Favorite Baby/Toddler Items for 2 years and Under

2.26.2018


It's been a while since I shared some favorite baby/toddler items, and since J arrived, there are some things we used the second time that we've continued to love from when we used them with R! I've rounded up a list of our favorite products for 2 years and under.


*Affiliate links are used in this post, and I receive a few cents for purchases using these links at no extra cost to you. It should be noted that I am not linking to anything we have not used and loved in our home with the kids. Thanks for supporting The Lady Okie Blog :)


BATH

There are a lot of bath seats you can get. This is a basic seat for $16 we got from Target, and it's been awesome. It folds up nicely, fits great in the tub, and can be used for a good while, from infant until they stop needing a seat at all. The one we got for R was pink, so J rocks a bright pink seat for each bath  and owns it. 

I linked to the one we have (R likes pointing out the colors of the dots), but any bath mat will do. We use this for every single bath with either kid. It's helpful (I would say necessary!) so that they don't slide around on the bottom of the slippery tub.

EAT

We use these snack cups and bowls all the time! They are super cheap, perfect for traveling or eating at home. I love that they have lids and are dishwasher safe!

This is basically the only sippy cup R has ever used. We haven't tried it with J yet, but I plan on using it with him also. It did take her a little bit to get used to how it works, but we have tried other cups, and these are (in my opinion) the easiest to clean and basically spill proof. She has thrown it across the room or slammed it on the ground and it's spilled, but show me a cup that won't leak when that happens! There was one sippy cup we tried with a straw (this one) that claims to not spill, and it was the most obnoxious to clean and use and totally leaked all the time. Lies! (And I didn't use an affiliate link for the terrible cup, fyi!)

Everyone has different opinions on bottles. We've used these for both kids and have zero complaints. They are easy to clean, easy for them to hold once they get coordinated enough, and don't seem to leak or spill in our experience!

DIAPERS

These are our absolute favorite wipes. We've tried different ones, but honestly these are the best (in our opinion). Huggies wipes always felt too thick, the Water Wipes were fine but didn't seem to hold as much, and regular Pampers wipes didn't feel as smooth as the sensitive ones.

Baby Bum Brush (no relation to us! haha)
Have you guys seen this? I'm obsessed with it. I only discovered it after J came along, and I'm sad I didn't have it for R! Yes, you can just use your fingers to apply diaper cream, but it's so hard to get off and gets under my nails, and this brush has been great! I've given it to a few friends as shower gifts.

My mom bought this potty seat for R, and I highly recommend it! It's easy to travel with (we bring it to Texas every time we go), and it's easy to clean. I decided before we started potty training that I was not interested in buying a separate kid-sized seat and having one more thing to clean. This seat fits on the toilet, and she can easily take it on and off herself.

Training Underwear
I shared about these in an earlier post. They were perfect for transitioning from a diaper because they are thicker than regular cotton underwear and absorbent in the bottom. Highly recommend! Also they are super cute. Who doesn't love a toddler running around with underwear that has an owl on the butt?

PLAY TIME

I'm sure at some point we will introduce Legos, but for now these mega blocks have been awesome for R and now J (and R still uses them almost daily, and J loves to sit nearby and grab them to suck on). They aren't too small for babies to put in their mouths, and they are great to stack and store in a basket or one of those cube things.

These are awesome blocks! They are fun to play with and soft enough to not cause too much harm when a certain, ahem, toddler pounds her brother on the head with one.

We got these for R when she was a baby, and she still plays with them. They are a hit with J also. In general I really like the Green Toys brand.

We have absolutely gotten our use out of this! The front part come off to be played with by babies when they first learn to sit up. Then, it was great for R as she learned to walk. She still plays with it, and J loves it too!

There are a lot of activity mat options. No matter what you get, I do think you will want something like this for the baby to play on. We used it a ton with R and then got it back out for J. Recently Jordan broke it (we aren't sure how), so I took off the top and the four poles on the side and we can still use the actual mat part.

My mother-in-law bought this for R for her first birthday, and it has been one of her favorite toys ever since! We mostly keep it in the car, and it's the perfect thing to entertain her. Not surprisingly, we have misplaced most of the magnets, but the pencil part is connected, thankfully! Definitely recommend. (You can buy it on Amazon too, but it's more expensive there, so I linked to the cheaper option at Target.)

This is the baby doll R has. It's cute and a good size, and she really seems to like it. She got it for Christmas when she was 18 months old.

When I was pregnant with R, I was over at a friend's house and saw she had this. I went out and bought it the next day, and it's been kind of a life saver. It's portable, and we've taken it over to my in-laws' house and my parents a few times. It's not the cutest thing ever, but it's a handy place to set the baby down and fits them for a good long time. R actually still sits in it sometimes, although she's a tad big for it.

WEAR


These are the only bibs I've found that hold up under massive drool, are super cute, and fit great. I love giving them as baby shower gifts too!

I reviewed these on the blog way back when, and these were our favorite shoes for R for the first year and a half of her life. They aren't cheap, but they were basically her only shoe for a very long time, so we got our use out of them!

A few blogger friends recommended these shoes, and they are a favorite for J! I like that they come up a bit higher on his ankle, which keeps his legs warmer during the winter months. He rotates these and his Potato Feet shoes every day (see note below).

*We have absolutely loved the Potato Feet shoes that I reviewed in this post, but unfortunately the shop is closing! Sad day.

OTHER

I admit the packaging makes this look like a terrible decision, but the snot doesn't actually go into your mouth because there is a filter. It's the best thing ever ever when your baby is snotty. Fun fact: I am really good at this and can get tons of snot out, and Jordan is always amazed.

Teething Necklace (for mama to wear!)
Necklaces like this have been fantastic with both the kids. J especially loves to grab necklaces, and I often give this to people who are holding J. It gives him something to grab and chew on while he's hanging out in your lap. Obviously babies shouldn't be left alone with these.

I fell down the Instagram rabbit hole during one of my late-night nursing sessions with J and discovered these short paci clips. Obsessed. I wish I had this with R! It's a shorter version of the traditional leather clip, and I love the length. This would be a really fun baby shower gift (or nursing session purchase for yourself ha!).

I love these! We have them on several doors in our house, and it's awesome for opening and closing the door quietly.

Faucet Extender
I'm so thankful to my friend Laura for recommending this! We keep it on R's bathroom (which is also the guest bathroom) full time. When she's standing on the step stool, she can reach the water without us having to hold her up to it. So handy!

Those are just a few of our most-loved items over the last two and a half years. These types of posts always feel a bit funny to write because I know everyone is going to have things they loved that others don't, but hopefully this gives you some ideas! 

Feel free to share in the comments anything I've missed or something you especially loved with your kids!

Rach said...

Yay! I'm so excited for this post! I have opened nearly every one of these links to check them out further, haha! We actually have that same Summer bath seat that someone gave us, but we never used it because we had a different one that we ended up using (we were given two). But I did like how portable it was! Seeing your bath mat recommendation reminds me that we are going to need to transition to that soon. I need to buy one of those! Thanks so much for sharing this. I love posts like this both in the moment and also when I'm a little further down the road and needing to reference back. :)

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

Ever since you introduced me to copper pear bibs, I always give them as gifts! They're so cute and worked so well for Jack!

Nadine said...

We used Dr Browns too, I hate all the pieces but the bottles are the best! And I have that same pink bath seat, the mega blocks, the 360 cup, the bum brush, pampers sensitive wipes, sit to stand walker and the play mat (only pink girly version). We have several dolls, but not the one you shared. I am totally going to add that lap drawing board since Zoe loves so much of the same toys your kiddos do! There are so many products out there, it is hard to narrow it down sometimes!

Jenny Evans said...

I have been seeing those sippy cups EVERYWHERE. I'm sort of bummed because we've been through 13 years of crappy, leaky sippy cups... and now that we're basically done with them there's a good one out there. Go figure.

Maria Arellano Falls said...

I've gotten a few things from your previous lists and they are always just as amazing as you say they are. Copper Pearl bibs are by far the best and I tried to get some cheaper versions, but they just aren't the same. Copper Pearl swaddles...oh my. Those are like butter. I want all of them.

Cannot live without the BabyBum brush. I have three of them. We've been through our fair share of wipe brands and finally settled Amazon Basics Sensitive wipes. They are fragrance free, super cheap, large, and the softest wipes ever. Love love love them. Diapers are tough. I think Kirkland Brand has been my favorite out of all the ones we've tried, followed by Huggies and Honest. I know it's dumb, but I find the prints on the Huggies to be obnoxious. They show through and it bothers me when I know it shouldn't. Why can't they all be the Winnie the Pooh print or just plain white? Clearly, I have my priorities straight.

We started using the 360 Sippy cups and while she cannot hold it on her own, she does get them to work! So easy to clean too. Now to find a good straw sippy...

Bookmarked a few things from here for later! Always appreciate your lists!

Unknown said...

i'm so into so many of these products! those sippy cups especially. except when they fling them, the trajectory of the spill is INSANE. seriously how does milk travel so far??

Julie @ Just the Joy's said...

Oh I need that faucet extender asap! How did I not know about this before?!

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