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Gift Giving, Infants, Parenting, Shopping, Toddlers

Valentines Day Gift Guide for Infants and Toddlers

January 18, 2019

Valentines day will be here before you know it. The holiday is so commercialized, but for me it’s about spending quality time with those I love. I try to do that anyway during the rest of the year. When I was a kid, my mom would always buy me a little Valentines gift and I have been doing the same thing with Rosebud. If you are wondering what to get your little Valentine, here are some ideas.

Valentines Day Themed Books

Books make great gifts. There are so many options, they are educational and they are relatively inexpensive.

If you are looking for more Valentines books for kids, check out this post.

Heart Shaped Stacking Cups

Stacking cups are simple, inexpensive and babies love them! They can scoop, they can pour and they can stack. These cups have little holes on the bottom. Rosebud would use these in the pool and pretend it was raining. These even have numbers inside if you wanted to do a counting activity. We’ve had these for a couple years and she still uses them in the water.

Rubber Duckies

How about these Valentine themed rubber duckies. There used to be this cool online shop called Rubber Duck Land that no longer exists. That’s where I found these cute little duckies, but I have found something similar to link to. It’s just a cute little novelty.

Stuffed animal

I’ve gotten a lot of Valentines stuffed animals over the years, but you don’t even have to stick to a Valentine theme for this one. Anything soft, cute and cuddly will do.

First Valentines Day Play Set

These are cute during the first year. I bought Rosebud the birthday play set and she loved it. They have these for most of the holidays. They are little soft toys with different textures to touch, colors to see and sounds to hear. They make great keepsakes as well.

Flowers

This flower toy from Green toys is a neat idea. It’s flowers. It’s spring. It’s educational and Green Toys is a company that makes all their toys from recycled milk cartons. Rosebud has a dump truck made by Green Toys and she likes it. Their toys are sturdy and well made. I’d recommend this toy for older toddlers.

Homemade Gifts

More often than not, the best gifts are free. If you are the creative type, take out the craft supplies and create a beautiful card or a meaningful keepsake that will be saved and treasured later. You can work together with your kids to make Valentines for loved ones. If you are looking for something that your kids can give to others, try these salt dough keepsakes.

Quality Time

The number one gift is quality time. Just be in the moment with your kids. Whether it be playing outside, reading a book or curled up on the couch watching a movie, take the time. They will treasure it more than any physical gift just as we would. The memories together is what they will remember.

If you are looking for some fun Valentines Day Activities, head over to Fab Working Mom Life.

If you are searching for a gift idea for oder children, check out these Love Buckets for Valentines Day

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Gift Giving, Parenting, Shopping

10 Stocking Stuffers for Babies

September 11, 2018

I know it’s early to start thinking about Christmas, but it’ll be here before you know it. Filling a stocking can be challenging because you need items that are small, useful and thoughtful. Who wants to get a bunch of junk in their stocking? Although finding stocking stuffers can feel like a scavenger hunt, I love it when I find something neat that I know the person will enjoy.
Click here to find Stocking Stuffers for toddlers. Click here for Stocking Stuffers for preschoolers.

For babies, finding appropriate stocking stuffers can be hard because they are limited in what they can play with and let’s not forget their tendency to put everything in their mouths. It’s developmentally appropriate of course, but it definitely limits what we can put in their stocking. Here are some ideas to help you create your baby’s first stocking.

1. An all time favorite, stacking cups. These cups are great for fine motor skills as they can be stacked, put together and taken apart. They can be compared by size, color or another attribute depending on which set you buy. Some have numbers, letters or shapes on the bottom. They can be used for pretend play. Rosebud often serves cupcakes in them. They can be used for bath time fun or even in the sand box. Rosebud still uses her stacking cups in the bath. I chose this particular set because they are BPA free.

2. Bath toys are another great stocking stuffer for babies. There are cute little toys that squirt like these sea creatures by Munchkin. They can be squeezed and fit well in small hands.
 
There are bath time baby books that squeak and have nice colorful pictures like these.
 
Of course, you can’t have bath time without a rubber ducky. You could buy a classic version like this.

If you want a modern rubber ducky, this one is a little more high tech. This particular ducky gages the temperature of the water. It’s a cute toy for your baby and a functional item for you. When the water gets too hot, the word hot appears in white on the bottom of the duck.

3. You can never go wrong with books. There are so many books to choose from. I chose a bath time book to go with Rosebud’s bath toys, but you could choose anything.

How about this photo book? I included this in Rosebud’s baby stocking and put pictures of the cats and I. She still loves looking at the pictures to this day.

4. Don’t forget to include something soft like a my first teddy or small security blanket.
 
How about a security blanket?

I put an octopus rattle in Rosebud’s stocking. I don’t see it anymore, but it is similar to this lamb.

5. Every baby I’ve ever known is fascinated by bubbles even if you have to blow them inside. This multi pack is great if you are shopping for more than one child.

6. Teethers always come in handy. There are some that are actual toys like this rattle.

Then there are the classic ones that you can freeze.

7. If you are looking for something more practical, a sippy cup is a good choice.

Rosebud loved this Nuck learner cup until she bit through the nipple making a huge hole. She still loved this cup, but I didn’t anymore because she started dumping it out.

The Munchkin 360 came in handy after that. One feature I like about this cup is it feels more like a regular cup. A regular cup without the mess.
 

8. These bowls have also worked well for us. They are small, light weight and will stick to a table or tray. Rosebud learned how to unstick them, but they still work great. They come with covers so you can save food as well.

If you get bowls, you have to have spoons. These have longer handles, are soft and have no sharp edges.

9. You can’t have a child’s stocking without toys. Rattles or balls are good choices for babies. Rosebud loved anything made by Obal.

10. Finally, you could include a snack. Rosebud loved puffs.
 
You could also do yogurt bites or another treat depending on your baby’s age.

Have I left out anything? What will you be putting in your baby’s stocking?

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Infants, Parenting, Toddlers

No More Bottles!

April 30, 2018

Rosebud loves her food and loves her routines so when it comes to the bottle, she’s been very attached to it. When Rosebud was born, we started having feeding troubles right off the bat so I had to introduce formula in the first few days of her life. She preferred the bottles since she would get more milk at a faster rate. This obviously made nursing a struggle and I pushed through for several months before we finally found a rhythm. Rosebud got bottles when I was working and nursing when I was at home. Maybe I will do another post later specifically about the feeding problems and how we got past them, but this post is about how we said Bye Bye to the Bottle for good.

I wanted to stop nursing when she turned a year old because by then I was tired of it, but Rosebud had other plans. I slowly started to cut out feedings and eventually it had stopped by 18 months. One of the ways I cut out feedings was by replacing them with bottles of milk which Rosebud liked. She got very attached to the bottles again and it simply became a substitute for nursing. This is why she was still having two bottles a day even after she turned two.

I started reducing the amount of milk in the bottles which she was totally fine with. I tried putting milk in different cups, but she would never drink it. She has been drinking water from a cup since she was six months old and more recently I’ve given her juice in a cup, but she’ll take one sip of milk and put it back on the counter telling me she doesn’t like it. I’ve tried role modeling by drinking milk with my meals, sharing my milk with her etc. I tried not allowing her to have bottles at all and only offering cups of milk, but she refuses and will go days without milk. I’ve started introducing foods with more calcium because I was worried about her not drinking her milk.

Last week, I told her that we were all done with bottles because she is a big girl and big girls drink milk out of a cup. This makes her sad and occasionally she will ask for a bottle. She was tearful when asking for one this morning, but I reminded her that she’s a big girl and doesn’t need a bottle anymore. I told her it was okay to miss her bottles, but that we could snuggle while she drinks her milk from a cup the same way we would snuggle when she drinks bottles. That seemed to help.

This past weekend I caved and bought some chocolate and strawberry sirup to flavor her milk. My mom had suggested this, but I didn’t want to do this because I thought if she wouldn’t drink plain milk, then I didn’t want her to start getting sugary replacements. I did some searching online and this strategy has seemed to work for many parents so I’m giving it a try. So far, it has worked. She has been drinking her milk and seems to like both flavors. My plan is to decrease the amount of sirup little by little until she is back to drinking plain milk again. Distraction has worked as well. If she’s busy playing, she is less likely to think of asking for a bottle.

Since we have gone a week without them, I packed them away in a box. The next thing to go is the pacifier, but I don’t want to take all her comforts away at once. My baby girl is growing up and it’s happening way too fast! It seems like yesterday when I brought her home and now she’s talking in full sentences, climbing up the huge slides on the playground and we are the beginning stages of potty training. She has a mind of her own and she knows what she is ready to do. I encourage her to take the next steps, but I also remember to let her go at her own pace. Sometimes that has meant taking a step back and trying again later. It is a learning process for both of us. What helped your toddler give up the bottle? Tell me in the comments.

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