What I want to remember for the second

No, don't worry!!I'm not pregnant and I'm not planning to be soon(yes mum relax!). This post is inspired by 3 things:

1) once we were going back home with some friends and we were removing all our baby stuffs from their car (stroller, baby, bag, toys, sweater etc etc) and I was saying that always seems we go around with a caravan. My friend (mother of 6) told me not to worry because with the second the caravan will be less. So I started to think about it because of course we have so many things and not all of them are useful.

2) many of my friends are pregnant and they ask me some suggestions, mostly on what and where to buy baby stuff.

3) one of the above mentioned friends is expecting the second child and she hardly remembers what she went through with the first. I think I'll need a memory of what we did...

So I challenged myself on choosing the 5 things I can't stay without and the 5 best activities I did with Giovanni from 0 to 6 months.

Here we go with the 5 items:

1) The TRIO. I can't image our life without the trio (stoller, baby prawn and car seat). Why? you need it to go around , Giovanni slept in the baby prawn up to 3 months and was so comfortable to go around with. The car seat is my favorite because we use in the car as well in the house. When I need to do my chores he can stays there looking at what I do. In the market there is a large choice. What we choose was the ovo Brevi trio that is really useful for the Kenyan's bumpy roads.

2) Soft Toys: Giovanni has been used to toys since he was born. He always had a small mouse near him. He learned soon to entertain himself (at the beginning very little time) and we can't forget to carry a small toy wherever we go.

3)Playmat: essential to play in the house but also outside. My mom and I made one special and designing it with my sister was fun. We choose to put different scraps of materialsto give to Giovanni a multisensorial activity.

4) Pacifier: so many people are against it. We didn't have a lot of a choice because we had to travel by plane and pacifier is highly recomended for babies. But I love it: it need to be used well (not always and not as an aswer to all baby cries) but it's a good way to console him. Now Giovanni just uses it to sleep (and not always).

5) baby carrier versus baby wrap: to me the wrap won (but I think the baby carrier we bought was not the best). The wrap allows you to carry your baby very thightly, the position is the best for him and is simple to put in a bag. I love mine (handmade) and I raccomend it!

Now let's go to the 5 activities we did together.

1) Walking, walking and walking: to walk is not only good for the mum who walks but also for the baby. When we arrived in Kenya I was scared because of dust but after few days we started to discover our neighborood. Giovanni prefers to go out then staying in the house and seating outside for him is something really exciting.

2) Trees are the best friends of a baby: Giovanni felt in love with trees since he was one month old. Maybe because they move oftenly with the wind, maybe because they have strange shape, I don't know but he just loves them. Even now he can spend minutes wacthing the banana trees that are in front of our house.

3) The kitchen wonderland: as I wrote some times ago Giovanni loves to stay with me in the kitchen. We can spend hours cooking "together" (him in his seat watching). I always tried to envolve him in my cooking activity, smelling food, sometimes even touching (he loves dried beans, he get so excited when he can put his feet in the bowl).

4) Bath time is the best time: Giovanni loves water. Since the very first day he loved the bath. When he is itaking his bath his mood changes and becomes quiet (yes I know we are very lucky parents).

5) Reading: I know he is very small, maybe he doesn't understand but of course its never too early to introduce children to reading. Almost every evening we read a short story and we enjoy a lot looking at the pictures.

Okay so....bho..we will see in future if these are really useful

or not...