These Are a Few of My Favorite Things… 7 to 12 months

by Meghan

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This is the third installment in Our Favorite Things series. Check out our first two posts, covering the first six months, below:

We hope to share with you what we loved, and what we didn’t, so you can learn from our trials and tribulations and hopefully save yourself some cash along the way. As with all things kid-related, every kid and parent is different – so feel free to comment and share your views too!

 

Favorite Things 7-12 Mos

Favorite Things

Sippy Cups
There comes a time in every baby’s life that the bottle is left behind in favor of the sippy cup. For some it takes years to give up their beloved ba-ba; for others, the transition is a non-event. For us, it was the latter, and I firmly attribute that to two factors. First, we introduced the sippy cup early – I would give her a sippy cup with water at solid feeding time from as early as six months old for her to test out and play with.

Our Pick: Nuk Silicon Spout Sippy Cup

During this time, we tried several sippy cups – one that came with our Avent bottle set, a few of the hard spout variety, and one with a straw. The second reason it worked was she finally liked one – the Nuk Trendline Learner Cup with Silicone Spout.

The silicone spout makes it feel more like a bottle, but the spout shape is much better for their soon-to-emerge teeth. Also, the removable handles make it much easier for her to hold and manipulate herself initially. Once she readily drank water from it, around 8 or 9 months, I gave her milk in it one day, and we never looked back. With Lil’ M, she started refusing a bottle and cutting teeth early – but she readily drank cold breastmilk from this at 6 months. We used these with Big M until 2 minus the handles and in the larger 10 oz. variety until I got tired of her chewing through the spouts and having to replace them.

Traveling Booster Seat
I literally think this is THE best $20 I have spent so far in my toddler’s existence. The first time she ever got sick, I am almost certain it came from using a high chair at a restaurant. At 7 months old, she was sick with stomach issues for two weeks straight – it was horrible. I have never put her in one since. That’s where the traveling booster seat comes in.

Our Pick: Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat

I used to leave this in my car, on the floor under my toddler’s feet, so it was always with us on the go… whether at a friend’s house, a birthday party, or out to lunch or dinner, it easily fit on any chair. At 18 months, we stopped using the white tray, as she is tall enough to just use the booster seat and eat from the table. I can’t say how much I love this seat! And most importantly, you can easily clean it every time you use it, and spare your child the caked-with-old-food, germ-infested high chairs at restaurants.

Now, we use it at our table everyday, and have two, one for Big M and another for Lil’ M, who refused to sit in her high chair at a year old because she wants exactly what Big M has!

Walker
Big M never crawled… eventually, she scooted on her tiny hiney. But that didn’t last long. As soon as she learned to pull herself up to standing, all she wanted to do was walk. However, she was also timid, so she would only do it while holding on to our hands. And of course, she was about two inches too short for it not to mean holding her hands, hunched over for hours and ending the day with severe lower back pain. Enter, the walker…

Our Pick: Kolcraft Step Starter 2-in-1 Walker

1-Blog Pics1
Happy, independent girl… and happy backs for Mom and Dad! It took her all of about a day to figure out how to back up and maneuver out of spots when she got stuck. Lil’ M loved this at about 6 months – couldn’t stand being immobile and not keeping up with big sister! With the Kolcraft Step Starter 2-in-1 Walker, as your child develops, you can remove the seat, and it becomes a push walker they can stand behind. And if you have an anal head of household like we do, the bumpers are of soft enough plastic that it didn’t leave marks on the walls either. For what it’s worth, we know walkers are controversial – in Canada, they are even outlawed, but under supervision, in a single-level, no stairs area, we love walkers.

Mommy and Me Classes

Our Pick: MyGym

1-Blog Pics2During this age span, we started attending Tiny Tykes classes at MyGym – my initial motivation was to get her to crawl, but it was ultimately valuable in so many other ways: gross motor skills in general, interaction for her with other children and adults, and free exploration in a totally safe environment. And it was great for me too – as I met other parents of kids her same age, who we now get together with on a regular basis for all sorts of playdates and outings. Oh yeah, and she LOVED it too!

For the germophobic, I should also mention that at least our local MyGym is immaculate. Sure, occasionally, parents bring kids with a runny nose or a cough and you wish they would have stayed home, but the facility itself is pristine.

Plastic Bib
As we graduated from Mommy spoon-feeding us baby food to wanting to feed ourselves more and more, we also graduated from our Aden & Anais cloth bibs. Eating gets messier as they “do it themselves”, and the BabyBjorn bib is a phenomenal mess reducer.

Our pick: BabyBjorn bib

The rubber latch is easily adjustable but holds firm enough to make it tough for the munchkin to remove it themselves. The trough is great at catching whatever doesn’t make it into their mouth – and my little one loved to retrieve items from the trough and try again! And last but not least, when they are done, you take it off, and run it under water in the sink to clean it for your next meal. LOVE it!

Lil’ M taught me some kids will not wear a bib ever, and no matter how difficult they are to remove, a real little Houdini will figure it out.  She is a mess, always, and we better not have a third girl ever, because she has destroyed all Big M’s pristine hand me downs!

Mesh “Teether”
My first was a late teether. At her 9 month doctor visit, after months of drooling, I asked her pediatrician at what point I should worry if her teeth hadn’t come in… he told me he had never had a patient not get teeth. Just weeks later, my gummy wonder was no more and her two bottom teeth began to show their pearly, white heads. That’s where the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder comes in…

Our pick: Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder

I won’t lie – if used for their intended purpose, these would fall into our Not So Favorite Things category. Gumming a large piece of food they shouldn’t probably be eating in the first place totally grosses me out. BUT stick an ice cube in one of these feeders and you have the perfect teether. The mesh gives great texture for massaging their gums, the ice is cold to numb the pain of teething, and the mess is limited to a little wetness as the ice melts. She loved these so much more than the typical rubber bead rings and other actual teethers.

Both my munchkins now refer to these as ‘popsicles’.


Not So Favorite Things

VTech Activity Ball
Vtech BallMy first was never a crawler… while other babies her age swam, dragged and pulled themselves across the floor, she was content sitting and playing with whatever was within her reach. I sought out strategies to make her move. Somewhere along the way, someone or something recommended the VTech Activity Ball. It wobbles around, plays sounds and lights up, and would motivate your munchkin to go after it. Not my baby. She was not interested.

Eventually, she started scooting – sitting upright, pulling her legs in and out, scooting across the floor on her tiny hiney. Hilarious! At 18 months, she occasionally drug the VTech Ball out of her toy box and plays with it for maybe 30 seconds. Not worth the money. Maybe M2 will like it?

Robeez
We received a pair of Robeez as a gift. They certainly look adorable, but the reality is, until your child is walking, all you need to keep their little toes warm and covered is socks. And, maybe it was just my chunky monkey’s cankles, but the elasticized openings were so tight on her and left deep indentations on her little legs, that I don’t think she wore them more than once. Even when they do start taking steps, barefoot is best when you are at home, and out we wore real shoes. Save your money – you don’t need these.

Gymboree
Gymboree makes adorable kids clothes. Precious collections to doll your child up from head to toe – with coordinating dresses, tights, socks, hair accessories – and with matching collections across age groups and genders so your entire precious brood can match.

It comes with a steep price tag, and I swear, everything I have ever had from there comes out from the first wash looking like it has been washed 1,000 times and shrinks at least one size, if not more. I’ve never seen anything like it. So my munchkin looked adorable in her $60 ensemble with matching socks and bow for one event, never to be worn again because it no longer fits and it looks like a cow chewed it up and spit it back out… after stomping on it a few times and sleeping on it for two weeks.

Needless to say, I don’t buy anything here anymore – and when we receive it as a gift – we wear it once, and pack it up for the next munchkin, making sure to place it in the smaller size bin so we don’t miss the window when it will fit.

Baby Food / Food Pouches
Don’t get me wrong – baby food has its place in your child’s development, especially as you are transitioning from breastmilk or formula to something with actual texture. But many parents think a child can’t eat anything but pureed food until their child has teeth, which is totally inaccurate. And as with many things, the sooner you introduce something, the more apt they are to take to it without much protest. After our initial food introductions and making sure there were no allergies, my pediatrician encouraged me to give our daughter whatever she showed interest in that was soft enough to gum in diced-sized pieces she could pick up and feed herself. With Lil’ M, I have been going more the BLW (baby led weaning) route, intermixed with baby food, and at 7 months, she hardly eats baby food at all anymore.

As soon as Big M realized she could feed herself, baby food was done in our house – she wanted nothing to do with it unless she controlled the spoon herself… which at 9 months, was a lot messier than giving her real, diced food. Same goes for the food pouches – she would squeeze it out like an art project and paint with it all over her highchair before really eating any of it. But she would eat a whole meal of pieces of torn pancakes (still her favorite breakfast food) or Cheerios, and diced melon or banana.


These made our list of favorites… let us know yours!

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