Baby entertainment

Before I begin, I need to rant about Windows Updater. I had written much of this blog post and then my computer just shut all my programs and restarted! Grrr, I will do my best to recreate what I had before.

I sort of promised to tell the story of the African music, which I mentioned in passing in my last post. I got a CD of African music for kids (Putamayo Kids African Playground) at my baby shower. It turns out that most of the songs have a really strong beat, which babies love. The music seems to really calm Penelope and I would play it if she was getting fussy and we would dance around while I was patting her back or bottom to the beat. I was listening to the CD like two or three times during Penelope's more fussy days and the songs would get stuck in my head. We recently bought two more Putamayo Kids CDs to mix it up a little bit (Latin Playground and World Dreamland). We don't usually need the music to calm her anymore but she seems to like to have it on in the background and it helps to cover up the noises that we make around the house while she is napping.

As I was thinking about the African CD, I realized that there are other baby items that I rely on a lot for baby entertainment! One is Penelope's bouncy seat, which was a gift from my brother, Stefan, and his girlfriend, Marla. We use it everyday; it vibrates and bounces with her movement by us using our feet. Penelope takes most of her naps in that chair and sits there while we eat dinner or do other things. She seems to like sitting up so that she can look around and see what is happening.

My new favorite piece of Penelope gear is her play mat. Penelope seems to really like visual stimulation and looking at new things. So, Penelope and I took a trip to Toys R Us to pick up a play mat and she seems to love it. It has two arches that have a bunch of toys that hang down. She isn't purposefully grabbing at things yet, but when she lies on the mat and swings her arms, she hits the toys and really likes it! As she kicks her legs, she gets the crinkly stuff in the mat to make noise, so I think she is learning about cause and effect. She can spend a good 15-20 minutes entertaining herself, which is awesome.

I am sure that Penelope's interests will change as she gets older, but it is fun that she is really studying the world around her. I can't wait to find out what toys she will love in the months ahead.