Toys

Brandy asked what toy Gwen was playing with in the video, so I thought I’d do a post on Gwen’s favourite things!

The toy in the video is a Kushies Peeko. Of all her toys, this is the one that keeps Gwen’s attention for the longest! It’s a ‘multi-sensory box’ (contrast coloured sides, each of which velcros shut like a book with things inside, ie. a mirror, a crinkly thing, ribbons, etc.) and inside the box is the Ozlo toy, which is a contrasty, multi-coloured “dog”.

I’ve posted about this one before, but the Schaff coloringo is an amazing rattle and teether! It’s not too loud (perfect for mom and dad!) and a great size for her little fist. The colours keep her attention, as do the different shapes for mouth exploration!

Gwen enoys grabbing and shaking her Manhattan Toy Winkel. It’s got a nice gentle rattle sound and is easy to hold and comfy on her sore gums!

I was hoping Gwen would enjoy her Ringley teething toy as much as the coloringo, but it doesn’t get much play time, sadly.

The Beginning Bites by Sassy are a favourite of Gwen’s, and they were great fun to watch her learn how to hold! She squeals when she sees the blue one. We borrowed these from my sister We also borrowed an earlier version of Sassy’s Wooden Trio. The textures and shapes are great fun for Gwen to explore.

One of Gwen favourite thngs to play with on the change table (I reserve it for there!) is Manhattan Toy’s Snuggle Pods Peanut. It’s soft and squishy and she always grins whenever she sees it and grabs it from me!

The toy we have for fun in the bathroom (keeps her busy while we shower!) is Ikea’s Leka playbook. It’s got tonnes of fun textures, a mirror, toys that pop out, and squeaky stuff. Does it get any better than that? We also have an Ikea Barnslig - a soft elephant with teething ears.

Those are the toys Gwen plays with the most for the time being. And most of them are 6 months and up, so she’ll continue to explore them at a different level as she gets a bit older! We have a serious lack of cloth and board books, though!! It’s getting hard to read her regular books as she’s grabbing the pages and wanting to eat them …

We’re trying to be intentional about buying cloth and wooden toys. Crystle and Dave (community members) brought Gwen a cloth animal playset (complete with watering hole and tree!) back from their trip to Africa. I can’t wait for Gwen to play with it and get some pictures!

Another video!

Here’s one of Gwen sitting and playing

How Crunchy Are You?

Crunchy is a term used to denote something that is environmentally friendly, healthy for the body, or just plain hippy-ish. Wikipedia defines ‘granola‘ (same concept) as “a slang term describing a person who is hippie-like, a modern bohemian, environmentalist, or leftist in outlook.” Take this quiz to find out how crunchy you are!

I scored 139 - Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy, Granola Earth Mama! How did you do?

Celebrate Babywearing!

Wow! I keep forgetting that it’s International Babywearing Week! I keep reading Steph’s posts at Adventures in Babywearing and forgetting to create my own post with some pics so I can enter the contest for some great slings at Nonny & Boo!

I’ve been wearing Gwen since she was barely a week old, and have been loving it ever since! In fact, we’ve yet to actually use our stroller … we tried it once and Gwen screamed the whole time she was in it! I don’t really mind though, because I loooooove wearing her - and I love not having to carry our stroller up/down our front steps every time I want to go somewhere!

GASP! A VIDEO!

I finally uploaded the video of Gwen in the Jolly Jumper. I have two new videos to upload, too, but they take a long time!!

5 Months Old!!?!

Shocking.

I’ve been trying to find a decent list of developmental skills online. I think, by their definitions, Gwen is beginning her sixth month, and has therefore reached the end of her fifth month of life (how confusing is that?).

Lest We Forget

On this day, I’ve been thinking about the incredible monuments I saw on my trip to Europe in 2000. The most impressive, by far, was the Vimy Ridge Memorial:

(picture from here)

It was surrounded by grass with sheep grazing behind fences. The reason? There was a possibility that live shells were still buried in the ground, so people weren’t allowed to walk freely.

We walked up and down the craters in the earth created by bombs, we traversed the trenches, we looked out across the (shockingly long and tall) ridge to the fields below, and we stood reverently by the stately rows of cross-marked graves, sprinkled with poppies. It was amazing, and someday I hope we can take Gwen and share its solemn grandeur with her.

Thank you, Veterans, for your incredible sacrifice. My prayer is “Never again, Lord.”

Lest we forget.

And she doesn’t sleep.

I realize the last time I talked about Gwen sleeping was after two nights of 8 hours straight.

Sigh.

She’s been up sometimes every 1.5 - 2 hours since then. Some nights are 3-4 hour stretches between feeds. She’s also been waking up crying, but we can’t tell if it’s teeth or gas. I just keep telling myself that this won’t last forever!

Hallowe’en … a week late!

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week, but everytime I had a minute to it, Gwen was sleeping on me and the cord I need for the camera was upstairs!

So, after much praying/researching/discussing, Brad and I decided that we won’t be Hallowe’en haters =) I have been feeling a bit confused by Hallowe’en’s pagan underpinnings and relationship and whether or not we should join in the festivities. We decided that we won’t carve pumpkins or dress/decorate scary, but dressing up and candy? We’re down with that! (If anyone wants to know more about our decision-making process, leave a comment and I’ll write up another post about it!)

Fantastic Post

I knew I couldn’t be the only Christian supporting Obama (said semi-tongue-in-cheek). Check out this post from one of my favourite blogs: The story of a Baptist pastor’s wife who voted for Obama.