Nursing/Postpartum Tuesday: Baby Rattle & Sensory Teether Ball
This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I was scrolling through some baby photos of my oldest, and a teether ball similar to Goodway’s Baby Rattle & Sensory Teether Ball made a frequent appearance.
Like most babies, she had very little interest in toys the first weeks of her life. However, once the world of toys opened up around three months, she constantly reached for her rattle teether ball — it was easy to grab and hold, mesmerizing to look at, and comforting to gnaw on.
Goodway’s version is made of chewable and flexible silicone and is easy to clean with soapy water. In hindsight, it’s one of the toys I wish I kept for our son.
The teether is $16.79 at Amazon.
Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Our son didn’t say a single word besides “quack” until he was nearly 37 months, and then he started speaking in complete sentences a few weeks after his 3rd birthday. He communicated by pointing and with self-invented sign language. He qualified for early intervention with a speech therapist at 24 months, which was fun and reassuring but didn’t really help much with expressive language. All his other developmental milestones were met, and his comprehension was excellent — he followed complex commands, correctly sequenced six cards showing scenes from a story, accurately pointed to letters of the alphabet, etc. He just wouldn’t speak out loud. And if we tried to coax him into speaking (for example, we said he needed to say ‘milk’ rather than sign it), he would roll his eyes and walk away.
He’s almost 5 now, taught himself to read six months ago, does his sister’s 1st grade math problems. He still has a hard time with “L” and “R”, but otherwise his expressive speech is fine.
I hope that’s helpful. I was definitely worried, but the speech therapist was really reassuring that he’d talk when he was ready…which is exactly what happened.
Doing nothing is not going to make it better. Our relationship came to a head about a year ago (or maybe the peak was at 9 months ago), but absolutely did not improve until we saw a couple’s counselor. I’d ask your partner to define when he would go to couple’s counseling. See what his reservations are (mine had “therapy” reservations in general, but was sold after ~3 sessions). TBH, I put my foot down after “vague discussions” for a couple of months and said couple’s was required for me to continue our relationship — not because I wanted to blow it up, but because I was tired of the miscommunications, the snapping, everything. I framed it in the “Our relationship is incredibly important to me, and it’s not working for me right now. I need this for us.” kind of way. My therapist was able to help me wordsmith, and I recommend you ask yours to help with wording the request, and with addressing your husband’s concerns (not bringing him to sessions, just take notes and relay and workshop it — that’s what I did).
The first ~3 months of weekly sessions were kind of brutal – we were (still) not communicating well. Overall, our relationship has greatly improved in 9 months and I no longer stress-search for apartments.
Anyone have any advice or words of wisdom on getting through a marital rough patch? We’re coming up on 6 years and the last few months have been really tough on our marriage. Nothing specific has happened to cause it – it’s a confluence of having a second baby during a pandemic, having very limited outside support/help/interaction and taking Covid extremely seriously, postpartum depression for me, and work stress for the both of us all piling up and we just can’t seem to get along. Almost every interaction when we’re alone spirals into an argument or a conflict. I’m in therapy but can’t quite get my husband onboard with going alone or as a couple yet. I feel confident that we’ll eventually get through it and we’re committed to our marriage and our family and each other, but I’m also having a hard time seeing how we actually get from here to a good place again. We both recently got our first vaccines, so hopefully that helps restore some semblance of normalcy, but if anyone has been here and clawed their way back, I’d really appreciate you sharing your experience. Thanks in advance.
Can someone talk to my about late talkers? My daughter is 16 months and only says “mama.” But she seems to understand everything – she can follow multistage instructions and I’ll just say something casual that we haven’t worked on and she’ll do whatever it is. (E.g., my mom the other day handed her an empty cup and said “can you put this on the little table in the kitchen?”) and she wandered into the kitchen and put it on the coaster on that little table. She also hasn’t been in daycare due to Covid – my parents have been doing childcare. So I feel like maybe the people she’s around just know what she means when she points at something and grunts and hasn’t had a lot of incentive to talk.
But am I kidding myself? Everyone keeps telling me about how their young toddler is talking up a storm, so I’m starting to wonder if I’m just deluding myself. Ped wasn’t worried at her 15-month appointment – said we’d check in on it at her 18 month.
Ok, another house hunting question. Would you prioritize living in a great kid friendly neighborhood (kids of similar age, walkable, close to playground, etc.) with a small house or a much nicer bigger home that requires 10-15 minutes of driving anywhere you go. Commute and school districts not a factor in the decision.
Talk to me about daycare and sun protection. Do you sunscreen kiddos beforehand in the morning? We sent a hat but it doesn’t seem from pictures that they ever put hats on.
Suggestions for a probiotic for a gassy-at-night fourteen-month-old? We’re already doing yogurt every day but want to try this as well. TIA!
Hm. I am your husband (although I do like my veg time, too!) so this is helpful perspective on what my husband probably feels. Thank you.
What we/I did was make a list of things that “need” to be done for me to relax and not be irate that my husband is vegging while I’m still scurrying around. Basic stuff like kitchen clean, table wiped, cat litter box cleaned, dumping ground by the front door tidied up, and folded laundry put away (by mutual agreement, I do all the folding, husband is in charge of putting away). If all that is done, I will not begrudge DH his veg time, because it’s on me if I want to do elective additional tidying.
Suggest a birthday gift for me to ask for, from my kids, please!
Kids are 10 and 6. DH wants to take them shopping this weekend. He already has his gift to me (requested kitchen equipment). I have decision fatigue and can’t figure out what to ask for from the kids.
– small, like $20
– i can’t do any more crafts, i just can’t.
– helpful if it’s something that the kids can pick and I’m not “stuck with” it, like the enormous pink glittery phone case DD picked for me one year.
– if the kids pick chocolate, I will wind up with hershey kisses, not good-mom-chocolate (and SH supervising them does not help bc he doesn’t see the difference lol).
– they really really like to get me something that can be unwrapped
– i like to cook, garden, run, read.
I need a gut check. I have what I imagine is the opposite problem of a lot of women, and I know I should be grateful but — ugh. My husband never stops. Like never. He is always working or cleaning or doing something productive. Our kids are little (under 3) and we both work full time, so we have so much to do and I get it. But after bedtime, sometimes I just want to watch tv or stare at my phone for an hour. I know it’s not a good use of time, but I’m so darn tired and brain dead by that point. It’s becoming an issue because while he doesn’t say anything most of the time, I know it annoys him and it’s painfully obvious that he thinks I should be doing — something more productive than doing nothing. And meanwhile, I feel bad trying to relax while he’s doing dishes or whatever and am tired of the looks and sighs and general passive aggressiveness.
Weekends are more of the same. We might watch one 30-minute episode of a show together on a Saturday evening but that is literally it.
I’ve tried to take on more or do the dishes instead, etc. but he wants to do them himself (apparently I don’t do them “right” according to his method.) And while I think I do a fairly even share of the work otherwise, 8:30-9:30 is just not my best time for accomplishing anything. So I’m left feeling both lazy and worthless and like I can’t relax, and I am so over it.
Perspective please. I’m a huge whiner, right?
I need to find sunglasses for my 19-month-old with a huge head. I’m talking toddler styles are too small, and women’s sunglasses fit the width of her head but the nose bridge is too big and the ear pieces too long. I’d prefer that they have a strap, if possible.
how important is a fireplace to you when buying a house? we are considering a house that has one but it is in a downstairs office as opposed to the main room. our realtor made a comment how for resale a fireplace can be important bc people want to decorate for Çhristmas, need a place for santa to come down the chimney, etc. We are Jewish so this never crossed my mind. thoughts?
Anyone have experience or recommendations with the Bjorn travel crib versus the guava lotus? I’m sure it’s been discussed here but I didn’t have much less searching. We have some Airbnb travel this year (vaccinations, yay!) and camping and I like the lightness of both of them. Have found deals under 200ish on Facebook marketplace. Or any other travel cribs to recommend that are easy to set up? Baby is 5 months now and I’d like to be able to use it for the next couple of years. Thanks!
Any tips for handling a 3 year old regression to acting like a baby? I thought it would be a short phase but it’s been going on for months and it’s driving me absolutely crazy. Even before this phase I feel like she was kind of behind developmentally (she can’t dress herself, eats mostly with her hands, isn’t potty trained, etc) so the pretend helplessness about the things she knows how to do is especially frustrating. Also is it weird that this is happening in the absence of any external factors? The internet says it’s normal for older kids to regress developmentally when there’s a new baby, but there’s no new sibling (or any other obvious source of stress, other than the pandemic, which isn’t new).
Anyone who has had struggles with bike helmet fit, I just got the Kali Protectives Chakra Child helmet for my 4 year old and it is so great! Full coverage on her head, light weight, easy to tighten, and doesn’t slide around. My local bike shop did not have the pattern she wanted (unicorn) but Dedham Bike Shop did and shipped it to us in just one day.