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My husband and I bought this over the winter when we were trapped in the house with a baby that was crawling and pulling himself up on everything. We started calling it “the cage.” Other friends say it reminds them of an Ultimate Fighting ring. However you want to describe it, I love this thing. We set it up in the living room and put some toys inside, and it bought us a few minutes of dinner-cooking, laundry-folding, or shower-taking (you know, parental luxuries). Once you get the hang of it, it’s super easy to collapse and set up, and it’s very lightweight. We’ve brought it to my parents’ house, which is only moderately baby-proofed, and this summer we even brought it to the beach. It’s $68.99 at Amazon, and the removable canopy (which blocks 98% of UVA/UVB rays) is an option for $19.22. Ours came with it included, but if it didn’t, I wouldn’t have purchased it separately. Summer Infant Pop N’ Play Portable Playard This post contains affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!Sales of note for 4.18.24
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anon says
I live in an extremely tiny NYC apartment with a very tiny kitchen. I am trying to figure out how much space I should allocate for baby stuff in the kitchen. We will be moving out of of this current apartment when the kid is 5 or 6 months though so this isn’t for all baby food things forever on just what we will need birth to 6 months. I plan on breastfeeding and will be home for the first 6 months, but will be doing some bottles and pumping stuff because my husband will be watching the kiddo starting at 6 months and we need to be ready for that transition.
How much space do I need to clear? I tend to be on the minimalist side and have a dishwasher. Debating if I should get like an Ikea Raskog cart or something to hold all of the stuff or if thats overkill.
AwayEmily says
You need 1 – 2 baby bottles, your pump + parts, and freezer bags for your milk. One baby spoon if you plan on starting solids before you move. So definitely no need for a cart.
Things that are fine to have but you absolutely don’t need: a drying rack, a bottle parts holder for the dishwasher, a bottle warmer (if your baby likes warm bottles you can just run it under hot water).
lawsuited says
You will need more than 1-2 baby bottles if you plan on leaving your house for a day, but definitely don’t buy them all upfront – wait to see what type your baby likes before buying 6 of the same kind.
Cb says
True, and ask around. My baby refused everything but Nuk and Dr Brown so I had loads of samples and extras that I was very happy to give away.
Anonanonanon says
I had one of those ikea carts for right after baby was born, but I kept it by the chair I parked myself in and kept it loaded with burp cloths, my giant water bottle, my snacks, the remote, my phone, pacifiers, nursing pads, the nursing pillow, etc. I ended up having a C-section so it was nice to not have to get up and down.
However, even now that I’m bottle-feeding and baby is on food, I haven’t cleared any room in my kitchen. I rinse the bottles in the sink and sanitize with the medela microwavable sanitation bags and set them out on clean paper towels to dry. Then they all get filled with pre-mixed formula (I can’t handle the powder) and placed in the fridge. We do have a brush dedicated to the bottles, but that sits out by the sink.
Anonymous says
We needed more counter space than cupboard space, because we constantly had bottles/pump parts sitting out on a towel to dry. It took a lot of space, but if you’re willing to devote more time each day to cleaning and sterilizing, you need less stuff. Our daycare required that we send baby’s bottles in ready to go and include an extra each day. So that was four bottles per day. We had eight, so we didn’t have to wash and sterilize every night. I also had two sets of pump parts (used one set per day) and pumped into the Medela bottles and needed at least 5 of those per day. Our system was that we had some disposable tin trays in a cupboard that were labeled “To Wash” and “To Sterilize”. We’d rinse things to be washed and put them in the “To Wash” tray each night. As we washed, we’d move stuff to the “To Sterilize” tray. Usually we’d wash and sterilize at the same time (microwave sterilization), but not always. We were diligent about sterilizing. I know others aren’t, and it is fine. The biggest annoyance to me was how much stuff we always had sitting out drying. We used a towel instead of a rack. It was easier.
Anon says
Ah! So maybe a cart that we put towels down in would be good just to have dedicated drying space. I have basically no counter space.
Cb says
An alternative would be one of those mesh fruit hangers – you could put a towel in it and dry everything in there.
9:09 Anon says
I think the best approach is a “wait and see” attitude. The system I described definitely evolved. We were very minimalist at the start – 1 set of pump parts, maybe 6 Medela bottles at the most, boil to sterilize only. We did have a small bottle drying rack that was a gift. As time went on, our daughter started drinking six ounces per bottle, so that increased the number of Medela bottles I needed for pumping/storage and meant we needed the bigger size Avent bottles. At that point, we would have had to buy a much bigger pot or boil in batches the same size as a Microwave container, but the Microwave containers took half the time.
You may have a child who only eats 3-4 ounces at a time and have better luck pumping into bags than me. We added stuff as needed instead of getting it all upfront. I’d save some gift cards or budget to buy some things in this area that make your life easier as you go. For us it just seemed so much easier to do bottles/parts every other day instead of every day. But we’re also in the burbs and are not constrained by a tiny kitchen. Others will have different priorities.
Also, this is my advice for nearly all baby gear. Every baby is so different.
KateMiddletown says
+1 In these days of Amazon Prime, you can put it on your Amazon registry after baby is born and still use the second 15% off reward and get it shipped in 2 days.
lawsuited says
I had a tiny kitchen too – I think i4 cupboards and 3 drawers total. I added baby bottles to our shelf of drinking glasses, and cleared out one drawer for pumping parts, milk storage bags, and a flat cooler bag for travelling with milk. Our sterilizer lived on the counter and I let the bottles drip dry in there rather than buying a drying rack. We introduced solid food at 4 months, but the only thing I had to buy for that was some baby spoons with I added to our cutlery drawer. (I didn’t try to make any food myself so just kept store bought food in the pantry.)
Anonymous says
Yeah, our sterilizer usually stayed on our stove or sometimes stored in our microwave.
AIMS says
I can totally speak to this – I have a small NYC kitchen and when my first was born I had an even smaller, teeny tiny NYC kitchen. Someone gave me this “drying patch” and it was great – I still use it now with kid no. 2. It’s small enough that it fits on the side of my sink without taking up any extra space. In my old kitchen it went on the side of my (tiny) dish rack. I’ve added a “tree” or “branch” or whatever you call it to it for extra space. I also dedicated a big covered pot to sit on my stove and I throw extra bottles and other baby items in there. I don’t think you need more than two bottles even if you leave your baby for the whole day because bottles can be washed very easily. We regularly use just one. To sterilize, just use boiling water. No extra devices needed. So in total – I’d get small dedicated drying rack, bottle brush just for baby stuff (OXO has a nice stand up one that – bonus- matches the drying grass) and just a few bottles. Store milk in freezer bags because it’s easier and takes up less space. This set up will fit pump parts + bottle/bottle parts + any pacifiers or teething toys. On the rare occasion I have extra baby things to wash I just let them dry on a clean towel on my counter or you can just use the top rack of your dishwasher for the same purpose (some people also like the d/w for washing bottles, which if it works for you, is really all you need; I feel weird about putting baby’s plastic stuff in there even though it’s apparently fine so I just wash by hand) .
As for the cart – I think it’s great but I never used it in the kitchen; I found it more helpful for storing swaddle cloths, burp cloths, extra diapers, etc.
AIMS says
Forgot to include the link: https://www.booninc.com/products/patch
KateMiddletown says
I love your idea of a pot on the stove. I’m out of practice on sanitizing, but you boil the water then toss in the supplies, or do you add cold water and boil all the stuff with the water?
AIMS says
I boil the water and then toss everything in, except for new items like pacifiers where I’ll boil it for 5 minutes (per the instructions).
Anonymous says
I’d recommend against the cart unless you really, really don’t have counter space. I’d put in a plug for the OXO space-saving dish rack. It is ~$25 on amazon. I live in nyc and actually have two. I didn’t think I needed one but our new dishwasher is kind of crap and leaves a lot of water on the dishes, especially our comotomo bottles – which I’d also recommend! They are supposedly good for switching from breastfeeding. We also have one of those flat dish drying towel things.
I had the spectra pump and used the oxo dishwasher basket for the parts. Munchin also makes a good one. You can just keep it in the dishwasher. I think if I had to do it over again, I’d maybe get a basket or bowl for all for all of the pump parts and stash it on the counter or in the cupboard. Buy extra parts! It is super annoying to have to wash stuff all the time. Also, see how comfortable you are with just stashing the pump parts in the fridge between sessions. A lot of moms do that to cut down on the number of washes. FWIW I didn’t use a sterilizer at all but I think they are recommended if you have a preemie.
Anonymous says
Here are some links:
space-saving dish rack: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Space-Saving-Drying-Rack/dp/B079K783F9
oxo dishwasher basket: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771FFJ21/ref=twister_B077741H53?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
dish drying mat: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFUV1UW/ref=twister_B07DFBD1R3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
AwayEmily says
Agreed that many of these things are good but if you are not going back to work for the whole time that you are living in your current setup, I really do think you can get away with just one or two bottles, one set of pump stuff, and freezer bags. I know it cause i lived it! Was home for the first six months with bay #2 and that’s all we used (if I was gone for more than one bottle session then whoever was watching him would just…wash the bottle and use it again).
BUT yes once daycare starts you need more bottles, you need to wash them constantly, helps to have extra pump parts, etc etc.
Also remember: amazon prime exists! start out with a minimum and you can always add things as needed.
Anonanonanon says
Can anyone else speak to this playard? It’s been on my wish list for a bit. Baby isn’t on the move yet so I don’t need it, but with my older child in activities, I’ve been eyeing it for a place to contain the baby when we go to older kid’s games/track meets etc.
IHeartBacon says
For your needs, it might be a little cumbersome. I bought it and returned because it didn’t meet my needs, which were pretty much the same as yours. I wanted something easy to carry and transport, easy to set up, and to serve as a place to put Baby when we were outside in the sun. To set it up, you have to lock each of the legs into place and the first time I tried, I pinched a finger. Mine didn’t come with the canopy. If I had bought the canopy, I’m not sure where it was supposed to be stored when not in use (e.g., can it be stuffed into the travel bag?) There is a larger canopy that I was thinking of purchasing, which covers the entire thing that looks like it provides more coverage than the version suggested above, but it’s $36, making the whole thing $106.
Anyway, I returned it and got this one instead: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PX8PQSU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (It’s currently unavailable on Amazon, but I’m linking to Amazon anyway because I am certain that’s the version I got.) It was $120. It comes with a canopy that offers full coverage. The canopy is stored in a pocket on the side. It has a pocket on the outside where you can store the carrying case while you’re using the playpen. To set it up, you only have to lock two legs and the locking mechanisms are very easy to use. It has a little door so that when your baby turns into a toddler, s/he will love crawling in and out of the playpen. The door zippers on the outside so if you need to keep toddler contained, they won’t be able to open the zipper. We use ours indoors and outdoors. Overall, I am very pleased with the purchase. The only negative is that I still haven’t mastered the open-at-a-flick-of-the-wrist shown in the demo video on Amazon.
CBG says
We have this one, we didn’t lock the sides to the legs till baby started moving and it’s pretty much impossible to do with just 1 hand(and takes some strength. So for that reason it’s not that “quick and easy” especially if you’re by yourself. But, we got it as an Amazon warehouse deal and don’t think it was a total waste. We also use it to keep the dogs from licking baby/stealing her toys/bottles before she was crawling. I’ve set it up under a tree outside a few times so I could get some yard work done and she’s been pretty content to play in it.
If i could do things over again, I’d probably just get Lotus travel crib/playard. Something that is smaller than this but also more portable than a pack-n-play.
AnotherAnon says
Tricycle or other wheeled vehicular transport recs for an 18 month old? We like to go on long walks but he’s getting bored and restless in his stroller. TIA!
Anonymous says
Interested to see what other posters suggest. For us, kid didn’t like the push tricycles either and was only happy to ride in the stroller if we let/encourged him to run/walk until exhaustion before putting him in for a drink and snack.
Anonymous says
We have better luck in a wagon than a stroller. I think because they’re less constricting and kiddo can look in all directions. She’d still rather walk, though.
Spirograph says
+1 for wagon. My kids still love riding in wagons and the oldest is 5, so you will likely get years of use out of it. Or, if you bike much, one of the bike trailers that converts to a stroller.
Anon says
Two options:
– My kids would vote for the Step 2 Push Around Buggy. They loved it. I hated it because plastic wheels are loud.
– I vote for Radio Flyer wagon. We used it for 2 kids at once and they liked it, plus we had room to keep water bottles and such. We have the standard plastic one but with a cooler on the back (we go to a lot of festivals and picnics in parks and such) but I have a little envy of our friends who got the kind with a fold-down side that turns it into a bench and has a platform on the back for a regular sized cooler.
Anon says
RE: the Step 2 buggy We got the one with “whisper ride” wheels and it is super quiet. It also has a fifth wheel underneath that makes it easily maneuverable. My stroller/being strapped into anything-hating 14 month old son loves it for walks because he can use the steering wheel and honk the horn.
Anonymous says
Have you tried a jogging stroller? Mine hated the regular stroller at that age but would happily ride in the jogging stroller on long walks, or even better, runs. It must have been more comfortable with a smoother ride.
We had a push bar on the tricycle and it was a nightmare.
Anonymous says
Is 18 months a bit too young for a micro kickboard scooter? I see a lot of tiny kids on those in urban areas.
Anon in NYC says
+1 to the Micro Mini scooter! My daughter loved hers at that age, but depending on how long the walks are, you might need to bring the stroller too in case she/he gets tired of the scooter.
Marilla says
My 2 year old loves her Radio Flyer tricycle. It has the push handle on the back for when she’s tired of pedaling. Only downside is no sun canopy but I think some models do (maybe step 2 brand?).
CHL says
Advice needed – we’re hiring an after school nanny to come between 6 – 8 hours a week. When we hired her, we clarified that we would be paying on the books/taking out taxes. She’s all yes, that’s what I always do. I have her tax forms now and we’re getting ready to get into our normal routine, but for her trial sitting (a few hours), I paid her cash because we weren’t set up yet, and then she sent me an “invoice” for the gross amount. Now I’m wondering if we’re on the same page. Will definitely send her the tax forms and have a conversation, but am I missing something here in terms of what she might be thinking? Everything I know says that I should be W-2ing her, but she’s almost presenting herself like a daycare facility. Thanks!
ER says
I think you’re overthinking it.
CCLA says
I wouldn’t worry about the cash for the trial run, but for going forward, have a conversation like you plan. If she’s w-2, she shouldn’t be invoicing you, but you probably want a way of tracking hours since it sounds like it won’t be the same number each week.
Anonymous says
Having so much trouble picking baby names… we aren’t finding out the sex so we have to pick 2!
Did anyone else really struggle with this? I’m so set on not picking anything that’s too popular right now. I hate trendy-sounding names, too.
Clementine says
We had a girl’s name that (literally) came to me in a dream before I was even pregnant and it was perfect.
We had a list of roughly 5 boys’ names, but one of them we had 3 friends/friendly acquaintances name their kiddo that in a span of 3 months. Our big challenge is that my husband didn’t want to name a kid any name that he associated with someone he knew.
Actual conversation: what about NAME? Husband: No. My roommate the first semester of college (15 years ago!?!) was named that. Me: Was there something wrong with him? Do you still talk to him? Him: No- he was a totally good guy and I haven’t talked to him in probably 14.5 years. Me: ???
Anonymous says
that’s hilarious
Anonymous says
I was your husband :)
Anon says
This was also our baby-naming experience. My husband drove me BANANAS. We had our boys name decided on for years (like well before we were even contemplating TTC), and we agreed upon it almost instantly.
When I actually did get pregnant, we found out we were having a girl. It took us basically my entire pregnancy to agree on a name (we even waited to officially fill out her birth certificate paperwork for a few days to be “sure”), and ended up with the only name we both liked that we’d been tossing around since I was 11 weeks pregnant.
KW says
Yes! I’m due next month with baby #2 (a boy) and we have barely even talked about names. And when I think about it, I can’t think of any boy names that I like. I have no idea what we’ll end up naming this child!
CPA Lady says
Henry? James? Whitaker? Levi?
ElisaR says
ughhhh it was so hard. it’s really the only reason i would argue to find out the gender — so you can narrow it down more. I felt like bc it could be either gender I couldn’t commit to a name for either one.
For my first, our male name was easy because it was a family name. For my second, I had no idea what to do and I’m still not totally sold on our name.
I’m a big fan of picking family names….. I also didn’t want popular or trendy so my son is David like his grandfather. He is literally the only David in his school of 100+ kids. Obviously it’s a very popular adult name but nobody seems to pick it these days!
Boston Legal Eagle says
My first is named David too :) I love it because everyone is familiar with it and knows how to spell it, but so far he’s been the only one is his daycare classes and I expect it won’t be too popular in school. It’s still in those top 20 or 50 lists, depending on where you look, so other people must still be using it!
I had the name picked for our first right after our 20 week ultrasound and it was a pretty easy decision. For our second, it was much harder to narrow down to one name because there was no name that we were really in love with. There are many names that I would rule out based on people I’ve known with those names who I didn’t like, particularly one currently popular girl’s name. We also discussed nicknames that come with more formal names, and whether we were ok with those. Ease of pronunciation and spelling are key for me.
Anonymous says
My husband and I picked out names when we first started dating. 10 years later when we actually had a baby our girls name had gotten super popular but we went with it anyway. We had been referring to our hypothetical baby that way for so long, it just felt like we couldn’t name her anything else. My requirements were nothing too trendy or hard to pronounce. And for girls, no girl my husband had dated. I’m named after one of my father’s ex-girlfriends and I think it’s unbelievably weird (and yes my parents are still married, by all accounts happily).
HSAL says
Wait, actually named AFTER and not just coincidentally the same name?
EB0220 says
It was hard! In both cases, we chose the final name from a short list after the baby was born. Like you, I didn’t want anything too trendy. In both cases, we went with classic but not currently popular names. I’m a data person so I looked through a ton of lists! If the ranking was 50+ last year I would consider it.
DLC says
Yeah, our daughter was nameless for the first month. (She was also six weeks early so we were doubly unprepared). It is such a big decision, and really stressed me out, especially once I got those post partum hormones going. Suddenly you have to think about this tiny little thing and what kind of adult they will be.
I will say this: the only thing difficult about not picking a name in the hospital was that we had to file the paperwork with social security and the state registrar ourselves. Where I live, usually the Hospital does this. But since we had to do it ourselves it involved driving a hour away to a special County office to file the paperwork. Other than that a lot of people (ahem, in-laws) were constantly asking us if we had a name picked out and that was annoying. But we wanted to make sure we picked a name we both liked and fit the baby, and we ignored those people.
Two of my favorite sites were nameberry and British Baby Names. I really was fascinated by the metrics and historical statistics of names and these sites had a lot of cool Statistics and history.
One exercise I often did was to write out the alphabet and pick one favorite name for each letter.
Also Baby Name books are nice because you can flag the names you like.
Incidentally, our second we named before we left the hospital, and my husband didn’t love the name and calls him “Buddy” all the time. You’ll figure out what to call the kid, even if it isn’t their official name.
Anonymous says
haha that’s awesome re: your husband calling baby “Buddy.”
We refer to baby as “baby” or” bebe” constantly, and part of me wishes we could just keep calling them that after they are born :)
lawsuited says
Yes! My husband and I didn’t start TTC until we had decided on baby names because we needed to settle a raging debate about last naming conventions (but in the process we ended up choosing first names as well). We used sentimental/family names, which made it easier. If we’d been picking from all the names in the whole wide world I think it would have been waaaaay harder to reach consensus.
Anonymous says
We had lots of ideas for girls but ended up with two boys, neither of whom was named till after birth (one of them several days after). We just had to keep rehashing our ideas over and over until something sounded ok to both of us. Now we’re very happy with their names, which in both cases were the only name we could agree on.
Anonymous says
Boy #1 was pretty easy. He has a family name on my husband’s side, but it was one we both liked on it’s own merits, we didn’t set out looking for family name.
Girl and boy #2 were a different story. My daughter didn’t have a name until right before we left the hospital, and it wasn’t my first choice. I’m glad I gave in, though, because I love it now, and my first choice has taken on an unpleasant association recently, so glad we didn’t go that route! Boy#2 was set to have both grandfathers’ names, but then my husband got upset with his dad and we ended up with a different name I’m not thrilled about. It’s growing on me (2 years later) and I do love his nickname, which was why I gave in. My husband and I would each write a top 10 or 20 list, then go through each other’s with vetoes and discuss the rest. It took a lot of rounds to reach consensus!
All that to say, yes names are tricky! I really liked the baby name book, The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenburg. It has fun lists and common associations for each name.
Toys says
If you could purge your kids’ toys down to 10 items (a combination of toys that your kids actually like and toys which don’t drive you crazy…), what would you keep , and for what ages? We are drowning in toys and I fantasize about doing this. Anyhow, my list (for a 6.5 year old and an 1.5 year old) would be:
Magnatiles
Fisher-Price record player
Toy ambulance
Toy fire truck
Stomp rocket
Wooden building blocks
Play kitchen (with minimal accessories- like one frying pan and a spoon)
Toy castle (and minimal figurines)
Melissa and Doug toy shopping cart
Ball and hammering toy
Definitely on the pitch list: stuffed animals, puzzles, Calico Critters, and Legos. But I’m not ready for that fight yet….
AwayEmily says
I only have a 2.5 year old and a 7 month old so I am sure things will get much worse but one thing that has been helpful for us to keep the toy clutter down is a rule that we don’t buy any toys for our kids, ever. All their toys are hand-me-downs or gifts from grandparents. It means that some of their toys are not what I would choose myself (one grandparent likes to gift creepy stuffed animal puppets) but we try not to look a creepy stuffed gift horse in the mouth.
anon says
Lol!
EB0220 says
Oooh good game! For my 4 and 6 year old:
– Melissa and Doug train track set (8 pieces + 2 train pieces)
– Matchbox cars (10 or so?)
– Castle play tent
– Play kitchen + accessories
– Puzzles and board games
– Rody
I also fantasize about pitching almost everything.
EB0220 says
Oh! I forgot the dress up clothes. Those would definitely stay (in a large bin).
avocado says
The dress-ups would be first on my list to pitch. My kid did use them, but they never inspired the sort of imaginative play I thought they would, and they were so incredibly messy. I was forever organizing and purging the dress-up bin.
avocado says
Adding: I would have let her keep the superhero cape, though.
Anonymous says
We have two boys (4) and a girl (7). So many toys but 90% of the play happens with:
1. Lego Duplo including construction vehicles set (kids prefer duplo to regular legos)
2. train set
3. kitchen/food play
4. dress up/costume box
5. dolls/doll house
6. arts/crafts/coloring/painting box
Anonymous says
We, too, are drowning in toys. And I swear my nearly three year old’s favorite things to play with are a laundry basket and a blanket. Recently someone asked her what her favorite toy was, and she actually said a blanket. She loves to throw it over heads, make tunnels between the coffee table and couch, tie it on as a cape, play “go to sleep”, etc. And she loves to play “boat” in the laundry basket.
Toys says
Hah! Yes- our toddler loves pushing the garbage can around.
anon says
We don’t buy a ton of toys for my little one. Sometimes I feel bad when we go to friends houses and they have all the cool toys, but my LO seems fine.
One thing I did last year was, before his birthday when I knew he’d get lots of presents, I went around the house and put away everything that was too young for him or that he wasn’t using. I did it when he wasn’t home and he’s never once asked for anything I put away. I also keep toy sets with lots of pieces (like legos) out of reach so he can’t just go find it, dump it out, and leave it. He has to ask for it and I’m aware he’s playing with it so we can clean it up when we’re done.
Spirograph says
Play kitchen
Train tracks
Duplos
Magnatiles
Bristle blocks (toddler likes building with these, is not coordinated enough for the other blocks yet)
Dress up bin
Dump truck
Shape sorter (toddler)
See and say (toddler)
Ball
I do like puzzles. My kids really got into the frame puzzles around 3-4, and my 5 year old likes the big floor puzzles too. I don’t buy toys for my kids, so everything we’ve accumulated has been gifts/ hand me downs. My dad is terrible about giving my kids noisy chunks of plastic, and we have about 100 stuffed animals…but my daughter loves having “birthday parties” for them, and they’re all in regular rotation through the kids’ beds, so meh. Corner stuffed animal net for each kid keeps them corralled well enough.
One thing that has helped with toy clutter: we took a page from daycare’s playbook and labeled bins with pictures of what goes there. We got those Ikea drawers and the kids are supposed to only pull one drawer out at once. They also have no excuse for not putting things away where they belong. We have one odds and ends bin for stupid McDonald’s toys and party favors, mostly, and I go through and cull that stuff pretty regularly.
GCA says
I’ll play! I have a 3-year-old and a 2-week-old. The baby can be entertained for the next few months with a variety of ordinary household items, including some rice in an old pill bottle, a yogurt cup with holes punched in the bottom (great bath toy), and an assortment of pot lids (#buythemnothing). Here’s what I’d keep for the time being:
Train set
Magnatiles
Duplos
A few cars and trucks
Art stuff – crayons, paint, and paper
Wooden alphabet blocks
Sophie Giraffe till baby is done teething
Baby Paper (we joke about it being ‘baby crack’ because kid 1 loved it so much)
Take-Along Tunes (for the baby)
Otherwise, I fantasize about tossing out everything that is single-purpose only, and also about ruthlessly culling the herd of plastic and stuffed creatures that is currently spilling out of our toy boxes (seriously, do they multiply in there? I didn’t realize we had so many farm animals and sea creatures).
Preschooler has progressed to toy cross-pollination – today he used the parts from a Mr Potato Head to jack up a Tonka fire engine ‘so the mechanic can fix it’. The wooden blocks are routinely used to create elaborate garages and an elevated train system. Longer sections of train tracks are now pulling double duty as baseball bats. It is endlessly entertaining to watch him think up new uses for existing toys.
SC says
I’ll play! For my 3-year-old:
1. Puzzles, but only the ones at actual skill level
2. a couple of cars and trucks
3. race track
4. Legos
5. doctor bag
6. Magformers
7. art supplies (esp the non-messy ones)
8. train table (we don’t actually have this yet, but it may be the large holiday present this year. kiddo had a blast playing with his friend’s last weekend)
9. sidewalk chalk (bonus points if it’s magic and never breaks)
10. balance bike
Out – play kitchen, V-tech alphabet train, play doh and all of its accessories, the plastic paw patrol stuff, bathtub crayons or paint, stuffed animals, 2 Mr. Potato Heads. We actually “cycled out” a bunch of stuff (it never comes back), but this stuff remains.
Anonymous says
I have a first world problem. I’m 7 months postpartum, weigh 5 pounds less than I did pre-pregnancy and I don’t feel like I look any different when I look in the mirror, but none of my regular pants fit. Some can button but are very uncomfortable, but most of them I can’t even button. I bought a couple bigger pairs of pants to get me through the transition, but it seems like the “transition” is lasting forever. Do I need to buy a new wardrobe? Or is it possible that my body will return to it’s original shape at some point in the future? How I can weigh less but be bigger? I’m so confused.
anon says
Yeah, it’s weird, but pretty common. Both times, my pre-pregnancy shape didn’t return until 13 months postpartum, even though I’d lost the weight. Not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but that’s around the time I stopped BFing. Even so, my body is still different than it was pre-kids.
My advice is to dress for the shape you have, but don’t go crazy buying a new wardrobe yet — or getting rid of your old one! Pick out a few things that you like and make you feel good.
Anonymous says
My hips are wider from my first pregnancy and my ribcage on the left side is pushed out from my twin pregnancy. I’m ten lbs less than pre-first baby but certain clothes just don’t fit right anymore.
Your body shape may not ever be 100% the same. For some women it returns but for many it does not.
Anonymous says
Is it possible that your shape has changed? Pre-baby, I had a small waist and slightly curvy hips. Post-baby, I weighed slightly less than I did pre-baby but had a larger waist and smaller hips. I had to buy all new pants and skirts in smaller sizes but straighter cuts. The changes were permanent.
If your exercise routine has changed and you’ve lost muscle mass, you could actually have lost weight without getting smaller.
GCA says
Pregnancy reshaped me: my hips got wider after my first pregnancy and my butt became flatter. Oh, and my ribcage somehow became broader. I caved and bought a mostly new wardrobe once it became clear I was not going back to my original shape – though at 7 months postpartum you may want to wait and see how your shape changes in the months to come.
ElisaR says
Friday question: am I the only person who has CNBC on in their office all day long and is tired of hearing the advertisement for Peyronie’s disease????? UGH!
I get that I am a unicorn of a woman in this industry but do I have to be reminded with this ad every 10 minutes?
GCA says
I haven’t heard this particular ad, but on the bright side, you could be a *man* in possession of the relevant anatomy and wince every time you heard it!
ElisaR says
haha good point!
KateMiddletown says
Haha this is why I don’t have a TV in my office. Our common area tvs are on mute almost always :)
avocado says
Who else is excited for the first day of school? We have had a nice summer with a relatively low degree of day camp hassle, but I am so ready for fall. This morning there was a hint of crispness in the air. We have purchased the giant bagful of paper towels, tissues, Clorox wipes, and hand sanitizer to drop off at open house. Kiddo has picked out her first-day outfit. I have even gotten a sneak peek at her class schedule. I cannot wait.
The tradeoff is that the beginning of school means that sports competition season is just two months away. Not looking forward to that part.
Anonymous says
TMI question – can we talk about gardening post baby? I had a baby almost 5 months ago and this activity is still super painful to the point that we haven’t really accomplished it. We’re doing other things, so we’re both satisfied and DH is very patient and doesn’t want me to be in pain, but I want to get back to a normal gardening life (and from a practical perspective, we want a second kid, so we have to do traditional gardening at some point). I had bad tearing when I delivered, but I was healed enough to do all my normal activities except gardening (including riding a bike) within a couple weeks. I only have a couple friends I’m comfortable discussing this with and their attitude has been “oh yeah it hurts the first time but then it’s fine” but that hasn’t been my experience. Any advice or commiseration? Do I need to just push through the pain?
Anonymous says
Talk to your doc. If you’re BF’ing, some of the hormones can make things dry. Your doc can help you!
Anonymous says
Don’t ignore the pain.
Have you tried pelvic floor physiotherapy? That was enormously helpful in my recovery. Look for someone specifically trained in that who will do a proper internal exam. It’s not just about kegels. I was too tight in one area after the stiches so the kegels were actually making it worse. Use lots of lube and you/DH can start by trying with fingers. Take full on gardening off the table for a bit to reduce the pressure/expectations around the whole thing.
FWIW, we didn’t for a full year after I had the twins but we are now up to multiple times a week again. Give yourself time.
Anonymous says
You ought to talk to your OB. Do you have your annual exam scheduled? How bad was your tear? I think 5 months is getting to be on the long end. I had bad tearing (level 2) with my second but was without pain after maybe 3 months. (Not saying that I wasn’t more interested in sleeping than gardening at that stage, but I think it was pain free.)
Anonymous says
Get to a pelvic floor physiotherapist stat. I didn’t after my first and regret it. I am 3 months postpartum after my second. I have already gone for a visit and there are lots of things they can do (For example, they can work on the scar tissue from stitches). You just need to get over the fact that this type of work is done internally.
Boston Legal Eagle says
I had tearing too and we didn’t try the traditional gardening until around 12 or so weeks postpartum. It hurt a lot then, and it hurt for a while after that. Like, I could not imagine how anyone had kids spaced close together. But… it did eventually get back to normal sometime in the first year postpartum. Not sure if you’re b-feeding, but if you are, I think that once you wean, it will start to feel better. Not that you need to rush to that, of course.
I think part of it is pushing through the pain a little, and using lots and lots of lubricants. Doing other acts in the meantime is great too.
Anonymous says
Agree that you should definitely talk to your doctor. It shouldn’t hurt at this point.
Anon says
I think it hurts the first few times no matter how long it’s been since birth. I waited until 6 months to even attempt it, and it definitely hurt the first few times. I did ask my doc about it and she said it was very normal. The scar tissue is normally tight and has to get loosened by regular gardening. It’s the same reason it can be uncomfortable if you’ve gone a year or more without gardening, even if you haven’t had a baby.
Anonymous says
I hate that doctors accept pain as normal for women. Pelvic floor PT is standard postpartum care in so many countries and here we just expect women to deal with pain.
Anonymous says
Memories are foggy but I really don’t remember it hurting at all, even the first time. I think I would remember if it hurt a lot.
Anonymous says
I don’t know that it “shouldn’t” in the sense that the OP should thing something is wrong. With my first, I remember it not being great for the entire first year. And it wasn’t until I was done nursing that it was “normal” again.
anon says
I had a 2nd degree tear and it took about 10-12 months before I was at a level of zero discomfort for it. It was decreasingly painful until 4-5 months, but I still got little twinges and friction for a long time.
Anon says
I had a bad 2nd degree tear and it’s still marginally painful at 8.5 months PP, but it’s slowly improving. I went back to the doctor at 10 weeks PP for a second check up because I just felt like something was off. Turns out I had some scar tissue that had developed, hence the pain during LGP and just during daily life in general. She cauterized it (praise be to numbing cream) and I noticed a huge difference after that. Go see your doctor if you’re not noticing an improvement over time.
anon says
It was INCREDIBLY painful for me pretty much until I weaned my first at a year. like, not in a way that lube could fix — it felt like it didn’t fit, almost? It was really awful. What helped: (1) stopping breastfeeding and (2) for the first few months, always using the vibrator at the same time.
PT says
If you can, skip the OB and go straight to pelvic floor PT. There’s a longest shortest time episode that can prep you for what to expect. It’s awkward but really worthwhile – and most of the practioners got into it because of their own experience with birth injuries
I found my OB really didn’t take my pain seriously, and if you are expecting pain, your body will tense further, making it worse. It still took about a year for it to be pain free, but I would have never gotten there without the PT
Anon for this says
My experience has been similar to yours, except we didn’t try until 10 months after baby was born. At first it was painful on the outside, but that has gone away. It still remains painful deep inside so everything has to go super slow and stay shallow. Truth be told, I don’t know if it’s getting better. We’ve only done it 3 or 4 times in the last 7 months.
Anon says
Similar experience. BF’ing and my OB essentially said that my V is like a “90 year old woman’s” hormone-wise as a result. She recommended lots and lots of lube. Mixed results on my end.
Anonymous says
My husband and I are going on an overseas trip sans kids next month. (Woot!) We’re leaving the kids and the au pair with my parents state-side. My stepdad asked about having some sort of signed (notarized?) document to say they can authorize medical care if an emergency comes up and they can’t reach us. Has anyone done anything like this? I’m guessing if they show up at an ER with a bleeding kid, the doctors will treat him without waiting around for legal niceties. I’m happy to draft up something and probably will, just in case, but no idea how durable that sort of thing is and whether it really matters. Presumably the medical staff will take care of any emergency, and then I’d be shocked if we were totally unreachable (we’ll be Europe, in major cities, so very reachable via technology) for any real length of time. But certainly want my parents to have whatever authorization they need to keep the kids safe. Thoughts?
Anonymous says
Our daycare requires this in their batch of yearly forms. I’d call your doctor and hospital of choice and see if they have forms you can fill out and leave with your parents.
Anonymous says
I’ve always done this when we’re out of town. Just a handwritten note on a piece of paper stating something like ‘to whom it may concern, From travel date to travel date, Grandparents full names and DOBs are authorized to consent to any medical treatment recommended for Kids full names and DOBs. If you have any questions we can be reached at vacation contact info ‘ Not sure if it meets technical requirements for health law in our state but figured it would at least get them past initial questions/issues and made sure our contact info was readily available if medical providers needed to contact us.
Both DH and I printed our names and signed. We also left copies of the long form birth certificates in addition to the kids health insurance cards so it was clear we are the parents. Put it all in small ziploc bag (folded the letter) that mom kept in her purse. Never needed it but it made my parents feel better.
Anon says
My parents were traveling and were unreachable hiking or golfing or whatever that day (days when cell service was super spotty). My then 10 year old sister fell and broke her arm on the way to school, and because it wasn’t life threatening or whatever, the ER wouldn’t treat her. A neighbor took her around to see all the family friends who were doctors and were willing to treat without parental authorization, so through the course of the day, she was able to get some pain medication, x-rays, etc., but she wasn’t able to see the specialist (she broke it on the growth plate, surgery was being considered) and get it cast until 9PM that night once the hospital had a faxed authorization from my parents. At 16, I wasn’t authorized to make any decisions for her. So, needless to say, after that experience, I refused to let me parents travel without leaving an authorization form.
Anonymous says
Wow, ok, will definitely get something on file. Thank you!
Anonymous says
If at all possible, I’d get it notarized.
SC says
When DH and I’ve left town with Kiddo in my parents’ care, I’ve left a handwritten, signed note saying my parents are authorized to consent to treatment. We haven’t yet traveled somewhere where I’d be out of touch for more than a couple of hours though. Since Kiddo was born, DH and I have only been to San Antonio and NYC for long weekends for other people’s weddings.
I have big plans for our 10-year anniversary… in 2 years. Actually, I have no plans yet, but I’m daydreaming about it.
CCLA says
A little late in the day, but if you’re still reading, the American College of Emergency Physicians has a form on their site. It’s not notarized, but I assume if the AECP recommends it, it should suffice. It is what I have used in the past when leaving kiddo with nanny or a grandparent. Link to follow.
CCLA says
Consent to treat form: https://www.acep.org/globalassets/uploads/uploaded-files/acep/clinical-and-practice-management/resources/pediatrics/medical-forms/consent.pdf
anon says
former healthcare lawyer here—if you have a preferred health system, it makes life much easier if you use their form and get it on file with them ahead of time. that way the medical staff don’t have to check with the risk managers or lawyers if what you wrote up is sufficient.