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DIMPLs! If you’ve noticed a trend. a lot of Fat Brain Toys products have worked incredibly well for us, and transcend ages well. Like the Squigz, the Dimpl line I would have been tempted by even without a kid - pure fidget toy fun. The classic Dimpl and the tiny keychain version he adores and are amusing like reusable bubble wrap. The Wobbls have had a slightly different lifespan… fantastic when he was an infant and teething, less fantastic when he got stronger with the throwing. They have a heavy base for good wobbling, but when thrown it can be painful (for me) and we did have one base split open (but can be popped back together.) 

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RATTLES + Classic O-Ball! First the O-Ball, we loved it’s look, but how much he loved it from day one surprised me. So grab-able and light for teeny tiny fingers and smooshable and colorful, newborn axel was absolutely mesmerized, and he still loves it now. We have also now inflated a little basketball inside of it (from the sports section) for extra fun.

The O-Ball Clicky Twister rattle is such cute geometric fun, but the satisfaction of the various clicking sounds and action are kind of amazing. 

Manhattan Toy Company has been making the iconic SKWISH for decades now, and the wood on wood sound and squishy elastic tension while being pretty enough to look like a sculpture are a great combo. Their Winkel line of rattlers are also great for little fingers (and teeth) and he loves his basketball one. This is also one of his toys that we put on the Nuna Leaf and Activity Gym often.

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Simple Basic Baby Toys (that we are still playing with) - Can’t go wrong with basic Stacking/Nesting Cups (so long as the plastic is high quality and they feel nice to touch) - we are playing with a set like this as well as an older one from my childhood… some have numbers, animals, and holes for water play!

The classic Fisher Price Rock and Stack still holds up - we call them donuts and use them so many different ways still!

Galt Pop Up Wooden Toy - We should have gotten this sooner! A classic (with school bus and fire truck and other knock offs abound) it’s so fun. He loves the little faces and treats them like peg people, can learn colors, and can launch them out because there are SPRINGS in those holes!

Surprise simple, versatile toy winner… Silicone Baking Cups?!?!?! He chewed them, stacks them, plays with them in the bath, puts things in/on them, and you can even use them to bake… 

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SUCTION TOYS!!! These are amazing and some of my favorite things from the infant stage! And these work GREAT on the Skip Hop Table i love hated on - as well as on the kitchen island, fridge, windows, bath tub, coolers, buckets and other slick surfaces.

Sassy Wonder Wheel - what a ridiculous and well deserved name for a toy that brings such joy to his face, which can’t help but make you smile too. Also produces fun rain stick sounding noises that aren’t too maddening!

Fat Brain Squigz family of toys are so fun (and teething friendly) - from the pipSquigz Rattle Trio, to the pipSquigz Loops that can be flicked and jingled, to the Whirly Squigz super spinners, they are incredibly engaging (and perfect to throw in the diaper bag and car too) Pricey, but their quality feels great. We still play with these now and for the foreseeable future.

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Activity Center - Skip Hop Explore and More Table. I kind of hate this thing, but i went through so many options out there, and it was the best option (particularly when i found it for $75) to end up with an aesthetically cleaner table he could hang out IN. The toys were terrible, and the way they attach is sort of maddening (suction plus hook around the lip) and the music we were not a fan of -so those disappeared almost instantly. Instead… see the suction toys on the next page.

As for Table Mode - which is supposed to make this versatile for years to come, i am still annoyed with this daily (and i should probably get rid of it?) - the plastic base they stand on turns into the table top. It’s plastic! It’s thin! It WARPS… so now as a table TOP it’s not flush… and those adjustable height sliders don’t come off, so the table legs look extra ugly? 

For $75 it has more than served it’s purpose… and was very useful for that phase, but… you know.

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TUMMY TIME! (What a phrase?) It’s such a huge thing when they are tiny… That Taf Toys book that pops up was the biggest winner for us when it came to tummy time! And it’st he least ugly option i had found. The illustrations are so so cut, from the black and white mushrooms and snail and koalas to the colorful more interactive pages with teether and mirror - he loved it!

Done By Deer Zeebee - their design and quality is amazing and those EYEBALLS, he can’t get enough of them. This interactive one is full of textures and details and when you pull the tail it vibrates. Also their RINGS they feel so much better than the others you’ll find (but they are only good until they are strong enough to pull them apart since they don’t latch)

Skip Hop Village - semi ugly (that light bulb over the bath looks a bit noose like?) but as a house and a village and filled with weird details, it worked really well to keep him curiously engaged.

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Activity Gym and Play Mats. We were DIYing things, and ultimately found this Infantino set up to be the best deal and the least painful (at the time) - I love the way it folds up easily and has soft sides (and i think with some Target discount it was really cheap) and he only used it for a few months. We also ended up using the pillow, mirror, and musical center monkey more than we expected (that pillow is perfect behind him in the Inglesina Fast Table Chair when he was smaller!) 

Elephant in the room… Lovevery, people seem WAY too into they Play Gym and their brand in general… we were gifted two of the kits (5-6 month Senser and 7-8 month Inspector) and while the quality is ok and the concepts are solid… they feel incredibly overpriced for what you get, and when the kid very quickly learns all that they have to offer, most pieces are useless (unless you run a daycare or have a bunch of kids?) Creative parents can teach their kids a lot more with a lot less.

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On High Chairs - Stokke Tripp Trapp! I grew up with them, and even still have my childhood ones as chairs. We did however buy a new white one for him since we didn’t have the baby set and they didn’t fit the 80’s versions. It’s been great for him (without the tray) at our dining table since he started sitting up and eating real food, then we switched to the IKEA one (more on that next) and now we’re back to the Tripp Trapp at the table.

IKEA Antilop - it’s 20$ with the tray and the legs pop off easily. No wonder why everyone has one (or more! they even stack) - and if you search etsy there are so many people making custom cushion covers, silicone tray mats, foot rests and more for them. (Tying some rope as a footrest works great for us.) When he started trying to stand/climb in the Tripp Trapp, we switched over to this with the tray, and floating him like an island and facing him to feed him worked better for a little while. Basically just having options to mix it up as needed helped!

For on the go and hanging out at the Kitchen Island (which we did for a while when he was tiny) the Inglesina Fast Table Chair has been great. Nice and simple, clamps right on and they hang out with you. (Thought about the tray, but never really needed it, and reviews say there’s still a gap for food to fall through.)

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“Containers” - Some people are anti containers of any sort for development reasons, but realistically, tired parents need help! 

The Baby Bjorn Bouncer lives up to the hype and then some. I should have gotten it sooner! He LOVED it and it folds up so flat and is super easy to move around. (While they say you can flip the cover and use it as a chair later, it has never been comfortable or useful like that for us.)

The Nuna Leaf Grow (specifically in PBK edition colors) is STILL one of my favorite things. It sways (like a leaf) without a motor (so it’s completely silent and no electronics) and can tilt to three angles. He loved it from birth to now even… it turns into a chair for bigger kids (up to 100lbs!) Only caveat - it is asymmetrical, and he loved to nap in it, and i think it did start to give him a little bit of flat head issue (that quickly corrected as soon as we noticed!)

Ok, don’t judge, but that Fisher Price Sit Me Up Floor Seat With Tray is SO FUGLY. At the time it was the cutest and best priced version with the tray. And i really wanted a Bumbo, but the more i researched, developmentally this is supposed to be better for their leg muscle development. And if you fold the eyes back and remove the toys, it’s far more palatable! It was great when he was starting to sit up, and he’d happily hang out with us and play in it.

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Transport! As a newborn/infant if we were going anywhere or just wandering the yard/house i usually had him in a wrap. The long strip design in a super soft fabric was the comfiest (for me and him, and he had many a nap in it) but it takes a little longer to put on. Baby K’tan’s two loop (never really needed the long piece) is great as he got a little bigger for travel (like airport/planes) or if you need to get him in there FAST. ErgoBaby 360 Mesh we used most with dad and when he got larger (easier on my back!) 

As for stroller and car seat, the Nuna Pipa Lite Travel Set was perfect from the day he was born - and we’re still using the stroller now. So light even a weak postpartum mom can carry him in the seat from the car. I initially got the Graco 4Ever DLX Platinum as a backup car seat when covid shut downs kicked in, but as he got bigger the angles in it were far better for comfort and he loves it!

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Bath time! It started out in this super Munchkin bucket of sorts - complete with a bump to keep his butt from slipping, an easy drain plug, and a non slip back… it really makes newborn bathing much easier and less scary. Then when he outgrew it we moved to a laundry basket in the bit tub (keeps the toys within reach for him and gives him easy grab sides. And once he was big and stable enough, moved to normal baths in the tub. We tried a lot of things, and ultimately the Weleda Body Wash, Baby Oil, and Sensitive Face cream fixed most of our issues. (The baby oil was also the only thing that seemed to actually help our cradle cap situation too…) And the Aveeno Baby Night Balm in addition the the Weleda Baby Oil has been great for any eczema/dryness. 

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When it comes to sleep - this is what worked for us! Those adorable swaddles in great prints? They didn’t work so great the stronger our newborn got, or when dad had to swaddle him for the umpteenth time in the middle of the night. So we did the Taking Cara Babies course and ordered the Ollie Swaddle and it worked like a dream immediately. Velro FTW. When he started to bust out and roll, we moved to what we called the Marshmallow Suit (Merlin’s Magic Suit) and he loved it! When he out grew that - i found the ErgoPouch Sleep Suit and we LOVE it (on our second size now) - in fact, had i found it sooner, i might have skipped the marshmallow? Our only hack, we had to add a button flap (like on some full body onesies) when he started to unzip the zipper. 

As for beds, started him in the Snuz Pod 3 - the basinet can be removed, the height can be adjusted, it’s easy to rock, and can be set up as a sidecar. We used it every which way in the early days and it made life far easier for us all. When it was time for his own room, we bumped him out and into the IKEA Gulliver at the upper height, and now he’s at the bottom height, and one day maybe we’ll try it as an open bed?

And he loves his sound machine - we use the little Marpac Rohm plugged in near his bed and grab it for travel too.

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Poop! Diapers! It’s a big part of this process when you think about how many you will deal with… The Leander Matty has been well worth it (and a MUCH cleaner design and color palette than the peanut) and has held up fantastically. The Ubbi diaper pail taking normal trash bags is well worth it and keeps the stink low - just open and close it real fast, and take it out as sooooon as needed.) I mocked the idea of a wipes container, but i take it back - we now have 2 (one in the kitchen.) Skip hop travel changing pad has been the easiest to throw in the stroller/diaper bag/car - i wanted to over think it and buy fancier pretty ones, but here we are, hopefully potty training soon! We tried a few different diapers in the beginning and have been using Target’s Cloud Island Diapers (sizes 1-4) and Wipes exclusively for what feels like a lifetime now. They have been great on his sensitive skin, and the wipes are nice and thick, and it’s a good price point. Weleda Diaper Cream - we’ve just had great luck with Weleda for all things baby (and their skin food is so good too.)

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After surviving year 1 of parenting, i processed things through the products that helped me make it. I tried putting them on instagram. Testing having them live here now...