Infant/Toddler Creativity

Cottonbabies (makers of bumgenius diapers) ask:

How do you encourage a creative, artistic spirit in your baby, toddler or young child?

We have a 7 month old, so getting his creativity flowing might seem to be a bigger challenge than for a toddler or older child, but not necessarily. We just try to appeal to all his senses. See examples below of how to get your baby to explore his or her creative side:

Taste: We practice baby-led solids, so we try to get lots of different flavors and textures of food. Just this week Aengus has tried onion, hummus, sushi (cooked-not raw), cheese, BBQ, and ravioli for the first time.

Smell: different foods, letting him smell unlit candles or air fresheners while shopping, coffee beans or vanilla

Sound: Aengus loves music-so we try to vary the types. Anything from AC/DC (obviously), to Pavarotti, to They Might Be Giants!

Sight: Babies' developing brains love patterns and colors, depending on age. We love books, pictures, and even an occasional video.

Touch: This is the fun one in my opinion. Having a time to touch textures-sand, water, fur (from our dog), silk, wood, wool, etc.

Adventures in Sewing Cloth Diapers

We're on the cloth diaper bandwagon already, but being hopeful and overly ambitious, I thought I could probably make some myself. I mean, fitted cloth diapers are as cute as a dog eating ice cream. But, they can be pricey. So I ordered a cheap sewing machine and Will and I headed to Michael's craft store for fabric remnants and thread.

After reading through this sewing machine's manual, and realizing what the heck a bobbin is, I began the adventure with some awesome fabric. I first made a little cover for those travel size baby wipes containers. After some troubleshooting and reloading the bobbin, it came out pretty good. So, I drew up a diaper pattern and jumped in with both feet. Here are the fruits of my labor:

Doubler (left) and inside of fitted cloth diaper (right)

Despite my misgivings, adding leg elastic was much easier than I expected. So, if you think that will be your downfall-no worries. If I can do it, anyone can!

Outside of fitted diaper

I need to add snaps or something to the wings so the diaper can close, I suppose. But, right now it would work just fine with a snappi. I do want to add an umbilical snap since it's a newborn size diaper so he'll have a little wiggle room until the umbilical cord stump falls off.

Ultimately, if you want to save some money, but still want cute fitted diapers instead of prefolds only, do it yourself! I couldn't (and hadn't ever) sew a stitch before yesterday, so it isn't as difficult as it looks. I'm actually looking forward to making more and seeing how they turn out!