Things I didn't know I didn't have...

My dad used to (perhaps still does) describe the Lillian Vernon catalog as "solutions to problems you didn't know you had." I have a new variation on that...baby gear! I posted my top ten must have list not long ago. I have been thinking about it some more and I have more to say. I realize that this doesn't exactly go to Professor Papa's theorem...because the items I will describe actually address real "problems" that I really face.

When it comes to baby gear - toys - clothes and such there are several schools of thought.

Some people, it would seem, want to have to do as little as possible themselves to amuse, educate and soothe their babies - there are videos (for home, car, iPod), toys that make noise, things that buzz and sing and light up, colors, swirls, patterns, vibrations, jiggles, Wiggles, whirls, its madness...the toys do all the work.

Other people are very minimalist - cloth diapers, wooden pull toys, organic fibers, no binkies, no formula, no TV...there are even people who have adopted a diaper-free attitude towards child rearing (I am looking for a comment from Don't Trust Snakes...I know there is one lurking in there!).

Most people I am sure fall well in the middle...and I don't want to offend any of my readers so I will leave it at that...but where I am headed with this topic is a very short list of things that I had NO IDEA about prior to pregnancy, childbirth and early child-rearing but that actually DO solve problems I didn't know I had.

(1) Voice Activated Crib Lights - these go onto the crib and play soothing music and lights when the baby wakes up and cries...this one even can play your own voice.

(2) Gripe Water - herbal "cure" for colic and upset tummy, appropriately named...and quite tasty (had to check it out for myself).

(3)Oh, and speaking of binkies...because we were, sort of...here is the greatest invention...if you have a sick kid who takes a binkie!