Liv turned two almost three months ago, I can’t believe it! For me, it’s almost as if she skipped toddlerhood all together and jumped straight from my baby to my big girl. I’m a little behind on this post but I thought I’d share a few of the products that have been most successful for us during that baby-to-toddler transition time.
One of my favorite things about this blog is the ability to share little finds that I come across… tips or games or craft projects or favorite baby items. All of us moms benefit from sharing ‘the goods’! Here’s a round up of favorite baby items starting at the beginning: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months.
And now on to the 18-24 month collage:
1. When it comes to snack time, I’m a huge proponent of easy and convenient. Yet I can’t get myself to buy those $1-2/each fruit pouches that are all over the grocery store – it seems like such a waste! That goes for most prepackaged baggies of food. We gave a version of a reusable pouch a go here but when a daily deal popped up in my email to give Squooshies a try at 50% off, I jumped on it and now love them. We fill them with yogurt and applesauce for trips to the park or when we’re on the go! Reusable, easy to clean and easy for Liv to use. Sold.
2. These days we’ve practically abandoned all other sippy cups and have settled on the Gerber Grips. I hate rifling through a drawer of plastic cups with no matching lids so I invested in about four of these guys and I’m planning on storing all other transitional cups (those with straws – never loved those, soft spouts, etc) until baby #2 is ready for them. Or maybe we’ll stick with these for all and make it easy peasy. Why I love them? They’re small and fit in the outside pockets of my bags and Liv’s backpacks, plus there are only two pieces – no extra straws or suction cups or small crevices to try and clean.
3. I had been eying a small, collapsible stroller for around town and trips for some time and did my research for months before choosing the Maclaren Triumph. So happy with it. It reclines for naps, fits babies and toddlers (and up) of all sizes and has a huge umbrella canopy for hot days. Plus, you can collapse and store it in two seconds which proved to be perfect for our trip to Europe when we were jumping on and off of buses.
4. I’ve mentioned these before but Minnetonka Moccasins are are still Liv’s favorite shoes! I’ll have to order the next size up soon – but boy can they go through their fair share of wear and tear, and they’re still adorable! I love them because they have a zipper that extends to the sole of the shoe (making them easy to pull on and off) and are made of a very soft leather that will last a long time.
5. In other clothes-worthy mentions, I stocked up on about 4 or 5 kids cardigans while at the H&M in Ireland. We live in them. Wish we had a kids H&M here in San Diego!
6. I heard this tip from a friend and it’s the best I’ve received for introducing teeth brushing. When a toothbrush is a novelty and fun to use it’s looked forward to – and when it’s electric mom or dad can get that toothbrushing job done in seconds with real results (toddler morning breath? Oh man). Genius. This is the one we love and they’re fairly inexpensive.
7. We were given this soap and this cream when Liv was just a wee one, and I have sparingly used it with love and care since! So amazingly sweet to smell that you will look forward to bath time all of the time.
8. My aunt gave Liv a cuddly sheep pillow that is absolutely worth a mention. We don’t travel with it but it would be easy to add to a bag if your child needed one, and it converts from pillow to stuffy for multi use. The girl is crazy about having a pillow :).
9-12. Now we’re venturing in to favorite toys. A coloring station is a must at this age, but besides the obvious I adore sticker books for Liv, this memory game (a gift from a friend) that we love to play together, she’s newly in love with dolls and the best might be a mini stroller that she pushes her babies about it.
13. A toddler sized set of table and chairs is a must! I found this set of chairs through Room & Board and this round table – love them both very much. We even dipped the table legs for a little fun.
14. Last but definitely not least are books. We are within walking distance to our local library so we regularly switch out the collection (more of a benefit to the reader than the toddler :)), but these are absolutely some of our favorite series: Llama Llama, Biscuit Adventures, Olivia books (thanks, Sarah for the tips!).
PS Just as a reminder, here are a few of my other baby round up posts: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months
I never bought the squeezable pouches until recently…and only because one of T’s friends parent’s gave her one and she was over the moon for it. Definitely going to have to look into the Squooshies. That sticker pad? I wish I liked it. T loves it, but we find piles of those things left all over the house and she likes to pull the pages out, which ruins the binding. (eventually I hid it and haven’t heard anything since…it will probably be seeing the trash can soon) One of my faves has been the crayola wipe-off board…it’s perfect to keep in a diaper bag for bored moments like dinners out and church.
I am sneaky about throwing away used up sticker books too :), Liv would refuse if she knew. Agreed, they get all over the place! I will definitely be checking out the crayola wipe-off board!
I have an 18 month old grandson so loving this post!!
We are just about to enter this stage, so I’m reading this list extra carefully!
I love the H&M cardigans too!