Rookie Moms

Misty’s found a way for her baby to enjoy some summertime water fun: Fill baby’s high chair tray with water for warm weather splashing!

I love this activity for hot, housebound babies everywhere (especially those of us jailed by an older napping child).

Baby Madeline’s high chair has a very deep lip, enough to hold about half an inch of water. Misty filled that with tap water, stripped her down, and let her splash around as she wants. It is amusing to see her reaction when she splashes herself, and her obvious enjoyment of the new experience.

[This fun trick discovered on ParentHacks]

These ten-month olds (Theo, Del, Julian and Paxton) are having so much fun slurping on plastic toys and touching one another’s toes that they don’t realize their moms are having fun too.

1. Shady backyard on a nice, warm day
2. Kiddie Pool with a couple inches of water
3. Mom-sized lawn chairs with toes dipping in the water
4. Plastic pitcher of margaritas
5. Plastic cups
6. Splashing babies (diapers optional) — keep them in the shade or slather heavily with sunscreen before the party starts!
7. Daddies available to pick up mommy and baby afterward

This was suggested by my hairdresser as an awesome way to enjoy the summer!

Most music classes for children provide a free trial class. Take advantage of these freebies before committing to a paid class. Try to talk your other mama friends into joining you so it’s the most fun for YOU.

• Kindermusik Village classes are for babies under 18 months and each class is 45 minutes long.
• Music Together is mixed age classes up to age five and the classes are an hour long.
• In Berkeley, Jingle Jamboree is for ages 6 mos to 15 mos.

I was so very proud that I made these baby shoes until Whitney pointed out that I did not actually finish them (oh no, another craft project unfinished, somebody tell my mom to come back with her sewing machine!).

Well, I gave them to someone who gave birth 10 days ago, so it’s unlikely that she’s got enough active brain cells to realize that I left her with no way to fasten the straps around her baby’s ankles. In the meantime, she can just think “Wow, Heather made me such a cute and thoughtful gift.” Luckily, I also left her some food, but I digress…

The instructions come from Martha Stewart and I was inspired by my friend Linda to go for it.

After the 20 minutes it might take you to decipher the pattern, it only takes about 30 minutes to actually make a pair of baby shoes as cute as these. Allow another 30 minutes to make them a heck of a lot cuter (or more functional) with ornamentation and creativity.

Ingredients:

• A sheet or two of felt
• Scissors
• Needle and thread

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