Tops and valves and parts, oh my

Bottles come with an immense amount of pieces. Maybe that's part of the reason that I barely ever used them. Yes, breastfeeding is much much simpler in this regard.

And sippy cups are not much better - everything has got a bottom and a top and a valve and a cover for to go. And for 11 months, I have been moving this stuff around our kitchen, from one cabinet and drawer to another, trying to figure out where it should go.

Finally, I think I have the answer. I had to take the top basket off of this set of three, but I must say, I love this. Wish I had thought of it earlier.

A clever trick

There needs to be a new word for baby proofing. Making your house baby safe doesn't cut it either. I have put up a gate at the stairs and put plastic doodads in the wall outlets, covered a few really terrible tile corners with some sort of clear puffy plastic and even enclosed our desk space and made it the "grown-up pit", but the rest I am doing as he dictates.

And really, I want him to explore his environment - its his house too.

So that is when I started to think about how I could actually shape our environment to be less risk free but also more engaging. I have been trying to figure out what to do with these black and white animal postcards from wee gallery and I finally hit the nail on the head.

A few pieces of self-sticking velcro, 6 adult friendly images of woodland creatures and just the right height makes the wall into a game. The nugget walked up to it the first time, stuck his squishy little digits right behind the image and with one pull, it was on the ground. Over and over again, one after the other. I stuck them back up, he pulled them off.

Right now I think its the sound of the velcro that is kind of fun. We'll work on the actual animal names next.

Simply Small

I am embracing the world of technology. The new SMALL online magazine is out - click here and though I miss the feel of getting delightful magazines in the mailbox, I am starting to appreciate this form of publication. It's about design and kids and families and beautiful things and well chosen products and creativity and art and beauty and play. Does that give you an idea about its contents?

I just wish I had a space like this to cuddle up in and flip through the electronic pages.

First falls

There may be nothing worse than the sound of your little tiny baby's head hitting your hardwood floor for the first time. But then it happens a second and then a fifth time, and you realize how much more durable they are than you think - the baby's head, not your hardwood floors.

I am not going to cover our whole apartment with foam padding, but I will pad his special play pit - just to be on the safe side.

And while most every other option is an obnoxious mixture of primary colors and large ABC cutouts - this new product might just please the aesthetic me.

{I didn't end up buying it - so I can't give you my opinion. But it might just be worth a try.}

Available here Natural Foam Mats

Gate Envy

Numi Baby Gate available here

a clever dad's genius design {as seen at oh dee doh}

Let's just say the world of babyproofing is more practical than pretty. And though I do agree that when it comes to safety practical is first, why of why can't they design something pretty?

I am still tempted to splurge on the Numi Gate available at the time only in the UK. But for now, I'll just be fine with the very white, very free gate that was waiting for us in grandma's garage.