Another new toy for the office

(Somewhat belatedly, since the baby is now, at almost 6 months, gearing up to crawl.)

On a recent trip to Ikea (love it, hate it, love it), I went a little nuts in the kid department. For the original W.B., at home, I got a tent to play in. And for #2, this playmat (officially, the "Leka"). Sure, I had an old quilt to throw on the filthy office floor, but this was so much cuter. It's padded, and it has a butterfly, and a little frog that squeaks (very softly), and a mirror, and a worm to grab.

The biggest difference between this baby and the last, I think, is that this one is waaaaay into toys. The other was a little more mellow, but #2 gets bored pretty quickly (I do worry about this) and puts everything straight into her mouth (I also worry about this...with the first one, I was pretty vigilant about paper clips, etc., but I also wasn't really worried she would seriously eat them. This one, I'm not so sure.)

Anyway, so the playmat takes up a fair bit of our part of the office, but it's pretty fun. And only $29.99!
ps--notice how the baby is pretty lumpy, still. Makes some noise now and then, but pretty much she stays where you put her. For a little while longer, at least...

How to Make a Mobile for Your Pack-n-Play

...if yours doesn't come with one, which mine didn't. (Even though every product description I read of it seemed to suggest it would. Same thing for the one we bought for home this time around. Go figure.)

Note: for this to work, you need a fancy pack-n-play, with a diaper-changing tray.

Ingredients:
--a toy, preferably one that comes with some sort of loop, say for attaching it to a stroller or carseat or something
--a big binder clip

Directions:
Clip the binder clip onto the edge of the diaper-changing tray. Attach the toy. Et voila!
If you're feeling daring, you can prop the baby up on your nursing pillow in the bassinet (yes, I know, they say not to do this, but you're right there next to the baby, aren't you?) so the baby can reach the toy to swat it around.


Will this play tinkly music like a "real" mobile? Well, no, of course not. But that would be annoying to your coworkers, anyway. So, in fact, this is even better than a real mobile.

See how much the baby loves it?