The most entertaining baby toy is......

.... the one and only diaper changing pad! Don't bother with all the expensive toys to entertain your tyke. No no no.. the one that works the best is right under your nose! We have found that once we put Brenden on the changing pad, his whole mood changes from dark to light. Immediately - laughs, giggles, coos and smiles emanate from the pad in seconds. Even if he is having a meltdown, we just walk over and lay him down and voila.. simply magic!! We guess that he associates the pad with diaper freedom and streatching and thus just like Pavlov's dogs.. he has discovered the power of reward and association. Who knew? His new thing to entertain himself is to blow raspberries and squeal at a very high pitch - presumably figuring out he has range of his vocal chords. It can be earsplitting. I tried to film him today but only caught a mediocre squeal as evidenced here in the clip below..I must have had the volume on the camera turned down because it doesn't do him justice but enjoy anyhow.. and of course it happened on the changing pad.

The other most wonderful baby soother we have found out is the combination Baby Bjorn baby carrier and the stability ball. Those two items combined are the equivalent of baby crack cocaine... I must find a way to market the already popular stability ball to mothers and fathers - it would sell big time! Of course one can go about one's normal activities whilst soothing baby as shown below in the pic of Dave enjoying a beer after a hard weeks work. He is a man of many talents. Note to readers.. since Brenden has passed the 20 lbs. mark at the very tender age of four months.. the trusty Baby Bjorn has to be retired.. boo hoo.. it is only good for babies 22 lbs. and under and silly me for thinking I would get more than four or five months of use out of it. Fear not! We have found a new carrier rated to 32 lbs... whew! So does anyone have any solutions for me in another two months when he grows out of that one? I welcome any comments and suggestions.