Day 169: Jumping Bumbos!

Yesterday we made our weekly pilgrimage to Babies' R' Us. Everything changes once baby arrives, but few things more than your shopping habits. I used to focus my over-consumption solely on myself, but now it's all for her (I can hear echoes of my former self : "I'm not going to spoil my baby..."). One truth I have come to learn is that no matter how brightly coloured the toy, no matter how loud the rattle, how melodic the music, how brilliant the lights, how soft or smooth or crinkly the surface, nothing will please Maddie more than the tag attached to it. She will ignore the lights & whistles every time and instead sit contentedly sucking on the tag that lists the washing instructions. And so, with this insight, you'd think I'd lay off buying all this crap, but no, of course not. So we left the store yesterday weighed down with a high chair, teether toy, pacifier clip, window screen, and something called a Bumbo chair, which my mom keeps mistakenly (and unfortunately) calling a Bimbo chair.

Now, I should exclude one baby item from the aforementioned category of crap, and say a big thank you and hallelujah to the makers of Baby Einstein dvds, which never fail to calm and entertain her. Our other wise investment was a Jolly Jumper, which she loves. However, we seem to have fallen into a kind of screwed up pattern, whereby she hangs out in the jumper while the rest of us grown ups jump and dance around her like fools. So, 45 minutes later, much to her delight, we're all wheezing and sweating while she hangs suspended watching us, laughing and drooling. But, whatever the method, it keeps her happy and occupied and so it was money well spent. Will the Bimbo - er, I mean Bumbo - join this elite category of worthwhile products? Well, as I type she is sitting in it beside me sucking on a plastic cooking spoon (which, along with her poo disposal bags, is her favourite "toy" of the moment), so it looks promising. But only time will tell.