Product placement post- due for another one

So, lately friends of ours asked us about whether we had any particular baby products for infants to recommend, and it was hugely helpful to be able to refer back to the product placement post from that era.

So, we're due for another, more updated round.

- We joined Costco, mostly to see what it was all about while stocking our new chest freezer. It turns out to be worth it not just for imported cheese (seriously, they have buffalo mozzarella from Italy, and young Gouda in a non-homeopathic dose, and the delicious french sheep-feta)... but also, for the DIAPERS. As regular readers might know, we are a family of cloth-diapering dropouts. Costco is the cheapest price we've seen on Huggies, our previously preferred brand name, but then I tried the Kirkland's Best diapers (the Costco store brand) and we totally switched our loyalties completely. The Costco price for Huggies is actually just 0.1 cent more per diaper, so going generic is not a particular cost savings, but where we really are won over is the fact that there are no licensed characters. They are otherwise indistinguishable from the Huggies, except that our friend who is super smell-sensitive thinks that they smell less than the Huggies do. We are huge, huge fans of the Costco diapers. The only downside is that they don't come in a newborn size (they come in size 1-2, 3, 4, 5), but otherwise, they are the diapers of our dreams.

- Ikea turns out to be a great place for kid supplies, like linens, especially because they sell fabric to match AND also to coordinate with their bed linens.

- However, the most genius, exciting Ikea product yet is their full-body bibs, which are pretty much the only thing that prevents us from having to do an outfit change after every meal. We have a ton of other bibs from varying vintages, but they just result in a bib-shaped area of no-food application, outlined by a lot of food elsewhere on the torso and arms. The Ikea bibs we love are more like smocks, with a pocket to catch food. I know that one of our Jolly's friends did not tolerate them because she was bothered by the arms of the smock-bib, but if your child is so excited by the presence of FOOD that you can stuff them in whatever you want so long as they get to FEED THEMSELVES, these are a godsend. They are also harder to remove than traditional bibs: Jolly generally pulls off any velcro-attached normal-bibs mid-meal, looks very pleased with himself, and then resumes eating.

- Still very happy with the BOB - it's just as nice as a freestanding stroller rather than a thing to hook the infant carseat into. We've left the carsear bar attached because sometimes still use that functionality (like when Jolly falls asleep in the car and we want to try to see if we can get him to continue his nap at our destination), but also, Jolly seems to greatly enjoy it as a footrest. I know we're SUPPOSED to install the toddler tray over it, but we've seen at least one other BOB used in the same way.

- Also still very happy with our carseat, which is doing what we hoped in enabling us to keep our child rear facing to a year and beyond.

- Books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, in any language is a classic for a reason. Jolly especially gravitates towards the Lollipop the caterpillar eats on Sunday... this is why we're still not giving him sweets! Also like the Vegetables book because it has just about as many words as we can read before Jolly wants to turn the page. The Meow book is still a huge hit with Jolly because it has cats in it, obviously,, but we really hate that it has foam as backing on the last page, because that is apparently an irresistible siren call to chew intensely. Really, it would be BETTER without the meow-making button and the thick foam backing that supports the it.

Things that we found not-so-worth it:
- Teething biscuits. Seriously, they are just not that tasty. I know, because I tried eating one when Jolly was not interested.

- Baby-specific food, in general. Jolly just invariably gets crotchety about the fact that we're eating something else that he isn't having.

- I'm also glad we didn't buy many sippy cups. I think if we were going to be using any sippy cup, the Born Free one we have seems really excellent in terms of being spill proof and also BPA-free, but Jolly just seems way more excited about regular cups that he can shove his hands into and slurp from (JUST LIKE HE USED TO DO WITH THE BATHWATER). I think some of this might be that those are the kinds of cups we're using at mealtimes, and then of course that's what Jolly wants also. So, we're currently operating in a parent-held-cup mode for our child... which works fine. He's stopped making big messes with this method, he thinks it's the most fun in the whole world, and I imagine someday he'll even be able to hold the cup on his own. Your mileage may vary if your child does not show obsessive interest in chewing on cups from birth onwards, in which case, I think the Born Free seemed like by far the best of the options. I liked drinking out of it, anyway... maybe I can use it as a BPA-free sports bottle if I take off the handle part and instead put it into the holster that my surely-BPA sports bottle comes in.

- I strongly support not buying any large baby contraptions until you actually find out that you have a need for them. Different people gave us heartfelt testimonials that they swore by the swing or the bouncy seat or the recliner or the exersaucer or the hammock, pack n play, etc. However, you really don't know what you and your baby will need until you have your baby... at which point, try out other people's baby gadgetry until you find what actually works for your particular model of baby. The things that you think would be most awesome, might actually turn out to enrage your baby (e.g. the not-so-jolly Jolly in the bouncy seat at a playdate: Not enough axes of movement! Not acceptable!). I recognize that this majorly wars with a desire to have the nursery set up and everything assembled before the baby gets there, and I was afflicted with a pretty terrible case of nesting so it was haaaard... but buying only what you actually need saves a bunch of money and storage space.

Lastly, get baby toys and age-appropriate music that YOU enjoy. Blinky, loud, animated toys aimed at this age group drive us a bit bonkers, but happily, a baby is still too young to pester you for toys that they saw on TV or their friend's house. Thus, you are not contractually obligated to have any baby toys that you do not yourself find fun and/or aesthetically pleasing. I know that the toys that are NOT battery operated/noisy/plastic are (sometimes inexplicably) more expensive, and not everyone is so lucky as to inherit/be gifted the kind of toys that they want... but in the tradeoff between quantity or quality, err on the side of fewer toys that you love, whenever possible.

Inevitably, your kid will decide that the most exciting thing in the toy-strewn living room is the cat hair brush with the spikey pokey metal parts... so you should at least have a series of toys for you to enjoy while your child happily chews on the cat's most stabby grooming implements and wacks them on different objects of furniture.

(Ephiny totally said, and I quote, "I removed the hair from the brush, so Jolly won't get a hairball!" She is such a great mom. Also in the cat grooming implement series: the flea comb is great for hiding under a rug to build baby's grasp of object permanence, and the regular comb has a variety of different textures to stimulate your baby's sensory development, in safe stainless steel.)

But, music that we enjoy that is appropriate for our child to listen to (besides opera, classical, and oldies from a time of less prurient/violent lyrics): Caspar Babypants! We were spurred to purchase their CDs at a concert they gave at the island elementary school. The songs are really fun, and sound rather like the Presidents of the USA, which makes a great deal of sense considering it's Chris Ballew's side project. The only disadvantage is that our child may develop too many sympathies for dust-bunnies and object to vacuuming later on... but other than that, it's great music that is both kid-appropriate and not too syrupy-sweet.