Diaper bag/Take Along toys for 1 year old?

[daisymommy]

I miss the days when some Sassy links, rattles and teethers would keep Joshua occupied in a store or restraunt. Now all that seems to work is food ;) I don't want to keep shoving Cheerios at him everytime he fusses though. Today we went out to eat, and it was a total dissaster. Joshua ate the food I brought him while we waited for our food. By the time our order came, he was done and had nothing to do! There aren't any toys I can think of so far that can be brought in a diaper bag to keep him busy in these occasions. Also, for when he's in the shopping cart, and mommy is taking too long! Help!
BTW--do most children try to "eat" their board books? ;)

[egoldber]

Here are some things I take along for Sarah (not all at the same time):

small notepad and crayons
board books and inexpensive "paperback" type books (Target and drugstores have these)
a small bag with other small toys
small plush characters like Elmo and Tigger (Target has these for like $3)
finger puppets
small containers of Playdoh (like for birthday party favor bags)

HTH,

[daisymommy]

Okay Beth--it's 1:00 am here...what are you doing up? I couldn't sleep ;)

[August Mom]

Most recently, I've taken DS's photo album, a cloth book containing photos of his relatives. He really likes looking at it. He also likes holding spoons (either his that I bring or those of the restaurant). He also likes playing with straws. I must admit, though, those Cheerios sure are handy. :)

[lums123]

Wow, going out for us was virtually hopeless when our son was one. It was impossible to keep him from investigating every nook, cranny, and mechanical device in sight, and so we pretty much couldn't ever even consider this question! A close friend with three kids had no problems whatsoever going out with her first two, their third was closer in temperament to ours.

At about 1-year, we could keep our son occupied for long periods of time with stacks of books. I'd put a box of them next to his high chair, and he'd look at them one after the other. If I could put a stack within his reach, he'd take them one after the other, otherwise, he'd finish one and push it off his tray and I'd hand him another. This isn't going to help that much in a restaurant, though.

I asked the same question about eating books, and my brother (with four kids) said yes they do! One thing that helped us was to get two of those strong foam "bath" books from www.innovativekids.com. The title of one is "Soft Shapes In and Out". They are nontoxic and for kids 1-4 years old. There are four very thick pages with little cutouts that work as simple puzzles for the older kids. I can't exactly recommend these as chew toys, they aren't intended for that. But I can still see the teeth marks on ours, and nothing ever got bitten off. What we did when our son starting chewing (and biting off chunks of) books, was to hand him one of these and say, "Books are for READING, not EATING! Here, THIS book is for chewing." And we just kept a careful eye on him. It seemed to work, he was a big chewer, but in the end, didn't eat that many (paper) books.

[AngelaS]

We went out to supper last night too and Miss G was not exactly a model child during dinner. Sigh...

My bag contains small toys, books, a snack, and her cup. She also played with a spoon, a straw, her food and a wet wipe.

Her favorite books have pictures of real babies in them, not just drawings. I think I need to buy some more of those! LOL And yes, she usually tastes her books before looking at them too....

[daisymommy]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. yesterday I went out and bought a few sturdy board books, both with pictures of real babies doing things around the house, and making emotion faces. One of them has a rattle handle where the binding is. That was helpful as I clipped it to some links on the Target shopping cart to keep Josh from tossing it overboard. It kept him busy while I shopped for nearly an hour.
I also got a mini Magna Doodle, but he hasn't tried it out yet. I'm going to get a box of extra-chunky "My First Crayons" and a drawing pad, as Grandpa showed him how to color on his placemat last time and Joshua loved that...he also loved tasting the crayons--yuck! At least they're non-toxic ;)
Maybe these things in addition to the ever helpful Cheerios will keep him busy.
Thanks again,

[josephsmom]

We've had pretty good luck with a Mini Magna Doodle. I hope it works for you, too. We've also started using a magnetic board with alphabet magnets, and I think our next step will be a little blackboard and chalk, since he still tends to put crayons in his mouth. HTH.

Helene
mommy to Joseph 12/29/01