Babies Babies, Everywhere

It seems to me that since we began our journey to start a family, everywhere I look I see infants, stroller and Baby Bjorns.  The mall today was flooded with new babies, or maybe I’ve just become more acutely aware of their presence.  Regardless, it inspired me to start doing a little shopping.  There are so many baby products out there, and I know it is going to be a struggle to find the right ones!  I meandered my way through the department store, and while I knew that there were many options available, I had no idea just how many.  Dozens of strollers, a plethora of car seats… where does one begin?  Do you take these things for a test drive?

There are many great websites out there that have every product under the sun, so comparing and shopping has become much easier for the new parent.

Our #1 pick so far- The Mountain Buggy- Urban Jungle

Bettysbabystuff.com is a great source with everything in one site, another great source of reviews of products are the parents blogs.

It may be a little early in our journey, but you have to be prepared…and I do love to shop!  We are pretty sold on The Mountain Buggy.  R likes bells, whistles and likes big tires.  I’m trying to remind him it’s a stroller, not a vehicle.  He likes gadgets though.

So this is an open call to all my readers, friends and parents.  What is the one product you couldn’t live without?

On another note, tomorrow night is our information session at Adoption Options.  We are very excited. I’m certain I’ll blog about it tomorrow night. 🙂

Until then, update me on my have products!

 

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What is the sign for poop??

 

As we prepare ourselves for adventures in parenting, I have spent a lot of time researching local baby and parent swim classes, sign language and playtime groups.

One class in particular that I think is great is baby sign language. They say that your baby can begin to sign and communicate with you by the age of 8 to 12 months of age!  The theory is to be able to better understand your baby’s needs before they can verbally speak. I think key words would be great like Milk, More, Full or the ever important Poop.

I don’t think I would take it to the level of a complete song every time I changed a diaper like in this video…

but you get the idea.  It could be very useful

There are many great things out there, but the one thing that is consistent is that nearly all are targeted toward the Mommy and Me crowd.  What about Daddy?

They either all have cute titles like “Mommy and Me” or the descriptions and photos are very “Mom” specific.  What happened to Dads?

Fortunately for us we are confident enough that we would participate in playgroups, even if we were the only Dads there.  Would everyone?

To me this speaks to the need for inclusive language. As our society evolves, so does the look and dynamics of families. Many more Fathers are taking paternity leave to care for their child. Or in our case.. you have two Dads.

One great example of inclusive language used to describe baby classes is by a local private swim academy called Aqua Essence. Under the brilliant leadership of Rishona Hyman, Aqua Essence provides one on one or smaller classes.  One class offered is  Aqua Babies.  Definitely a class that we will be taking when our time comes!  When you read the description, Aqua Essence has taken a gender neutral approach in their language and avoided gender specific pronouns or Mommy specific references.  This is so easy to do, yet all baby marketing plans are targeted just at Moms.

I get it, I get it.. the number of Moms that participate in these classes out number the Dads.  Maybe that would change if we changed how we communicate and use more inclusive language?

In the mean time we will just do our thing…  and I now know the sign for Poop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWwqyU8-yWo