IKEA

Whew! My life sure has gotten busy! I'm already almost a year old. I'm pretty active and am really close to walking, but for now prefer getting from point A to point B by crawling or cruising. I'm a rather social creature and love to wave hello and good-bye, blow kisses, and point at objects when asked. I often ask, "What's that?" or "Who's that?" when I want someone to tell me about my surroundings. Today I'm going to talk about my very favorite toy, which may be misleading since the title of my post is IKEA. That is because the only place my favorite toy can be purchased is at the store, IKEA. When I was a tiny baby, Mama got me a mouse from IKEA. I love it so very much, that Mommy and Mama went back to IKEA to get many more of these little mousies in case I lose mine. The best part about the mice is that they can be thrown in the wash with my laundry and come out looking pretty clean and fluffy - not to mention that they cost less than $1 a piece! What a bargain! Because it is my favorite toy, Mama now gives them to all of her friends who are expecting. We also decided to give them out as favors at my birthday party to all my little friends who are my same age. Hopefully they will like them as much as I do. Mama was especially fond of the way these mice are made. The material is super soft (so much so that I like to rub the little mouse on my face while I close my eyes and enjoy my bottle) and the eyes are stitched on as opposed to having a separate piece that would be a choking hazard. Sometimes if you catch me when my mood is just right, I like to swing my mouse around in the air by the tail to make him fly. Above is a picture of how we spruced the mice up just a bit to make party favors (thankfully Mama's creativity from teaching youngsters for a number of years has paid off in my favor). They look as though they ate their way through a piece of swiss cheese.

Why else does IKEA warrant a post all on its own? Well, because where else can you purchase an awesome tunnel for less than $15? I love, love, love my tunnel! I love to crawl through it, lay on it, play peek a boo with it, read in it, and encourage my dog to go through it. It folds down to a very reasonable size to be put away, too (that's the reason why Mama and Mommy love it so much). Here is a picture of me reading in the tunnel (reading is one of my favorite things to do).

When I am older, I can't wait to test out the smalland they have at IKEA. It looks so neat! There are places to jump, a ball pit, and things to crawl on and through. But I have to wait until I am potty trained and can walk on my own. I was very excited to learn that kids eat for free on Tuesdays. Even though I had already had my lunch, I stopped in to the cafe and cleared a plate of meatballs and mashed potatoes. I can never resist a snack! So, my local readers out there - let me know when you want to chill at IKEA on a Tuesday. I'd be happy to join you!

Threadless!

Sorry I haven't written in over a month - we are moving soon and between all the packing and the exciting events (teething, growing, getting two new teeth, and learning raspberries) happening in my life I've been a little busy. Before I was born, Mamma started stocking up on onesies and little t-shirts for me from Threadless. I just love how soft their clothing feels on my skin, and Mamma always gets a kick out of their designs! Below are pictures of me at 2 through 6 months as I model my Threadless t-shirts. What? You said you wish they had grown-up sizes!? Fear not, there are plenty of big kid sizes, too! Who knows, perhaps you may even wish to submit your own design! I know Mamma wants to create a design to submit one day. Maybe if Threadless sees this blog post they will even ask me to be a model for their shirts - I do look adorable wearing their clothing! Be sure and check out some of their cool designs at http://www.threadless.com/. Threadless shirts and onesies make fantastic baby shower gifts and can be purchased at a range of prices from $8 for sale items to $18 full price. BEWARE! The site can be rather addicting!

2 months

3 months

4 1/2 months

3 1/2 months

6 months

Rhyme-A-Round

For the last couple of weeks I have been reading a number of touch and feel books. I really like this book called Rhyme-A-Round from my friend Charlie. It has lots of different textures (bumpy, fuzzy, flocked, etc.) and there are five different rhymes in the book. Mamma isn't very familiar with the first one, but the other four rhymes she sings to me - my favorite is probably "Pussycat" or "Wheels on the Bus." I love being sung to and if I am upset, having someone sing to me usually calms me right down. What is unique about this book is that when you open the book the page on the right is filled with nine different circles and a rhyme. The circles have different pictures on them or they may peek-through to the next page, or have a special texture on them. I love swiping my hand back and forth over the page to feel the different textures! The opposite page has a picture that uses one or two different textures in a little scene with different animals. Mamma points out the animals to me. I don't know all the animals just yet, but I'm pretty sure I will soon! I'm also getting really good at sitting up in Mommy or Mamma's lap. Also in this entry is a photo of Mommy and me reading Rhyme-A-Round in the morning. This book is recommended for babies up to age 3. I definitely enjoy reading it everyday and give it two baby thumbs up!

My Very Own Name

I just received this fantastic picture book called, My Very Own Name (thanks to Andrea and family). Have you ever heard of it? The fantastic thing about this book is that you can have it customized for whomever will be receiving the book. My copy of the book spells out my own first and last name, and even includes my birthday! There is a different animal who presents each letter of my name in a rhyming verse. I was very entertained by the rhyming sound and am now starting to get into looking at pictures in books. My attention span is getting longer and I now sit up in Mommy or Mamma's lap to have them read to me. Both of my moms have each already read this book to me twice - and I've only had it a week! I think this book will help me to recognize my own name and hopefully even teach me how to write it one day. Mamma says it's a great idea and wishes she thought of it first! If you are looking for a one of a kind gift for a small child - this is sure to be a winner! A variety of different books that can be customized with a child's name are available on this website: http://www.iseeme.com/

Be sure and have a look - they even have coloring books!

Here's a page from the book that shows my first name all spelled out.

Mommy read the book to me this morning before it was time for her to go to work.

When My Baby Dreams...

Any moms out there who are artsy but don't have a ton of time on their hands? Or perhaps a parent who likes to think of new ways to create the traditional annual calendar for the grandparents each year? You might wish to check out what Adele Enersen did while on her maternity leave. She created scenes made of fabric and household objects, placed her baby in the scene, and then took pictures of her. Instead of making a calendar, she published a book titled, When My Baby Dreams...! I honestly have to say that I have not yet seen the book other than on Amazon (here is the link if you want to look at it) but Mamma plans on checking it out from Howard County Library very soon. However, my Aunt Darryl told Mamma about an article she read about (here's the link to the article from MSN) Ms. Enersen and there were a bunch of pictures from her book in the article. Then Mamma decided to give this new idea a try! Continue to scroll down for some pictures from her attempts. I really enjoyed having my picture taken (most of the time). Some of the scenes were ideas that Mamma got from Ms. Enersen's book, while others were of her own creation. The bee scene was my favorite. For some reason I really enjoyed wearing that little dress. I think it was because of the way the fabric felt on my skin. It made me smile! Mamma said that this was a very fun project to do on her maternity leave. However, if she could do it all again she would start taking pictures of me in these scenes a little sooner when I was sleeping a lot more (maybe at around 2-5 weeks). I ended up being awake for most of the pictures which made it hard to snap the perfect pose! All of these pictures were taken when I was between 7 and 9 weeks old. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed posing for them!

It's amazing what you can do with a tshirt, some old socks, a table cloth and blankets. My little dress was one that my Mamma wore when she was just a baby.

Hanging on the line!

May your days "bee" joyful! (My picture for May in the calendar :) What better way to "recycle" old maternity underwear!

This was an "E.T." recreation. I just loved feeling all of the animals piled around me and cried when Mamma took them away!

This is one of the pictures where I got tired of being photographed. You can see how the pictures were taken, and then had to be cropped. All of the photos were taken on the floor of my bedroom. Mamma stood on a step stool and used her iPhone 4S to snap the photos.

Nursery Rhymes with Finger Puppets

Tomorrow I will be 4 months old! For the last week or so I have been very interested in touching the face of whomever holds me, and I'm also pretty keen on grabbing other people's hands and studying them before trying to put them in my mouth. Though Mamma won't let me - she says it's not smart to put someone else's hands in your mouth. That is how germs get shared.

Anyway, onto the topic of books and toys! Granny and Grandpa read my blog and after reading my review of Little Bat, they promptly drove to the bookstore and bought me a few more finger puppet books to give to me this Christmas. Mamma and I read them together today. I must be getting to an even better age for these books now because I really liked to grab the finger puppets in the stories while Mamma was reading. Two of the books I'd like to talk about are Itsy Bitsy Spider and Hickory Dickory Dock. The little fuzzy finger puppets in the middle of the book are super soft! I also liked the rhyming in the stories. Mamma told me they are called nursery rhymes. When Mamma was finished reading Itsy Bitsy Spider, she sang me the song of the Itsy Bitsy Spider and did some gestures with her hands. Then we read the story again. Mamma said I will understand words better with repetition. I hope she is right! I really want to talk, but all I do is babble at the moment. I would definitely recommend these books for other babies my age. I find them to be fun and interactive rhyming stories. The company that publishes these little stories has their own website where parents can even download a guide for reading with their children. A nice added bonus! Check them out at http://www.parragon.com/littlelearners/us/index.html

Reading With Puppets...

Today Mamma tried something new to keep my attention - and it worked! She placed me on my back on a mat on the floor. Then she got out a book she received when she was a little girl from her grandmother at her her preschool graduation called, A Treasury of Bedtime Stories Illustrated by Hilda Offen. Mamma still has her original copy of the book with the inscription from her grandparents but also bought a second copy when she saw it at Waldenbooks ten years ago.

A Treasury of Bedtime Stories is loaded with a ton of fairly well known stories, but also includes a handful of others which aren't very well known such as, "Tim Rabbit and the Scissors." Mamma told me this was one of her favorites. Mamma sat down next to me with the book, and then to my surprise, she retrieved a really awesome handmade hand puppet that had frog like eyes and a big flappy tongue! She used the hand puppet to tell me the story of "Tim Rabbit and the Scissors!" I LOVED it!! I didn't know who I liked to look at more, the puppet when it's mouth began flapping along with the words of the story, or Mamma and her expressions as she told the tale of the rather curious rabbit who doesn't obey the wishes of his parents and gets into a bit of trouble with some scissors. I also couldn't help myself - I began talking too, so that I could be a part of the story telling. I wonder if I will be a story teller when I get older. I hope so. There were some challenging vocabulary words in the story (such as gossamer, sheaf, menagerie, and posset) but Mamma says it is good to be exposed to a variety of vocabulary as I am growing up - it will help me to become an intelligent individual.

I imagine that I will absolutely love these stories when I get older and will likely request them to be read to me again and again. One thing that may really appeal to parents about the book is that in the Table of Contents where it lists all of the stories the book contains, it also lists a time frame for how long it will likely take for you to read the story to your child. There are 30 stories in the book that range from Oscar Wilde's "The Selfish Giant" (a 10 minute story) to the traditional Russian tale of "The Great Big Turnip" (a 3 minute story). One of the things Mamma remembered most about the book was the illustrations. While the pages alternate from black and white to color, the drawings were simple, yet captivating and memorable. Perhaps the reason "Tim Rabbit and the Scissors" is so memorable to her is not just because it was a great story, but also because she laughed every time she saw poor Tim Rabbit standing with the other rabbits and having to wear a coat made of his own fur.

This book is available used through Amazon if you are interested. Also, the puppet Mamma used to tell me the story is a unique puppet made by cate & levi. If you are interested in owning one of these one of a kind puppets, check them out here. We own the frog and the walrus and I adore them both (thanks, Beth for getting them for me)!