Of all the baby toys on the market the crib mobile is one of the traditional ones left. Sure they’ve modernized a lot of them, but many of them are still the good old fashioned wind up ones. They play Brahms Lullaby while the dangling toys do nothing more than go around in a circle and bounce around some in the process. It seems so simple compared to many of today’s toys, and yet babies can thrive with such simple toys.
I never questioned getting a mobile for Nick’s crib. To me it was a must have especially since it went with his bedroom set. After we set it up we found that it only played for a couple minutes, so we weren’t sure Nick would really get any use out of it, but I still knew I had to have it. A mobile helps make a baby’s room a nursery (in my opinion).
For about the first few months of his life Nick couldn’t really see far enough to really notice the mobile, so it didn’t get any use. Then one day Nick could finally see well enough to take notice of it. Once he started paying attention to it we put it on for him a lot. He loved laying there and watching it go around. He’d kick his legs and pump his arms in his excitement.
Eventually the day came when laying on his back and staring at a toy wasn’t as fun anymore. It didn’t help that we had been told not to put Nick on his back much after his four month well visit since the doctor was worried that his head was starting to show signs of getting flat. Still I left the mobile up since it was such an important part of the room.
As Nick got older he always wanted to stand up and walk around. It got to the point that it was very difficult to get stuff done. One day, once he had decent balance, I stood him up in his crib (leaning against the side for some support) and turned the mobile on. Nick thought that being eye level with the mobile was the coolest thing ever. He loved standing and watching it. Eventually he started batting at it, and then he started grabbing the Winne the Pooh characters and pulling on them. When he got too rough we would make him stop playing with them, but we would let him play with them again later. At a time when Nick didn’t really want to play by himself his mobile was my salvation. He could stand and play with it for ten minutes so I could at least get the laundry folded.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. Last week while Nick was playing with the mobile he pulled too hard and pulled Tigger right off. Luckily it was a fixable booboo, but it made me realize that if I wanted this mobile to last for possibly another little one (this was actually our second mobile since the plastic broke on the first one when Nick was about 6 months old) then it was time to put it away. Taking it down was so hard. His room looked so empty without it, but a week later I’m getting used to the hole that it left.
I truly never expected to get so much use out of Nick’s mobile. We even questioned buying a second one after the first one broke, but he still got a ton of use out of it. Those four Winnie the Pooh characters were his buddies, and many morning you could hear him talking to them when he woke up. After our experience I would tell everyone to purchase a mobile. I’m sure not all kids like them, but for us it was a good baby toy that we can’t replace.
Did your little one like their mobile?
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