My TOP 10 baby products

I have been clearing out the cupboards recently which inspired me to make a list of baby must-haves. So here they are, in no specific order....

1. Inch Blue crib shoes. BabyEbi was given two pairs of there, they are fab, I think I will get him some more this winter.

2. Now, last winter BabyEbi would NOT keep his blankets on, the solution was a Grobag.

3. I wish I had been able to buy How To Raise An Amazing Child at an earlier stage, it is a great book, easy layout and lots of good ideas.

4. BabyEbi's favourite book for a long time was Baby Touch, we have it in Japanese and it is a bit ragged round the edges now, but well loved.

5. And whilst we are on books Feed Me! was a great book when it came to weaning and BabyEbi's first foods. I used lots of the ideas and recipes and I am proud to say he is very good eater now, LOVES fruit and veg and will try anything I put in front of him.

6. What happens when you give a small child a carton of drink? He holds it REALLY tight and the next moment everything is covered in juice. Don't panic, just get yourself one of these handy drink holders the best ¥500 yen I spent!

7. Bit revolting but a snot remover is a great thing to have, we had this cute elephant snot sucker

8. My mom got BabyEbi a magnetic drawing board , he loves it and gets it out almost everyday.

9. I got a second hand baby signing book We started with BabyEbi when he was 6 or 7 months old, some of the signs he picked up straight away and he still uses things like "finished", "it hurts" and "hungry" even though he can now explain these verbally. It was very handy before he started talking becuase he come communicte with us that he was thirsty, hungry, tired etc. I'm sure it cut down on the tantrums.

10. Not strictly a baby item but I think taking NAMC's Montessori Course has made me take a good hard look at many of the traditional ideas of parenting that I had and taught me so much not just about the Montessori method but the development of children in general. Admittedly, I did a lot of extra reading, not just the course texts and I still have a lot to learn if BabyEbi hadn't come along I would more than likely not gone down this path.