Читать книгу Your First Grandchild: Useful, touching and hilarious guide for first-time grandparents - Paul Greenwood - Страница 29

It can be quite irritating for parents to be given 25 teddies for their newborn when so many useful and stimulating toys are now available for young babies. Of course, you’ll want to buy things, but it’s probably a good idea to check with the parents first to see what they have already bought or been given. I know one proud grandmother who turned up with a large, expensive baby bouncer, only to find that the parents had just been out to buy one exactly the same. You might consider buying:

 A baby gym – an activity frame that you put over the baby as it lies on its back

 A mobile: preferably a ‘Stim Mobile’ with bold black-and-white graphics that the young baby’s eyes can easily see

 A musical light show: a wind-up ‘son et lumière’ that projects a moving display of pictures on the ceiling or wall to the accompaniment of soothing music

 Books or cards with stimulating bright geometric patterns: newborns can focus more easily on patterns with marked contrasts and are usually fascinated by them

 A wobble globe: a kind of rattle on a sucker that can be fixed to flat surfaces and is a great distraction during nappy changes

 A sound and texture toy: for instance, the octopuses/snakes that are made out of variously textured materials, and make different noises: rattles, squeaks, etc.

 Jack-in-the-box: from birth babies love ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ toys

 Stacking cups: a classic and inexpensive toy that will be played with throughout babyhood

 Activity mat: a soft, brightly coloured mat boasting a range of attractions for babies – from mirrors to dials and flaps

 Activity centre: a similar multi-activity toy that encourages the baby to press, pull, look and listen

‘My mother was a nightmare just after Elly was born. She kept coming round with friends and neighbours for them “just to take a little peek at my grandchild”. She never seemed to think that it might be an awkward time or that there were other things that needed to be done. They’d stay for hours and I’d end up having to make tea for them all and falling behind with everything else. If it hadn’t been for Roy’s dad, I think I’d have gone mad. He was really helpful. He did my shopping all the time, brought us in takeaways and he even changed Ellie’s nappies once or twice. I told him that he really is a New Man!’