I looked over my list of must-haves for 0-3 months and realized that most of our must-haves haven't changed at all even if Ace is already six months old. This time around though, with Ace being more attuned to his surroundings and ten times more malikot, there's the added challenge of keeping him entertained.
Now that my son is about to turn 7 months old, I find that these are what I am most thankful for:
1. Baby TV- when it comes to keeping Ace's attention for up to 15 minutes at a time (an eternity in baby time!), nothing can beat Baby TV. Check out how he laps up the adorable critters of Baby TV.
With Baby TV for Ace, Travel and Living Channel for me and History Channel and the car shows for my hubby, our monthly cable subscription is definitely money well spent.
2. Sleepsuits- bedtime is easy ever since we established a routine. Between 7:30-8:00pm, I change his diaper and put him in his footsie or a long-sleeved top, pajamas and socks if the footsie is in the laundry. Then we turn off the light and turn down the TV if something good is on. I nurse him and he's off to slumberland within a few minutes.
3. Manduca- We exchanged the mei-tai for a Manduca and haven't looked back. It's just so much easier to use and he falls asleep in a heartbeat while in it. It's also easy to clean, I just include it with the laundry to be sent out and it comes back the following day, all clean and ready to rumble once again.
(The Manduca converted into a popcorn tub for Halloween)
4. Batya- the PUJ tub is now with my soon to be one month old nephew and Ace takes his bath in a plastic batya which I bought in SM for all of Php60.
Ace began eating solids right when he turned 6 months old, but aside from buying plastic tipped spoons and a sippy cup, I haven't bought any special device to prepare his food. Even in my parents' house where we leave him while I'm at work, for his meal his yaya just steams or boils the vegetable du jour, purees or mashes it and lets him eat with a regular teaspoon. Which now makes me wonder about the wisdom of buying plastic spoons.
We might get him his own bed/crib in the very near future though because co-sleeping is no longer working for us, since the little boy insists on taking over half of the bed, with his parents squished into whatever part of the bed remains.
He'll be crawling soon enough and will be even more hyperactive, so we're looking into finally taking him to the condo playground and pool very soon to disperse some of that energy. We've been living in our condo for more than two years now and from our unit, we can even hear the children playing and swimming in the pool, but we've never taken a dip there. Might as well grab our swimsuits and get the little boy used to the water even before he could walk.
Up next, crawling and breaking his first tooth. Exciting times!