It scares me too much and I don’t think theres peace of mind for me with that.
I love the the little rocking horse!! The color is awesome
kiwi / 718 posts
I love that you have so much non-plastic stuff! We were given a bumbo, so I’ve registered for the little table that goes on it. I’d also registered for
this wooden rocking horse: http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toy-Arabian-Rocking-Horse/dp/B000S5ZOVM/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8
this wooden walker:
http://www.amazon.com/Woodpecker-Baby-Walker-Plan-Toys/dp/B001E80F1Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325621260&sr=8-2
and this wooden play gym:
http://www.finnandemma.com/shop/shop-product-page.php?productid=755ffedc
but seeing all of your super cute options from ikea {why haven’t I looked there?}, I believe that I need to revise my registry! thanks so much!