Toddler Essentials: What I Wish I Knew

When I first made my registry while I was pregnant, I was so delusional. I told my husband that we don’t need a stroller because I will carry her everywhere. We don’t need a changing table I’ll just change her wherever. We don’t need a diaper pail, I will just throw it in the main trash. Some things I was wrong about. Some things I wasn’t far off. As a disclaimer there are a couple links to amazon items in this post, which I am an affiliate of. 

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you I did use the changing table… buuuuut when we have another baby I plan to just have diaper baskets around the house with changing mats in them. Changing a diaper leaning over a changing table after a c-section was pain I did not know could exist. I liked the changing table because that is where we kept alllll of our daughter’s clothes and stuff. Since we now have a dresser for baby stuff, we will be skipping the changing table.

Toddler-hood Essentials

STROLLER. I was WRONG about not needing a stroller. When my tot was 5ish months we went on vacation to visit family and decided we could do a month without a stroller. I have a baby carrier and my husband has a baby carrier so we felt that we could just carry her. Man. That one month gave me a taste of what life could have been like if my husband hadn’t convinced me that we need a stroller. Long story short, he was definitely right and I’m thankful literally every single day that we have a stroller. Just a tip, buy one with a snack tray and a cup-holder for baby & for mom&dad. I never realized how often im am just carrying around my water. Not so easy to do while pushing a stroller, by the way.

BIBS. I got these and I got the shirt kind from target with the pouch. These are so much easier to clean! They catch way more food than the shirt type so we absolutely use these. Otherwise, it’s bath-time after dinner.

TODDLER TOWER. I’ve mentioned this before and I will keep mentioning it because we use it every day. Ours goes back and forth being a tower and being a table. I love to have it up so my daughter can help in the kitchen. My husband prefers it as a table. (He may have stubbed his toe on it once or twice).

BOOK SHELF. I never thought about how many books a toddler can accumulate but man they add up. We have a shelf that is half for books and half for toys. I don’t like to have a lot of stuff but I don’t mind stacking up on books. And stack up we do. 

HIGH CHAIR. This is also one of the things where I believed we could do without. Silly me. We probably could have but I am so glad we got one. It is just nice to have her mess confined when she eats. For the next baby, I will get the kind that straps to your pre-existing chairs like this because the traditional high chair takes up a lot of space. 

TWIN SIZED BED. I know a lot of people won’t agree with this. I understand the appeal of the safety of knowing if you put your toddler in the crib, they will stay in there. However, unless I can climb in with her, I will never own another crib.

Thankfully, our crib converted into a twin size frame which was amazing. I like the freedom that twin size gives her. She can get in and out of her bed by herself. She’s not trapped in there. Most of all, I like being able to lie down with her. And when she inevitably wakes up in the night she can just climb into my bed (we sleep in the same room).

TODDLER SIZED SILVERWARE & DISHWARE. We are slowly accumulating more and more toddler sized things. I honestly don’t feel these are needed until after 12 months. We started slowly with just putting food on her high chair tray so she could eat with her hands. Then transitioned to utensils as she got more comfortable. We have a lot of plastic bowls and spoons but have switched plates to stainless steel. Eventually, we will switch everything else over, too. The plates we have are even microwave safe! Don’t ask me how. But yes, definitely need plates and bowls that can be dropped off the highchair, and forks that wont injure them. 

BABY DOLL. Don’t get me wrong we do have other toys, stuffies, legos, little bath animals, you name it– buuuut baby doll is gonna do it every time. If you’re nursing, you might experience your toddler putting your baby on the other side while feeding (which is…. Hilarious the first time). 

Obviously, you can do without all of these things. I am sure many people do. But I have been so grateful to have them. (Even when I look at my house and think, “This corner would be so much cuter without a giant high chair or tower.”) One day I will miss them being in my way. And for now, I don’t want to do without them. Later this month I will do a post of things I absolutely will not buy for my second, so if you’re in the mood to be de-influenced, follow along for that:) 

As always, thank you for reading! Let me know your toddler-hood essentials in the comments!

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