Baby Boy Essentials: Months 6-12

When Colton hit the 6 month mark, I shared some of his/my favorite, most essential products to that point.  As we have now made it to 1 year (!), I am back to share our latest raves.  For those of you new to this, like I am, my biggest shocker has been how little we actually use on a daily basis.  Don't get me wrong...we have TONS of baby products in this house.  I was that girl that registered for everything (and was fortunate to get most of it) because I felt like we were going to need it.  As I look back on the first year of Colton's life, though, sadly many of those products sit unused most days and we probably could have gotten by with the basics (highchair, car seat, stroller) and maybe a few little extras...oh well, you live, you learn.
But I digress (side note: my high school French teacher used to say "but I digress" about 3 times an hour...funny how things like that come back to you, isn't it?)...back to Colton's/mommy's favorite things:

First up is the only holdover from the other list (although we do still love the glider, diaper genie, and of course changing top as well)...Colton's bouncer seat.  The batteries wore out long ago and we have actually even taken off the overhead bar, but this seat remains as Colton's favorite bottle-drinking seat (maybe that will change if we can ever get to a sippy cup?!?).  We plop Colton in this in the morning and easily transport him to the kitchen while I make my lunch, to our bathroom while I do my hair, and so on.

Next up...baby Mum Mums.  Confession: we eat out A LOT.  Once baby boy transitioned to solid foods, it became increasingly difficult to keep him happy while we waited for the food to arrive at restaurants.  These lovely crackers (which come in original, banana, and vegetable) are the perfect solution because they come in one nice piece as opposed to things like Cheerios or the Puffs, which Colton promptly spills all over the floor.

And then...Colton's friendly, fun walking dinosaur toy.  True, this guy's tune is a little annoying, but I sincerely believe he got our baby boy up and walking.  Once we showed Colton how to walk behind him, he was hooked.  He then transferred his skills to baskets and anything else he could push and now is full-on walking.  Sure, he would have learned to walk without him, but he was a nice aid. 

Next on my list is books, books, and more books.  I'm a first grade teacher, so I know first hand the importance of reading early to your child.  Because of that, I have been reading to Colton since he was about a month old.  Admittedly, those first few months were kind of pointless from an educational perspective, although they did provide some really nice bonding moments.  These days, though, I can see baby boy really enjoying his books.  He looks curiously at the dinosaurs on the page, touches the dogs in other books, and (my favorite) smiles every time I do the doctor voice in 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. 

And finally, my absolute favorite, must have...the storage ottoman

As you can see from the above pictures, this thing serves a couple crucial purposes for us.  It stores Colton's toys in the living room, so that our living room remains a living room and not a glorified playroom.  It also conveniently corrals Colton in the living room, as we have yet to find a gate that is the right width for our opening (strangely they are all either too small or too big).  Couldn't live without it!

So there they are...our favorite things.  Anything else we should know about?