Get up, stand up

As Dylan gets older, he is showing signs of being mentally ready for some more sophisticated toys. He likes to be upright, but his body hasn't quite caught up yet. When he got a real kick out of a friend's exersaucer, we decided he needed one of his own. I went to several consignment shops where I'd seen them and nobody had any in stock. At one of our stops, we picked up this plush stacking toy instead. The Man's a little young to do any actual stacking, but he loves holding the rings and chewing on them. It was only $13 dollars and I knew I would regret it later if I didn't get it now.

So we went home with no exersaucer. (Boo...) However, an hour later one of the shops called to tell me they just got one in, so we went back and picked it up. (Hooray!) We also got a backpack-style baby carrier and a book about manatees. It was a good thrift store haul. Dylan was immediately engrossed in the exersaucer -- far too busy to smile for the camera.

He loves it!

It's drool-tastic!

After this unmitigated success, we knew we had to get the Johnny Jump-up up and running (or jumping, I suppose). The problem has been that it is designed to hang from molding over a doorway. All our doorways are too narrow -- he kept banging into the side --- and have molding that couldn't support the weight. It looked like whole contraption was going to rip right off the wall. So we decided Daddy the Carpenter should build some sort of frame from which to hang it, and this week he finally had time to do it. I have affectionately dubbed it "The Baby Guillotine":

This name does not amuse Chris, I think because he doesn't like the implication that something he built will harm the baby. I suggested "The Baby Gallows" as an alternative, but I think that just made it worse. Whatever you call it, The Man loves it!