Babies

I have wanted to share this post for weeks and I am happy to finally have the time to do so. Around six weeks we took the Gobbi mobile away -although we kept it as decoration in our dining room- and presented our variation of the Octahedron mobile.
I started making this mobile for the sake of making it when M was around 14 months and I didn't have the slightest idea that I would have another baby within a year. It might have been one of the omens that preceded my pregnancy. Another one was reading books and articles on Montessori for babies even when my actual baby was way past babyhood.
That was the start. I only finished it some weeks ago, when A was already past his fifth week and I was starting to thing that if I couldn't finish it on time, I would have to save it for another baby.
My original idea was to make the three blue, red and golden octahedrons but to simplify my life and since the only cardboard I had on hand was golden, I decided to modify the Montessori mobile a bit and make three octahedrons identical in color, different in shape, each octahedron being 1 cm bigger than the previous one. To make the mobile I upcycled a cardboard gift bag that glimmered, a thread of fishing line, and a pipe cleaner, so it really cost me nothing!
I liked the result! And A seems to like it as well, for he everyday looks at it for a short while. Nothing like the two hours or so I've read somewhere... Nope... He can concentrate on it for around ten or fifteen minutes, after which he starts whining. So are my children... not much time on their backs.

The Gobbi mobile is my favorite one. That's why long before baby A was due, I asked my mother to knit some balls so I could make my own version of the Gobbi mobile. It consists of five balls in graded shades of blue. I chose this color not only because it is a primary color but because it is one of my favorite ones. The aim of this mobile is to refine the child's developing sense of sight by providing a slight change in tone from one ball to the next. We hung our mobile around A's fifth week and I just love to see him intently staring at the balls.

BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES FOR INFANTS

The fact that newborns cannot see very well has always worried me. How frightening must it be for a baby to be left on a flat surface from where nothing can be really seen. This is the way I feel about newborns and that is probably one of the reasons why we hold and carry our babies in this household. Aware that providing stimulating input I can help my baby's brain thrive, and with the -maybe silly- hope that that makes him feel less helpless, I made a very simple painting for him: a black circle and a black square on top of a white canvas. He has been intently watching it since his very first weeks.

I'd love to hear about the first images or objects you introduced to your babies.