Stage Two

Babies amass a lot of stuff.  I know they don't really need all the stuff.  Something to eat, somewhere to sleep, some diapers, a soft blanket to play on the floor - those are necessities.  The rest is just icing on the cake, but I always liked the icing (flowers made out of frosting, yum!)  So my babies ended up with a little more stuff than is really necessary.  In order to keep all of it from absolutely taking over the house, I try to think of it in stages.

The first stage has been pretty well-documented here - swing, bouncy seat, playmat.  Dylan loves these things and still uses them on a daily basis.  I do think he is going to outgrow the swing and bouncy seat much younger than Abbey did, though.  I think she used them until she was at least one, but Dylan is solidly in the heavyweight category, and I don't see the shocks on the bouncer lasting that long with him!

I think I first realized he was beginning to transition to the second stage of baby gear when he didn't give me dirty looks when I put him in the bebe pod baby seat.

Then at a playgroup a week or so ago, I thought I would try to put him in an exersaucer to see how he liked that.  I thought he was a little young for it, still, so I didn't have the highest expectations, but he loved it!  We don't have an exersaucer (believe it or not), but we do have a Jumpe-roo.  This weekend, we pulled that out and tried it out.

Dylan was immediately enthralled by all of toys.  I'm sure the lights and music didn't hurt, either.

Abbey was trying to show him how to turn the music on and off.  Needless to say, that's a little beyond his ability (or interest) at the moment.

His expression here is pretty indicative of his reaction to the Jumpe-roo.  I don't think he knew what to make of it, but he knew it was a pretty groovy new adventure. 

"What do you mean I can turn myself around?  How does that work?" (He did all of the turning on his own, although he didn't figure out the jumping part of it quite yet.)

Abbey showed him how the sun spins around.  I am pretty sure she would have climbed into the seat if we would have let her!

We also brought up the high chair.  Dylan's not getting solid food yet, but he is definitely ready to sit at the table with us.  He is super social and was not happy sitting in the bouncy chair on the floor when the three of us were sitting together at the table.  Dinner is a much more pleasant experience with him in a high chair.

Hanging out at dinner

Look at this silly smile!

Stage two has been breached. Now the problem is where to put this stuff. The high chair obviously has made its way upstairs, but the Jumpe-roo is still in the basement.  I've pretty much given up hope that my house won't look like Geoffrey the Giraffe vomitted all over, but our space is limited. My head is starting to hurt just thinking about it. Our little house needs an organization make-over, stat!